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FUMO, EVANS URGE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO ADOPT BALANCED BUDGET
HARRISBURG,
April 11, 2000 – State
Senator Vincent J. Fumo and State Representative Dwight Evans, the
Democratic chairs of the respective Senate and House Appropriations
Committees, sent the attached letter to the Philadelphia School Board
yesterday, in reaction to the Board adopting a financial statement on
March 31. # Attachment April
10, 2000 Pedro
A. Ramos Esq., President Dear
Mr. Ramos, It
was with great disappointment that we read recently the preliminary
lump-sum budget that the School Board adopted. Whatever the shortcomings
of our current system of funding -- and we agree there are many -- the
Board has a responsibility to provide for the educational services of
the children of Philadelphia using available resources. To approve even
a preliminary budget that contains an operating deficit in the hundreds
of millions of dollars is to take unacceptable risks with the future of
the children of the Philadelphia School District. While
we can readily understand the frustration you and other Board members
feel at being unable to obtain what you regard as an adequate amount of
money, it is your duty to adopt a balanced budget. We have long argued
that Pennsylvania should revise its system of educational funding, but
we can assure you that until there is a dramatic shift in the balance of
political power in Harrisburg, such changes are unlikely. As long as Republicans control the General Assembly and
the Governor’s Office, equitable education funding will be low on the
agenda in Harrisburg. If Philadelphia School Board members believe that
precipitating a financial crisis is the answer to the School
District’s problems, we must tell you that you cannot play chicken
with the Ridge Administration and Republican legislative leaders. They
will not come to your aid with substantially more money, nor will they
ride to your rescue by assuming control of the school district, their
threats to do so notwithstanding. The last thing they want is to be
actually held responsible for the quality of education in Philadelphia. We
have seen them pursue their conservative fiscal policies without
compassion before. We have seen them deny health care coverage to hundreds
of thousands of low-income Pennsylvanians in the same year they
accumulated a surplus of more than half a billion dollars. We have seen
them raise the gasoline tax paid mainly by working men and women while
cutting taxes for large corporations. We have seen them shrink rather than
increase the percentage of total education funding in Pennsylvania that is
supplied by the state government. The state provides approximately 57 percent of total cost
of educating Philadelphia public school children. Although we may not
fully agree with their reasoning, we recognize that legislators from
elsewhere in the state are not inclined to increase funding to
Philadelphia alone when school districts which they represent receive a
much smaller percentage. We remain ready to help in whatever way we can in
Harrisburg, but we must implore you to be aware of the political
realities. The current leaders of our state government regard the
financial plight of our School District as a Philadelphia problem. It will
require a Philadelphia solution. Sincerely, VINCENT
J. FUMO
DWIGHT EVANS cc:
Members of the Philadelphia School Board |
