Budget Updates, and where our money went...

     Last time I talked about the project I'm doing in English class this year, and how I will be posting updates on the recent developments in the school districts budget crisis, my last post can be found here.
     I'd like to start off By giving a statistic, there are 577 teachers planning to retire next year, and 147 teachers have informed the district that they are resigning. But those 724 teachers leaving the district still won't be enough to help the district cut back on jobs enough for next year, another 536 teachers will have to be laid off next year on top of the resigning teachers. Many of our great teachers will need to find new jobs next year because of the damage this deficit has done.
     There is one piece of "good" news though, a recent state budget plan released by republicans will provide an additional $310 million statewide for education. It isn't clear yet how much money will be given to the Philadelphia School District, it won't come close to fixing the $610 million deficit, but it is money we can use. Here's something Arlene Ackerman said
   "With $630 million [to cut], and only $300 million of that being from the stimulus funds, which we knew was going to go – by the way, we spent that money exactly the way the federal government outlined it. …"
    The funny thing about this statement though, the federal government outlined that the stimulus funds should be used for one-time costs and improvements to schools. What did the district do? They spent the funds on long terms purchases and on the upkeep of the district to help with that years budget. That money is gone now, and we are in debt.