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School Budget Q & A
Join me, Baruch Kintisch of the Education Law Center, and Philadelphia Inquirer education reporter Kristen Graham, Thursday, May 12 at 1 p.m. for a live discussion on PaSchoolTalk about the School District of Philadelphia's budget.
On Monday this week Kristen and I held a similar live chat on Philly.com discussing the District's proposed cuts, the impact of cuts on services, and a look at education cuts statewide. You can find that discussion here.
Also check out the background budget information on the Law Center's site here.
Now, with new state budget proposals unveiled this week, how could the outlook change for Philly schools? Join the discussion here on PaSchoolTalk at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Tags: budget, education, funding, philadelphia, school
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lauren Jacobs on -
This seems to undermine the formula that the state had established. Are legislators explicit about that? Is there any mention of the Costing Out Study and how this budget flies in the face of any reasonable method for meeting needs?
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Permalink Reply by D. william Browning on
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Hello Baruch & Kristen, I understand the GOP has added additional education funds to the state budget, do we know what amount will come to Philadelphia schools?
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Permalink Reply by Kristen Graham on -
Thanks to Baruch and the folks at the Education Law Center for inviting me to join their conversation. I'm Kristen Graham, an education reporter for the Inquirer - specifically, I cover the Philadelphia School District. I'm happy to answer whatever questions I can about the budget, which was a big topic of conversation at yesterday's School Reform Commission meeting.
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Permalink Reply by Baruch Kintisch on -
Hi, Kristen. We'll get started in a minute. Thanks so much for joining us here at PaSchoolTalk. Any happy news about school funding?
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Permalink Reply by Baruch Kintisch on
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Kristen, want to take the first shot at this?
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Permalink Reply by Kristen Graham on
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Hi, Baruch! I really wish I could say that on my work today, I met a smart philanthropist willing to donate $629 million to help education in Philadelphia, but no such luck. Absent that, things aren't looking that much better. At yesterday's SRC meeting, Chief Financial Officer Michael Masch told the audience that even with a new proposal by Harrisburg Republicans, the district would only get about $20 million more from the state. If that's the case, Masch said, the district would still need to implement the "full gap-closing plan," which takes away full-day kindergarten and most transportation; raises class sizes; and eliminates more than 3,000 jobs districtwide, including about 1,200 teaching jobs.
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Permalink Reply by Kristen Graham on
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Good afternoon, William. In answer to your question: Philadelphia would get $19 million more under this plan, still leaving us with a $610 million gap.
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Permalink Reply by Kristen Graham on
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Hi, Lauren! Perhaps Baruch has heard an explicit reference to the Costing Out Study, which was commissioned in the Gov. Rendell era and gave us a blueprint for funding schools more equitably, but I haven't. The line I've heard coming out of Harrisburg is: we don't have the funds to support schools at the level they'd been supported in the past. Baruch, what do you think?
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Permalink Reply by Beth Olanoff on
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Hi, Kristen and Baruch:
It looks to me like both the governor's proposal and that of the House Republicans is really disproportionately harsh to large urban districts which means poor kids and kids of color get hurt the most by these proposals. Is that the case and what do you think of that?
Beth Olanoff
Ex Director
Pa League of Urban Schools
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Permalink Reply by Baruch Kintisch on
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Here's some numbers to put this in perspective. Under Corbett's original proposal, Philadelphia schools were being cut a total of $1,438 per student. Under the new proposal from the House Republicans, the cut for Philly is $1,334 per student. Compare this to Lower Merion School District, which went from a cut of $84 per student to $45 per student under the new plan. Think this will help test scores?
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Permalink Reply by Monica Allison on
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So here's my question: Where did the gap come from? Most of our public schools are over crowded underserved, buildings need rehab, kids with no books, teachers with no supplies, where is the money, because it obviously is not being spent on our children.
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Permalink Reply by D. william Browning on
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Speaking of teachers, how will the recently passed Senate bill impact our schools, this coming year?
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