Phila. School District Proposes $3.2B Budget (PA)
April 22, 2010
Bucking a national trend of layoffs and deep cuts, the School District of Philadelphia on Wednesday introduced a $3.2 billion 2010-11 budget that contains money for new classroom initiatives.
Despite a tough economy, new labor contracts, bigger pension obligations, and less help from the city, the district wants to spend $180 million on Imagine 2014, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman’s five-year strategic plan to improve academic performance.
Still, the good news came with warnings that federal money could dry up next year, just when the district faces a huge jump in pension costs.
Federal stimulus aid and an expected bump in state funding are responsible for this year’s budget, said chief business officer Michael Masch, who built the budget assuming the district would receive $1.68 billion from Harrisburg, the figure that Gov. Rendell proposed but that the legislature has not yet approved.
Other states are feeling the pinch more, Masch said, because the Pennsylvania legislature funneled federal stimulus aid on top of state increases in education aid. Elsewhere, aid was often taken away and replaced with federal stimulus money.
For the second year in a row, Masch presented a balanced budget – a departure from the previous few district spending plans. There’s a 4.5 percent increase in spending over the current budget.
No layoffs are expected. The budget calls for about 50 fewer teachers than the 11,000 this year, but the district would accommodate that by hiring fewer teachers than usual. About 100 noninstructional positions would be cut, but Masch said he did not believe those trims would require layoffs among the district’s 23,900 employees.
Districts nationwide are making plans to cut staff. Nine in 10 superintendents in a survey by the American Association of School Administrators said they planned to lay off staff, up from two in three last year.
The money set aside for Ackerman’s strategic plan would pay for an expanded summer school for up to 50,000 students, three "newcomer learning academies" for recent immigrants, a new peer-review teacher-evaluation system, and a second reengagement center to help dropouts, among other things.
The district’s summer school budget more than doubled – it would pay $47 million this year for the initiative. Like last year, the district would offer a full-day program of academics and enrichment.
The budget also would pay for 14 Renaissance sc hools – low-performing district schools that, beginning in September, will be run by outside managers or the central office, with a longer school day, a longer year, and a mostly remade teaching force.
About 3,400 teachers would staff summer school, which would be held at more than 100 sites citywide.
Last year, the district fell short of its goal of 40,000 summer school students, but efforts are already under way to increase enrollment this year, Masch said.
He and one School Reform Commission member sounded a warning note about rising pension obligations.
"We have a major pension crisis looming," Masch said.
A change in state law requires the district to put $13 million more into the state pension fund in 2010-11; the district would have to put $123 million more away in 2012-13.
"Based on what we’re presenting this year, we could be missing well over a third of our budget," School Reform Commissioner David Girard-DiCarlo said. "We’re going to have to plan for it."
He said he also worried about the budget’s reliance on federal money that is scheduled to dry up after this year.
Perhaps the federal government will help schools beyond this year, and perhaps the legislature will pass a law to fix the pension issue, but "we can’t count on any of that," Girard-DiCarlo said.
In addition to more money for pensions, over the next year the district must fund a $40 million increase in costs associated with new labor contracts. There’s also about $40 million more dedicated to charter schools thanks to a state-mandated increase in per-pupil spending and anticipated enrollment bumps due to charter expansions.
Commissioner Johnny Irizarry asked ab out the impact of the Bureau of Revision of Taxes workers on the city payroll. Historically, the district has spent about $4 million annually for 80 BRT patronage employees to allow them to get around a City Charter provision banning city employees from political activity.
Mayor Nutter wants the city to take over property assessment, and on May 18, voters will consider abolishing the BRT.
If the BRT is wiped out, Masch said, the district will negotiate with the city to pay some fee for property-tax assessment.
If the BRT stays, Masch said, the commission wants the BRT employees off its payroll anyway.
"Property-tax assessment in Philadelphia should be efficient, accountable, and transparent," he said. "The chair has expressed the view that the current arrangements do not pass that test."
In a statement, Ackerman said she was pleased with the budget. "Our focus is to drive more resources into our schools and our classrooms to be able to accelerate progress in all our schools," she said.
Of the money set aside for district-run schools, about 63 percent goes into instruction and 28 percent is spent on operating support.
Overall, there are 200,000 students in public schools, including charter schools. The number in district schools has dropped sharply in the last decade – from about 205,000 to 164,000.
Charter school enrollment has soared to 38,000 as the district has approved more charters. There are 67 charter schools, but the number for next year is undecided.
Some of the Renaissance schools will become charters, but the final number won’t be announced until next month.
No members of the public testified on the budget, whose details were not disclosed before a special meeting Wednesday at district headquarters. Next, a series of community hearings will be held around the city.
The School Reform Commission is scheduled to adopt a budget May 26.