Mixed reaction to District request in Council
by Paul Socolar on May 24 2011 Posted in Latest news
[Updated, 6:30 p.m.] City Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Jr., was quick to ask District officials the question: "How much money are you asking for?"
The galleries in City Council chambers burst into applause. It was an indication that some in Council were taking seriously the District's request for additional funds.
But as Council considered the District's budget today, not all were ready to back plans for a boost in city funding to the District.
Goode said that he and other members of Council were open to providing additional support but not for the general pot. "We're not doing business that way this year," he said.
In 2007, the last time the District received more money from the city, specific terms on how it was to be used were written into the funding resolution, Goode said. He expressed concern that Chief Financial Officer Michael Masch could not detail how those extra dollars were being spent.
Councilman Darrell Clarke also explored in his questioning whether there are ways that the city can put strings on the District's use of additional funds. District Chief Counsel Michael Davis said he would like to look more closely into the issue of how to restrict funds.
Asked during a midday recess whether he was ready to support additional funding, Councilman Bill Green said, "Not at this point - I'm not close to being there."
The councilman said he had a number of unanswered questions about how the District was spending its existing $2.7 billion budget. "We have no or limited oversight with respect to what they spend," he said.
He got his turn to grill District officials in the afternoon. For all his harsh questioning, he also said that “working together we can jump hurdles, I think we’re going to work that out.”
Green did express concern that giving the District additional real estate tax revenues would effectively make the city's 9.9 percent tax increase from 2009 permanent. Some have proposed that the city boost the District's share of the total real estate millage, which did not increase in 2009, causing the share for education to drop from 60 percent to 55 percent.
Under the state takeover law, the city is not allowed to rescind revenue increases it provides to the School District. Directing more real estate tax revenues to the schools would lock the city in to continuing to provide that funding even if the tax increase is allowed to expire.
Councilman James Kenney was one of several Council members who directed his outrage at the state cuts and who they impact. He said he would not second-guess the spending and cutting priorities that the District presented. “I am not an educator,” he said.
But to lose full-day kindergarten, he said, “would create such chaos in the educational process of kids and in family life of moms and dads. … Are we going to leave these people hanging because the state wants to keep its rainy day fund?”
Corbett, he said, “is asking Philadelphia to make $400 million in cuts in a state that has a $500 million surplus. Poor districts got cut 30-40 percent while rich districts were cut only 9 percent.”
Comments (6)
Submitted by Paul Socolar on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 17:40.
Jerry Jordan has released a copy of his testimony to Council, in which he backs the call for more city and state funding. Public testimony starts tomorrow at 1 pm
Text of Jerry Jordan’s testimony to City Council:
Council members, thank you for this opportunity to testify about the School District’s 2011-2012 budget.
The School District of Philadelphia is facing a budget deficit that threatens to end eight years of academic progress and make college unaffordable for thousands of new graduates.
The budget cuts outlined by the School District of Philadelphia yesterday are devastating, and I think it would be naive to believe that Philadelphia could continue to raise student achievement while depriving children, particularly disadvantaged children, of vital resources and services.
The loss of the Accountability Block Grant program puts early-childhood education opportunities and full-day kindergarten at risk, despite abundant evidence that these programs give youngsters the tools they’ll need to succeed in school.
To make matters worse, the district will wipe out the entire Comprehensive Early Childhood Education program, which provides education and day-care for working families, and is eliminating many of the Bright Futures pre-school classrooms – leaving 1,000 children without access to programs that improve school success.
Music, art, theater and elective courses that enrich and motivate students will disappear, and the few, remaining school libraries in Philadelphia - staffed with certified school librarians and essential to teaching children to read - will likely close. It’s ironic that Pennsylvania law mandates that prisons have fully stocked libraries, with at least 5,000 books for every 750 inmates and staffed by master-degreed librarians, while school libraries are optional.
Sports, orchestras, jazz bands, chess and debate teams, school newspapers and other activities that engage students and bring together schools and the surrounding communities will fall by the wayside. And needed early intervention programs for troubled youth, alternative education programs, counseling services and drop-out prevention programs will wither away.
Schools will become less safe as a result of budget cuts that put fewer adults in schools to interact with students and who work proactively with communities to combat conflict and violence. Successful programs, like the one that staff, parents and administrators have used to stop violence and raise achievement at the A.B. Day School, may no longer be supported.
Over the last five years, the district has cut more than half of the non-teaching assistants from schools – staff hired from the community to supervise children in hallways, inside and outside of school buildings and in other public areas. Cameras and school police are important resources in making schools safe, but cannot take the place of NTAs who know the schools, students and families.
The district will cut bus transportation and discounted bus passes that help poor students attend school. It plans to increase class sizes in schools that have been struggling for decades, reduce the number of counselors and nurses and shrink vocational, alternative and special education programs.
While giving additional money to a handful of schools identified as “Promise Academies,” the district’s cuts target many other children at risk of failure and undermine efforts to develop an educated, productive workforce in Philadelphia.
School districts across the Commonwealth are making tough budget choices, but the short-sightedness of some of Philadelphia’s choices should be unacceptable to students, parents and teachers and, if we work together right now, unnecessary as well.
On behalf of the PFT’s 16,500 members, I urge City Council to:
1. Lobby the Governor and Legislature to use the $500 million-plus state budget surplus, which is available now, to offset devastating cuts in public and higher education;
2. Use your influence to urge state Legislators to defer Governor’s proposed $320 million in corporate tax breaks;
3. Increase the city’s share of funding to the public school system, directly or indirectly, but with strings attached on how additional city money may be used.
The state of Pennsylvania announced in April that its tax collections have exceeded projections.
Currently, the state has a surplus of $506 million. In Harrisburg, the Governor and some Legislators want to put that money into the bank, instead of using it to blunt the impact of budget cuts.
In addition, the Governor has proposed giving corporations substantial tax breaks. Conservatively, new tax breaks will cost Pennsylvania $320 million in lost revenue next year.
With more than 3,000 school district employees facing layoff in Philadelphia alone, and thousands more statewide, it is unconscionable for our elected leaders in Harrisburg to give tax breaks to businesses and withhold our tax money while school children and working Pennsylvanians suffer.
The Pennsylvania House is taking up the budget bill this week, and I ask each of you to use your influence to appeal to our Philadelphia delegation to vigorously oppose withholding tax revenues and providing new tax breaks that are needed to keep vital programs in place in our schools.
In addition, I ask the City Council to consider increasing the share of local taxes that go to fund our schools. According to the district’s finance office, the city’s share of the School District budget has remained flat since 2007-2008, while the state has invested millions of dollars more into our schools.
Additional city funds should be targeted to restore or pay for specific programs or services including: transportation, full-day kindergarten, early-childhood education, small class sizes in K-3 and programs with a proven track record of success.
It requires the district to reprioritize spending as well. For example, use scarce resources to:
• Lowering class sizes in K-3 and providing support to make sure that every student is reading on grade level by the end of third grade, rather than spending money on unproven remediation programs focused on a small number of students and schools.
• Getting rid of unproven and expensive scripted programs. Instead, make sure teachers have a solid curriculum and let them be creative in teaching to meet their students’ needs.
• Make our comprehensive high schools truly comprehensive by offering a full, well-rounded curriculum that has pathways to college or careers. Provide music, art, sports, debate teams and other programs that are often found at magnet schools to engage students across the city.
In short, we are asking City Council to hold the District accountable for spending its money where it will address the needs of the greatest number of children with research-based reforms and programs.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 18:36.
Great job, Mr. Jordan!! Thank you.
Submitted by teachmyway (not verified) on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 22:29.
Think I am going to get a job in the prison system, that way I won't have to be worried about being layed off as a reading recovery teacher in Philly School District or maybe a prison library.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/26/2011 - 19:28.
Corbett will hire you.
Submitted by Phantom Poster (not verified) on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 22:59.
...and don't forget the absudity of forcing the district to pay for charter school transportation even as it cuts its own.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/26/2011 - 19:32.
Absurdity is exactly right. Charters are the biggest farce this side of vouchers and we--traditional school folks have to clean up after them and make sure their sorry butts are covered 24/7.
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