Amid protests, Philly SRC adopts $2.5 billion school budget at wild meeting
Over the objections of hundreds, the School Reform Commission adopted a $2.5 billion 2012-13 budget at a wild Thursday meeting interrupted frequently by chanting angry audience members.
No one - activists or officials - likes the spending plan, which leaves many schools without full-time nurses or police officers and which banks on extra city money that may not come through.
Still, "in this circumstance, we have little choice," Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen said. "We are effectively maxing out our credit card."
The district will borrow $218 million to meet expenses, but officials say they will be able to restore structural balance - not spending more than they take in - by 2013-14.
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And if the $94 million expected from Mayor Nutter's Actual Value Initiative tax plan or equivalent