With the Philadelphia School District facing budget cuts of $67 million, it's possible that funding for Penn's partnerships with West Philadelphia may take a hit once again.
City officials announced last week that the school district will have to cut $67 million in programs next year unless the city and state governments contribute a significant amount of increased revenue.
And it is unclear whether Penn -which provides assistance to several public schools in Philadelphia - will increase its funding if those cuts do occur.
The proposed cuts - which could be directed at extracurricular programs, librarians and music programs, among others - come after a $22.3 million budget cut in November in which Penn lost some of the funding it receives for its partnerships with the Alexander Wilson and Lea elementary schools.
"To cut programs that have been documented successes for kids in a district that's already underfunded would only hurt the kids," said Anne Kreidel, planning coordinator at the Penn Alexander School, a university-assisted public school on 42nd and Locust streets.
The proposed cuts were part of the five-year financial plans released last week by the school district to Mayor John Street and his staff.
According to the school district, in order to achieve a planned surplus by 2011-2012, significant budget cuts will have to be made unless the district receives extra funding.
Yet, beyond the city's five-year plan, it seems the budget cuts are symptomatic of larger issues of managing the school district's budget.
"The Commonwealth and the city will have to look at additional funds that the district will need, not only for the current issue, but for [future] years as well," said Jacqueline Barnett, Philadelphia's secretary of education.
As a result, the $2.04 billion budget upon which the school district operates, and the extra $40 million Governor Ed Rendell has proposed in his state budget to be allocated to schooling, may have to be reevaluated and perhaps further increased.
But the solution of increasing revenue and decreasing spending in school districts may prove to be superficial.
According to Suzanne Blanc, senior research associate at Research for Action, a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization working in educational research and reform, the problem runs much deeper.
"Pennsylvania grossly underfunds its public schools, and Philadelphia has huge needs," Blanc said.
Because school districts are funded by property taxes in their surrounding areas, certain districts will inevitably have more resources than others, and the disparities are regulated by the state government.
"There are huge discrepancies between Philadelphia and surrounding the districts," Blanc said. "Very little redistribution occurs throughout the state, from the wealthier districts to the poorer ones."
Nancy Streim, the associate dean for graduate and professional education at Penn's Graduate School of Education, declined comment on the cuts at this time because they were still in preliminary discussion.
