Philly school officials say they can't commit to rehires based on tentative bailout package
PHILADELPHIA — It's too early to know whether a tentative state rescue package will allow the city's school system to rehire any of its 3,800 laid-off employees, city and district officials said Monday.
Lawmakers in Harrisburg crafted a series of proposals over the weekend that would generate about $141 million for the broke district. But not all the measures have legislative approval yet, and the school system would still need an additional $163 million to cover its deficit.
"There remains a good deal of activity in Harrisburg before we're comfortable discussing the actual results," Mark McDonald, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter, said in an email.
Superintendent William Hite and the state-run School Reform Commission, which oversees the district, expressed support for the bailout. The plan provides an extra $16 million in education aid and redirects a $45 million windfall in public welfare funds to the city's schools; the remaining $80 million would come from borrowing and more aggressive tax collection.
The package would also allow the city to extend a temporary increase in its sales tax and give that money — about $120 million annually, starting next year — to the schools. But City Council