School district response: Why we're concerned

THANK you for giving the School District of Philadelphia the opportunity to explain why two articles in the June 3 edition of the

Daily News

(

"How to Cut the School Budget, Avoid New Taxes, and Teach Everybody Something"

and

"Just Seven Little Cuts . . . and 7 Smart Ways to Raise Money"

) were inaccurate and fundamentally flawed.

The premise of these articles is that the school district doesn't need an additional $100 million in local funding next year because the district's budget can easily be balanced with spending cuts.

There are numerous specific factual inaccuracies in the two articles and some of those are noted in the accompanying piece. But it is more critical to understand why the articles are based on a complete misunderstanding of the current budget situation.

The articles suggest ways to cut $100 million out of THIS YEAR's budget when the budget issue right now is NEXT YEAR'S budget, and the district has already cut that budget by $600 million dollars.

Michael Masch

chief financial officer

School District of Philadelphia