Will Philly delegation 'play ball' on budget to win dollars for city schools?
By Kevin McCorry for NewsWorks on Jun 26, 2014 06:13 PM
Photo: WikiMedia Commons
Facing a $66 million budget shortfall that threatens to turn schools into "empty shells," the Philadelphia school district has turned its pleas for additional funding to Harrisburg.
But lawmakers there are grappling with a $1.4 billion hole in their own budget, and the district's budget woes are but one of many legislative pieces maneuvering on the capitol chessboard.
With mere days remaining before the state's June 30 budget deadline, the halls of the state capitol are a buzz with politicking and strategy.
Education advocates lobbying on behalf of Philadelphia school children have a wish list.
Allow Philadelphia to put a $2 per pack tax on cigarettes sold within the city, keep the additional education funding that Governor Corbett proposed in February (The Philadelphia School District has been counting on $39 million of this) and, while you're at it, levy a broader tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling and save money by accepting the federal Medicaid expansion.
"I always try to educate people to the reality of it, and the reality of it can be very frustrating," said state Rep. Pam Delissio, (D-Philadelphia).
Delissio says she's had a few tense conversations with her Northwest Philadelphia constituents whose overarching concern is education funding.
"Unless people understand the reality of sort of how it works up here," she said, it's difficult to "get what you want done."
The proposed Philadelphia cigarette tax is a prime example of Harrisburg politics at work.
That tax, which Philadelphia City Council passed last Spring, is expected to generate at least $40 million in its first year and double that for years to come, all going to Philly education.
For the past year, it's been a non-starter in Harrisburg.
But it's recently found increased momentum following the consistent lobbying efforts of Superintendent William Hite, School Reform Commission Chairman Bill Green, Mayor Will Philly delegation 'play ball' on budget to win dollars for city schools? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined to rule on whether the School Reform Commission has the absolute right to unilaterally impose workrules on the teachers' union in the absence of a contract. The opinion offered no explanation for the decision. Chief Justice Ron Castille wrote a lengthy dissent, concluding that due to the District's dire financial position, the court was "duty-bound