Philadelphia, along with districts throughout the state and across the country, knew they would face challenges once the stimulus programs ended.
But Philadelphia got caught in a double squeeze, between evaporating federal funds and proposed massive cuts in basic state aid and programs that have the greatest impact on poor districts.
"We have never had an instance like this year, where the state has proposed not a small increase in funding or a zero increase in funding, but a 10 percent decrease in funding," chief financial officer Michael Masch said. "What is happening is unprecedented. . . . Nothing this bad has ever happened before."
If the state legislature approves Gov. Corbett's budget, the district's operating budget of $3.2 billion this school year is slated to shrink to $2.7 billion after July 1.
When school districts signed on for the federal aid, officials expected the economic downturn would be over when the stimulus ended. But economic woes turned out to be more stubborn than expected, and state and local tax revenues have not fully rebounded.
And in Pennsylvania, no one imagined that Corbett would introduce a $27.3 billion budget proposal that would cut $1.1 billion in state aid for schools, including a $292 million drop in funds for Philadelphia alone.
Overall, Corbett's budget would shave the district's share of basic education funds ($107 million); eliminate charter-school reimbursements ($110 million); end accountability block grants for full-day kindergarten ($55 million); cut educational assistance funds for after-school tutoring ($19 million); and excise dual-enrollment programs that allow high school students to earn college credit ($1 million).
"Every budget is a first draft," said Masch, who was a budget secretary under Gov. Ed Rendell. "We hope this one will have a major rewrite."
