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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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 --
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.
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. 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?
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, 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.
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 --
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.
Well, thank 127 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 you for your interest in that.
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.
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. I was trying not to talk about that.
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.
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
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
Whenever. And is summer school going to be free -- summer school is normally free, correct?
So it's going to be free even for children that are there to take like advanced courses, et cetera?
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.
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
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?
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.
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 --
-- 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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Point of information. We do have tomorrow at 10:00, both of you realize.
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.
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 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.
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?
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.
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.
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 --