District now says it has $38.8M left to cut by June
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
District now says it has $38.8M left to cut by June
Kristen Graham
The Philadelphia School District's current budget gap stands at $38.8 million, officials said Friday.
On Jan. 19, the district announced it had a $61m shortfall that had to be bridged by June. The district said in a statement today that number had actually increased to $70.8 million.
Some cuts have been made, but $38.8 million must still be cut, spokesman Fernando Gallard said in a statement.
The gap had increased in part because of costs associated with a voluntary early retirement program offered to employees last year. More employees than anticipated accepted the offer, meaning the program cost the district instead of saving it money. The district also had "separations in excess of the number originally anticipated because of continued layoffs throughout the winter," it said in the statement. The costs include mandatory payments required at termination and unemployment costs, the district said.
Already cut were 91 school police officers and a handful of regional and central office staff. The district also saved money by implementing furloughs, pay cuts and healthcare contributions for some non-unionized administrative employees. It has also slashed summer school programs and consolidated the number of schools open nights and weekends for city recreation programs.
Cuts proposed but not yet decided upon include: losing all spring sports, instrumental music, gifted programs, and bilingual counseling associates. The district has also said it might cut back on the number of school psychologists. It's not clear when those decisions will be made or announced.
Kristen, take a look at today's Notebook. Renaissance Schools are bleeding millions of dollars and the school district is very generously paying nearly all the costs those operators are contracted to pay. If there's no outrage and a demand for action over this by the Inquirer, City Council and Philadelphia's citizens, this city will have been officially be inhabited by zombies.— Jame- Here's the link: http://www.thenotebook.org/blog/124517/district-cant-say-how-many-millions-its-spending-renaissance-charters — Jame
- This City is an absolute disgrace.— discobiscuit
Zombies are running the school district, they continually devour human beings attempting to survive (employees, students and taxpayers).— slugo
Simple, collect the property tax owed. Sell the thousands of homes / lots owned by the city. The money is there, the Mayor's office simply refuses to take action. Oh yeah, eliminate DROP and force those who stole millions from the taxpayer to pay it back. Find the missing artwork stolen from schools and public buildings. Collect the hundreds of millions in bail money outstanding. Start running the city like a business and not like a welfare mom.
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- When are they going to have a 3rd party audit the school district. Where is the moeny going?— A1Z
- Reassign all students away from the most failing, under-utilized twenty schools in the district and close them. $40 million each year would be saved immediately. Tackle this on the spending side, not the revenue side if you want to succeed in the long run.
You're welcome, Philadelphia!— Matt McKenzie - How about your governor do his job and educate ALL of the children of Pennsylvania. The state has never, ever, funded the district properly. NEVER! There is no way the people at 440 squandered $800,000,000 million. They may be responsible for $200,000,000, I'll give them that. This is how we deal with unions Governor? Seriously! Just take the whole thing over and be done with it! Complete your plan now so the kids can have a fighting chance next school year, because this one is finished! Done! BTW... Hope the people of Philly don't expect test scores to rise this year. No fault of the kids or teaching staff. Also, before you say this what the district gets for lazy unionized workers (I am not pro union), please be reminded that your "New" Harrisburg has clobbered everything Philly, not just the schools! — ceage
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- @CleanupPhilly Okay, so the city goes after the property tax deadbeats and they magically appear with checkbooks at hand? Get real; it will take years to collect. And administration will be a nightmare too, entailing more costs. How about this state funding education adequately like it is mandated to. (Not to make excuses for tax delinquents.)
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- pres, CleanupPhilly has been harping on this for several years now, but he never really seems to offer a viable way to do it. Oh, he mouths platitudes, but why doesn't he offer to step up and lead the way?— 165Valley
- @areyoukiddin: They should not have to get rid of the transportation costs (ie "free bus pass"). Although the "reported cost" of education per student varies (including transportation), it is more than $11,000 per student, which is more than it costs to go to Community College for a year. Cutting transportation funding is not going to eliminate the school district's budget problem, and for that kind of money it SHOULD include transportation. And besides, some of us actually paid enough taxes to cover that (at least for our own children.)— dee99999
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- Here's an idea. Turn off the heaters in all of the buildings and dress warmly. My classroom reached 88 degrees yesterday and today. Windows were open for breathing purposes. Talk about $ flying out the window.— brio
- Here's an idea. Turn off the heaters in all of the buildings and dress warmly. My classroom reached 88 degrees yesterday and today. Windows were open for breathing purposes. Talk about $ flying out the window.— brio
- The deficit and "shortfalls" change every other day. They are lying and/or incompetent or both. Complacent citizens are allowing this to continue instead of rallying together for children and our future. Bummer.— omseeker
- The deficit and "shortfalls" change every other day. They are lying and/or incompetent or both. Complacent citizens are allowing this to continue instead of rallying together for children and our future. Bummer.— omseeker
- The deficit and "shortfalls" change every other day. They are lying and/or incompetent or both. Complacent citizens are allowing this to continue instead of rallying together for children and our future. Bummer.— omseeker
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- At $400,000 per day, the goal can be reached in 97 days. The SD could cut $200,000/day just be getting rid of company cars and their drivers for the rest of the school year.— axxell
- Yeah, let Corbett take over the schools, tear up the teacher contracts, make all of the schools charter schools, make them run like businesses. And what will you have? Failing businesses across the board. Oh, sure you can stack the deck at a few, choice charters, run up some nice PSSA scores. But unless you address the one part of the equation that is NEVER addressed - the parents of the students in the school district, NOTHING is going to change. NOTHING!— Boru
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.
You can also follow Kristen on Twitter here.
