Will A Mix Of New Money Save School District Budget?
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Will A Mix Of New Money Save School District Budget?
Chris Brennan
City Council is in session right now and a flurry of proposed legislation is landing in an effort to close a budget gap for the Philadelphia School District. Some new taxes seem more likely to fly, based on conversations with Council members and staffers from Mayor Nutter's administration, while others look dead on arrival.
Ultimately, it seems likely that some composite of new revenue sources will be pushed to fund the district. The proposals are:
- A 10 percent property tax increase that would raise $95 million, proposed by Mayor Nutter. Nutter's staff said he put this forward at the request of Council members while Council President Anna Verna said Nutter offered the idea at a meeting yesterday.
- A smaller property tax increase for one year, proposed by Councilman Darrell Clarke, that would raise $37 million for the district. Verna said both property tax proposals are likely to fail.
- A 2 cent per ounce tax on sugary drinks, which would raise about $60 million from Oct. 1 to June 30, 2012 if implemented by October. This proposal, similar to a failed Nutter effort last year, will face fierce lobbying from beverage makers and distributors. Nutter spokesman Mark McDonald called this the preference for the administration, rather than a property tax increase.
- An increase in parking meter rates that will bring in $6 million. Nutter's staff says this can be approved by regulation, with no need for legislation.
Some Council members will also push Nutter to spend some or all of the $50 million surplus in the current budget. And there is some hope that the state will restore some education funding, especially if the city puts up a chunk of cash.
Comments (18)
Instead of "saving" the school district budget, tear it up and start over. A basic concept is that you don't plan to spend more than the available revenue.— Falls Ed-
Drop The Soda Tax, Legalise Pot, Tax It and make it exclusive funding for Philadelphia Schools, I think The Bowl Heads would like to help out, Education is Key to Knowlwdge and Success...— ArseoleChris - I nominate my fresh eyes for this task. Give me the school budget. I'll look at where all the money is going and i'll move some funds around, eliminate unneeded poop and increase funds to programs that work. I know this is done to some extent now but I believe it could be improved; we need to do a better job of getting the kids who want to learn together in the same schools and put the trouble makers together. Trouble makers shouldn't impact the schooling of students who actually want to learn. Results would be much better if the deciding factor for what school you go to wasn't primarily based on your address but on your willingness to learn. I realize there are some good high schools available to children but only so many kids are accepted each year to Central and Masterman. So I say to you, my fellow Philly.com-ians, raise up now, stand behind SeanMan in unison and together we will remove Ackerman! SeanMan for superintendent!!!— SeanMan
- My cousin graduated from high school on June 16th. Her graduating class you ask? 12 kids out of 90 that started the year. 12!!! The rest? Dropped out. The system is broken. If you keep throwing money at poop, it's still poop, just now it's expensive poop. I don't think raising taxes will solve anything. What we need is a whole new approach.. Fresh eyes...— SeanMan
- Here's the analogy of how the PSD is being run..to that of a corporate restaurant....have one waitress for every table,20 cooks on the line, use new silverware for every customer, and have 12 managers on every shift....The service will get better, but with that cost will be out of business in two weeks....Get real managers for public education budgets that are so high, not political ideologists!— bearsfriend
- log on to every urban paper in this country, go to education..it's eerie that you will see the same budget problems, the same waste and bloated spending, the same ignorant parents being sold a bill of goods from politicians and reformists pushing their political agendas/programs...weighted spending, promise/academies/turnarounds, eduacte vs. incarcerate, and destroyning neighborhood schools......— bearsfriend
- Ackerman is a disrespectful carpetbagger who is being investigated by both the IRS and the city for fiscal mismanagement. Not only will all of the school district unions be willing to go on strike, but we will have the support of unions all over this land...until our voices are heard....all the way to Obama's White House. LOUD AND CLEAR!!!! Get this idiot out of our town, Nutter. You can't possibly be this foolish. YOU WILL LOSE IN NOVEMBER IF YOU DON'T RID OUR TOWN OF ACKERMAN. We will not pay for her lack of integrity and mismanagement. The writing's on the wall.— phillysbest
Comment removed.- No tax increase of any kind. Philly is already taxed too much. The 7% sales tax to 8% sales tax was just recently passed to keep the city afloat. Now more money for the PSD. No way. — bgreenage
- Don't raise any taxes. Instead, eliminate $75 million worth of non-teaching positions in the School District, starting with the swarm of drones tending to Queen Bee Ackerman. Just take a look at the chool District uilding and figure out that not a single person employed there will ever teach a single class to a group of education-hungry kids.— DonQ
- It will get the school district through only one year. And to be honest if the school district tried they wouldn't need one penny to provide all the services they provide now. There is enormous waste and far too many jobs going to family members of those in power...and those family member do NOTHING except take a paycheck.
How high are taxes going to be once the city decides to address their underfunded pension? My advice is to every working middle class person is get out of the city while your home has any value. Great neighborhoods throughout the city are already memories and its only getting worse. Within 5 to10 years 75% of the city population will be living off the government. There won't be enough people around to tax. The businesses that will remain in the city are those that have sweetheart deals and pay virtually no taxes. Get out now and leave the city to union households who always vote Democrat and the brothers and sisters that have been running the city into the toilet for a decade now.— ResponsibleAmerican - Time to get back to basics. Too many children today in Philadelphia schools can't read, write, or do math. Cut the frills and start teaching the basics well to give our children a good educational foundation.— Smokey
- if funding doesnt mean anythign why do all the top performing districts spend far more than Philly per capita? Oh, more money doesnt work if the students are minorities. Why didn you just say that?— Yakov
- How come blacks (you cant say minorities, the schools work for Asian and Indian minorities) under perform in the best districts? I have a reading assignment for you from Philly Magazine titled "What if Bill Cosby is Right"? It chronicles black students in Lower Merion who have access to the best of everything and they still woefully under perform. Money is NOT the problem, it's a smokescreen designed to pay off democratic constituents. If they cared about educating black kids they would address the real problems, but they cant do that either, they need the black vote and to perpetuate the black is a victim theme. Democrats love blacks poor and uneducated, it keeps them voting 90% D. — tr88
- Comment removed.
Nothing will save it. If you gave them a billion dollars they would still be crying for more money- 60 years of failure isnt enough for them, we need to keep doing the same thing. but services? Never. The Inquirer and their fellow leftists spent 2 years demonizing "Tea baggers" for suggesting such a thing but it's the only answer. Obama, among others said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result — tr88
- should read "cut services". Our last chance for survival. — tr88
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Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns. E-mail tips to brennac@phillynews.com
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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Follow Chris on Twitter
David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
Follow Dave on Twitter.
Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
Follow Jan on Twitter
Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
Follow Sean on Twitter
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