Michael Masch

In the midst of the worst budget crisis the Philadelphia School District had ever seen, Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman was no longer speaking to her chief financial officer. Nor was she meeting with her cabinet, according to multiple district sources. And, as a $629 million gap loomed and the district was urging parents to lobby for more funding, internally there were warring budgets - the superintendent's and chief financial officer Michael Masch's. The situation illustrated the chaos and breakdown in communication between Ackerman and much of her senior staff, which ultimately led to the end of her superintendency, multiple sources said.

If Harrisburg doesn't come through with the state aid the Philadelphia School District is banking on, cuts to its newly adopted $3.2 billion budget could come from the classroom, officials said Wednesday. The School Reform Commission approved a spending plan that pays for new labor contracts, bigger pension obligations, and $180 million for Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's strategic plan. The budget relies heavily on federal stimulus money and $1.68 billion in state aid - a figure that Gov. Rendell proposed but that the legislature has not approved.

Concerned about the Philadelphia School District's financial problems, City Controller Alan Butkovitz said yesterday he would seek legislation to give his office greater authority to audit school finances. He also plans to call for legislation that would give the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) or some other state agency the ability to oversee district finances, approving both its annual operating budget and a five-year financial plan. The agency currently monitors city finances.

Interim Philadelphia schools chief Tom Brady will become superintendent in Providence, R.I., officials announced yesterday. Brady, 57, a retired Army colonel, was in Providence for an afternoon news conference, but planned to return to Philadelphia last night and present the Philadelphia School District's preliminary budget statement at a meeting today. Brady, who became interim chief executive officer of the 167,000-student district last June, said he would depart in early June for the Providence district, which, with about 25,000 students, is less than one-sixth the size of Philadelphia's.

Philadelphia School District officials are preparing for a budget shortfall of at least $160 million - and the figure could easily grow, depending on what legislators decide in the coming days. In the state budget agreement announced last week, basic education funding, the biggest chunk of money for schools, received a $300 million bump statewide over last year's spending plan. But that is still less than what Gov. Rendell proposed earlier this year - and what Philadelphia staked its $3.2 billion budget on. What is certain is that as a result of revised basic education and state fiscal stabilization grant line items, Philadelphia is down by about $160 million.

Joseph A. Dworetzky and David F. Girard-diCarlo were sworn in as the newest members of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission yesterday. As their first order of business, they learned that the School District is facing a $197 million funding gap. Each asked the district's chief business officer, Michael Masch, several questions about his proposal for dealing with it. His plan, outlined to the commission yesterday, includes a series of proposed...

Gov. Ridge yesterday proposed a $20.8 billion budget that would cut taxes for businesses and lower-income families by more than $200 million, while increasing the basic subsidy to schools by $275 million. Overall, spending would increase by 4.5 percent over the current budget. "I believe greatness is within our reach," Ridge said in an hour-long address to the General Assembly. No tax increase was proposed, although the budget would consume all of a projected surplus of $368 million that is expected to be left over this year.

You can forgive people for thinking Gov. Rendell's commitment to expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center is about as strong as Jennifer Lopez's commitment to marriage. For the record, J-Lo's had three hubbies and another fiance in the last eight years. Rendell's refusal to release state funds needed to kick-start the project has hurt the convention center's ability to book future events. His staff said Wednesday that the money might be released in 10 days, but it may already be too late to salvage lucrative bookings worth millions.

Gov. Rendell is not willing to restore budget cuts if it means scaling back his multibillion-dollar property tax and education plan, a top administration official said yesterday. "What we won't support is restoring cuts at the expense of the property tax, education plan, and economic stimulus plan," budget secretary Michael Masch said after appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. The budget drama unfolding in the Capitol moved in recent weeks to the appropriations hearing room, where agency secretaries have defended Rendell's plan to increase income taxes to provide money for property tax relief and education spending.

The Rendell administration came under fire yesterday for quietly giving a quasi-public economic development agency $8 million in tax dollars so that routine city services could be performed more quickly. But it does not appear that anything happened much faster. Although the administration said the fund transfer last June to the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. helped to clean lots, subsidize home purchases and replace alley lights faster, less than $1 million has been spent.