BRT workers will stay on schools payroll for now
Despite scrambling to cope with a projected $160 million budget gap, the Philadelphia School District will pick up the tab for 78 patronage employees at the city Board of Revision and Taxes for at least a little longer.
Despite scrambling to cope with a projected $160 million budget gap, the Philadelphia School District will pick up the tab for 78 patronage employees at the city Board of Revision and Taxes for at least a little longer.
Michael Masch, the district's chief business officer, said the district would continue paying the BRT workers even though the $3.2 billion budget the School Reform Commission adopted in May ends funding for those positions Sept. 30.
At yesterday's SRC meeting, Masch said the district was awaiting the imminent release of a report on the BRT from a group convened by Mayor Nutter and City Council President Anna C. Verna to learn what the city plans to do about the embattled agency.
For decades the district has been paying salaries of BRT employees who are permitted to engage in politics. The annual tab has been about $4 million, and in May the commission said in wanted to end the practice of paying for BRT staffers.
Enough was budgeted to pay the patronage workers' salaries through September, when district officials expected the whole question about keeping the BRT to be settled.
Masch said the district believes the mayor supports the commission's position. He said the district will keep the workers on its books until the issue is resolved with the city.
"I hope by our meeting next week we'll have something more definitive to say about this," he told the commission.
Masch also said that the district still does not know for sure how much money it will receive from the state. Budget details are still being negotiated in Harrisburg, Masch said, and he expects the district's allotment will be $160 million less than projected.
Masch said that the cuts being considered would not affect the reforms begun under Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's Imagine 2014 plan, including reducing class sizes in kindergarten through third grade, and hiring more counselors.
Y.E.S. Schools, one of the providers of alternative education, has already been affected by the cuts.
Yesterday, Y.E.S. parents, staff, and students urged commissioners to restore recently announced cuts of funds that the school had been counting on to open a new media-art program in November for at-risk students.
Danielle Harris, a former student at West Philadelphia High School, said she spent 18 months trying to find a program and is now on her way toward obtaining a high school equivalency certificate through Y.E.S. She had been hoping to enroll at the new school in November.
"The things this school offers students is independence, a safe haven for kids to express themselves, and a second chance to make your life into something," she said. "I would like to ask Dr. Ackerman and the School Reform Commission to restore funding for the Y.E.S. School."
