Mayor Parker now wants a $1-per-ride tax for Ubers and Lyfts to lessen Philly School District classroom cuts
Parker pitched a 20-cent-per-ride fee in her budget address and is now moving to increase it to help the school district, which is poised to make $225 million in cuts as it faces a budget deficit.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker on Monday will unveil a proposal to impose a $1-per-ride tax on rideshare services like Uber and Lyft to help close the Philadelphia School District’s budget deficit, according to sources familiar with the plan.
Parker pitched a 20-cent-per-ride fee in her budget address earlier this month. She is now moving to quintuple the proposed fee after the district revealed the extent of its cash crunch.
The new tax, which would take effect Jan. 1, would raise about $48 million per year for the district as it faces a $300 million fiscal cliff, The Inquirer has learned. Parker’s previous version of the rideshare fee would have only generated $9.6 million per year for the district.
Parker and Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. are expected to announce the proposal at McDaniel Elementary in Point Breeze on Monday afternoon as part of a broader package meant to aid the district, according to city officials with knowledge of the plan. The package includes a plan to provide free SEPTA fares for district employees, a $3 million-per-year program the district will pay for with proceeds from the rideshare fee, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss plans that have not yet been formally announced.
Lastly, the officials said Parker and Watlington will announce the city will fund a pilot program with the Philadelphia Parking Authority that will pay for parking tickets for low-income residents. That will allow some Philadelphians to access cars that have been impounded. And it will benefit Philly schools because the PPA is required to send its net operating proceeds to the district.
The pilot will cost $3 million per year, and will last three years.
Parker initially planned to announce the $1-per-ride fee proposal at a news conference last week, according to three sources with knowledge of the plans who were not authorized to speak about them publicly. But Parker canceled the event at the last minute without explanation.
Watlington said recently this month that, absent new funding, he would have to make $225 million in cuts — some of them coming from classrooms themselves — to overcome a structural deficit.
The cuts would represent the most significant financial pain the district has endured in years, and would come as the school system has posted gains in academic outcomes, student and teacher attendance, and graduation rate.
Principals have said the $56 million in school-based cuts would mean losses of teachers, counselors, climate staff, programs, and supplies that one school leader said would mean “we simply will not have the bandwidth or the budget to meet the needs of our building.”
The proposal Parker is set to unveil Monday, if implemented, would still not fill the district’s budget gap.
Parker’s proposal is not a lock. It requires City Council approval and has already generated pushback from Uber and others.
This is a developing story and will be updated.