Philadelphia School District Faces $186 Milllon Deficit - AFTER already making $600 million of cuts

[JPZenger]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20120329_Philadelphia_School_District_faces__186_million_budget_gap.html

"Beyond the $26 million it must cut by June, the Philadelphia School District faces a $186 million shortfall for the 2012-13 budget year, and officials plan to plug it, in part, with more aggressive city tax collections. Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen also said he did not expect the SRC would have to resort to the nuclear option - using its state-given powers to impose terms on its five labor unions - to close the remainder of the 2012 gap.

The district is coming off a brutal year where officials had to slash spending by more than $600 million, with some cuts made mid-year and $26 million still left to cut. SRC Chairman Pedro Ramos told City Council this weekthat "bad fiscal policy" - not just a decrease in state and federal funds, as officials had maintained for months - was to blame for the district's fiscal woes.

Schools are cut to the bone now, Houstoun said. The SRC would love to provide them with "an enriched program," restoring some of the cuts that have been made over the past painful year, but that seems unlikely. Still, she said, for next year, schools will not have to "operate in a fiscal fire drill."

[msongs]

1. citizens of PA don't want to pay for schools. la di da nt