In the midst of depressing financial news elsewhere, Philadelphia district officials announced last week that belt-tightening will eliminate a $28.3 million deficit and, in fact, produce an estimated $2 million surplus by the end of the fiscal year. The savings have been produced by eliminating over 1,000 staff positions, reducing all nonschool nonpersonnel budgets by 5 percent, eliminating redundancies in the facilities program, and other measures, according to school CEO Paul Vallas. The district also announced that most of the seven outside managers overseeing Philadelphia public schools this year are asking to oversee more schools next year. After the state took control of the school system a year ago, district officials turned over the management of 45 low-performing schools to three for-profit firms, two universities, and two non-profit groups. Unfortunately, district officials will have to decide whether to give the outside managers additional schools (or take schools away) before the results are in from the district's testing program this spring.
"Officials: School district to save $51m this year," by Mensah Dean, Philly.com, January 10, 2003
"School managers seeking more work," by Susan Snyder, Philadelphia Inquirer, January 8, 2003