PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington said the district is about to hit a fiscal cliff without an increase in funding.
Watlington presented the district’s new $4.6 billion budget to the school board on Thursday.
With expenses outpacing revenues Chief Financial Officer Mike Herbstman said the district plans to spend about half of its reserve fund to balance the budget.
It amounts to a little more than a $300 million budget shortfall to maintain current staffing and programs.
"That is sustainable for this one year where we will use that $306 million, or about 40 percent of our available fund balance, but it's not sustainable in the long term," said Herbstman.
Without new money, the reserve fund would be exhausted next year if expenses weren’t cut.
Watlington said he'll argue to state lawmakers that the district central office is already lean, its credit rating has improved, and that enrollment and test scores are up as reasons for more funding.
"If that's not enough to show legislators that our children are worthy of more investment, I don't know what else to do other than having to resort to cutting people," he said.
The district's preliminary budget also banks on the mayor and governor's budget proposals passing intact. Both face long processes in City Council and the state legislature, respectively.