Committee Hearing, May 10, 2010

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, May 10, 2010 10:20 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL CLARKE COUNCILMAN BILL GREEN COUNCILMAN WILLIAM K. GREENLEE COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMAN JAMES KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILWOMAN MARIA D. QUINONES-SANCHEZ COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO BILL 100119 - An ordinance amending Chapter 19-1800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "School Tax Authorization"... BILL 100120 - An ordinance amending Chapter 19-1801 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Authorization of Tax"... - - - 2

Good morning. We thank you all for coming and for your patience. We are now convening the Committee of the Whole on the School District of Philadelphia budget. I'm Jannie Blackwell, Chair of the Education Committee. Again, we have a quorum, and we are happy to begin. The Chair notes the presence of Councilwoman Augusta A. Clark. We welcome her. (Applause.)

Very, very nice to have you. And we will have the Clerk read the title of the bill, and thereafter we will ask our Superintendent and Chairman of the SRC to come forward. And we thank the SRC members and all our friends from the School District for being present. Clerk?

Bill No. 100119, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "School Tax 3 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Authorization," by amending Section 3 19-1806, entitled "Authorization of Realty Use and Occupancy Tax," to further authorize the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia to impose a tax on the use or occupancy of real estate within the School District of Philadelphia; and Bill No. 100120, an ordinance 11 amending Section 19-1801 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Authorization of Tax," to further authorize the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia to impose a tax on real estate within the City of Philadelphia, all under certain terms and conditions.

Thank you very much. Again, we thank you all for being here. We will begin immediately with our testimony, and certainly we invite Dr. Ackerman and Mr. Robert L. Archie, Jr. to come to the witness table 4 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 to present their testimony. (Witnesses approached witnesses table.)

Again, thank you, members of the SRC, School District and members of the public who are here. Please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.

Good morning. My name is Robert Archie. I'm the Chairman of the School Reform Commission. I'm here to testify in favor of Bill No. 15 100119 and Bill No. 100120. On behalf of the entire School Reform Commission, including Commissioners Johnny Irizarry, Commissioner Denise McGregor Armbrister and our newest Commissioners, Joe Dworetzky and Commissioner David Girard-diCarlo, and I thank you for providing this opportunity to share what we feel are the considerable achievements and noteworthy innovations that the School District of Philadelphia has 5 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 accomplished under the School District's current exciting and dynamic leadership team. In our Superintendent's testimony, Dr. Ackerman will describe how the School District is forging ahead with a sense of urgency to serve our students and their parents. Before I introduce Dr. Ackerman and the Chief Business Officer, Michael Masch, I would like to take a moment to thank Governor Rendell, Mayor Nutter and every member of City Council for your leadership and ongoing support that is provided the School District. Trust me, it's been very -- it's very much appreciated, especially in light of the challenging economic climate that the City, State and the School District have all endured. Now I invite Dr. Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, to review how collectively we plan to continue the 6 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 intense pace that we have set for achieving the ambitious goals laid out in our strategic plan called Imagine 2014. Following Dr. Ackerman's testimony, the School District's Chief Business Officer, Michael Masch, will outline the School District's proposed Fiscal Year 2010 to 2011 budget and how the School Reform Commission and the District intends to be careful stewards of the financial resources that the City, the Commonwealth and the Obama Administration have provided us. I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good morning, Councilwoman Blackwell and members of the City Council. I'm Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with a status report on the state of education in Philadelphia and the context for the 7 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 2010-2011 School District budget. To begin, I'd like to express my sincere respect and gratitude for your support of our District-operated and charter schools and for your clear commitment to give our youth the education that they so deserve. From City Hall and throughout the entire community, we are working together to build a system of great schools where all children have equal access to the opportunities they need in order to succeed in life and to achieve their dreams. Last year at this time, we were in the early stages of implementing our five-year strategic plan, Imagine 2014. This plan engaged the wider Philadelphia community and reflects our shared vision of a world-class educational system for our children. My testimony today will focus on three areas: what we have accomplished in Phase One, the challenges 8 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 we face, and our plans for moving forward into the next form of our reform agenda. Let me start with the accomplishments. I came to Philadelphia in June 2008 with five core beliefs. Then and now, these core beliefs guide us in everything that we do. What we believe helps us to envision where we're going and then helps us plan for how to get there. The five core beliefs are simple and straightforward, that children come first, parents are our partners, victory is in the classroom and facilitated by a strong instructional leader in the principal's office, leadership and accountability are the keys to our success, and that it takes the entire community to ensure the success of its public schools. Built on the foundation of our shared beliefs, the City's five-year strategic plan, Imagine 2014, identified five goals: student success, quality choices, great staff, accountable adults, 9 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 and world-class operations. All of our programs, projects and initiatives are designed to support these goals. Our primary goal is clear, that student success is what we want. The sooner we close the District's opportunity and achievement gap, the sooner we will reach our goal by 2014. While the District is proud to report seven years of steady incremental growth in test scores, if we continue to make progress at this rate, it will take us until the year 2123 -- yes, 2123 -- to get all of our students to a level of proficiency in key skill areas. We know that this is unacceptable. We already know everything we need to know about how to educate children well, and we know that we must do this with a sense of urgency. We know that growth -- the prison growth in this state is projected by officials looking at third grade scores, reading and math scores in Philadelphia. So we share a 10 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 deep sense of urgency, and we recognize that incremental growth is just not good enough. Our children have, I believe, a civil right to an equal opportunity for an education now, not next year or ten years down the road. For them, we must do whatever it takes to accelerate the progress. So let me give you a mid-year report on Imagine 2014 to show that we've made some significant progress in a relatively short amount of time. Under Student Success, we've put in our empowerment schools -- and that's 95 of our lowest performing schools -- new supports and systems. We monitor the progress and to strengthen what happens for students. This includes parent ombudsmen, student advisors, more nursing services, social service liaisons, as well as corrective reading and math, which are now standard interventions in all of our empowerment schools.

11 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 We reduced class size in grades kindergarten through third grade. They are now down to to one (sic). They 5 were at 20 to one. We've added resources 6 for ninth grade students to keep them 7 actively engaged and on track to 8 graduate. And we've lengthened the 9 school day to give teachers common 10 planning time. M. This office offers a full day 15 of instructional and enrichment 16 opportunities for our students. This 17 summer we expect to welcome 50,000 18 students at 115 school sites. That's 19 12,000 more students than last summer. 20 We've hired 200 new counselors 21 and we've decreased the student ratio in 22 our secondary schools, and we've 23 implemented an in-school suspension 24 program, along with a student-led campaign to tackle truancy. 12 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Efforts to engage our parents and community partners more effectively have yielded great results, thanks to our Office of Parent, Family, Community and Faith-Based Partnerships. For example, the District's Parent University opened in the spring of 2009. Through April 2010, we have enrolled more than 7,000 parents. Almost 8,000 parents have taken classes in our Parent Universities. There's some 38 sites across the District. Through partnerships with our local colleges, we're now offering skill-based and professional certification classes, as well as Associate Degrees in our Parent Universities. More than 5,000 parents have attended a total of nine Superintendent's Roundtables, and a record number of more than 3,000 people have utilized the Parent Resource Center, which opened about a year ago. And as new immigrant families are arriving almost every week, 13 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 our Center for Translation and Interpretation is also busy, and we are expanding the services for next year. Outstanding among our accomplishments this year is the District's contract agreement with PFT. It's referred to as groundbreaking by national policymakers and the news reports across the country. The new contract provides us with flexibility to address the most pressing needs in our struggling schools, provisions for a longer day, a longer school year and Saturday classes. The new contract provides pay for performance to all members of a school staff when there is dramatic achievement for students. The new contract provides -- or ties teacher evaluations to student outcomes and strategically rewards individuals and schools for high performance. It also provides incentives for teachers and principals to take on the most challenging and critical assignments in 14 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 schools with the highest needs. This agreement also showed the nation and this community that a school district and a powerful teachers union can come together and make the pieces fit without pulling each other apart. I believe our collaboration was a major step forward for school reform. The second goal was quality choices. Building a system of great schools means providing quality choices and options for families. So far, we have a system that includes traditional neighborhood schools, empowerment schools, charter schools, EMO schools, vanguard schools, which are our highest performing schools, Renaissance schools and Promise Academies. In a focused effort to turn around our lowest performing schools, in January 2010 we launched an extensive parent-driven process called the Renaissance Schools Initiative. Using a School Performance 15 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Index, we identified 14 schools as Renaissance schools. Approximately nine will run as charter schools and five or six will become charter schools -- I mean, Promise Academies. Advisory Councils, made up of a majority of parents, will make a recommendation to the Superintendent and SRC this week of the provider organization who can best meet their school's educational needs.

Our School Advisory Councils from the Promise Academies are now engaged in community forums. They're visiting high-performing school sites and they're looking at different components of the Promise Academy Model. Come September, Renaissance schools and Promise Academies will be still in the neighborhood, but they will look very different. People are excited about this initiative and they see it as a rebirth of opportunity for their schools and communities. With our great staff, the 16 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Office of Talent and Development deserves credit for several accomplishments this year. We opened in September 2009 with only teacher vacancies. That's the 6 lowest number of teacher vacancies in 7 more than ten years. 8 We've implemented an 9 accelerated hiring timeline and we're 10 enforcing a policy to submit their intent 11 to retire or resign by a designated date 12 early in the school year. 13 On Friday, we will open our new 14 Office of Teacher Affairs, and this 15 office will address the needs of teachers 16 from the time that they're hired until 17 the time that they resign -- I'm sorry; 18 or retire. 19 As far as accountable adults, 20 Philadelphia's Office of Accountability 21 has built a performance management system 22 and a data infrastructure unlike any 23 other across the country. 24 We are now producing and publishing annual school report cards 17 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 that show the measure of progress made on a number of indicators, including student achievement, school operations, parent and community satisfaction. The District data is more transparent and accessible to the public than ever before. We've implemented a new performance index, which allows parents and the community to look at schools as they rank across the District, but also as they rank compared to similar schools with similar student populations. Under the World-Class Operations, we're paying much more close attention to procurement, especially the District's plan participation in minority and women business enterprise, M/WBE, which increased from two percent in 2003 to 27 percent as of December 31st, 2009, thanks to our careful monitoring of the District's anti-discrimination policy. We are very pleased that the District has implemented the Weighted Student Formula, and a pilot is currently 18 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 underway with 57 vanguard schools and non-empowerment schools. Finally, the District is embarking on plans to implement a five-year -- develop and implement a five-year facility plan which will determine capital improvements, programs, modernization and school closure initiatives for the next decade. There are challenges, and in my many years of service as a school Superintendent, I've never seen so many programs implemented and so much change happen in such a short time in a district. Many of these initiatives are not glittery and they're certainly not newsworthy, but they are changes that lay a foundation for accelerated and sustained growth and student achievement, and we all know in the end that's really what matters. This fact alone presents numerous unexpected and expected challenges. We know that we need to communicate more effectively with greater 19 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 efficiency so as to build trust and understanding both within the District and outside of the District. We know that we have a challenge to implement these major reforms, that we must do them with a sense of urgency in a system where the infrastructure is often broken and neglected, and in many cases a district where mediocrity and just good enough are the mainstay rather than the exception.

We know we must be good stewards of the public dollars in a difficult economy, and we know that our buildings, which are on average more than 100 years old, must be modernized with the proper instructional resources and technology so that our children can receive a 21st century academic education and be ready to compete with their student counterparts in neighboring suburban school districts. Philadelphia we know, like other high-poverty districts, face the 20 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 challenges that are reflected in the larger community. Issues like violence, hunger, homelessness, as well as access to quality health and social resources are needed. The lessons of research and experience tell us that within the blessing of diversity comes the challenges of multiplicity. So no state or school district today is immune to the devastating impact of youth violence, and while the number of incidents are down by percent this year and the number of 15 prevention programs are up, we know that 16 there is still much we must do to promote 17 pro-social behaviors, and that we must put in place more protective factors to strengthen families and create learning communities that are safe from violence. As an optimist, I believe that within every challenge there is an opportunity. Think about it. The harder we are pressed by challenges, the more we're pushed to think in new ways and to 21 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 build better schools for our children. In moving forward, the journey to 2014 continues. In the face of critical economic challenges, initiatives for the next phase of Imagine 2014 may look leaner, but we are still anticipating great results. The year 2123 is not an option for our children. Our children all over this city who have tremendous capacity, natural talent, innate intelligence and a hunger to learn must be given the opportunity to do so. We've come a long way in a very short amount of time, but we still have a very long way to go to ensure that every child has an early start in life, that every child has a great teacher with high expectations, that they have counselors to guide them, and that every child has a fair chance to succeed in life by getting a quality education from the Philadelphia public schools. Thank you, Madam Chairperson. 22 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Thank you.

Madam Chair, good morning. My name is Michael Masch. I'm the Chief Business Officer for the School District of Philadelphia. We have submitted written testimony. We've also provided you with our detailed consolidated budget document and our budget in brief, and I'm not going to cover all of that, but I thought I would just start with a highlight before we turn to questions. I want to note that our funding is complex. We receive funding from the federal government, we receive funding from the Commonwealth, and we also receive local resources that are authorized by the Mayor and this Council. And we are grateful to all of our funders, and most particularly we are grateful to you, the members of the Council, for the funds that you have entrusted to us. Our commitment to you 23 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 is that we will use them prudently. We will maintain a balanced budget. We will drive efficiency, and we will invest in the achievement of our children. I'm pleased to note that of every dollar that we spend, over 94 cents are spent directly in schools in Philadelphia. Even broadly defined, our administrative costs are only six percent of the total budget. The budget that you have before you for Fiscal Year 2010-11 will support 265 District-operated schools, 67 charter schools and 46 alternative schools and programs serving over 202,000 students. The budget provides two and a half billion dollars -- that's 87 percent of the total -- to support District-operated schools and District-managed alternative programs; 527 million, 16 percent of the total, to support charter schools and other non-District-operated educational programs that will serve over 38,000 students; and, finally, about $182 24 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 million to fund the administrative support services for the entire school system. 6 billion, for classroom instruction in our pre-K programs, K to 8 and elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, plus extended-day and summer programs, alternative programs for students who are struggling to stay in school, additional supports for English language learners, gifted students and special education students. We want to note that we faced some challenges in constructing this budget. We have now negotiated new labor contracts with four of our five collective bargaining units. Those contracts had many important non-economic terms. They did provide for the continuation of health benefits and for a modest wage increase for our employees, 25 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 and that will increase our costs by about $35 million this year. What we have budgeted for charter schools supports both the State-mandated increase in per-student payments for existing charter schools. That's about a six percent increase that we anticipate. It also provides for anticipated enrollment increases, both enrollment increases that are permitted under the initial charters that were granted by the School Reform Commission and additional growth and enrollment under the School District's new enrollment policy, which provides for additional enrollment increases for academically successful charters. The total cost of all of those changes for charter schools is about $40 million. More next year, about a 12 percent increase. We also face some other significant changes. Our State-mandated pension contributions will increase 72 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 percent. We will receive some additional support from the Commonwealth, but we will still have a net increase even after State aid in our charter payments of over $13 million. With the advent of the lifting of rate caps on electric utilities, like all large enterprises, we will face a likely increase in our electric rates, which we think will be no less than a $5 to $6 million increase. 7 million, as the Superintendent noted.

We are dealing with decades of underinvestment and deferred maintenance in our facilities and have to strike a balance in terms of how much we borrow and the burden that that puts on the operating budget, but we have to continue to invest in the reconstruction and the rebuilding and sometimes the replacement of our very extensive physical plant, which comprises over 300 separate properties. 27 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 In order to do all of those things, this budget contains in it a $76 million reduction in basic expenditures, largely derived by central administrative offices taking a six percent across-the-board reduction in those budgets under their direct control. The budget provides for extensive investment in the implementation of the strategic plan, 119 million for the continuation of Phase One initiatives that were launched last year and an additional 61 million for new and expanding initiatives. This is, I don't have to tell the people in this Chamber, a very difficult, very challenging time for all state and local governments. We recognize that because of the state of the economy, our local revenues are projected to be basically in a zero growth condition for the coming year, just as they have been in this year, and we are able to accomplish what we are in 28 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 this budget largely because of two things. The Governor has proposed a $95 million increase in the basic education subsidy in this budget, as is a standard for the School District. In anticipating State revenues, this budget is based on what the Governor has proposed. Even more significant for the School District in this year and the coming year is the provision by the federal government of significant funds through the economic stimulus program. We have received this year and will continue to receive next year substantial aid from the stimulus program in Title I, about $82 million; in IDEA, which is special ed funding, IDEA stimulus funding will be $22 million. The State provided us this year 120 million of State Fiscal Stabilization funds, which was given to the State in order to support school districts. In addition to that, this year ahead will be the first in which we 29 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 anticipate receiving competitive stimulus funds in addition to formula stimulus funds. The largest source of those funds will be stimulus funding for the federal School Improvement Grant program. We are preparing applications to the State now, but based on our discussions with them, we have budgeted about $52 million in support for our highest needs, lowest performing schools. I just want to say again that we deeply appreciate the support we receive here. We recognize that the leadership of this Council has helped us to achieve what we have in recent years, and we anticipate the continuation of that partnership going forward, and respectively request that you vote in the affirmative for Council Bill 100120, which authorizes the imposition of the annual tax for School District purposes on real estate within the City, and Bill 24 100119, which authorizes the imposition of a tax for general school purposes on 30 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 the use and occupancy of real estate within the City. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank God for President Obama and stimulus dollars across the board, housing, education, homelessness, foreclosures. We are very, very happy to hear about that. I'll hold my questions and go immediately to my colleagues. Councilman Jones, you're first.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Once again, good morning. (Good morning.)

It's good to see you all again. I'm going to start out by citing a couple of truths. When I first heard Imagine 2014, my immediate knee-jerk reaction was, Here's another plan from another Superintendent and here we go again. But I'm actually cautiously 31 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 optimistic about its progress in a couple of respects. Number one, a vision without an action plan usually results in a nightmare. And you took bold action in my district particularly and looked at the worst three performing schools, and with a stroke of a pen and with decisiveness, you went after them and said they're going to qualify for Renaissance. The respondents to the RFP are good, better and best. I mean, we have nationally acclaimed charter school providers going after these schools. And I won't name who they are, because it's still a fluid situation with the contract not being in hand, but the only thing I can see is good, better and best. If the worst of them, perceptionally worst of them by myself, gets it, it's a step above what we had. The other indication is that a lot of parents have become engaged in the 32 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 process. They're coming out to Home and School Associations. They're asking tough questions and are engaged in and invested in this process. So if that's any indicator of what the ultimate product will be, I'm cautiously optimistic about what's going on. So I want to thank you for that. Two people on your staff pretty much kept me in the loop and well informed are Joe Meade and Rodney Oglesby, and I want to publicly thank them. Whenever I have a question and you're too busy -- and if you call every Councilperson back, I'm wondering who you're educating. But these people have been right Johnny and Jannie, in some cases, on the spot. When I have questions, I get answers from them. It's not always the answers I like, but at least they are answers. So I thank you for that. On this, I wanted to talk about these Renaissance schools a bit and ask 33 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 that in each of the contract provisions, there is a capital infusion to the physical plant that they have to make and that is negotiated with the advisory groups, and can you explain how that will work?

Thank you for being not only complimentary of the Renaissance program, but being really knowledgeable about what's going on, because it is really exciting to see the parents so engaged in determining what's going to be best for their school community. With the Renaissance schools, they will all be subject to initial changes in the facilities. They'll also be included in the long-term -- get priority in the long-term master facilities planning process. But over the summer, all of those schools will go through renovations, paint, some simple renovations outside. They're going to be beautification projects. And then they 34 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 will get priority in the five-year plan. Because we know that to change the inside is one thing, but you want an environment that's conducive to learning. So they'll get extra technology resources are coming to those schools, and you'll see some of those changes immediately, over the summer.

Well, I mean, if you look at the -- when I first ran for office, one of the research components I did was to look at how the schools in my district were performing, and I was stunned that the 7th may be the poorest district in the City of Philadelphia, but it wasn't the most underperforming district in the City of Philadelphia, and so, therefore, I immediately was concerned about it. But if you take those three underperforming schools out and then replace them hopefully with really performing, it changes the dynamic almost immediately. 35 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 My question becomes, next year can we anticipate that happening again, taking the underperformers if they fall below a certain guideline and considering them for a similar process? Is that our expectation?

Absolutely. We're going to systematically eliminate the lowest performing schools while pushing all the other schools to become vanguard status. So being a top performer isn't limited where you have sort of a bell curve. We're pushing the schools that are in the middle to move to the vanguard school status, and every year until we eliminate all the schools that are low performing, there'll be a Renaissance school program.

My question -- and it's a part of the black box theory that people have known, which is -- I see you, Councilwoman. There is a theory that by the time young endangered, at-risk youth get 36 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 in the ninth grade, there is something happening that creates the high dropout rates. Are you addressing that, A? And, B, are we looking at these Renaissance schools being in the middle school areas to try to combat that, but what high school -- does all of that kind of work for naught if you're not addressing the high school experience as well?

Well, this year --

Thank you, Madam Chair.

-- we actually took the lowest performing schools, middle and high schools and elementary schools. What we're trying to get to next year are feeder patterns, so that we get an elementary, middle and high school. So we're going to be looking next year at this geographical pathway, so that young people who are in a Promise Academy elementary, we look at the middle, we look at the high school of 37 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 their choice in terms of geography. As you -- what was the first part of your question? I'm sorry. Because I had a good answer.

The first part of my question is, you mention in your testimony about the high dropout rate and you focused in particular on the ninth grade. Is this a part of a strategy to combat that black box theory?

Well, this is one of the strategies to address underperforming schools, but the larger strategy, as I talked about in my testimony, is to get to these young people and make sure they don't leave third grade without strong reading and math skills, because I can tell you as a former middle school teacher, if a child leaves the third grade without strong reading skills, strong math skills, they're going to struggle unless intervention happens. And what we see with young people who don't -- who come 38 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 to the ninth grade without those skills is, that really is where they make the decision to drop out. We also put more of our new counselors at the ninth grade. The counseling level at -- student-counselor ratio at the ninth grade now is down to about 250 to one, and they're going to follow those students, so they'll have them for four years. Each of the ninth graders this year we put in place with their counselors an academic learning plan. By the first quarter, the second quarter, third quarter, the counselors were having conversations. We know exactly who the young people are who are in danger of not going into the tenth grade. We've made adjustments. They're going into summer school. That's the kind of one-on-one intervention you have to have for these young people. And then you have to have intervention courses. So we've 39 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 extended -- added another period to the day. We're going to add a zero period, because if you're behind, you have to have more time to catch up. And all of this is part of a larger plan to address the serious dropout rate that we have, especially for African American and Latino young men, 49 percent for African American men, and they make that decision at ninth grade, 59 percent for Latino males. So this is -- the Renaissance Schools Initiative is a large -- is a part of a larger initiative that we focused on critical key grades to make sure there's personnel there. We also hired 77 new reading teachers to address and to intervene at the third grade, between first and third grade. All of these, we believe, will then produce -- begin to stem that tide. Remember, I said they look at the third grade reading scores of young people in Philadelphia to determine the 40 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 number of new prisons. There are three being built now, so that tells you why we have to seriously tackle this.

Madam Chair, thank you. Councilman Bill Green last year talked about the national priority, and he's right --

Councilman Jones, you know your time has been up.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Councilman Greenlee, you're next.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, everyone. (Good morning.)

I want to touch a little bit, Dr. Ackerman, on the violence issue that you talk about in 41 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 your testimony. And I know South Philly High has gotten a lot of the publicity, but I know there's a lot of issues out there, and I know you say -- and I saw the numbers that the violence incidents have gone down, but talk about the need for more prevention programs. Can you go into a little bit in what, under your leadership, you've been able to do in that area?

We've put in prevention programs, in-school suspensions, which are to me important, not new. Again, not sexy, but they're needed for young people to keep them in school and not out of school for even short amounts of periods. We put in place new programs that address the issues of violence, single-school culture programs that focus on not only having a structure for rules and consequences, but incentives for young people to promote pro-social behavior. 42 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 But in the long run, I think what we've tried to focus on is putting in place the kinds of things that we know keep children, young people interested in school. In the schools where our children are achieving at high levels, you see lots of enrichment programs before school, after school. You see music, art. You see lots of athletic programs. We're trying to systematically make sure that those programs are in place at all of our schools. The schools where we have high incidents of violence and disciplinary incidents, we see schools that don't have libraries, we see schools that don't have athletic programs, music, art, journalism classes. I believe the way you treat the treatment for strong -- I mean, for disciplinary issues is a direct -- is directly related to the kinds of enrichment programs that we have in place. And they shouldn't even be enrichment, they should be a part of the 43 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 core curriculum. You have to make school more interesting than the streets, and you have to do that by having the programs in place, which we haven't. So in some ways, you know, you have schools where they don't have these programs and the kids go out and they get in trouble, and we've had our share of those. But you have to have not only a structure inside of the school day, but you have to make sure that there are a variety of programs for young people where they're engaged throughout the day and after school.

Thank you. You talk about the challenge of reaching a goal of racial and cultural harmony. In this violence issue, have you ever checked out how much percentage of the violence is related to cultural or ethnic issues?

We have, and I don't have the numbers here, but I can 44 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 tell you that most of the violent incidents are not across cultural and racial lines. It's within black on black, Latino on Latino, very -- it's a small number when it cuts across the -- which is why I said it's a larger issue and we got to focus on what are the issues that cause children to see violence as the only way to resolve a conflict.

Okay.

We can give you those numbers.

If you could get them to the Chair, I'd appreciate it. Lastly, if I could, you talk about the Translation and Interpretation Center. Can you give us a little detail on what that does?

Well, when I came less than two years ago, we didn't have translation services. They got done by people who could read or write in a 45 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 certain language, and it was not done very well. We have now hired translators for every language that we have, and we're expanding it because we have so many new immigrants coming into the City and into the school system on a weekly basis. We're now going to put the translators into what we're proposing for next year, our Parent Centers, which are in the community, so that parents -- sort of a one-stop shopping for parents. They can go, they can get the services that they need to enroll their children, to have them assessed, and then get a school assignment, all in the community, and that's different. So we're expanding those services now. I think we now have 30-something translators, and they are going to be able to do even more as we add -- I don't know how many more, but we're adding them so that they can go into the Parent Resource Centers, which will be in the community. 46 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Great. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning. Let me first commend you on this comprehensive testimony that you provided, Superintendent, and say to you that the one paragraph I am most inspired by is on where, Still I am an optimist and I believe every child is an opportunity in disguise. I'm going to run the risk of losing my five minutes quickly. I'm very much interested in knowing what departments are represented here with you today. So if you could just share with us on the record the many departments that are in the audience, as a starter. 47 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Okay. Let me look back and have them stand up. Just tell me. Okay? Because I don't want to mess up. So let's stand up, everybody. Let's start with the back row first and identify who you are and what department. (Witnesses speaking without microphone.)

Dennis Creedon, Director of Arts Education.

Arlene Groveman, Office of Early Childhood.

Fran Newberg, Educational Technology.

I'm sorry. We're going to ask you if you would take a mike. The stenographer can't get it. I'm sorry we have to ask you to do this, but the stenographer can't get it. Hold on, he'll bring one to you.

They're looking nervous. They shouldn't look nervous. 48 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 They could be up here.

That's right.

Well, we know it's a huge organization with many important departments, and we in Council have to do a reach often, so it's helpful to know faces with names that we see on the paper. (Microphone handed to audience members.)

Thank you. Could we begin again.

Joe, why don't we start with you. You got a compliment, so people should know who you are.

Joe Meade, Office of Government Relations.

Dennis Creedon, Comprehensive Arts Education.

Arlene Groveman, Early Childhood.

Fran Newberg, Educational Technology. 49 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Kelly Colden, Office of Government Relations. MR. McKINNEY: Theos McKinney, Office of Talent Development.

Benjamin Wright, Office of Alternative Education.

Frank Pombar, Attendance and Truancy.

Majeedah Scott, Multiple Pathways to Graduation.

Delia Reveron, Attendance and Truancy.

Jim Scott, Office of Parent, Family, Community Engagement and Faith-Based Partnerships.

John Lombardi, Transportation Services.

Francis Dougherty from the Chief Business Office.

Pat Henwood, Capital Programs.

Jeff Cardwell, Facilities and Operations.

Leroy Nunery, 50 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Institutional Advancement and Strategic Partnerships.

Jenny Woo, Office of the Superintendent, Strategic Planning.

James Golden, Office of Climate and Safety.

Joe Antonio from the Superintendent's Office.

Linda Chen, Teaching and Learning.

Stephen Brady, Office of Empowerment Schools.

Good morning. I'm Kimberly D. Williams from the Office of Talent and Development.

Linda Williams, Office of Specialized Instructional Services.

Dawn Lomden, Office of Talent and Development.

Latifah Phillips, Superintendant's Office.

Rodney Willis, Government Relations Department. 51 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Estelle Matthews, Chief Talent and Development Officer.

Evelyn Sample-Oates, Chief Communication Officer.

Pamela Brown, Interim Chief Academic Officer.

David Weiner, Chief Accountability Officer.

Tomas Hanna, Superintendant's Office, Chief of Staff.

John Frangipani, Chief of School Operations.

Good morning. Miles Shore, Interim General Counsel.

Good morning. Ben Rayer, Charter and Renaissance Schools.

Good morning. Danielle Floyd, Superintendent's Office. (Witness speaking without microphone.)

On this side, Wilfredo Ortiz, Office of Counseling and 52 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Promotional Standards.

We'll bring the mike over, because the stenographer can't get it clearly enough to record. Thank you. (Microphone handed to audience members.)

Wayne Harris, Budget Office.

Wilfredo Ortiz, Office of Counseling and Promotion Standards.

Did we get you all? That's quite a bit.

It sure is.

Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Ackerman.

Thank you very, very much. My questions come in no 23 particular order, and I'm going to start first with follow-up raised by others. You indicated that you have 53 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 moved to alter the number of young people per counselor, with greater intervention at the ninth grade level. Share with me briefly the thinking around that, when we know that we actually begin to see signals of truancy around sixth grade when we're discovering that they're not reading to learn. And how is that reconciled when the signals start to appear at sixth grade, but the intervention happens in a greater way in ninth grade?

I focused on ninth grade because that's where we see the actual drop-off. But when I talked about hiring 200 new counselors, secondary was inclusive of middle school. So the counseling ratio at the middle school is down to somewhere between 250 and 300, depending upon the school. It's way down than it used to be. So we did focus on -- the secondary school was sixth through 12th grade. We have early warning systems 54 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 programs in place at the sixth grade. So that's another preventive program that we have in place where we can look at a child and begin to plan prevention programs when we see them at the sixth grade. I didn't talk about that. But the ninth grade was -- we were talking about that because that's when they drop out. So it's at the sixth grade and the ninth grade that we put lots of additional counseling resources.

Okay. All right, then.

And we're adding the counselors in the large elementary schools.

Yes. We're adding counselors in the large elementary schools also.

Okay.

But we focused all of our resources on the sixth and ninth grade.

Consistent 55 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 with the Mayor's -- two of the Mayor's primary goals around schooling, one of course being the dropout rate, and knowing that you say 49 percent of those dropping out are African American boys, what strategy or thinking have you given to exploring raising the number of African American male teachers so that young people, boys, have those type of models in their world during the teaching process?

Well, we are aggressively going after minority staff members, new minority staff members. We're working with -- let me give you some statistics, because I think it's important not only for minority -- I mean, males but for minority staff members. More than 80 percent of our student population are children of color, and almost 70 percent of our teaching and administrative staff are -- it's about 70 percent. So we -- we have a lot of work 56 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 to do just to -- when we look at teaching and administrators. We're working with a program called Call Me MISTER at Cheyney University, which is a wonderful program to target young African American men who are in college, and we're working very closely with them. We're hoping to expand that program to Lincoln also. We believe we're going to have to grow our own, which is why we now will have three high schools that are Urban Academies. We believe that if we can get these young people identified at the ninth grade, to get them interested in becoming teachers and educators and then get scholarships for them and then promise them jobs -- that's another big part of this initiative with the Urban Academies, is to ensure that not only they get through the 12th grade, but that we have scholarships for them in universities that will work with us so that we get them through college and back 57 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 into the Philadelphia school system with a guaranteed job. So there's a short range. We're working with -- we know we need to do more, and we haven't done as much as we needed to do with both Cheyney and Lincoln Universities. So we're aggressively trying to work with them now while growing our own.

Sure.

And actively recruiting for teachers of color. I mean, the problem we have with trying to get teachers of color, which is why this big incentive where teachers go to come into the school system, what we pay them is really important. Some 40 years ago when I graduated, there were very few options when I graduated. So we had lots of men and lots of women, very talented, who went into education. Now these young people have more options. So we are going to have to grow our own and to tap them while they're in school and make it 58 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 worth their while, or they will go into other occupations where they can make more money.

Okay.

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

Councilwoman, your time is up.

On the next round. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Councilman Clarke.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, how much time do we have? Five minutes?

I'm supposed to give two or three, but we've been letting it go for five. But you probably only have one or two questions, so you probably don't even need it.

That will determine what question I ask first. 59 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

You're fine.

First of all, good morning.

Good morning. How are you?

I had a question about utilities, and I'll come back with my other question. I guess it's for Mr. Masch, because I notice it's referenced in his testimony. As you indicated, Mr. Masch, as we now all know that the termination of the rate caps is quickly upon us and we in the City are starting to wrestle with that and have been looking at some potential challenges as we come down the pike, and the School District is also in the position to have to figure out how to deal with the potential emerging energy costs as it relates to electricity, and I notice the reference in your testimony. I guess my question is, is there currently a process underway to either 60 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 aggregate or look at energy choices in terms of purchases of supplier -- the supply side of that? Can you just briefly tell me exactly what you all are doing?

Councilman, we have actually been in discussions with the Mayor and his Administration about the potential for our coordinating our purchases. Those are preliminary discussions, but we think that that's a worthwhile avenue to pursue. The larger the amount of buying power that we can aggregate, the better that will be. It's always better to have more buying power in the market, even though we are dealing, for the most part, with regulated utilities and competition is more limited than we would like. Our major focus in this coming year is going to be on conservation. We spend about -- we estimate that we will spend around $75 million on utilities this coming year, and what we're struck 61 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 by is that 61 of our buildings -- now, we run 265 schools. Sixty-one of our buildings consume 50 percent of our energy, at a cost last year of about $29 million, and that's because, as the Superintendent noted, we have some older buildings and we have a lot of deferred maintenance. So what we are looking at is what some other governments have done, which is, because capital dollars are also short, is to secure the services of what are called energy service conservation organizations, which are private entities that will invest their capital in energy improvements in exchange for shared savings. Usually you're looking for about a three-year to a maximum of five-year return on investment in terms of the investment that you make on shared savings. So we think that there's significant potential there. If we could reduce energy consumption just by five percent, that 62 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 would be close to $900,000 a year.

Right. In terms of energy purchases, it was actually during a conversation with members of the PUC there was actually some recommendation that we look at potentially aggregating opportunities outside the City of Philadelphia proper to some external counties utilizing if in fact -- I guess I'm not supposed to talk about this, because it's pending legislation. I'll just reference it and hope I don't get in trouble. The potential implementation of the Philadelphia Energy Authority, which we are moving down the path. And so do you have and the School District any relationships to some of the school districts in the surrounding counties as it relates to shared purchasing power of materials, vehicles or anything that can subsequently possibly be used as it relates to purchase of energy?

We do not at 63 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 present. Remember, our scale is very different from the other districts. You would have to aggregate a lot of them for it to make a difference for us. The average Pennsylvania school district has about 5,300 students compared to our 200,000 students. So as I say, we think the greatest potential in fact is in making this one of the -- an additional area in which the City and the School District are partnering with one another.

No. We hope that we can pull that off.

Councilman Clarke, we have -- the School District has joined something called a coalition of state-related agencies here in the City of Philadelphia. We've entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Philadelphia Parking Authority, the Delaware River Port Authority, the Philadelphia Housing Authority, Temple University, all State-related agencies, and what we're looking at is basically 64 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 how we can adopt and share best practices. One of those practices would be a bulk purchasing of utilities among those agencies here in the City of Philadelphia. The School Reform Commission authorized and we executed the Memorandum of Understanding. I'm sorry. Also included in that coalition is also the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority. We've looked at to see whether or not SEPTA has been made an offer, at least got an invitation to join, and that is still pending. But those agencies are now meeting on a regular basis, hiring an Executive Director and seeing how we can share best practices, including the acquisition of goods and services to those State-related agencies.

Great. That's great. Okay. Sounds like you all are moving down that path. At some point if and after we complete our process about the 65 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 legislation that I'm not supposed to be talking about, we would like to be in a position to have a point person from the School District to talk about possibilities, because beyond simply aggregating energy purchases for the here and now, I think one of the most important aspects of the potential of this is to look at alternative sources of energy, and we want to get very aggressive and creative in utilizing water, our rivers, utilizing solar, all of the opportunities, methane gas. There are a number of things that we found out that could potentially be of benefit to not only our public facilities but somewhere down the line, assuming where the State legislation goes, conceivably even our residents. So we would really like to be in a position to have a person from the School District designated to be a part of those discussions.

So noted. 66 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Will do.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll come back.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Tasco.

Thank you very much. Good morning. (Good morning.)

I just want to go back to a question of, I think, Councilman Jones. You talked about the disparity of programs in some of the schools. You just got here, but what is your thinking in terms of how we might have decided that some schools should have programs and other schools shouldn't have programs, don't have programs, and where did the commitment to total education for every child go awry? And you did talk about how you're going 67 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 to try to put that back on point so that all of the students have access to sort of like the same programs. I hope I read you right or heard you right.

That's exactly what we're trying to do. And I don't have the history here, but I can tell you some of the things I've seen happen here, and the conditions are similar to other big city school systems. And one of the problems I think is what Councilman Jones said, without a plan, which is why one of the first things we did was to put a plan in place, without a plan, then it's who can articulate and argue for their school, their community the loudest, and that's where it happens. So I think there was a lot of that going on. So somebody would get to whoever the powers that needed to be and that's how it would happen, whether it was at the school site, at the District site or at the community site. And I think one of the reasons Imagine 2014 is 68 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 so important is because it lays out what we're going to do and who we're going to do it for, and to me, there should be no 5 exceptions to that. And it's another reason why the master facilities planning process and the plan will be so important, the five-year plan. I can't tell you how many people come up and say, But I was promised or my school was promised, and there was no rhyme or reason for how this community got new resources or modernization as opposed to another, other than one had the political wherewithal or the influence to make it happen. And what happens is what happens in schools often where you don't have parents who can advocate for their children, the schools that can, get, and those that don't, you won't see -- you'll see those kinds of disparities. And so what I'm trying to get the school system to do is to be transparent in what we do. And I say to 69 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 people almost once a day, I know you were promised that, but here's the plan. And when it comes to what they want us to address, I say we're going to have a five-year plan. You know, be a part of this planning process, but be a part of it, and we're not going to make decisions outside of that. So it's really hard, but it is very much what I have seen in other places. Them they got, get, and those that don't, don't, unless there's somebody there to articulate a vision and a plan and then the School District sticks to it. But that's what's happened over the, I think, years here in Philadelphia, and in many ways it's, I believe, Councilwoman, it's shameful, the discrepancies in terms of what we see in some schools. We actually have schools where there are no libraries. The libraries are in lockers. We actually have schools where the restrooms would 70 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 be -- would not be a place that any of us would even want to have to use. So some of the discrepancies have happened because -- and it's why I'm so big on empowering parents, because parents have the most invested in a school, and the fact that they're engaged in these processes -- in the process of changing their school is really important. It's why I spend so much time with parents, because I believe that when they push, things will happen in a school, and they won't -- we won't have these blatant disparities that we see. So part of it is having a plan. Part of it is making sure that those who have the greatest investment, parents, are engaged in the process so they push the system to get better for all children. But it's happened over time and it's happened because -- you know, a lot of Superintendents come in and don't want a plan, to tell you the truth, because then they can sort of wheel and 71 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 deal, but in the long run it hurts the least, those who have -- who can least afford to not have somebody advocate for them. So putting in place all these programs, whether it's athletics, counselors, all of those things, are leveling the playing field. It's not always popular.

It's certainly not, again, newsworthy or noteworthy for some people, but in the long run, I think parents and communities are beginning to see that the District is really serious about addressing this issue of equity.

Thank you very much. Can I have one more question?

Okay, Councilwoman.

You don't have me on the clock, do you?

That's all right. We'll allow this question.

Let me 72 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 just ask you one other question that came up from a parent regarding special needs students. How are they assigned to the various schools? Do they have to -- say some students qualify to go to Girls High or Masterman or something like that. Do they have to meet the same qualifications as all other students or are they assigned based on the need for the School District to have a diverse population, which also includes students with disabilities?

Right. Well, that has been a problem we've tried to address now in our report cards and our performance targets, because it is true that some of the special admit schools have not been admitting students not only who have special needs but are English language learners. And because you don't have English as your first language or because you have a special need doesn't mean that you don't qualify and can be successful in a special admit school. I 73 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 think some children have been left out because that may have been the culture. We are tracking that now to make sure that all children have access to those schools, because it's been an issue, and I can see why some parents have complained about it. They have complained about it, and it's true. It's kind of a little dirty secret, but these schools now have performance targets that they must meet. So that we are making sure that children with special needs aren't locked out. The other thing we found that we can do is related to program placement. Maybe these young people -- some young people don't meet the qualifications or the criteria for admittance, but if you can put the programs, some of these programs, into those schools, they get the benefit of interacting with some very talented young people. So we're also looking at where our programs are placed. Sometimes you 74 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 have a school with six or seven programs for young people with special needs. I believe they need to be evenly distributed throughout the City and that they need to be placed in all schools where there is space.

Thank you. I'll come back.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Green.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do have a number of questions. I'll get through a first and a few in this round and then wait until the end to, I guess, everybody address the rest of them.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I want to thank you for your testimony and say that 75 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 I've watched with -- I'm watching with great interest Imagine 2014. I've read the plan. I'm excited about a lot of the direction in it, and I also -- you mention transparency and how you've attempted to make the School District more transparent. I must say that this year's budget detail and the amount of information that's now available on the School District website is tremendous in terms of comparison to what we've had in the past, and I want to commend you for that also. The unfortunate downside of all of that information is, of course, that we now have some detail and it results in questions about that, but that's why we need transparency and information there, so that we and the public can hold people spending tax dollars accountable. So the budget includes $180 million to implement Imagine 2014 initiatives, and that's, I guess, going to be an annualized basis. I think if 76 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 we're going to have a five-year plan, one of the things we have to make sure of is that we don't start spending in the first couple of years and then hit a wall because we've run out of stimulus funding and other stuff. So how much of the -- it's not broken down in a way we could figure this out. How much of this money is grant funded?

Councilman, virtually all of the 180 million is coming out of one of the grant funding sources; that is to say, either Title I, IDEA, ADTECH or School Improvement funding from the federal government. I mean, that's where our growth has been in these past two years. The growth in funding that we received from the State has been -- we've been able to use to fund our growth in base operating expenditures. Keep in mind that we could only receive and use the stimulus funds for the introduction of new programs or the expansion of 77 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 academic programs. The funds are limited to academic purposes and can't be used to supplant existing funding.

Okay. So basically all of it. What happens when that funding runs out? Do we have a plan for much less -- for far fewer resources from the federal government and from the State government that will allow these programs to continue?

Yes, we do. Keep in mind that this is a period of time in which we are seeing actually a reduction in funding from the State government in terms of State dollars. The increase that the State provided us in basic education subsidy really was using the stimulus dollars, and that's what the State Fiscal Stabilization dollars were intended for. Other State funding is now actually seven percent lower than it was two years ago before the recession. As I've noted, the funding at the local 78 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 level also has not been growing. As we showed you in the budget in brief, our average growth in local revenues has been about four percent. Our average growth in State revenues has actually been about seven percent, and our average growth in recurring federal revenues has been about five percent. That's over the past decade. If we were to resume a four percent growth rate for local funding, a more modest than in the recent past five percent growth rate for State funding, and five percent growth rate at the federal level, we would have about $115 million more in growth a year. We didn't have that growth this year and we didn't have it next year. That's basically $230 million of what would be recurring additions to the base. So one of the things that clearly the federal government is hoping to see is that state and local governments will fill in part of the hole 79 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 in public school budgets, school district budgets as the federal money is withdrawn. So that's one of the things that we will need to see happen. There is, however, as I noted in my testimony, a second wave of stimulus funding coming, and that funding is not like the formula funding. The formula funding was for two years only. The new competitive grants are multi year. So the stimulus School Improvement funding that we will be adding to the budget next year is three-year funding. As you know, we are partnering with other school districts through the Commonwealth to apply in the second round of Race to the Top. Race to the Top funding is four-year funding. There are two other competitive stimulus programs that we are now preparing applications for, the Investing in Innovation competitive stimulus program and the Teacher Incentive Fund competitive stimulus funding. So a 80 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 second part of the strategy is to replace part of the formula stimulus funding with competitive funding, which not only can replace it, but will be sustainable for a longer period of years. Finally, we recognize that the other thing that we have to do is reduce our base operating expenditures, and as I noted in my testimony, we have done that in the amount of $76 million this year in base reductions. The increases that I noted in spending were actually greater than the increases that I've cited in revenue, and the difference between the two is reductions that we've taken from the base. We are committed to continuing to identify and implement initiatives that are going to reduce our basic expenditures. We have a systems improvement program underway --

Excuse me, Mr. Masch. I'm sorry to interrupt. My question is about the revenue side, so 81 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 I'd like to stay on revenue, if we can. So in order to replace this revenue, you're relying on competitive grants, I guess is what you're saying. Without winning competitive grants at the federal level, without a five percent increase in State funding and without the City returning to a four percent increase, we will not have the money to continue Imagine 2014 through the five years.

Right.

That's sort of the -- that's the implication of what your testimony is.

Yes, and it's important to note what an extraordinary period of time we're in. The local tax base has increased on a regular basis annually. That's been the normal state of affairs. The recession has been extraordinary. Because of the recession, that did not happen for a period of time. Now, I think a question we're 82 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 all asking ourselves is whether the federal government was correct in thinking that two years was going to be enough, and we are starting to see some positive change in terms of growth in the economic base.

Can I say something on that? Because I don't think it's correct to think that we won't be able to implement Imagine 2014. We may have to reprioritize some other things. But in a $3 billion budget, we ought to be able to carve out $130 million. We'll just have to look at what we're spending and rethink about it. So I guess I'm not willing to say we're not going to be able to do it. I think we'll have to reprioritize some other things that we're doing.

And I'm not suggesting you're not going to be able to do it. I'm asking you specifically how you're going to do it, because you're not going to get a five percent increase in 83 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 State funding for the next five years. In fact, this year you're not going to get what the Governor has appropriated, in my view. Is there a plan for this year? What are you going to cut if you don't get what the Governor is appropriating, and has any member of the Rendell Administration or General Assembly advised you that you're not likely not to get that?

Well, we actually put together a three -- I'm sorry; four, six and eight percent. This budget is built on six percent. We actually have a back-up budget of eight percent cuts. So we're prepared that if we don't get the amount that the Governor has proposed, to do additional cuts, and it would all be in central office. It would not affect the schools for this year.

Could you please -- do you have a copy of the eight 84 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 percent cuts?

We do. We can get that for you.

Could you please provide that to the Chair?

Yes.

Thank you. I will come back. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Jones.

Thank you, Madam President.

Can I be recognized?

Thank you, Madam President.

Councilman Kenney, did you have --

Am I on?

No, but, Councilman Jones, would you yield to your colleague, who hasn't had a chance? 85 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Absolutely.

And then we'll -- I'm sorry, Councilman. It didn't show up for some reason.

Thank you. The first should be last and the last should be first. I kind of want to go into a subject area for a minute, because if you were around here long enough, you get a chance to ask the same question over and over every year or make the same suggestion, and I don't think I made this to you before, but I'd like to raise the issue. New Jersey schools work. Why? Because they tell you every day on television that New Jersey schools work. Do they work in Newark or Trenton or Camden? I'm sure some do, but I'm sure there are a lot that don't. And over the years, people have become dependent on the fact that New Jersey schools work, and people have moved out of our 86 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 communities to go to schools in New Jersey. There are literally thousands and thousands of success stories in this system. We have our struggles and our troubles, but there are literally thousands of students, teachers, staff, programs that we could be just putting out there for people to see. Now, some folks may say, Well, you know, that's a frill and we have other things to pay for, but on many levels, I think it works. I think it works with our children because they see success stories, not just athletic success, but they see academic success and they believe that they can do that also. I think it helps our teachers feeling that their work is being recognized and they will strive to do better. I think it helps with our community people who live in the community and don't send their kids to public school by saying, Maybe I'll take 87 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 a chance on that local public school, things are happening there. And importantly also, it helps because of the distance that our network hits, that we hit all those people who vote on funding for their schools, to show them on a regular basis that people in our system are succeeding. We have a ways to go with some folks, we have to bring them along, and we have some schools that we need to fix through 2014, but I get very frustrated when I sit home and watch television and I see New Jersey schools work. Our schools work too, but we just don't tell anybody. Is there some way we can try to find a grant or something that would allow us to put that good story out there?

I agree with you. We need to do a much better job of communicating our story. I think that in this school system in particular, we've 88 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 relied upon the mainstream media resources to tell our story. I'm convinced after two years they're not going to tell it. So we need to find another way to tell our story, if it's going to the churches, if it's going to the small community-based areas, if it's getting parents to tell it. We're going to have to come up with a plan that addresses how we tell our story, because it's just not going to happen.

Nothing is as pervasive as that tube, and I think once people see it and hear it and see it and hear it on a regular basis, they begin to believe it, because there's a lot to believe in. And, again, it's just when I go around to these schools and I see these kids achieving, I see these teachers working hard, I see you trying to keep your facilities together and improve them, I mean, School of the Future, we should have that -- every suburbanite watching television should 89 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 see the success of that building and what's going on in our system. So I would just make that recommendation. I know money is short, but I think it would be very effective on many different levels. And just finally, I just want to publicly thank you --

I want you to look at Channel 52, because that's our own television.

But it's far down the channel.

I always stop when I go there, unless I'm on there, then I keep going. But I do think that we have to find an internal method to message our story, and we haven't done a good job in doing it.

Well, finally, I want to publicly thank you. We had a really rough patch down in South Philadelphia High School, and the cooperation that we've gotten from you 90 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 and the principal and staff and District Superintendent and the operations folks in trying to put together kind of a community down there of some of our newcomers to the country and kids that have been around the neighborhoods for generations has really been helpful. It's not perfect, but we went to the Museum of Art recently on a trip with our Sunny Hill and 50/50 Club, and those kids were wonderful. I mean, they just enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, the tour guides at the Museum were astounded at the level of questioning, at the behavior, their thank you's and please's. And we took them down to the Water Works and had a barbecue, and they were just wonderful. It was just a wonderful experience. And I know that it's been a lot of hard work and still a lot to do, but I do think in this short period of time, we began to address some of those longstanding issues and I wanted to publicly thank you for your cooperation. 91 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

And I want to publicly thank you for all of the support you've given us, because you've been there from the beginning. And that's, again, not a story that's been told, but of the demands that were made by the 8 student group, we've done 22 of them, and 9 I'd like somebody to write the story that 10 you see and I see on a regular basis or 11 to go down and spend a day there. So 12 thank you for all your support. 13

My 14 pleasure. Thank you. 15 Thank you, Madam Chair. 16

Thank 17 you very much, Councilman. 18 (Applause.) 19

20 Councilman Jones, I told you you were 21 next, but at the end of our first round 22 is Councilwoman Sanchez. So we'll just 23 hold you up one more time. Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez. 92 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Thank you. Good morning, or almost afternoon here.

Good morning.

I have a couple of different themes, but I wanted to touch on the issue of English language learners first. So the question is, in addition to the Welcome Centers that you've established at the schools, what are we doing at the school-based level around services to the students and the parents?

I mean, we talked about the translation services, and that's been really helpful, I understand, from the schools to be able to call and to have people in a translation center who can come to the school. We are putting in place these Parent Resource Centers across the District for next year, so that parents don't have to go to individual schools to 93 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 enroll and then go to a different place to get their children assessed. They can go to one place, one Parent Center, where there'll be translators there for them. That's different even than the Welcome Centers for next year. And there'll be one in each region and strategically placed. Next year we're going to implement a full-blown new English language, bilingual program that focuses on students who are at different entry levels into our system. We've hired, I believe, 43 this year and next year another --

Sixteen.

-- sixteen. They know it better than I do.

Forty-three this year, 16 next year.

Twenty percent increase over two years.

So implementing this program with fidelity, making sure 94 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 that the schools are committed to making sure our children, without having to give up their home language, do learn English and move out of these programs, where some of our young people we know stay in them for six, seven and eight years. But I think focusing on the Family Centers, the Parent Centers, putting in place the new program, expanding our translation center is really important for addressing our immigrant families.

So does that mean your administration has chosen a philosophy around bilingual education? Because you talked a little bit. Does that mean -- because part of the issue with the bilingual programs have been every time a Superintendant comes, the philosophy changes. We go from maintenance to immersion to dual immersion. So where do you think the administration is going to be?

I think we have 95 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 definitely decided that -- I mean, there may have been these programs, but they were, as far as my observations, they varied from school to school, region to region. And what we've come up with is a comprehensive bilingual program. We actually went to several cities where there were large numbers of bilingual students or immigrant students and looked at the most successful programs and then came back, and given what we know our immigrant community looks like, we came up with a strategic plan for that. So we'll be happy to share with you what that looks like at three different levels, and we're implementing it across the District. So the schools and regions aren't making decisions about what it should look like.

Okay. As it relates -- because I notice there was an increase in funding as it related to ELL, so I wanted to get a sense, does that mean we're finally getting a plan 96 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 and some plan of action. I notice there was about million in additional funding 4 for ELL, and that's important. 5 As it relates to staffing and 6 you talked about 43 new teachers, where are we as it relates to your leadership team in terms of diversity and language diversity?

We are going to be -- we are now looking for a new Deputy Chief for -- we're elevating that position, first of all -- a new Deputy Chief for Bilingual Services in programs, and that position should be filled by July 1st.

And it's posted?

It should be.

So the bilingual program plan, is that on your website? Is that available yet?

It is available. I hope it's on the website, but we can give it to you. We made the presentation 97 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 to the SRC a couple of weeks ago. It should be on the website. If it's not, it will be. But we can definitely give you the plan.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much. Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller. Your turn is coming, Councilman Jones. I promise you.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, SRC members. (Good afternoon.)

I just have a couple of questions for now. And I do agree with Councilman Kenney, and I was glad to hear, Dr. Ackerman, that you don't advertise, that you need to do a better job of advertising your services. I found out about the Parent University when I was at a rally at Germantown and 98 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Chelten, and people were giving out cards and the principal was also there, and that's when we found out things, but I never knew that. I mean, because we could help get the word out too if we knew about it. We do e-mail blasts and all kinds of things, but if we don't know about it, we can't help you. But I thought the Parent Resource Center was a really good idea. And I was just -- when I read your testimony, on in the second-to-the-last paragraph when you said that through partnerships we established with local colleges and universities, we now offer skill-based and professional certification classes, as well as Associate Degrees. Who is that for? Parents or for students?

It's both. It's for staff. But in our Parent University, we have a partnership now with Philadelphia Community College, and parents can take courses through our 99 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Parent University for free and get an Associate's Degree.

That's really good.

All they have to do is have a child in the public schools.

Okay. And I had to leave the room for a minute to go to another meeting, so I really didn't get a chance to read everything and absorb everything. That's why I said I have questions for now, but somewhere I did read that in Mike Masch's testimony, I believe, that you're spending -- there was a quote dollar amount of how much you're spending per child, I believe, in charter school, but I was wondering how much you're spending for a child -- I guess I'll just say in regular ordinary school. Because there's so many programs that you have down here that you have, it's just hard for me to kind of keep up with this, because it's a whole lot. Oh, I think you said you're 100 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 spending $8,662 per child in charter school, or is that for both?

Well, Councilwoman, that is correct. There's a formula which determines how much we pay per student in charter schools, but the purpose of the formula that the states established is to basically give charter schools the same number of dollars that we are spending on students in what we call District-operated schools, and those rates this year are $8,184 for a regular education student, but $17,789 for a special education student. And the way that the State formula works, we take all the money we spend on all students and then we make a couple of adjustments to that. So, for instance, we deduct our federal funding, because charter schools get their own federal funding. We deduct transportation, because we provide the transportation to charter schools. So we try -- the formula is intended to make it apples and apples. And then we divide 101 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 that amount of money by all the students in charter schools and regular schools, and that's how the number is established. So it really is a comparable number. Charter schools basically get what students in District-operated schools receive, not more and not less. The methodology is the same for special ed. We take all the special ed dollars spent in charter schools and District-operated schools, divide it by all the special ed students, and that's how we come to the special ed per-student number.

Okay. If you took that number and it would be not just for -- it could be for any student, how much of that $8,000 is spent on instruction?

About two-thirds of it is spent on instruction, directly on instruction. That's not counting funds for counselors, librarians, athletic programs, psychologists that are 102 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 instructional support. And then about percent is spent on the physical plant, the utilities, the custodial and maintenance services, the transportation of students, food services, information technology.

All 9 right. 10 Can I just sneak one more 11 question in? 12

Yes. 13

I just 14 need to know -- we closed down Gillespie 15 even though it's listed in the data, but 16 Gillespie Middle School was shut down, 17 and I just wanted to get an update on any 18 plans for the use/reuse of that building. 19

Councilwoman, as we 20 noted in our testimony, we are embarked right now on what we call the facilities master plan to look at all of our facilities and determine which ones we should operate going forward. There are no immediate plans 103 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 for the Gillespie facility. I think we should be straightforward about that. To the extent that -- and as we've testified here before, in total we have the capacity to serve about 44,000 more students than we have. That would suggest that we really need to realign facilities. Now, that doesn't mean we want to see abandoned facilities. That's why the focus of the facilities master plan is on sharing buildings and finding an appropriate reuse for community facilities, so that they continue to be a positive contributor to community and economic development, even if they're not being used for the educational purposes that they were used for previously.

Okay. Fine. But just keep in mind that the community does not want a big, empty, abandoned school building. Depending on the neighborhood, Gillespie is right in the heart of a neighborhood. It's 104 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 different from a couple other schools that I know that are vacant. They sit away. But this is right in the heart of a neighborhood. So that is one of the major concerns of the residents in that particular area. Thank you, Madam President. And I'll get back to you on that.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Jones.

Can I have a point of information?

Point of information. Councilwoman Tasco.

I'm sorry. It's better to put this comment here than maybe an hour from now. But I just want to say, I think that's a good idea to have a master plan about the future schools, because we have the Kearny School in my district, and when we opened the Fels, we were told that the Kearny would be closed, and the community was 105 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 promised the building for a police station or something of reuse. Now we're using Kearny -- not Kearny. The old Fels School. We use the old Fels School to house some of the Kearny students. At the end of the day, if you think you're going to need the Kearny School because the neighborhood is growing in the number of students, you determine that by the census information that you're going to garner, then you need to keep it open. I just think the predictability by the neighborhood to know what's going on is better, because it's less stress, when they don't know. So I just want to say that I agree, it's important that you do have a master plan. It gives you some -- and you always reserve the right to change. However, it's good to know going forward what's going to happen with a building. So Fels is fine if that's going to fit your purpose in the future, but the community needs to know that, because 106 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 we get questioned about what's going to happen with the building.

And the goal is to have this plan developed and voted on by the SRC by December of this year. So we have about a six-month timeline to get it done. And then for the next five years, we're going to use enrollment and trends, census data to help us determine what kinds of uses we need for the schools, whether to close them, keep them open, use them for other things. One of the things we have talked about also with the City is how to have shared use in some of our buildings. So this plan is really important. If you have staff that wants to be involved or you have people that you want to engage in this process, we'd welcome your input here.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councilman Jones.

You're 107 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 welcome.

You're on.

Yes, Councilman Jones.

Are you sure, Madam Chair?

Yes.

Thank you. I have two questions, both have origins out of Harrisburg, one dealing with the adequacy funding gap and the second dealing with charter schools. Recently, both have had actions in the General Assembly. One, the adequacy funding gap, we're in the third year, as I understand it, of a pledge by Governor Rendell to provide additional funding. If we're in that third year, if I get it right, does this translate over to the next Governor's commitment to the Philadelphia School Board? Is that a question you're going to have to take up with the new Governor? 108 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Well, the goal of doing a six-year plan to close the adequacy gap was in fact legislated by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, but it's not binding on the General Assembly and it's certainly not binding on the next Governor. So first -- our major concern is to advocate for the General Assembly acting favorably on the Governor's proposal so that we can in fact see the third year of the six-year program implemented. Then the big question will be what is the commitment of the candidates for Governor in terms of funding for public education. As we've noted -- and we're being very straightforward about it -- the federal government is getting all of our school districts through the recession through the stimulus program, but the question is, what -- in a very, very challenging environment at the State level in terms of their budget problems, what is the commitment of the next 109 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Governor going to be to education and what's the commitment of the General Assembly going to be. The only bright light for us is the fact that we're not the only ones in this situation and we're not the only ones who benefit. As we note in the budget in brief, although we are grateful for the increase that the Governor has proposed, there are 63 school districts that will receive a greater per-student increase in funding under the Governor's proposal than ours. There are some people that think that Philadelphia gets a disproportionate or the largest amount of funding, and that is not correct. It is true that we have one of the largest funding gaps to close, but it's not the worst, and that's why some of these other districts are getting relatively more funding. But that means that there's a much broader constituency out there in Pennsylvania that is benefiting from the plan to close the adequacy gap. It's an 110 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 adequacy gap for all Pennsylvania schools, not just Philadelphia.

So that's a question we will raise with all prospective Governors, and as my colleague says, underline and emphasize to them that it is important to us. The second part of my questions are, in light of the actions taken by the State to put forth a sweeping bill that deals with increased oversight of 135 charter schools, what would be the lessons learned, to coin Blondell Reynolds Brown, that we have in recent light of some of the issues? All people agree that the charter schools have made a difference and have added value to the educational process. How do we take from it lessons and corrective actions going forward?

Well, I think there are lots of lessons to be learned here. And in the past, I want to say that there's been this sort of push 111 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 and/or tension between what's the role of the District when it comes to charter schools, because they're separate LEAs, and I think having the role and responsibility clearly defined is really important. I've said that to our legislators in Harrisburg, that that's really important in this new bill that we are clear about what those responsibilities are and should be for a school district. What we plan to do is certainly not -- we don't want to get in the way of charter schools being separate LEAs, but we need to step up our monitoring and not be intimidated or pushed back when we ask for the data. In the past, we've asked for data, we've asked for things, and if the answer was no, we just came back and said okay. I think that we are going to be much more courageous in our efforts to provide on-site -- I mean, oversight and monitoring of the charter schools, not just when they come up for renewal. 112 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 We've closed two schools, tightened the requirements on a third one, but to see some of the opportunities missed in the Controller's report to more closely monitor the finances in particular, to make sure that every year they turn in their ethics information -- we have to do it. They should have to do it. It's going to be important. And I think moving forward, we're going to have spot checks. So we won't be announcing -- unannounced times when we come in and look at the records, the data and the financial records in particular.

I just think it's important that it's okay to get surprised. We should never get surprised twice. We should be prepared and anticipate what that resistance is. I just wanted to know how you viewed the legislation, and I'm pleased to hear that it's welcomed and can only add to an increased monitoring of what is a good system that can be made better, and I 113 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 appreciate that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Are we okay, Councilman?

We're okay.

Okay. Councilwoman Reynolds Brown.

My next line of questioning was actually around the charter schools. You should know that City Controller Alan Butkovitz when he was here praised the School District for being so forthcoming and forthright and honoring the recommendations and suggestions and questions that were raised in his report. So to your credit, that should be noted for the record. You did mention that currently the School District performs financial audits for charter schools every five years. So what is the new policy, if you will, on more frequent financial audits?

Well, we don't have -- we don't need a policy for this. 114 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 We just need to do it. So what we have decided is that we will do, I think it's, ten percent random every year of charter schools. So make these unannounced, random visits to look at the records to make sure everything is in place, and ten percent of the schools will get this every year, in addition to those that are up for renewal.

To do that, does that require additional staff positions within that office?

We believe we have the resources there. I think they are scheduled to get an increase this next year. So they'll have some additional staff. We also are going to use outside auditors for those services.

Okay. I'll leave that there. Let me go to the special education. One of my concerns and, honestly, criticisms last year was the very long process used in the 115 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 assessment and placement of special needs children. Speak to, if you will, what systemic changes you have made to decrease the amount of time it takes once a child has been entered into the system.

I'm going to actually ask Linda to come up and to speak to that, just because she has the extensive experience with it. (Witness approached witness table.)

And I want to say this is Linda's first job day as the Interim Executive Deputy Chief for the Office of --

Office of Specialized Services.

You know it better than I do. And on Friday, Brenda Williams who has been here -- I'm sorry; Brenda Taylor, who has been in the District for more than 30 years, retired.

Sure. 116 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

And we just want to publicly thank her for her hard work. And now Linda is here, and first day she's got to answer the questions before City Council, but she's been a strong support and second for Brenda. So Linda.

Let me say also, Madam Superintendent, that my office has worked closely with Ms. Williams and has been deeply encouraged by all of the intervention that your office has done. So that needs to be reflected on the record as well.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you. Please forgive my voice. We have taken on an initiative to thoroughly oversee our school psychologists. We are now monitoring, put a monitoring system in place to monitor the number of evaluations that 117 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 they're doing weekly. We've also developed a new procedural manual for school psychologists. In addition, we are looking at all of our babies that are coming in from early intervention programs, and we have been able to partner with an organization who will provide us with some psychological support to ensure that the incoming children through early intervention are evaluated and assessed, and our target date is by June 15th.

You say "partner." Does "partner" equal subcontract? What does that mean?

Yes, it does.

And that went through an entire internal RFP process, if you will?

Well, it was based upon the Department of -- the Bureau of Specialized Education mandating that we do that. So we had a specific 118 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 timeline we had to meet. We had a very reputable organization who has done work with the District. Delta-T is the name of the organization, that we had to provide that information to the State, and that was on a timeline.

Thank you very, very much.

You're welcome.

Next round, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Councilwoman Brown. Councilman Clarke.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Real quick. I'm going to see if I can get two in. Following up on Councilman Green's question, I just want to make sure I understood. In terms of the stimulus dollars, they were not used to supplant operations, correct, operation 119 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 expenditures? So it was basically enhanced programs. If there's a termination of those dollars, which there will be, does that mean that the enhanced programs could potentially be in jeopardy but not the base programs that we had prior to the stimulus dollars?

The base programs -- well, if we just look at the stimulus money as providing the majority of enhanced programs, it could be. What we haven't had to do was to go back and take a look at, reprioritize some of the other programs that are in place to look at what's needed, what -- we're doing that, but we might have to do it in a more serious, coherent manner. So, of course, when you use some of the stimulus money for some of the enhancements, if it goes away, that could be in jeopardy. But we are also in line for additional dollars that could fund the same enhancements with Race to the Top funds. If the State doesn't get it on this next 120 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 round, the District then would be in line for another $50 million over five years.

I understand that. What I'm trying to understand is -- because in last year's testimony, I remember we had this conversation, because you had more flexibility with the stimulus dollars than the City did, and I got a sense that you were -- you didn't say it, but I got a sense -- you probably won't say it today either -- that you in some way were able to fund programs that may be in jeopardy of being lost by the School District. And in my mind, that's not necessarily enhancement, but to some degree, it's supplanting.

No, no. We didn't --

If we're not successful in getting additional funds out of the stimulus program at a level of the ones that are being terminated, would we be able to, at a 121 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 minimum, keep the base level programs that we had prior to the stimulus and maybe enhance them a little more?

Right. The base programs we didn't touch, and the stimulus money didn't -- we were able to keep all of those. In fact, we were able to do some things differently with Title I dollars than we hadn't done before. So we were able to use how we're using those dollars and reallocate them with some of the enhancements. So that was one thing. What I was probably trying to say last year is, we were able to do more because we got stimulus dollars. And so we've been able to do more of the enhancements because of stimulus dollars. But the base program has not been altered, because if the stimulus dollars all go away, there will be some reprioritizing of the Imagine 2014.

Okay. I'll try to sneak in my second one. In the City of Philadelphia, we 122 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 recently enacted a program called PSAs, Public Safety Areas, and it started with the Police, but we quickly found out that simply having an additional police or policing strategy is not going to resolve the challenges in the neighborhood, so we quickly brought in all of the various departments, Health, Recreation, all of the other types of things that the City provides, and it has made a difference on a reasonable scale. I don't want to say it's successful yet, but you're starting to see significant improvements. My question is, from an educational perspective, I've always been a proponent that, in large part, the conditions affect a child's ability to learn. When the child lives in a challenging community and he walks to school, pass conditions that are, frankly speaking, somewhat deteriorated, the whole psyche of that child as they go through that school day and after that school day impacts their ability. 123 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Has there been given some thought to, or could you conceivably give some thought to, possibly being a part of a PSA or some sort of program that comprehensively looks at a neighborhood, particularly in those schools that are challenged in terms of test scores and educational opportunities, that we work on the needs of not only that child but looking in that neighborhood, providing services for the parents, job opportunities, things of that nature, just a real --

I absolutely believe that we have to look at this as a school is part of a larger community, and as I said before, I think some of what we see in school is reflective of the larger community. I think we need to do more, not less. I think those kinds of collaboratives -- I know that we did with our lowest performing schools, we did work with the Police Department to put in our Safe Corridors Program. So they 124 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 began to focus on those communities where these schools were located, and I think that has worked really well. I think as I've talked to the Mayor and to Lori Shorr, his education advisor, I believe that we are looking at more opportunities for us to collaborate and to combine and put in, to me, the school programs that are in the larger community. And let me give you an example. I'd love to see community-based health clinics in the schools, and then not only do you service the young people, but you have their families coming there. You have a captive audience, and you have parents that are there. And now we have Parent Universities, so they can go to school. But I think we need to do more, not less of that. When we begin to see that we're serving the same clients and that we need to integrate those services in a school community where we have a captive audience, so to speak, I think that we'll 125 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 see more sustained change. So I am definitely on board for that program and expanding our opportunities. I mean, one of the things we've been working with is PHA to see how we can work together with --

Residents.

I'm sorry?

With the residents.

Yeah, with the residents of PHA housing. And that's been a fascinating conversation, but now we're beginning to sit down and plan how do we work together with the residents who attend our schools in a certain community, what kinds of things can we do. And I know an example would be the Lucien Blackwell Community Center that we're putting near Sulzberger. We're working with PHA on that. We're going to do some other things around the high school Vaux and University City. So I am very much supportive of 126 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 inner City-School District collaborations. I think we save money, too.

Yeah, absolutely, and I'm glad you're interested in -- I might as well throw this in here, since we're talking about that real quick, and I know my time is up. We may want to look at as an example where we set the pilot program, the PSA for the City. It's actually in the area where Hartranft School and Hartranft Community Center is, which I know you're very familiar with, working with Joe Meade and the folks. We have a very underutilized center just across the street from the school, and our ability to put those other type programs to support the students and the parents of the students would be extremely enhanced. So that would be very helpful. Do it as a model.

Right.

Well, thank 127 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 you for your interest in that.

Thank you.

We knew that would have to happen, Superintendent, just because of the area. He just couldn't help it. I keep telling you, he had everything under the former Mayor. You got to share a little bit now, Councilman. Yeah. So that's what that is.

I can't help myself, Councilwoman.

Yeah. Thank you very much. Councilwoman Tasco.

No. I'm finished.

Thank you very much. Councilman Jones. Oh, he stepped out. Councilwoman Sanchez.

Thank 128 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 you, Madam Chair. I wanted to touch a little bit around the violence, and clearly we don't need to relive the South Philadelphia situation or even some of the controversy around the report subsequent to that, but if you could give me what are the one, two, three major things that you're doing in South Philly now to enhance public safety particularly to make the kids feel safe and what of those things are you using across the board. Because we do have violence across the board.

Well, one of the things that we've done in South Philly that I think is really important is, we started major diversity training for staff, and it's ongoing. We've engaged Pedro Noguera, who will be working with them all of next year and the summer, the staff. Because some of this is sensitizing staff to how to -- in terms of how to use the cultural differences as a strength. So that's one of the things 129 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 we've done, and we will see more of that happen across the District. We've put in place more opportunities for young people to come together and know each other outside the classroom. I think that's really important. There are noontime clubs now that are in South Philly, and we need to see that same thing across the School District, where young people are actually getting to know each other around common interests, and we find that that's really working well, as well as some of the outside -- bringing in the outside organizations to help us, like the 50/50 Club. We like to see that expanded beyond just South Philly. We've looked very much at the curriculum, and I think we're going to have to look some more at the curriculum, especially as it relates to the bilingual curriculum. One of the things that students have asked for is more opportunities to integrate even with 130 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 their classes. So next year you'll see more integration, even if it's just in the advisories. You'll see that next year. But I think giving young people more opportunities to come together, working with the adults, we've put in place --

One million dollars worth of cameras.

One million dollars worth of cameras. I was trying not to talk about that.

One million dollars worth of what?

One million dollars worth of cameras throughout the entire school. It was a significant investment, and there's certainly no 21 place that you can't see in that school, except for the restrooms. And actually it's very impressive, and I think it's a deterrent. We're all kind of used to it. It's just a shame that it's come to that. 131 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 We will next year see our police officers in polo shirts, especially in the elementary and middle schools, some in the high schools, because we think that's important, so that we have more opportunities -- so that kids won't always feel like they're in a police state. And then I think the other thing we have to do is establish more opportunities for young people through the PAL program, the Police Athletic League. We want to expand those programs throughout the City and the School District so young people have a chance to interact with the school police officers and not see it always as a negative. So we've put in place -- there were demands, and I don't know them 21 all off the top of my head, but I'd be 22 happy to share with you. We've implemented 22 of the 23 demands.

And that's important. I think that to 132 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Councilman Clarke's point about how does the school become more engaged in the community is important. I was over at the school on Front and Hunting Park with Mr. Ben Wright looking at the program. Some challenging situations that these young people find themselves in. The teachers invited me to speak, and one of the questions that I asked the group was how many of the students there had participated in the Department of Recreation activity, PALs, out of school, and only three raised their hand in the room of about 100 young people. And so what that showed me is that there's a huge disconnect between those young people and some of the other services we're providing as it relates to recreation and some of those things, and therein lies why they end up getting into trouble. So I can't even begin to say how important that is. You talked -- I'm going to get 133 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 my last question in. You talked about the schools getting more involved. Which schools have extended hours and where are we seeing that? How are we making that really happen?

Well, I don't know off the top of my head the number of schools. I know that a lot of our schools have extended hours, but it will be more structured in our new empowerment -- I mean, our new Renaissance and Promise Academies. They will definitely have extended hours, not only during the week and during the summer, but on Saturdays. And we anticipate that two Saturdays a month at the Promise Academies, in the morning there will be academic activities for the young people, but in the afternoon, it will be enrichment activities, not only for the children but for their families, because I believe if you expose the families to some of those cultural kinds of activities, you change what happens 134 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 also to these -- you change the lives of these young people. So I can tell you for sure that in our empowerment and in our Promise Academies, you'll see more of those extended opportunities for young people to be at school, be engaged, in intramural sports programs, enrichment programs. The other thing that I had almost forgot, and I think it's really important in this extension of what we were talking about when I was talking with -- for Councilman Clarke. On Thursday, we will open up our new Talent Center, and actually young people can go there after school three days a week and on Saturday and take lessons for the comprehensive and creative arts. They actually have opened already, but we have the grand opening, so that we've invited the news media. But they can take dance. If they play an instrument and they want a lesson, they can go there for free. 135 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 We're actually going to have five of those throughout the next year. We'll have five Talent Centers open, so that young people -- we started in the Northwest, but we're going to strategically put them, so that if they enjoy something in school, they can actually develop it after school.

Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Green, if you would, Councilwoman Miller has to go, but she wanted to ask one question. Then Councilman Green, you're next.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Actually, I have another question too about the Talent School. Where is that first one going to be located?

It's located in the Northwest at the -- 136 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Martin Luther King.

I'm sorry; Martin Luther King High School, and it's already open and kids are enrolled, and they're taking everything from music to dance to -- even learning how to become conductors in an orchestra, which I thought was fascinating.

That's great, because that's also in my district. But one of the activities I've been trying to put somewhere in a rec center, et cetera, is a recording studio, and I wondered if that's something we could talk about later. I have the money for the studio, the equipment. I need someone to teach it. And we're not just talking about teaching children how to make a DVD, but we're talking about the entire business of recording. So maybe we can talk about that.

That would be great. That would be great in a Talent Center, you know. It would be great. 137 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Okay. We can talk about that.

So we're ready. You want to talk? We're ready to go.

Whenever. And is summer school going to be free -- summer school is normally free, correct?

Right.

So it's going to be free even for children that are there to take like advanced courses, et cetera?

Yes. It's free for everybody.

All right. Great.

It's all day.

And I'd just like to get a list of the video surveillance cameras and where they are. I know you have 147 schools here, but where are those schools?

We will get that 138 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 to you.

Send it to the Chair, by Council district. And that's it. I mean, we can always talk later. I have other questions, but it's not like this is the only opportunity to talk.

Right.

We could always talk. All right. Thank you.

That's true. I'm looking forward to the recording studio. That sounds great. That's a great opportunity.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Green, for yielding. It is now your turn.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just going to go through all my questions, so if there's -- okay.

Madam Chair? 139 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown.

I am completely okay with that, as long as my colleague understands that I still have a series of questions as well.

Thank you. And to my knowledge, these are the last two questions from my colleagues, and unless there is some other testimony that all of you want to give, I know that we are due to be on again tomorrow at 10:00, so I did not break for lunch, which maybe some people would have preferred, but I thought we would get as much in as we could and then recess until tomorrow at 10:00. Is that acceptable to everyone?

Yes.

All right. Saying that, we'll have Councilman Green, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, and then we can look forward to recessing until 10 o'clock 140 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 tomorrow. But I think your staff, Dr. Ackerman, in the back is saying no, no, no, stay, stay. Thank you very much. Councilman Green.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Sort of back to the line of questioning I was asking as my time was up, I'd like to talk about the long-term plans for the sustainability of Imagine 2014, and I think in response to a question from my -- I do not recall whom, Dr. Ackerman said that Race to the Top funding that we were going to apply for potential grant is $50 million over five years, which I guess is 10 million a year.

Other way around.

I'm sorry?

Mike, isn't it 50 for five -- 250 million?

Well, it depends --

I'm 141 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 repeating what was said. I'm not --

We actually think the application the State submitted last time -- we're preparing a new application now and we're considering whether to change it. That would have yielded us a minimum of million a year for four 9 years. 10 But the other thing that we 11 were referring to is, even if 12 Pennsylvania is not successful, 13 apparently there's going to be a third 14 round of Race to the Top where school 15 districts can directly compete. 16

Okay. I 17 understand that. But with respect to -- 18 so that would be -- the last one was 25 19 million a year, and I guess demonstrating 20 the fact that you can't really rely on 21 this revenue in a planning process, I 22 guess you can make assumptions about what 23 percentage of it you may get or a total 24 aggregate you expect to get. We did not 25 in fact get any funding from the last 142 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 round of Race to the Top funding, which I think we were all disappointed with. So if you could just go through the potential competitive grants that are coming up and how much we intend to apply for, Mr. Masch. You rattled off the different grants that were coming up in the last round, and if you could just go through them and then how much --

Well, as I say, the other two competitive grants are Investing in Innovation and Teacher Improvement Fund. And I can't tell you yet what we're going to apply for in those, because we're in the process now of preparing those applications.

Okay. But what funding -- what is currently part of 2014 that that funding could be used for?

Well, first of all, Investing in Innovation, virtually anything that's in the program right now. Teacher Incentive Funds are -- everything that we're doing in terms of extended 143 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 day, week, year --

So you can supplant --

-- teacher training, I would say about 50 percent of the things that we're doing now could be eligible for funding under those sources as well.

Okay; 50 percent. What was the other -- there was one other grant fund you mentioned.

Well, and that stimulus School Improvement, which in fact we anticipate receiving for the first time this coming year.

Stimulus School Improvement?

Right.

But that's for capital?

No. 23

So explain what that is.

Well, this is a $3 144 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 billion nationwide fund. You apply on a school-by-school basis. It's targeted to the lowest five percent of schools in terms of academic performance. The funds come to the State. We then apply school by school, but we already know -- the amount that's provided to the State is known.

What is that?

That is about $140 million.

So how much would we be likely to get of that?

We have estimated that we will get between 35 and 40 percent of that, because that is our percentage of the lowest performing schools in the Commonwealth.

Okay. So call that 40 million. And how many years is that funding for?

That is -- we expect to get that for the next three 145 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 years.

Three years, okay. So we are currently receiving $284 million for the FY10 to '11 budget in stimulus funds. We know that is going to end. I don't think you've identified near that number of potential grants for the competitive grants, assuming we get them. So it still does look like a several-hundred-million-dollar falloff in long-term funding for the District, whether you find money elsewhere or not to supplant it. But if we can make up 40 million with stimulus School Improvement and million in Race to the Top 17 competitive grant and maybe we get 50 18 from the Investing Innovation, Teacher 19 Improvement, we're not halfway to our 20 current stimulus funding. And then when 21 you take into account the fact that we're 22 getting 95 million from the State in the 23 Governor's budget, which may well 24 disappear, we're, it seems to me, 300 to 25 400 million just a few years from now 146 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 short compared to our current level of spending, and I'd really like to understand what our plan is for that.

Well, Councilman, as I said to you -- you stopped me before I started addressing the other side of it, which is the cost containment side, but clearly that is the other side of the equation. We think that the kind of cost containment that we did this year we're going to need to replicate in the next several years, and that's why we've built a multi-year financial plan, and we are drawing up plans now to reduce the cost of our operations, so that more of our available dollars can go to academic programs. So that has to be part of it. It's a three-legged stool. It's the competitive federal grants, it's reducing our operating base so that we can put more money into replacing stimulus funds, but I have to say too it is not sustainable for this School 147 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 District to have its traditional funding sources have zero growth in perpetuity. I mean, under that scenario, we will face very difficult choices in terms of public education in Philadelphia. But that would be an unprecedented situation. I mean, what we have now is the unprecedented situation. We have zero growth in local funding for three years in a row. If that had not happened, we would have an extra $90 million in our base, minimum, probably more.

Well, I completely agree with you. Could you discuss why local funding has not increased?

Well, over the past two years, it has not increased because of the impact to the economy, and that means both that assessments have not increased and that we've seen an increase in delinquencies in terms of property tax collection.

How has the 148 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 unilateral decision of the Administration not to conduct assessments affected your budget over the next couple of years?

Well, it has not -- I want to emphasize it has not affected our budget yet, and there's a real question as to whether it would affect it in this coming year, given that it does not look like we're still seeing the kind of economic growth that would lead us, absent an assessment freeze, to actually see an increase in assessed values. The question is how long that is going to go on, and that's not something that we're privy to at the School District. Certainly if we were to have an assessment freeze in perpetuity, that would put the School District in a very difficult situation. It's not our understanding that that's what the City is planning to do.

Well, I can tell you that that decision cost the City of Philadelphia $225 million over the 149 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 course of our Five Year Plan, and so it cost the School District in excess of $350 million over the course of your long-term planning. And those are sorely missed resources in probably the most important area of service that the City of Philadelphia provides. So I agree with you, we need to get to full value and get back to regular assessments and get the resources and the kind of growth you need from the City, or we're going to have to start looking at increasing our millage, which I think citizens would not prefer. So I am a bit troubled. I mean, I'd like to see your detailed plans of what to do if -- what we're going to cut if we don't get these grants. I think in Dr. Ackerman's previous testimony in response to somebody else's question, or maybe it was mine, there was a statement that we are going to cut administration in order to make up for this. The administrative budget the way 150 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 it's broken down in the detail you provided is $191 million. If we zeroed that out, that would not cover the kind of dollars that we're talking about. So could you clarify that? Are the cuts coming from places other than administration?

No. I said that the two, four, six and eight, the differences the cuts that we made to adjust for next year was from the administrative cost. I didn't mean that we were going to depend upon the administration to make all those cuts in the future. We're just prepared for the next year. If there is -- we don't get the amount of money, we have three plans, four, six and eight percent.

For next year only?

For next year only.

So what plans do you have for the long-term 151 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 sustainability of Imagine 2014? Do you have a written plan for that in case you don't get the competitive grants for when the stimulus funding is gone?

We not only have a plan, we have multiple plans, because -- and what I mean by that is, we've been running different scenarios, because we don't know exactly what the future is. We don't control our revenue base. So when we do these multi-year plans, we've made more optimistic and pessimistic assumptions about recurring local revenues and whether they grow or not. We've made assumptions about the whole variety of different State programs that we get funding from, and then we've made different projections in terms of federal revenues, because we really haven't said this, I think, at the table yet, but it has been the professed aim of the Obama Administration to replace a portion -- and they have not yet been specific, but to replace a portion of the one-off 152 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 stimulus formula revenues that they provided to K-12 education with recurring revenues, because they understand that the economic recovery's impact on state and local tax bases is definitely a lagging indicator of recovery and that it's not realistic to expect state and local government to fill in the entire gap as the formula stimulus funds go away.

No, no. 13

And then we have similarly, based on those assumptions, we've begun to make contingency plans in terms of the different ways in which we might reduce expenditures. Now, I'd note that one of the reasons that we did relatively short-term collective bargaining agreements was that both our bargaining units and the administration recognized that in this particular climate, as we go out even as soon as 2013, the future is very uncertain for us, not just because of the 153 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 need to replace the stimulus funds, but also, as we have noted, because there is a looming pension crisis that could be affecting school districts across the Commonwealth if the State Legislature fails to act between now and then. There are remedies. It can be fixed, but it hasn't been fixed yet. So we've been running a lot of different contingencies. Our commitment is very clear. Commitment number one: balance budget. Commitment number two: preserve academic reforms that raise student achievement. And so every day we have people working on plans that will see fruition in six months, in 12 months, in 24 months to reduce the cost of operating our entire program. We have a systems improvement project that is intended to replace really seriously out-of-date information and business process systems. Our finance and our HR systems were put in place in 1999. They were not best of 154 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 breed then. They don't talk to one another. That's not something we can do overnight, but we're pushing to do it within the next two years because we understand the kind of problems that are ahead of us. If we had a completely different information and business transaction infrastructure, we would cut a lot of positions from central administration that we cannot afford to cut today.

How much do you expect to have in efficiency savings once you modernize your technology?

Well, it is too early for us to say, but our goal --

Is it more than 10 million?

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Is it more than 20 million?

I think that it ought to be possible for us to do savings in that range. But this is a difficult 155 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 discussion to have when we're talking about a project that is just getting underway, and my concern about it is to go on the public record and make a commitment when we're not claiming to have a detailed plan in place.

I'm not asking for any commitments. I'm just trying to get a general sense of where we are in terms of the long-term viability of the things that are going to improve student achievement that are part of Imagine 2014. And when I add up the 95 million increase from the State this year and I look at 284 million in stimulus funds, that's close to $400 million. I don't see us, honestly, from the State or from the federal government replacing that money once the stimulus funds are gone, and in this budget, I don't expect to get 95 million from the State. I'm going to go up there and fight for it, believe me, as I know you are, but it's not looking good right now, and I would 156 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 like to know if you have a plan, if you've done scenarios that show what it looks like with $200 or $300 million less than we're spending today once the stimulus funding is gone.

We do have scenarios that are that pessimistic. We do.

Would you please provide those to the Chair? I mean, if you have them, we'd like to see them. I mean, you're asking us to approve a budget that has a lot of assumptions. Some of the assumptions -- and we're creating a whole lot of new spending programs in this budget, and it seems to me if those spending programs aren't sustainable, we maybe ought to look at this budget from a different perspective and say, Okay, what do we know is sustainable, and put that in place. And so that's why I'd like the detail. Let's see. 157 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Councilman, can we revert to Councilwoman Brown and come back again?

I'd prefer just to get through my questions, Madam Chair. What effect -- okay.

Madam Chair?

Point of information. We do have tomorrow at 10:00, both of you realize.

Fairness in sharing time is in order and --

Councilwoman, at the beginning of the hearing today, I said that I wanted to wait until the end and ask all my questions at once and not have an interrupted flow, but you may not have been here, and that's what the Chairwoman committed to me, but, of course, I will yield.

Okay. I 158 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 have -- the last time I looked, it was around 1 o'clock. So I figure a half hour for each of us might be in order, understanding that we want to come back tomorrow, and it's been a little more than a half hour. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

You're welcome.

Arts and culture. If you could please simply give us an update on where that is. That was a part of the 2014 plan as well. And speak, if you would, a bit to the policy around keeping a handle on where we are with school instruments and the like.

Yes. In all of our elementary schools, they have art and music. In the middle schools, they have art or music, and in our high schools, they have to take two courses in humanities, which could mean art, music. We still have a long way to go with the instruments. Our instrumental 159 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 program at this point is limited in our elementary schools, and one of the things we want to do is to see that it is expanded, which is another reason that the Talent Centers are really important, because it gives young people an opportunity to not just to depend upon the school once a week, lessons, they get to have lessons after school. So we've expanded in that we have more art, music available than we've had in years, but it's still not enough. It's very limited and at all levels.

And relationships with institutions like the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Freedom Theatre or Philadanco, where is the School District with regards to filling those gaps with those institutions that have the resources and the expertise?

Well, they're certainly partners with us in the summer program and in many of our schools during the year, and they're also partners with 160 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 us as we open up the Talent Centers also. And we hope to have even bigger, more robust relationships with them as we apply for grants. We applied for an after-school grant which includes the Talent Centers. Somebody here can tell me how much that was, because it was a significant amount with our after-school programs. One point seven five million dollar grant we just got.

From where?

From the 21st Century Grants, and it's focused on the Talent Centers.

Okay. The issue of -- no. Let's deal with this first. Your entire MBE, WBE piece is comprehensive, and kudos for the enormous progress and improvement that has been shown in trying to level the playing field. And thank you for my response to 161 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 a letter that spoke to what looked like a single-source contract for a caterer. Update us, if you would, on what the department has done in terms of a systemic change to ensure that other MBE, WBE caterers get an opportunity to do business with the School District. (Witness approached witness table.)

One of the policy statements in here is to create a level playing field on which M/WBEs can compete fairly for School District contracts. And so the specific question was regarding the caterer and what you've done internally to allow opportunities for others who can't fit that or won't fit that bond.

Sure. Thank you for your question. My name is John Byars. I'm the Executive Director of Procurement Services for the School District. I have two primary responsibilities. One is to oversee the 162 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 entire purchasing operation for the School District, and the second one is to ensure that women and minority companies are afforded fair and equal opportunities at the School District. Most recently, we significantly extended the catering opportunities for women and minority companies by again eliminating some of those barriers to entry, which are the very stringent insurance requirements that were at the District for a long time. We are contemplating putting out on RFQ, but while we're still holding off on that right now, we significantly extended the list of those companies who are now pre-qualified to do business with us as caterers.

And that includes MBE, WBEs?

It almost exclusively includes MBEs and WBEs for various different ethnic foods, et cetera. 163 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120

Okay, then. Let me just check to see if there's anything else around MBE, WBEs. In the Controller's report, one of the findings was that two schools did not adhere to the School District's manual bidding requirement and did not obtain competitive bids for all purchases over $4,000. What has been done again internally to fix that so that that type of incident is less likely to happen again?

Could you just repeat that question for me, please?

In the February 2009 Office of Controller, he completed a review of student activity funds. One of the findings was that two schools did not adhere to the School District's manual bidding requirement and did not obtain competitive bids for purchases over $4,000. So the question is, what has the system done -- what has the School District done to remedy that 164 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 circumstance?

Councilwoman, we have had a number of challenges with student activity funds, and we have a comprehensive program that we've instituted through the Office of the Controller to improve the management of those funds. It includes both bidder training for school-level staff and the institution of a new piece of software that permits us to budget and account for all of those funds and oversee them centrally to ensure that we don't have violations of School District policy.

Okay, then. One more question, Madam Chair, and I'll punt the ball back to my colleague Councilman Green. Towards the Mayor's commitment to grow a greener city, share with us the policy or discussions you're having around the use of green technology and/or sustainability with regards to new 165 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 construction and, where appropriate and reasonable, existing structures, if you would.

Pat, would you like to come up. (Witness approached witness table.)

Good afternoon. I'm Pat Henwood, Senior Vice-President of Capital Programs. The School District has incorporated green standards into our design standards for every project that we do. We have two Gold certified buildings currently.

And they are?

Barry and School of the Future. And our next building to open will be Kensington Creative and Performing Arts. That is currently one point over Platinum. So that may be the first Platinum building in the City.

And then West 166 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Philly.

West Philly will be Gold, and Willard will be at least certified.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

We're on our way.

On our way.

My last follow-up on this specific topic is, I fully understand 2014 and the priorities. As we look to grow a generation of young people that are going to be concerned about having a greener earth, has the District had a chance to look at curriculum that addresses recycling, sustainability, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera?

We have, and we are in the process of doing that. We're hoping that as we look at expanding our career technical programs, that we will 167 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 also be able to open up academies that focus in jobs and careers. So I think you'll see more, not less, of the School District's involvement in developing curriculum and curriculum that leads to jobs and opportunities for young people, development, job development.

So I'll look forward to an update on that next year --

Next year you'll see that coming in.

-- recognizing that through other priorities.

Yes.

So I'll push the pause button, punt it back to my colleague and hope that I'll have another shot at this before we recess, and looking forward to tomorrow as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, 168 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Councilman Green.

Thank you. And, Councilwoman, we will recess after Councilman Green is finished until 10:00 a.m., so you'll have plenty of opportunity to resume your questioning. Thank you.