Debate rages over formula for city school funding

ADMINISTRATORS from the Philadelphia School District implored City Council yesterday to lobby Harrisburg for a permanent funding solution to bear the cost of the city's public-school system and avoid "year-to-year begging."

City Council members have long complained of being left out of the loop when it comes to budget time for the school district. Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who chairs the education committee, said during a marathon public hearing in City Hall that district officials seem to wait until the last minute to present their budget to City Council.

"We don't want to be in a position where the whole city says, '[City Council doesn't] want to fund education,' " she said. "It's not true. We have no information and no promise of any information."

Matthew E. Stanski, chief financial officer for the school district, and Lori Shorr, chief education officer to Mayor Nutter, both testified that the district could face another budget deficit similar to this year's shortfall of $304 million.

"The reason we need a funding formula is so that we're not year-to-year begging," said Shorr. "It is more costly to educate kids here than in [other] places. We're not talking about lowering standards, but to get the kids where they need to be, it takes great amount of resources."

The school district receives 57 percent of its budget from the state and 37 percent from the city. Councilman David Oh raised questions as to how additional state-supplied money would be spent within the district to directly affect learning.

"There's clearly a problem with the quality [of education] the school district is providing," said Oh. "What will you do to fix the quality of education so that the funding will follow? On most of these universal [test] evaluations, Philadelphia performs very poorly. At this dismal rate of education, how will you reform that you're providing a better education that will effectively use those dollars to benefit the children?"

The district spends about $11,000 per student for an enrollment of roughly 200,000, including charter schools. Nearly 75 percent of students are African-American or Hispanic, and more than 80 percent come from families who are deemed "economically disadvantaged."

The affluent Lower Merion School District, by comparison, spends $21,399 per student.