Confronting a more than $4 billion deficit in the overall state budget, Corbett said Tuesday that Pennsylvania's education funding had to be slashed to make ends meet. In all, he proposes a more than 11 percent cut in his public school budget of $8.9 billion.
In Philadelphia, it means more fiscal misery for a district that had already been bracing for a funding gap of more than $400 million.
Michael J. Masch, the district's chief financial officer, estimated Tuesday night that the district would lose about $100 million in state funding under Corbett's plan.
When the loss of federal stimulus funds to the state budget was factored in, the Philadelphia School District would see a drop of $290 million, Masch said.
He declined to comment on the report that the district's shortfall would grow to $600 million.
If Corbett's cuts are enacted, Jerry T. Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, predicted increased class sizes, layoffs, and the elimination of programs such as advanced placement, music, and art in the city schools, which enroll 154,482 students.
"The state budget proposed [Tuesday] will reverse eight years of academic progress by slashing funding to vital programs created to put our students on equal footing with well-funded, high-achieving school districts," Jordan said.
About $110 million of the proposed cuts in Philadelphia would come from Corbett's plan to stop reimbursing districts for a portion of their charter-school costs.
The city's 74 charter schools enroll more than 43,000 students.
"I am concerned about the impact that the elimination of the charter-school reimbursement will have on the resources available for all young Philadelphians in our public school system," Mayor Nutter said.
