Philadelphia Delegation Slams Nutter’s AVI Plan, Calls it ‘Back Door Tax Increase’
Photo: Nutter sticker seen around town. Last week, state Rep. Mike O’Brien (D-Phila) held a news conference in Harrisburg suggesting diverting Pennsylvania gaming revenues to the Philadelphia School District was a better idea than Mayor Nutter’s Actual Value Initiative plan, which would re-assess property taxes in the city. Today, State Sen. Larry Farnese,...
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DAILY GRINDER: Pat Toomey for VP? “Very Unlikely”
Cardboard can't even run for office! Senator Pat Toomey told the Express Times, a newspaper in the Lehigh Valley that it is “very unlikely” he will be the vice presidential nominee, noting, “We’ve got a deep bench. We’ve got a lot of people that would bring a lot to a national ticket.” There’s a “your momma” joke somewhere in there,...
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DAILY GRINDER: Free Booze For Smashed Bottles
CBS 3 decided to make some news of their own: They bought wine, poured it out, smashed the bottle, brought the glass back into the state store, and got a new bottle of wine – “no questions asked.” It sounds stupid, sure, but apparently stores are losing tons of money on the policy and taxpayers are footing the bill. Last year alone, the PLCB “lost $2.5...
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What is ‘Pink Slime’?
First it was ‘school choice’ and now it’s school lunch flesh choice. The federal government is giving school districts across the country the option to choose 95 percent lean beef that contains a filler known to some as ‘pink slime’ or a fattier beef that contains none of it. The Philadelphia School District is currently weighing its options—on the...
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State Sen. Anthony H. Williams Suggests SRC is ‘Marginalizing’ Ackerman
Where is Superintendent Arlene Ackerman? That’s the question that was being asked by parents and state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams at yesterday’s School Reform Commission planning meeting. From the early stages of the 2 p.m. meeting, it was quite clear that the SRC anticipates inquiries into SRC-Ackerman relations when Chairman Robert Archie opened by saying,...
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After a Weekend-Long Wait, Former School Employees Experience More Delays in Receiving Paychecks
Kendall Hayes, a former student adviser at A. Phillip Randolph Career Academy, says she had to “feed the meter three times,” before moving her car to a parking lot – just to get a paycheck from the Philadelphia School District. Hayes, who prepared to make her way back into the district’s headquarters on North Broad Street, was one of the more than...
Continue ReadingSchool District Forced to Scale Back Summer School
Two weeks ago, Philadelphia School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman urged City Council to give $21 million to the school district’s Summer Learning And More (SLAM) program, a summer school for failing students that doubles as a summer camp for kids interested in art, music or sports. But last week, when Council voted on how much the district would get...
Continue Reading![Teacher Action Group Assembles a Mock School Reform Commission Meeting, Accomplishes Nothing [VIDEO]](http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/phillynow/files/2011/06/dude-150x150.jpg)
Teacher Action Group Assembles a Mock School Reform Commission Meeting, Accomplishes Nothing [VIDEO]
When Mia King graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, she sought to stay in the city she grew to love. But less than a year at her first teaching job in Philadelphia, she received a pink slip. The school district could no longer afford her or more than 1,300 other teachers due to budget cuts. “I made a commitment to teach in Philadelphia,”...
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City Controller Releases School District’s Audit Amid Budget Woes
Call it either perfect timing or an organized plot to undermine the school district’s leadership, but City Controller Alan Butkovitz today called for “more financial oversight and auditing authority” over the School District’s finances. Butkovitz called the deficiencies “material weaknesses,” including a $15.3 million food-service...
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City Leaders Seek Alternative Solutions to Close School District’s Deficit
There is no single solution to close the school district’s deficit– that’s the reason why the School Reform Commission was first created. But before the shit-show at City Hall begins today– where the people of Philadelphia will debate whether the City should give $75 million to $100 million dollars of money it doesn’t have to help...
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