PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An early look at the School District of Philadelphia's budget shows that federal COVID-19 aid will help to "buy time" as larger financial challenges loom.
District Chief Financial Officer Uri Monson told City Council at a hearing Thursday that the school district is set to get $565 million in federal CARES Act funding and other COVID-19 relief over the next two years. That money, he said, will help to make up for steep revenue losses because of the pandemic.
But, he said, it's not a cure-all. "In effect, the federal one-time money is covering up the structural deficit for the next two years," Monson admitted.
Monson said expenses are outpacing the money coming in, and the district is looking at a $900 million shortfall after five years if adjustments aren't made. "We're losing $150 million a year in revenue as we have higher expenses. And it's that combination, so it (the federal aid) is buying us the time," he explained.
"It's not money on top of what we had," Monson added. "If we hadn't been given that money, we would have been looking at $350 million deficit in four months — and making cuts and not looking at where we can move investments around."
The district relies on the city and state for most of its funding. Monson stressed the estimates were preliminary, since Gov. Tom Wolf's budget proposal isn't out yet.