School District Of Philadelphia Budget Gap At $38.8 Million

According to The Philadelphia Daily News Article printed today, The School District of Philadelphia has a budget deficit of $38.8 million. These are the latest figures according to District Officials as of Friday citing that early retirements and ongoing layoffs as the reasoning behind the Districts shaky finances. Interesting enough these same figures come out only a few months after Dr. Arlene Ackerman’s payoff of $905,000 and Estelle Matthews $82,000 in raises to seven of her School District friends and family members.

Initially in January, the School District had stated their budget deficit at $61 million. On Friday this number jumped up to $70.8 million as the School District used loyal employees who served the system for years in the schools as their scapegoat for the increase in monies paid out for early retirements and layoffs. The truth of it is the District has had a long-standing history of mismanaging their budget for years.

What is most interesting about the Districts claims for the budget deficit is that they did not anticipate, as many employees would take advantage of the retirement incentive program offered in June. My guess is this is very different from the truth. The School District has access to how many employees had met the requirements for the incentive and they were fully aware that most of these folks who had qualified would take advantage of the program, which offered 18 months of fully paid benefits. Rightfully so these individuals deserved this for committing their time and effort towards serving the children of our city for years.

Since announcing its shortfall, the School District of Philadelphia has further reduced its workforce this time targeting the School Police Officers that patrol school hallways and ensure school safety. The Districts layoff plan for this department entailed releasing 91 officers from their jobs, which the District claims will save them $32 million. At a time when violence and safety are running rampant in public schools, it is a wonder that District officials can sleep easy at night knowing that our children and staff members are without protection. Many of the District’s Schools are in tough urban neighborhoods where crime is just about as commonplace as walking to the store.

Compounding the Districts financial troubles is its inability to collect fees and building maintenance costs it is leasing out to various charter schools. One such charter school known as Universal Cos., Inc. that had taken over Audenreid High school and Vare Middle School has failed to come to terms with the School District on paying for its license and fees. Universal is supposed to be paying $1.5 million a year for building costs for Audenreid and $858,360 for Vare. Interesting enough Universal had been informed by then Superintendent Dr. Arlene Ackerman and former School Reform Commission Chair Robert L. Archie that their fees for these buildings would be waived. District officials had no comment.