Despite all the pissing and money about the district wasting money on outrageous teacher salaries and pensions, seems the real problem is the Santa Claus provision our Republican-dominated legislature ticked away into state law. This is, of course, contrary to the right-wing wisdom shared on our local newspaper site, but oh well! Nobody cares about schools, anyway:
Unless the Philadelphia School District raises more than $200 million extra in a hurry, Moody’s Investors Service warned it will cut the district’s bond rating — which is already down at Ba2, junk status, forcing the district to pay extra when it borrows money — because the district’s proposed $2.5 billion budget for the next fiscal year will “materially imperil its ability to provide students with an adequate education.”
Without $216 million in additional funding, Moody’s analyst Dan Seymour wrote in a report to clients, the district threatens to increase the average class size to 41 students and lay off more than 1,000 staff. ” This is credit negative because a further deterioration in education services will likely result in additional student flight to charter schools and other alternatives,” further reducing district revenues, Seymour added. 3 in 10 Philadelphia students already go to charter schools.
“Rising charter school enrollments have been a drag on the district’s finances, as state law mandates that public school districts pay the costs of sending students to charter schools. Driven largely by charter school tuition costs, the district’s costs per pupil have increased 70% since 2004. Further enrollment declines would exacerbate the district’s financial pressure as charter schools capture a larger share of the district’s expenditures,” Moody’s adds.
“The school district has very limited means of raising revenues and has cut costs aggressively, reducing teaching staff by 22% from 2004 to 2013, closing 24 schools in 2013 and cutting substantially again this year with further personnel reductions. However, most of the district’s remaining budget consists of mandatory expenditures, with charter school tuition and transportation costs, debt service, and pension contributions together comprising half of the district’s budget.”
How do Penn. school districts raise revenues? Using property taxes on a district by district basis? With richer districts having larger school budgets than poorer districts? Does Penn. have taxing districts regulated by the state? The clever privatization tactic of shifting motivated kids into charter schools while leaving less motivated students behind in public schools can only last for so long. At some point critical mass will be reached. Somebody will notice that the public schools are nothing but holding areas where little learning goes on (west Philly school we spoke about yesterday). Then questions will be raised and the situation will begin to self-correct. The condition of separate and Unequal will not be allowed to continue.
This is what Rethuglicans call governance. Implement legislation that is the worst possible for ANY challenge and then complain that government doesn’t work when their shitty policy fucks things up beyond reason. They are abetted in this charade by the 1%’s media megaphone, brain dead supporters who don’t know reality when it kicks them in the teeth, and an acquiescent public who don’t thing anything they do will change the situation.
When did Pennsylvanians become such exemplary idiots? Every time I hear yankees talk about how they should just let Texas and the rest of the South secede, I wonder what they think is so special about Wisconsin or Pennsylvania or Michigan or Ohio or Indiana or Maine or New Jersey or Kansas or the entire Great Plains and Rocky Mtn and Intermountain West regions or Alaska, etc………
What’s up with Imhotep? Those last two sentences were either the most naive or most sarcastic statements I have read in years. Not a good sign of mental health.