Efforts to get cigarette tax passed for schools ramp up

With tens of millions of dollars and more than 1,000 Philadelphia School District jobs on the line, all eyes shifted to Harrisburg on Monday as lawmakers returned from their summer break.

District leaders say they need a $2-per-pack cigarette tax passed quickly to help fill an $81 million deficit, and prevent mass layoffs and larger class sizes.

Philadelphia officials said they would keep the pressure on high until the tax is passed. Mayor Nutter, a familiar face in the state Capitol in recent months, plans to travel to Harrisburg again this week.

And outside Childs School in South Philadelphia, City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson said he, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan, and a group of neighbors were there to urge state lawmakers to "stop playing politics on the backs of our children."

Without the cigarette tax money, district officials cut some school police positions, cleaning services, and other essentials just to open schools on time.

Every week without the tax costs the district about $1.6 million, officials said.

"Many of our children attend dirty schools," Johnson said. "Our children attend schools that are unsafe. Our teachers have a limited amount of support for their classrooms. Our young people attend schools in a state of crisis."

Kim Smith, a parent with two children in city schools, said she picked up a protest sign because she wasn't sure what else to do.

"I'm angry," Smith said. "We're starting the year with very limited resources. We're telling our children that education is important, but we're sending them to schools that are unfit."

At Childs, she said, there's no hand sanitizer, a concern in a school with hundreds of small children, and toilet paper is in short supply.

Smith had a message for lawmakers:

"I challenge you to send your children to the inner-city schools in South Philadelphia, in North Philadelphia," Smith said. "Pass the cigarette tax, any kind of tax. Cut your salaries in half. Do whatever you need to do."

Harrisburg officials say they expect the House to vote on the cigarette tax by Wednesday, but with no legislative sessions Thursday or Friday, the earliest the Senate could consider the bill is next week.

Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny), said the plan was to strip the bill of some of its ancillary issues. But a provision that allows applicants ignored or denied charters by the School Reform Commission to appeal to the state will remain, he said.

Sources said that it appeared a five-year "sunset" for the cigarette tax was still on the table, as well.