The School District of Philadelphia is the 8th largest school district in the United States, and yet, there hasn't been enough money to provide students and teachers with the resources and funding they deserve. Currently, the District faces a $304 million deficit, and a projected $70 million deficit for the next school year. Personally, I am worried of what will become of my school district if sustainable funding doesn't come our way soon.
Recently, a $2-per-pack cigarette tax was passed to close the budget gap for the School District, along with the $32 million in cuts made this past summer. This tax is estimated to generate about $49 million by the end of this year, and has allowed the district to get by, but how long is the district going to just "get by"? Don't get me wrong, the tax is good, and without it, schools wouldn't have opened on time, but let's be real - it doesn't solve the problem. This tax is merely a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. No more Band-Aids. What the School District needs is surgery, plastic surgery to be exact; the district needs a complete makeover.
My issue is with the School Reform Commission. Since 2001, the SRC has been the governing body of the School District of Philadelphia. Back then, they were put in place to dissolve a $30 million deficit - which they didn't do - and since then, the deficit has skyrocketed to $304 million! Obviously, the SRC is not doing a good job of handling the District's finances, and this needs to change. The SRC is not in the classrooms, and the SRC does not know what its failure has caused for hundreds of thousands of students.
Central High School, my school, has suffered from the loss of 12 teachers and 5 guidance counselors, and started off this school year with an Algebra I class packed with 59 students. Bodine High School has cancelled physics classes altogether because the school does not have anyone to teach it. THIS IS CRAZY! Students at the Central had to sit on the floor during class for the first few weeks of school, and students at Bodine can't take physics, which is a prerequisite class for many college science majors.
Schools need sustainable funding and new leadership now. Until then, the budget cut bullet will continue to do damage to the student body.
Sources:
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=360146623
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/71879-woes-of-philly-schools-cant-be-overstated-hughes-declares?linktype=hp_topstory
http://watchdog.org/173048/philadelphia-cigarette-tax/
http://parentsunitedphila.com/2014/10/27/this-happened-today-bodine-high-loses-teachers-cancels-physics/
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