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, 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.
Thank you. First of all, Mr. Archie, let me compliment you on your excellent command of the facts and figures. I consistently hear you helping School District officials with, Oh, that was a million dollars, that was a line --
That's excellent. The Accountability Office budget is going to increase by $2.4 169 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 million, which is grant funded. What will this funding go for?
Hello, Councilman. My name is David Weiner. I'm the Chief Accountability Officer. The increase in the budget is to pay for our new assessment program. We've dramatically expanded the assessment program to identify challenges that students may have in their skills early on in the school year, so teachers can make mid-course corrections and provide additional interventions for those students.
So when you say evaluating performance, are you talking about PSSA scores, are you talking about new initiatives? What are you talking about?
It's a new 170 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 initiative, actually. We call them benchmark assessment or predictive assessments. So at this point, six times a year we give kind of mid-course tests for the students in different subject areas, world languages, reading, math, social studies. We give them about every six weeks or so. And teachers get results back within five days to actually make corrections. So if the first six weeks in school you teach lessons X, Y and Z, you're actually getting an assessment to determine how well the students learn those particular areas.
Okay. So are you also -- while you're there, I had a few questions about adequate yearly progress. Are you in charge of that determination?
Well, the State identifies adequate yearly progress and which schools make or do not make it, but we obviously communicate with the State and they let my office know who has made 171 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 it or who has not made it each year.
The State has basically set criteria that increases until 2014 when you hit 100. But basically every three years or so, the State increases about ten percent the percent of students, as well as all the subgroups in a school that have to make kind of proficient or advanced in reading and then in math. That increases about every three years, and then actually through 2012 through 2014, it increases about ten percent a year every single year. Having said that, I will caution that the President has put out a new blueprint for success. It's his new Obama's Blueprint for Reform that has signaled a change to adequately yearly progress moving forward. He has said that he's going to change that. So we're all kind of -- he put out about a 455/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 document that was somewhat vague about the specifics -- I'm sorry; somewhat vague, so we don't have the specifics quite yet, but he has signaled that he is going to change the way that's calculated in the future.
Is there any chance that the School District in order to determine at least the -- obviously if a School District school doesn't meet adequately yearly progress, you're in control of that situation. Charter schools often get their students from the District, say, entering at third grade or fourth grade, et cetera, and yet they could be coming from schools that were not meeting adequate yearly progress. Is there any thought to using a value-added assessment program in the School District or in charter schools to measure the progress that actual student makes compared to their -- if someone entered third grade at a first grade level but they leave third grade 173 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 essentially at a third grade level or just below a third grade level, they've made tremendous progress with that student, but they would not have met -- they would not -- they get no credit for that. Is there a way for us to --
Yeah. Actually, this past January, we created a new program to rank our schools, and Dr. Ackerman spoke about it right in her first testimony. We're calling it the School Performance Index. It basically looks at schools and the performance, and the biggest indicator for the School Performance Index is exactly what you identified, the measurement of how every single student does from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. So we're actually measuring growth of each individual student. 174 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 AYP requires that you have a subgroup of 40 students for that group in order to be kind of qualified. So if you only have 35 English language learners, for example, the State doesn't even look at that as a subgroup in a particular school. We found either charter schools or District schools because they're smaller schools, they don't have these subgroups. SPI looks at things very differently. It actually looks at every single student that's in a particular school from the beginning of the year to the end of the year and measures how much each one of those particular students has grown. Our expanded assessment system actually allows us to do that. So we are actually looking at a very small school, maybe 150 kids. We look at all 150 kids, measure where they start at the beginning of the year and then measure how much growth they made by the end of the year. Our ranking system -- and we rank schools on one through ten overall and by similar 175 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 school --
No. We just rolled it out for District schools. We've been working with -- some charter schools have allowed us to do it, but we're working with the charters to have all District and charter schools included in this new ranking system moving forward.
Because I think if we don't measure charters the same way we measure the School District, we're going to have continuing conflict.
When you compare AYP to, say, SPI, the charters are going to look comparatively bad, because they're not -- SPI I think is a fair way to measure. So I'm glad you're 176 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 moving in that direction. There is a substantial increase in grant funding for summer programs, nearly 27 million. Where is that money coming from and what does it fund?
The funding is part of the stimulus School Improvement funding that we had testified about previously, and as we noted in the previous testimony, there's a significant change in the design of the summer program. We've really moved over two years from a program that was morning only primarily for students who had failed basic subjects and were getting a second chance to try to catch up and advance a grade. Through the program last summer, Summer Learning and More, which added enrichment and the possibility for advancement, as well as remediation and credit recovery, summer academies in the empowerment schools are being budgeted and staffed to look much more like a regular school year program, 177 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 basically an extension of the school year for students in our lowest performing schools, and we are undertaking a very aggressive recruitment effort right now to encourage students to attend. We are budgeting for up to 50,000 students to participate, as Dr. Ackerman noted in her testimony.
So essentially that's really essentially without mandating a longer school year, following a KIPP-like model and trying to have a voluntary longer school year?
We're not permitted to mandate it. We've actually wrestled with that. But we're going as close as we can to that. We've basically tried to set up the expectation for students and their families that attendance is encouraged and expected.
So with respect to the empowerment schools, that is one of the methods you're going to use to improve performance, by having a 178 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 longer school year for hopefully what will be most students?
Okay. Imagine 2014 calls for reducing class sizes in elementary schools. Yet the budget proposes a cut of 81 K through 8 teachers. Can you please explain that to me?
Yes. The only adjustment that's being made is because of projected drops in enrollment at particular schools. There is absolutely no change in the maximum class sizes that we instituted this year. And we haven't said this on the record yet, so I do want to note, we have reduced class sizes in K to 3 across the entire district. We've also reduced class sizes in grades 6, 8 and 9 in the empowerment schools.
Well, it's about $90,000 a teacher. 179 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
So we're saving $6 million or so. What would class sizes be if we kept K through 5 teachers at the same number as last year? 6 How much would that impact -- 7
You mean if we 8 didn't reduce this number of teachers, how much --
I mean, we can run that number and get it for you. Could we try to get it for you when we resume tomorrow morning?
That's great. School Climate and Safety is being reduced by 45 positions, including a cut of 27 out of 34 positions in Climate and Behavioral Support. Can you explain to me what that is and what the purpose of this reduction is?
Well, unfortunately, the primary reason for the reduction is that we have received 180 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 funding for our school climate efforts from the federal government under a program called Title IV, and that funding is being discontinued for the coming fiscal year, and virtually all of the reductions that you see result from that.
Well, I think the best thing would be if we could have our Chief of School Operations come up and talk to you about it, but this is basically the central office for our school climate programs.
The central office for your school climate programs. So are these people --
Are these people in the $191 million administrative overhead cost?
They are part of that, yes. (Witness approached witness 181 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 table.)
Good afternoon. I'm John Frangipani, Chief of School Operations. The positions you're talking about are Climate Managers. They're in charge of non-instructional areas of the schools. What we've done is, we've -- because we lost the Title IV funding, the positions have been -- schools received half the funding to either purchase an additional Assistant Principal or they could use the funds to purchase programs that will support school climate, such as peer mediation, the programs that -- the in-school suspension could be expanded, those types of programs.
So the very thing that we're talking about with respect to South Philly High, school climate is -- and we're all talking about as an important priority -- is actually receiving a cut in funding, just for the record? 182 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
No. What we're doing is, we have these School Climate Managers. What we'd rather have in the buildings is another Assistant Principal to deal not only with school climate, but instructional issues. Their scope of work is limited. We really weren't getting the value that we really needed in the school.
And we actually instead of paying -- I mean, once the District -- I mean, once the grant goes away, one of the problems that school districts have -- and Philadelphia is no 16 different -- is when a grant goes away, do we continue to pay for it. When the grant goes away, you have to make a decision. We made a decision to pay for half of those positions and let schools then add their money to it.
I completely agree. I mean, it's one of the reasons I'm so concerned about what happens when the federal stimulus grants go away. 183 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 The District plans to adopt WSF in a 57-school pilot program, and I think this is a good thing, but just for the record, can you explain why this model is better than the existing model?
Well, the WSF, or the Weighted Student Formula, those that don't understand what WSF stands for, is a way of allocating dollars based on the characteristics of particular students in a school. The way we fund now is based on a staffing model that doesn't really look at individual characteristics. So what makes us better is that it focuses on, This is the cost of educating a young person who has bilingual needs or special ed needs, and it looks the same at every school. So the money follows the student characteristic. Now it doesn't. It's just one size fits all. And it's very transparent.
So what's the impact? Like a Masterman would get 184 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 less money and an empowerment school would get more money under this formula?
It depends on the numbers of students that they have or the characteristics, and it really -- the committee is just beginning to work. What we have to first establish is what is a base funding formula for students who have no special needs, and then what do you give for students who have special needs, whether it's English language learners or gifted students or students who attend special admit schools. This is my fourth school district in implementing it, the Weighted Student Formula, and none of the special admit schools actually were cut. In fact, they ended up getting maybe some money depending -- more money depending upon the school.
You mention 185 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 libraries and the need for libraries in the schools. I note that there's a central book allotment of million. Is 5 any of that going to library books? 6 That's an increase over last year of $10 7 million. 8
It's not going 9 for -- some of it is going for -- I'm 10 sorry. The 10 million -- that's what I thought. The 10 million is for a new reading series in our empowerment schools. That's what the 10 million -- we're going to open court.
Empowerment schools for a new reading program. The following year, our goal then is to look at the other schools.
Okay. So the whole library budget, I note -- you said some schools don't have libraries. I'm sure you're aware that most schools don't have libraries or librarians. 186 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Funding was only increased for this by $400,000. In terms of getting people to stay in high school and then graduate and go to college, in the context of everything else you're doing, it seems like -- I'm not sure I understand the lack of emphasis placed on this issue, people learning how to research and --
Well, I think our first step is to equalize or to provide an equitable allocation of resources for those schools that don't even have libraries. We've been giving library grants to schools to get books. I mean, you go to Vaux and they have an instructional center, but there are no 18 books. So we have this money, and what we're trying to do, again, is to make sure that there is a physical structure in a school called a library. Now, once that happens, then we can look at the librarians. But it seems to me you have to start somewhere, and the basic structure of having a room where kids can 187 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 go and check out books or there are computers there for them to supplement their academic programs, a place called the library, is where we start. And if we have to prioritize the money, there's no need to get a librarian if you don't have a library.
That's true. During a battle, I think, before you arrived in 2008 on the City's budget, my staff did research on school-based library resources and compared us to the top cities in the country. I think 15 the average school district had 16 librarians and libraries in 85 to 90 17 percent of their schools. I can't 18 remember exactly what the number is for 19 Philly, but it was something like 15 20 percent of schools had both those things, or 12 percent. Do you think that that disparity may explain some of our performance gap in terms of English?
Well, I don't 188 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 know that the librarian -- I mean, I think the librarians certainly play a role. I was a principal. I didn't have a librarian full time. I had library aides who were there to do the same thing. One of the things we've done in the past is to allow principals at the school site to make a decision about whether they want to acquire a school librarian, and maybe what we need to say is, this is a part of the school curriculum, we expect you to staff the same. We haven't done that in the past, and I think some of those decisions are being made there. You need to have some bodies in the library who are staffing and manning that. It could happen in multiple ways. Ideally, you want an educator, a librarian, to do that.
I'm not asking you to answer these questions today, but if you have time before 189 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 tomorrow at 10:00, otherwise provide it to the Chair. I'd just like to know how many schools have libraries staffed with certified librarians.
How many staffed with library aides, are there plans to add -- you just discussed the possibility of adding a plan to add a line item to school budgets for librarians, essentially requiring it. I'd be interested to know if that's something that the District is willing to commit to at this point. And that's it. With respect to the dropout rate, last year Dr. Ackerman testified that the dropout rate was 47 percent in 2008 and the goal is to lower it to 23.5 percent by 2014. Is that still the District's goal?
And how achievable is it? Are you on track given 190 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 the progress shown this year to meet that goal?
Well, we will know more by the end of the summer, but we're certainly on track in tracking where these young people are in the summer and giving them the opportunity to graduate on time, better than we've ever tracked this before. We know who the students are by name and putting in place programs at the school site before and after school, and then in the summer for them to catch up and graduate on time.
The District expanded from 38 high schools in 2002 to more than 60 high schools today. I happen to believe that high school choice is one of the key things that will keep people potentially in high school, and getting the high school of their choice is another motivating factor. Are there any plans to expand the number of high schools to offer even more choices? Are we planning to 191 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 continue, I guess, what the former Chief Executive, Paul Vallas, started, which is shrinking or eliminating the large high schools and a continued expansion of high school choices?
Well, I think the goal with this administration and then 2014 is to provide all schools, Here's the base, here are the quality programs that should be in all schools, and to make sure that happens. Because what has happened as we've expanded the number of high school choices, we've done it at the expense of the comprehensive high schools, and that's, to me, unconscionable. These are some of the places that have no programs and/or very few programs. I think expanding the choices in small high schools, it's wonderful in concept, but if you talk about being fiscally viable, it absolutely is not. You take a look at Oakland where they expanded and made lots of options for 192 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 high school choices. They're now having to close them, because they can't maintain them. You can't maintain. And I think we -- if we don't look at -- I don't think we have the fiscal opportunity to expand them. I think we have to make sure that some of our comprehensive high schools have programs that make them viable options for --
That's fine. I'm not going to get into a policy debate with you. I just wanted your answer to the question.
That's fine. And with respect to the possibility of eliminating some of the comprehensive high schools with extremely low performance, have you considered allowing or trying to find two or three charters to move into an area and just closing very unsuccessful comprehensive high schools? 193 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
Well, you have West Philly that's up now, Vaux and U City, and they're part of the Renaissance school program, and at least West Philly has an option now to look at Johns Hopkins or Mastery as an option for their turnaround services. So I think as we move forward, that certainly is an option, as we have providers who want to come in --
Okay. Great. What plans are there to expand access to early childhood programs?
We've opened up our first early childhood center. I think there are -- there are more. I don't remember the exact amount. So we're expanding the opportunities for families -- 194 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
One this year. So there will be two at the end of 2010-2011. And then we're trying to -- again, this is a place where the State has cut resources, and we're trying to find a way to not only maintain the number of early childhood programs that we have, but to expand them.
The State has cut, but all research in this area shows the earlier you get to a child, the more successful they're going to be, the more likely they're going to have those higher grades in third grade and we don't have to build as many prisons looking out, et cetera.
Right. You're speaking to the choir here. I was an early childhood teacher, so I do know how important, which is why these early childhood centers are so important for us.
So is there 195 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 a waiting list for early childhood education services?
For some of our programs, there are. Not for -- there are not enough seats for some of our programs. There's some programs where we don't have enough, but I think there are certainly some more that we can do to expand on the programs that work.
-- of the early childhood programs available and whether or not there's waiting lists for any of them.
And then as we're thinking about making choices of what to do with stimulus funds and other things or even what grants to apply for and what to put in those grants, I guess what I'd suggest is that we get the 196 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 biggest bang for our buck there, and that's going to have a benefit to the school system throughout the whole K through process, and I hope it's 6 something the District would look at in 7 terms of when it has extra resources or 8 as it's applying for grants, to focus in 9 on that area. 10 Mr. Masch mentioned there were 11 43,000 surplus seats in District schools, 12 and I commend you for looking at a facilities master plan. I have a lot of questions about that, but I think I will wait, if the master plan is going to be finished this year, to look at it. I do want to, just while we have an SRC member here, make sure that as we're looking at selling off these properties, given what I think will be some constraints in the years ahead as opposed to expansion of funding from other places, that we don't take these capital assets and use them for operating money, but we do one of two things with them, either reduce debt or 197 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 take the resources we get from selling these excess facilities and improve other schools that kids are in in terms of capital facilities, as we are far behind in maintaining our schools. I'd hate to have a capital asset sold and then not be reinvested in capital. That would be -- I just throw that out there as how I would spend the money. I assume that the master plan is going to look at the facilities backlog, the maintenance requirements for each facility. You're going to have by the end of it a database of all your facilities with -- you're going to put in place maintenance schedules for all the facilities in order to bring them up to speed, et cetera. Is it that comprehensive?
Right. The plan is to determine what we need to bring facilities to a state of good repair, and one of the considerations in terms of which facilities we invest in and which 198 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 we don't is the cost that it would take to take us to a state of good repair, but the competing factor is what the demand is in that neighborhood. I mean, we've engaged a demographer and we are doing five- and ten-year projections on a neighborhood basis, because schools are neighborhood facilities and we have to do neighborhood population projections and not just the citywide ones that we have that we use right now.
How many buildings does the District have that are not currently in productive use; do you know?
I think we have about -- I actually have the list right here. I'm going to say about eight.
Only eight? Okay. I had a question about there's a 3.3 million reduction proposed in Maintenance and Repair Services and 52 fewer positions in Facilities. Given how 199 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 far behind we are in maintenance, I'm just wondering what the disconnect or what the purpose of this is.
Well, as I said, we've had to reduce operating costs. We don't want to take money out of the classroom, but the challenge at the same time is to improve the efficiency of our operations. I do want to note, we've reduced our workload or backlog since Dr. Ackerman and I have arrived by about percent, but there's more to do. We 14 do not believe that we are deploying the 15 resources we have as efficiently as we 16 can in terms of how we schedule work, how 17 we schedule the crews. 18 One of the major changes that 19 we made in our new contract with our 20 maintenance workers, Local 1201, is the 21 ability now for us to add a third shift. 22 One of our constraints right now has been 23 that our workers are least productive 24 when they're trying to do repairs in 25 schools while the schools are in session. 200 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 Under the new contract we just negotiated, we will be able to send work crews in to work uninterrupted when schools are not in session, and we think that even with the premium pay that we'll pay for that, we're going to have much higher productivity.
That's great. A curious item, given the conversation Councilman Clarke and you had about the electric rate caps coming off, is that your budget actually cuts utilities by 5 million. Can you explain that?
Well, that's right. There's a $6 million increase embedded in there in terms of the increased cost of electricity that we anticipate that we'll have to bear after January, but there also are offsetting savings from energy conservation measures that we already have planned and will be undertaking in the coming fiscal year. 201 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
You will achieve energy efficiency savings in the next fiscal year of over million bucks 5 or over $7 million, I guess that would 6 be? 7
Thank you. , there's 28.7 million, nine percent, of the capital budget is for Other. What falls into this category?
The staff is going to stay and the Superintendant, but I must run. 202 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
I have to take it with me. Sorry. (Witness approached witness table.)
So the question was about . There's 28.7 million of the capital budget is budgeted for, quote/unquote, "Other," and I just wondered what falls into this category.
There's administrative costs, program management costs, construction management costs.
So administrative costs, are they outsourced or are they within the District?
There's a combination of both. Right now we're at 203 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 about 50/50.
Just give me one second. There's million for 8 administrative support services. 9
And that is 10 applied where in the budget? Is that 11 administrative? That's in capital, 12 right? 13
So I 16 wouldn't see it in administrative or 17 school-based sort of resources?
So of the 17, eight and a half inside, eight and a half outside? 204 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
That's about right. There's also bond issuance costs of about million that is in that, and 5 owner-controlled insurance program costs in that as well.
People have -- I had some questions on shared services, but I think people have asked a lot of questions about that. And I had questions about IT investment, and you're going to provide to the Chair what you think is going on. I wondered if briefly we could just get a comment on what some other school districts are doing from your perspective and whether or not you think they're working well, there are things we should be looking at here. First of all, New Orleans, which has essentially gone to an all charter model. Test scores have seemingly improved very rapidly. I 205 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 understand that probably the demographics of the population has changed as well.
Right. I was going to say, they don't have but a few schools at this point. You know, I'm really pleased with the kinds of things that we -- I think we have a combination of new initiatives that draw upon some of the innovations that have taken place in other school districts, San Francisco. Some of this I brought from other places, but New York and Chicago, I think. But I think that what we are putting in place in Imagine 2014 is just what we know makes -- it's common sense. I actually -- I think -- I don't want to compare us to New Orleans, but we have -- we do have in some ways -- we have 66 of our schools are charter schools. That's more than any other city in the country, including New Orleans. So I think to have 36,000 of your children at a charter school as part of a system of great 206 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 schools puts us out front, even in terms of New Orleans. I think our Renaissance school program is extraordinary, not because we're just turning around schools and we're making them charter or EMOs or Superintendent's Academies, but because parents are involved. And you can't find that in any other school systems, where parents are making decisions about how to change their schools. So I think that you'll see more people writing about Philadelphia, what we're doing here, because we've taken the best of what we've learned in other cities, but we've just -- we're actually applying the tried and true. You get parents invested in a school, it will change. There was an article a couple of weeks ago about parents in the Jackson community. We're trying to do that in every community in the school system.
No; I 207 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 appreciate that.
The Weighted Student Formula, this is my fourth school system doing it.
There is a friend of ours running for Governor who is campaigning on the basic policy of using a targeted voucher system. I just wondered, given all your years of experience, what you think of vouchers or targeted vouchers.
Oh, okay. I was trying to see who that friend was. Oh, okay. All right. Well, I don't know. I'd have to think about whether or not I see that as a viable option, vouchers.
Okay. So just I'd like to -- I know we're probably not going to agree on this analysis that 208 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 I'm about to share, but the way I add up administrative costs for the School District, we're actually at about seven and a half percent, and I get there by basically, as you mentioned, we have more charter schools than everybody else and we have very limited -- the District has very limited sort of oversight of the School District in terms of a percentage of its overall -- of the charters in terms of a percentage of its overall budget. So if you take out the oversight of the charters and then you take out the $500 million that actually goes to charters and then you add back in, say, Regional Superintendents, who I would say are really not part of instructional but they're administrative, and even without adding this eight and a half million dollars of capital that's administrative, you're in a situation where you're about seven and a half percent administrative costs, which is basically the highest in the country that I can find. 209 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
Whoa. Well, that's not been my experience. You know, I think --
Even a major school district, you know, that's not been mine, and I've been in seven. They're usually running somewhere around ten percent. If you can get down to seven, six -- I've actually been down to three, and I can tell you, it's far -- you can't -- it's strained to run it with three. I would never do it. I think around six or seven is about, especially a district this size, is reasonable, but I've been in school districts where it's been 15 to 20. So we're certainly not one of the highest. And, you know, with all due respect, I would love to look at the administrative costs of charter schools, because they're one school, they operate as a separate LEA, and if you count CEOs, 210 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 if you count the administrative overhead, it would be an interesting thing to see how much they actually pay for administrative overhead.
I think because they don't have the huge debt load burden that -- I've looked at this. Because they don't have the huge debt burden that you carry as a school district, they don't have paying for past bond issuances, past things on a huge basis, they have fairly new buildings, so they don't have utility issues like you have and things like that, I think you'll find that far many more dollars may get directly into instructional.
That may be. I guess I was talking about the administrative overhead as it relates to bodies and the cost of those, the administrative layers.
Councilman, I'd just say we'd be happy to provide you with a copy of it. I mean, we do 211 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 benchmark our administrative expenditures. We engaged a firm called Educational Resource Strategies out of Boston to look at exactly this issue, and what they found looking at some of the larger school districts in the United Stated is that we have one of the lowest administrative overheads, and we'd be happy to share the analysis with you.
That's not to say that we're not going to try to do everything we can to get our percentage down.
We did a brief study and I think most major ones were around five, but I'd love to see this study. That's great.
Councilwoman Brown. Point of information. 212 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
Please. With those five, Councilman Green, were they like the Philadelphia School District in terms of size?
I don't have the list with me. I did the study last year, but, yes, of course. So, Mr. Masch, you mentioned a pension issue. The rumored number for that problem, which is not currently reflected in your budget, is $100 million; is that correct? 213 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
If State law doesn't change with respect to the pension issue you raised.
Well, our estimate is that -- as I said, our pension costs in FY11 are going to be about $36 million higher than this current fiscal year, but net of State aid that the Governor has proposed, we would have a $13 million increase. That net number; that is, the growth in the number after an increase in State aid, would be 30 million in FY2012 and 123 million in FY2013 under current State law. But I want to emphasize that that's not actually based on the only reasonable set of actuarial assumptions that one might make. It's based on a formula that was embedded in State statute some years ago and which could and, in the view of school districts across the Commonwealth, should be 214 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 changed in the period between now and 2013.
I mean, according -- there's apparently a memo that the State Department of Ed has sent school districts that talks about a miscalculation of the pension contributions that they've requested. Do you have a copy of that memo?
Rather if you would just provide it to the Chair, that would be fine.
I just note on that that to the extent that the Commonwealth were not to appropriate at the level required under the formula in one year, then they are obligated to make that up in the next year. So whether there's a revision to the budget or not, we'll eventually either this year end or in the subsequent year we'll get an adjustment to the pension reimbursement. 215 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120
The District just received its second multi-million-dollar grant from the Department of Labor for million for 6 four persistently dangerous schools. The 7 first grant was for 40 million for seven 8 schools. What's been accomplished with 9 that grant money at those schools and how 10 has data supported the evidence that 11 those efforts are working? 12
We're going to 13 have to get that to you. Can we provide 14 that breakout -- 15
-- that data 17 broken out by school? Because the grants 18 look different at each school. 19
Sure. If 20 you could provide that to the Chair, that 21 would be terrific. 22
So with 24 respect to contracting or -- can you tell 25 me how many people in the School 216 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 District, either employees or consultants or private contractors, receive in excess of $150,000 in compensation?
That would be great, if you could provide that to the Chair. Could you also please provide a list of all contracts over $100,000 in the current year, whether they're capital, consulting, and break them down between administrative and instructional, and then do the same for what you're planning to do in 2011. And those all are my questions, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Thank you very much. This hearing will stand in recess until -- before that, let me acknowledge we did not mention the presence of the Secretary of Education 217 5/10/10 - WHOLE - BILLS 100119 & 100120 for the Mayor, Lori Shorr. Thank you for being here. Having said that, this hearing will be in recess until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. Thank you all.
Thank you. (Committee of the Whole recessed at 3:30 p.m.) - - - 218 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on May 10, 2010, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. -------------------- MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)