Are plans to raise money for Philadelphia’s struggling schools unraveling?

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

by Holly Otterbein for NewsWorks

Philadelphia City Council declined to vote on a bill Wednesday that would generate $22 million for the School District by increasing the liquor-by-the-drink tax to 15 percent from 10 percent. For now, it seems that there is not enough support for it to pass.

But Council President Darrell Clarke said the proposal is not dead. It also would need state-enabling legislation to become a reality. If that comes through, he said, Council could theoretically reconsider it.

“If the vote happens in Harrisburg, we’ll be in a position to do some things,” Clarke said, “and put revenue on the table for the School District.”

Council heard business owners, public school parents and educators passionately voice their opinions on the tax hike Wednesday. Susan DeJarnatt, a parent, said outright, “I am asking you to raise my taxes!”

Megan Rosenbach, a former teacher who plans to send her future children to public school, is also supportive of the tax increase.

“I am one of those twenty-somethings that other people are talking about,” she said. “And I almost guarantee you that a liquor-by-the-drink tax will not keep us out of the bars.”

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