Ackerman quizzed about revenue worries
by Paul Socolar on May 10 2010 Posted in Eye on the budget
In sparsely attended City Council hearings on the2010-11 School District budget Monday, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and Chief Business Officer Michael Masch said that District administrative and operational costs have already been cut by $76 million, but could be cut deeper if Gov. Rendell's proposed education funding increase for school districts is not fully funded.
In response to questioning by Councilman Bill Green, the superintendent said that while the District is currently working with a budget that includes a 6 percent across the board cut in non-instructional costs, her staff has also explored the contingency of an 8 percent cut.
The savings already achieved by the District help cover recently negotiated raises and increased charter school costs, while allowing the funding of more than $60 million in new initiatives from the District's Imagine 2014 strategic plan, including a major expansion of summer school.
Councilman Green, who issued his own white paper on school reform, questioned whether administrative cuts would be adequate to cope with the possible shortfall if the District doesn't get the $95 million increase in basic education funding for Philadelphia embedded in the Rendell budget.
Masch said after the hearing that the additional 2 percent cut to non-instructional expenses would net the District only $15 million. But he emphasized that funding