At Roxborough High, Nutter touts plan for more school funding

MAYOR NUTTER kicked off a series of school visits yesterday at Roxborough High to tout his plan for more school funding.

Nutter's proposed 9.3 percent property-tax hike would raise $105 million in new recurring money for the cash-strapped district. The funding, in conjunction with additional dollars proposed by Gov. Wolf, would close the district's $85 million shortfall and allow schools to restore support staff and expand innovative programs, the mayor said.

"What we're talking about is now investments, eliminating a longstanding deficit and then investing in schools like Roxborough High and many, many others," Nutter said during a sit-down with administrators and parents.

Nutter's visits are meant to highlight "schools worth investing in," similar to the governor's pitch of "schools that teach." The mayor's plan requires City Council approval, which is far from guaranteed.

Although he would not speculate on Council's support for a tax hike, Nutter said he believes there is common ground on investing in education.

"The question is how to best put forward those dollars that are annually recurring, reliable and dependable funding - not one-time fixes, not pushing things off down the road," he said.

Roxborough High principal Dana Jenkins said her school of 550 students would receive an additional $420,000 next year if the money from the city and state comes through. With those dollars, she would be able to keep a second guidance counselor and add two teachers.

"When you think about the mental-health issues we have in this city with our babies, we need a counselor almost just for that," Jenkins said. "And because college and career is so important to what we do, we need that additional counselor to support our kids in getting accepted to all these universities they're getting accepted to."

Once listed among the state's persistently dangerous schools, Roxborough has seen steady improvement the past few years, thanks in part to adopting a career-academies model, according to Jenkins. Under the model, students in 10th, 11th and 12th grade get to choose a career track in arts or sciences and work in smaller classes.

Devin Bannerman is a junior studying cinematography and one of several student ambassadors who led Nutter on his tour. He said the hands-on approach has helped him turn things around academically since he transferred from Central High his freshman year.

"It doesn't just teach you about cameras. It gives you a lot of skills," he said of his academic track. "My writing has definitely gotten better since I came here solely because of scriptwriting."

As part of the tours, Nutter is scheduled to make stops at five other public schools this month, including Mastery Charter School Thomas Elementary, Southwark School, H.A. Brown Elementary, Anne Frank Elementary and String Theory's Vine Street Campus.