Philadelphia City Council spent the day on Tuesday grilling the School Reform Commission on the $2.5 billion proposed 2012-13 school budget.
School district officials would like to make up $94 million of an expected $218 million gap with a controversial new city property tax program. The new assessment plan is backed by Mayor Michael Nutter, but also needs council approval.
Last week school district leaders said school doors may not be able to open next fall without the added funding. The district has also proposed an aggressive structural reorganization that would include closing 40 public schools and eliminating hundreds of administrative jobs.
Next year’s budget proposal also calls for union employee cooperation in the form of contract givebacks.
Council members questioned what help the SRC is seeking from Gov. Tom Corbett and state lawmakers in Harrisburg and what kind of guarantees school officials are able to offer about improving student performance under the proposed spending plan.
On Wed. afternoon teachers’ union president Jerry Jordan and other union and community leaders are expected to testify at a city council hearing.
The Pa. Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a $27.7 billion budget bill that would spare some of the cuts to education and other programs proposed by Corbett in Feb.
