This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
The School District issued the following statement Monday afternoon in response to the school funding plan released by Gov. Corbett on Sunday. Parts of the plan await final legislative approval.
Note: The following is a corrected statement released by the District. An earlier version had the estimated revenue from delinquent tax collection at a higher amount than the city had projected ($30 million as opposed to $28 million).
Statement of Philadelphia Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. and School Reform Commission Chairman Pedro A. Ramos on Governor Corbett’s Funding Proposal The School District of Philadelphia supports approval of the Philadelphia School District Funding package to be considered for final approval today by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. We are appreciative of Governor Tom Corbett, the General Assembly, Mayor Michael Nutter, and City Council’s efforts to provide much needed resources to our students. And we are grateful to our students, parents, employees, civic and business leaders, and other stakeholders for their advocacy for increased funding and savings for our School District. The proposed Philadelphia schools package contains critical, recurring funding estimated at $120,000,000 per year (starting in FY 2015), the ability for Philadelphia to generate additional recurring revenue through better delinquent tax collection (estimated by the City of Philadelphia at $28,000,000 per year), and the means to assemble one-time funds from the Commonwealth and City to build a bridge between the challenges of FY 2014 and future new recurring revenue. In the days and weeks ahead, we will continue to work with our partners at the state and city as well as our employees to secure the revenues and necessary savings needed to provide Philadelphia students with a safe, high quality education while managing our finances responsibly.