Williams: PSP needs to offer $ for district schools, too

State Sen. Anthony Williams says the Philadelphia School Partnership needs to "put its money where its mouth is."

Williams, who has been criticized by his fellow Democratic mayoral candidates for expressing support for the PSP's recent offer to donate $35 million to the School District of Philadelphia to grow its number of charter schools, said in a statement this afternoon that any money donated by the PSP to help cover the cost of new charters "must be matched dollar for dollar with more funding for District public schools.  We need more funding for good schools in Philadelphia, charters and public schools alike."

Williams once again lambasted former City Councilman Jim Kenney, who opposes the PSP's offer unless it accompanies some form of charter reimbursement.

Earlier today, former Common Pleas Judge Nelson Diaz ripped Williams over his support for the PSP offer.

Here's the full statement from Williams' campaign:

"PHILADELPHIA - Candidate for Mayor, Anthony Hardy Williams released the following statement regarding the PSP offer to provide $35 million to the School District to fund charter expansion:

The proposal on the table is a good start, but PSP must do more. If the District decides to approve charters, we should absolutely welcome philanthropy to help cover some of the costs until we have a permanent solution.

Most important, PSP needs to put its money where its mouth is. Any donation to the School District to offset charter costs must be matched dollar for dollar with more funding for District public schools.  We need more funding for good schools in Philadelphia, charters and public schools alike.

For Jim Kenney to suggest the District should turn away $35M in donations to Philadelphia's public schools lacks good judgment and is irresponsible.

Whether or not the District should accept philanthropic gifts is a sideshow – the District has consistently done so in the past. Those who suggest otherwise either don't understand the facts or are purposely choosing to ignore them.

The real solution must be achieved in Harrisburg, so that Philadelphia public schools receive full funding.  This is about funding for good schools, period.

That's what we should all support.  And that's why I am working with State Representative John Taylor and others to make it easier to close poor performing charter schools and to restore the charter reimbursement funding from the state. So that any new charter schools don't impact the District's bottom line."