ANALYSIS: WHY IS CITY COUNCIL HANGING BACK? Journalist Patrick Kerkstra explores HOW PHILLY COMPARES TO OTHER HIGH-POVERTY URBAN DISTRICTS IN PROVIDING SCHOOL FUNDING AND ITS PARTICULAR CHALLENGES IN RAISING LOCAL FUNDS TO SUPPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION "Philadelphia has some structural disadvantages that most other cities don’t face. As its own county, Philadelphia also funds its court system, prisons, row offices and other county functions. In most cities, those county expenses are shared with nearby suburbs. Philadelphia also has an unusually large number of land-owning hospitals, universities and other charitable organizations that are exempt from local property taxes, which reduces the amount collected by both City Hall and the School District" "Philadelphia also has one of the nation’s most distressed public pension funds, owing to low employee contribution rates and chronic shortchanging of the fund by a long line of mayors and city councils. Those pension problems have badly hobbled the city’s budget: over the next five years, 20 cents of every general fund dollar the city spends will go to pensions. And that’s just making the minimum payment allowed by law." thenotebook.org/blog/136238/among-city-leaders-little-movement-calls-school-aid-increase
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 18:12:02 +0000
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