Tight times … and classrooms feel effects

by Paul Socolar

Photo: Harvey Finkle

Just three years ago, the Philadelphia School District had 12,179 teachers. By this fall, that number will have dropped to about 10,000.

The loss of 2,000 teachers over four years makes it clear that the School District’s financial situation involves more than a little belt-tightening.

Cuts to teaching positions at budget time a year ago were the harbinger of what has proved to be a massive, systemwide financial crunch. And the more information School District officials reveal about the District’s still-unfolding budget crisis, the grimmer the picture gets.

Last fall came the first revelation of a $73 million deficit. The School Reform Commission responded with an array of cuts including 175 layoffs in the central office, cutbacks in District contracts, and tighter financial controls. Schools across the city reported cuts in teaching positions and discretionary funds and sharp increases in overcrowded and split-grade classrooms.

Spring 2007 brought the release of the School District’s five-year plan, which presented the reality of a still-widening chasm between expenditures and income. The plan shows an immediate deficit of $182 million for 2007-08 and a cumulative deficit totaling a billion dollars over five years unless cuts are made and new funds are found.

The plan prepared by District staff, under departing CEO Paul Vallas, proposes closing this billion-dollar gap through a mix of new revenues and cuts. In the coming year, the District proposes chopping another $99 million in expenses. In addition, the plan relies on the District’s coaxing $82 million more in revenue out of state and city sources, and continuing to cut back on expenditures in future years.

The plan depends heavily on school closings to keep the budget balanced over five years. At least 22 schools would be closed: seven in 2008, 11 in 2009, and four in 2010.

SRC Chair James Nevels said that staff, financial consultants, and Michael Masch, the state budget secretary, had put extensive work into developing and reviewing the plan.

“We have an understanding of the magnitude; we have an understanding of some areas of the budget where we can make some cuts; and all that will comport with the five-year plan,” Nevels said. “What I’m concerned about is that we move as quickly and decisively as we can and implement the recommendations.”

Parents and school activists have protested the budget cuts, questioning whether they will actually deliver the necessary savings. Michael Churchill, chief counsel of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, a veteran of many school funding fights, said he doubts the financial plan provides the resources needed to sustain the District’s reform momentum.

“This plan will not support increased student achievement,” he said, noting the lack of initiatives to improve teaching and learning. “Furthermore, it is based significantly on fantasy.”

If any of the two dozen items comprising the District’s gap-closing plan this year do not pan out, the SRC has indicated that they may have to turn to another set of contingency measures including program and school-based cuts they have previously rejected.