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DN Editorial: Time for action on school funding

PHILADELPHIA school students head off for summer vacation on Tuesday. City Council follows two days later. What Council manages to do between now and then has the potential to alter what kind of school system the kids come back to in September . . . and possibly, whether they can still actually get to school.

PHILADELPHIA school students head off for summer vacation on Tuesday.

City Council follows two days later.

What Council manages to do between now and then has the potential to alter what kind of school system the kids come back to in September . . . and possibly, whether they can still actually get to school.

So far, the city's struggles to come to grips with how it helps the district fill a $629 million budget gap has been lots of talk. Although some of that talk has managed to identify priorities like transportation, smaller class sizes and accelerated schools, little of that talk suggests there's a clear path to any real action.

The main options proposed by Mayor Nutter - a tax on sugared drinks, another hike in the property tax- will have trouble mustering enough votes. Council as a body has no proposals of its own. Bill Green has suggested a number of options, including using some of the city's $50 million fund balance and various cuts to city and school district, and Darrell Clarke has offered a small property-tax hike that would generate half of the $100 million the district has asked for.

But action is necessary, and it must happen tomorrow. If Council members intend to keep their shore-rental agreements, they must agree on a course of action during tomorrow's session, so it can be passed in time for next Thursday.

And there's another pressing deadline: The state budget is due to be passed on the 24th, and the size of the city's commitment to the district could have an impact on what money the state allocates.

Call us pessimistic, but Council doesn't exactly do well under this kind of pressure; it already delayed a vote on options last week.

To be fair, this budget behemoth has taken shape rather quickly, since the district was allowed to postpone its budget hearings until after the May primary. That was a big mistake. Those hearings should have happened in March, after Gov. Corbett released his spending - or rather, cutting - plan. The result is that a fundamental change in the city's relationship with the school district - and with the state, which is the legal overseer of the schools - has had to be negotiated over a period of weeks, rather than months. Fortunately, that negotiation included new measures for district accountability.

Tomorrow is action day. Here's one clear action for Council and the mayor to take: Don't wait around for a magical or popular solution. Find a compromise. For example, the mayor wants a 10 percent property-tax hike and doesn't want to touch the city's fund balance. But compromising on both - a smaller property-tax hike with some portion of the $50 million the city has in reserve - could, with the addition of a parking-meter hike, deliver a hefty portion of the $100 million the district has requested.

It's not a win-win situation, but it can solve the immediate crisis. The point is to do something - and actually earn that beach vacation.

More meetings

While the school debate rages, other critical but unrelated issues were scheduled to be aired today. At 10 a.m. City Council was to hold hearings on proposals of the Zoning Code Commission.

And at 1 p.m., the city's Ethics Board holds hearings on two items, including long-needed changes to the city's lobbying law. The meeting is open to the public at the Packard Building, 1441 Sansom St., 2nd floor. *