Budget forecast: Another year of growth
by Paul Socolar on Apr 21 2010 Posted in Eye on the budget
Philadelphia schools can expect an infusion of $52 million in federal stimulus grant dollars for school improvement, Chief Business Officer Michael Masch told the School Reform Commission, as well as a $90 million boost in the state's basic education subsidy if Gov. Ed Rendell's education budget survives what is expected to be a contentious legislative process in Harrisburg.Unlike districts across the country that aregrappling with teacher layoffs and harsh cutbacks, the School District of Philadelphia, in its $3.2 billion draft budget for 2010-11 released Wednesday, projects a third consecutive year of new and expanded offerings.
Masch is expecting overall revenues to rise 5 percent even though District income from local sources is flat.
But grim news is on the horizon: an expected surge in pension costs of more than $150 million over the next three years, coupled with the real possibility that this is the last year the District will get a quarter of a billion dollars of federal stimulus funds for education.
Masch also pointed out that despite recent funding increases, Philadelphia is still thousands of dollars short of its target for an adequate level of funding as measured in the 2007 state "costing-out study."
Asked about contingencies if this year's final state budget delivers less education aid than Rendell proposes, Masch said the governor's proposal is "reasonable" and added, "We should be asking 'What can we all do to persuade legislators to approve the budget the governor proposed?'"