SRC OKs spending plan that relies heavily on state aid | Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/27/2010

SRC OKs spending plan that relies heavily on state aid

By Kristen A. Graham

Inquirer Staff Writer

If Harrisburg doesn't come through with the state aid the Philadelphia School District is banking on, cuts to its newly adopted $3.2 billion budget could come from the classroom, officials said Wednesday.

The School Reform Commission approved a spending plan that pays for new labor contracts, bigger pension obligations, and $180 million for Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's strategic plan. The budget relies heavily on federal stimulus money and $1.68 billion in state aid - a figure that Gov. Rendell proposed but that the legislature has not approved.

State aid accounts for 55 percent of the district's budget.

Michael Masch, district chief business officer, defended the budget as "sound" and based on the best information available. He noted that the district had shown improved test scores for the last seven years.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) pointed to an April 27 letter to all Pennsylvania superintendents, in which state Republican leaders warned that there was "no guaranteed level of funding" and that the state's financial position had "changed significantly" since Rendell's proposal.

Last year, the district counted on Rendell's proposal and ended up having to make $144 million in cuts. The budget already contains efficiencies, Masch said, but more would be considered if Harrisburg doesn't come through.

"If revenue shortfalls can't be eliminated solely through operating efficiencies," he said, "we will consider changes that affect our educational programs, but only as a last resort."

Those might include rolling back initiatives to reduce class sizes and add counselors, scaling back summer school, and delaying proposed expansions for charter schools, Masch said.

The budget passed, 4-0. Commissioner David Girard-diCarlo said he supported the budget "reluctantly," and Commissioner Johnny Irizarry abstained.

Irizarry declined to immediately say why he did not support the budget.

While praising Masch and Ackerman for doing the best they could, Girard-diCarlo warned th

Friday, May 28, 2010

SRC OKs spending plan that relies heavily on state aid | Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/27/2010

SRC OKs spending plan that relies heavily on state aid