Philadelphia schools get their money; now come the decisions

Will hundreds of teacher jobs come off the Philadelphia School District's chopping block? Will accelerated schools - alternative programs for students who have dropped out or are at risk of doing so - be saved? What about early-childhood education? Nurses? Counselors? Art and music?

The district will get $53 million in new funding from a deal tentatively approved by City Council Thursday that calls for a property-tax increase of nearly 4 percent, but where the money will go has yet to be determined.

Much is still murky, but one thing is certain: Unlike in previous years, Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman is not the only one who will decide how the money is spent.

"We're going to do the best with what we have," Ackerman said. "We're going to work together - the mayor, the district. and Council. Together."

She said the first meeting would be Monday. This is a marked departure from the past, when Ackerman set her own priorities, some of which Council clearly disagrees with.

The district and the School Reform Commission have already signed an Education Accountabilty Agreement, which requires the district to open its books and collaborate with Mayor Nutter and the state in a way it has not before.

But the property-tax deal comes with more strings, Council members said.

Blondell Reynolds Brown, typically a strong supporter of the district, wants answers. She is one of the Council members who will sit down with Ackerman to figure out how the $53 million will be spent.

"We really do want to see more specifics of what will be done with the money," said Brown, whose top priority is small classes because research shows that more individualized learning in the early grades pays dividends later.

While Council's top priorities are salvaging the reduced-class-size initiative for kindergarten through Grade 3, preserving yellow school bus transportation, restoring seats in an early-childhood-education program, and accelerated schools, there is too little money to pay for everyone's priorities, Brown said.

Money to sustain many art and music programs appears gone at the moment. So are funds that would save the jobs of some nurses and counselors. The district's budget includes cuts for after-school programs, gifted and talented education, special education, and middle school athletics.

Some Council members have taken aim at Ackerman's $21 million summer-school program. Others target Promise Academies, overhauled schools that get extra funding.

Councilman Bill Green, for instance, wants the district to cut summer school, whose budget has risen sharply under Ackerman, and new Promise Academies. There are six such schools now; 11 more are to open in September.

Councilman Jim Kenney also questioned summer school and Promise Academies.

"If that's their priority, that's their decision, it's not our decision," Kenney said in Council testimony Friday.

But Ackerman said including Council in decision-making and giving it say over the final district budget should present no problem.

"We'll restore those things that are mutually agreed upon, and then continue to work and lobby in Harrisburg for additional dollars," Ackerman said.

How much help - if any - the schools get from Harrisburg remains a question.

Gov. Corbett's proposed budget would cut funding for basic education more than $1 billion. Republicans who control the House have championed an alternative to Corbett's budget that would restore some cuts. It would increase state funding $210 million for K-12 education, for instance. The idea is to have every district receive at least the same state funding it did in the 2008-09 fiscal year, before federal stimulus money kicked in.

The Republican plan, which passed the House, is under consideration in the Senate. Top Republican leaders there have said they are looking to restore even more money to public schools.

Philadelphia would get about $20 million more from the state under that plan.

"We'd like to improve on it by sending some additional funding to public schools," Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) said.

"That is something that is under discussion," he said. "We would like to find some additional funding for public schools, but there is intense competition."

Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Phila.) said Council's vote to increase property taxes will help get more from Harrisburg.

"The city stepped up," said Hughes, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. "There are still no guarantees that Philadelphia will get any extra dollars, or what that money will be, but this gives the School District more momentum and respect. This will only help them."

Corbett's office has been tight-lipped on the legislature's changes to his budget plan. Corbett has said he would consider alternatives as long as they held spending to his proposed $27.3 billion.