Phila. SD faces a new $35M shortfall
The Philadelphia School District faces an additional $35 million in cuts beyond the $629 million it already had to slash, its chief financial officer said today. Michael Masch gave updates on union negotiations.
Phila. SD faces a new $35M shortfall
Kristen Graham
Philadelphia School District Chief Financial Officer Michael Masch said at a press briefing Wednesday that the school system now faces an additional $35 million in cuts.
The district was banking on $57 million in reimbursements for charter school costs, but the state is declining to provide the funds. The district did receive $22 million more than expected thanks to an Accountability Block Grant, bringing the total gap to $35 million.
That's above and beyond the $629 million gap announced this spring and made up through a combination of layoffs, deep program cuts and additional money from the city.
"We hope to announce what the decisions are to close this $35 million gap in the near future," Masch said.
Also still up in the air is how the district will get $75 million in give-backs from its five unions. Officials are banking on that savings, but no deals have been reached yet, and some of the unions - including the largest, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, have said they won't negotiate.
The School Reform Commission has threatened to cancel the contracts and impose terms on the unions, a power it has under the state takeover law that created the SRC. It would be the first time the SRC used that power.
"It's clearly not too late" for unions to start talking, Masch said. "We are in active discussions with some of our collective bargaining units, but not all of them."
Masch said the district is not proposing re-opening the contracts because it believes workers are paid too much.
"We have some very brutal math to deal with," Masch said.
The district is not proposing a wage cut, but avoiding an increase, he said.
"If we avoid that increase, we can save hundreds of jobs," Masch said, but if not. Foregoing the $75 million in union give-backs would mean the layoff of 800 more workers, in addition to the 3,400 already given pink slips.
I will forgo my raise in January as long as Ackerman defers hers.— Fillygirl250- I wish I could get a 33% bonus for bankrupting my company. — jn3
- any idea why the state is "declining to provide the funds"? guess they're sick of throwing money at Ackerman— TheRevoltionWillNotBeTelevised
Comment removed.- Ackerman is a disgusting excuse for a human being. She is as much of a thief as those in prison. She does not care about children, education or teachers. All she cares about is stuffing her fat ugly, smug face with food and sitting in her big house while laughing at the city of Philadelphia.— love25
- Why throw money at a broken machine? If the district does not receive the $35M will the graduation rate go from 40% to 35%? I'm willing to live with that to save $35M— RandyFloyd
- There's a difference between forgo and defer.— krammar
- It's not a funding shortfall - the schools are plenty well funded. It's the spending that someone needs to keep an eye on - it's out of control and being used poorly.— Fascism Rules
- let the charter schools pay for themselves; they are nothing but private schools publicly funded anyway! Masch can say with a straight face that some employees are paid too much? himself? his boss????— mzjammers
- Comment removed.
- @Randy, so essentially you placed $35M ahead of 7,500 students? (5% grad rate of 150k students = 7,500). I hate when the district takes the kids hostage. 150,000 students (K-12) and they have over $600M in deficit? Thats just the deficit!! If the PSD is a normal business, it would be audited and cleansed. I would LOVE to take a look at their balance sheet.— penncrow19
- The district is one huge hole, a chasm, with no bottom. Look, assuming its not sheer incompetency in Masch's ability to possess a better grasp of the big picture in overall funding and crisis management, and assuming that Arlene still doesn't have both hands in the cookie jar, it's got to be a last minute ploy to further justify the now plus 75 mil in give backs being asked of the unions. Simply put and REGARDLESS of reasons and excuses, under this current administration, there's absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel. They have turned the district into one collosal, disfunctioning entity!— lefty
- Comment removed.
- I'm losing count of the lies. Extra money from the city will bring in more state money? No, it didn't. Richer districts got most of their money back, Philly and the other "distressed" district got less back than expected.
That's what happens when you let the fox run the henhouse, giving an excuse to the Republican'ts for destroying public education.
And this district isn't getting back a dime from the PFT. We already give back more than other teachers, and it isn't because we aren't as good.— juliec224 - Comment removed.
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
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