squeezing blood from stones it would appear......
http://thenotebook.org/blog/136315/squeezing-school-funding-tax-delinquents-28-million-in-balance
Last week when you Superintendent Hite issued your ultimatum, parents across the city sprang into action on your behalf. Within 24 hours we were down at City Hall meeting with the Mayor’s office staff and City Council members. Parents wrote letters to the editor, made phone calls, contacted the media about our stories ,and turned out for press conferences for support. We stayed up late, emailing into the night, and met and planned – all on behalf of you because , foolishly, we somehow believed.
http://thenotebook.org/blog/136315/squeezing-school-funding-tax-delinquents-28-million-in-balance
Philadelphia trying to squeeze school funds from tax delinquents
by thenotebook on Aug 16 2013 Posted in Latest news
by Patrick Kerkstra for the Notebook and PlanPhilly
As bad as the School District’s projections for this fiscal year already are, the actual bottom line could turn out even worse if the City of Philadelphia fails to deliver on its promise to squeeze an additional $28 million out of tax delinquents over the next 10 months.
That cash -- a key element of the hastily assembled and still incomplete bailout package put together this summer -- has been overlooked amid labor strife and the political wrangling between the mayor, City Council and the state.
And unlike the District’s hoped-for $130 million in projected labor savings and the $45 million one-time state grant, the pumped-up tax collections are already reflected in the District’s budget. That means that if those dollars don’t materialize, the District will have to make up the losses with further cuts or unanticipated revenue from another source.
The $28 million in improved collections isn’t at the mercy of politics or contract talks. But it is dependent on the work of new leaders within city government who are attempting to change in less than a year a municipal culture that has tolerated mass tax delinquency for a very long time.
About 18 percent of all properties in Philadelphia – nearly 100,000 - are in arrears on their property taxes, a staggering figure that is worse than any big city in the nation except Detroit. Collectively, those properties owe more than $500 million in taxes, interest and penalties. Of that total, more than half is owed to the School District.
Such widespread delinquency also saps the property values of neighboring homes, weakening the tax base by $9.5 billion, according to an analysis performed for PlanPhilly and the Inquirer by economist Kevin Gillen, the region’s leading property values expert and a consulting economist with the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels School of Government.
The combined impact of poor collections and a delinquency-damaged tax base on the School District is enormous. For instance, if the city in 2012 had matched the outstanding property tax collection performance of Boston or Baltimore, the schools would have received $57 million more -- in one year alone.
But the city’s collections weakness is a decades-in-the-making shortcoming that cannot hope to be fixed on a one-year timeline. Indeed, the Nutter administration will likely be hard-pressed to meet its goal of $28 million more for the schools this fiscal year (that figure was later unilaterally bumped to $30 million by Gov. Corbett).
Most of the projected enhanced collections for the School District – $19 million worth – are expected to come from improved property tax collections. The rest is budgeted to arrive from other taxes that the city collects on the District’s behalf: $3.5 million from the liquor-by-the-drink tax, $3 million from the school income tax, and $2.5 million from the Use & Occupancy tax. Securing those dollars for the District is the “absolute priority” of a rejuvenated effort to overhaul the city’s collection systems, said Thomas Knudsen, who was named in April to the newly created position of chief collections officer.
Knudsen, formerly the District’s chief recovery officer, has a proven record of collecting money from people who owe. During his 10 years as head of Philadelphia Gas Works, Knudsen dramatically improved the utility’s collection rate, helping it become a profitable venture.
The city has a new revenue commissioner as well, Clarena Tolson, who said that her department was setting aside – for the moment – longer-term collection strategies in favor of raising immediate dollars for the School District.
“School starts in September, and we have to make sure that we have taxes that can start to flow right now to support the challenges the District has,” Tolson said.
When asked whether the target of $28 million was realistic, Knudsen replied, “We’re shooting in that direction. We’ve looked at the numbers. We think they are doable.”
Collecting an additional $28 million would represent an overall 3.25 percent improvement over the amount the District originally budgeted to receive in city taxes this fiscal year. But the anticipated gains in some tax categories are considerably larger. Knudsen and Tolson are projecting that enhanced collections will yield 10.8 percent more cash from the unearned income tax and 6.7 percent on the liquor tax.
To accomplish that, the city is considering a host of new enforcement initiatives. In June, for instance, the city collected $500,000 in delinquent liquor taxes for the District by threatening to revoke the business licenses of bars, Tolson said. Those funds don’t count against the promised $28 million, because they were recovered in the last month of last fiscal year. But the tactic – which is a new one – shows that the city is trying novel approaches to deliver for the District, Tolson contends.
Experts who have studied the city’s collection practices think the targets are ambitious – perhaps too ambitious for the District to fully count on.
In June, the Pew Charitable Trusts Philadelphia Research Initiative released a study of the property tax delinquency system that concluded that the city should be able to collect at least $155 million of what it is owed over a period of several years. The study did not specify how much could reasonably be collected in the first year of a new effort, however, and the study’s authors consider the city’s $28 million target to be quite ambitious.
“We’re not saying it’s impossible,” said Thomas Ginsberg, a Pew project manager and the coordinator of the study. “But it’s hard.”
Gillen, the economist who created the collectability model for the Pew study, said that “reducing the city’s delinquency rate is an absolute fiscal necessity in the long run” but warned that expecting $28 million for the schools alone in the first year “may be questionable.”
One of the challenges in reaching the property tax target is that, by law, the city and schools split property tax revenue – 55 percent goes to the schools, the rest to the city. So in order to reach the target of $19 million in enhanced property tax collections for the District, the city will have to extract from delinquent and past-due taxpayers a grand total of $34 million in additional real estate taxes: 55 percent ($19 million) would go to the District, while 45 percent ($15 million) would remain in city coffers.
Making the job harder still is the fact that the General Assembly has failed to enact two pieces of legislation designed to enhance the city’s collections capability. The city had expected that those proposed laws – which would make it easier for the city to garnish the paychecks of delinquents and to lien property delinquents who own outside of Philadelphia – to be signed into law by now.
Instead, the General Assembly recessed for summer without taking up the legislation. The hope is that the laws will be passed soon after the legislature returns, but even if they are, the city will have lost several months’ time to use those tools in a crucial fiscal year.
“They’re important,” Tolson said, when asked about the bills. “That’s why we made that request. However, we’re not stopping all our other efforts or using them as excuses not to meet some goals. We’re working voraciously.”
Mayor Nutter sticks with his plan to borrow $50 million, rejects property transfer idea
by Paul Socolar on Aug 16 2013 Posted in Latest news
Mayor Nutter and key staff members came to meet Friday with the editorial team at WHYY and the Notebook to explain and defend his strategy for securing additional funding for the School District.
Both the mayor and City Council have assured the District that it will get an additional $50 million from the city, but they still disagree about how to raise that money. Counting the $50 million, efforts this summer to bring additional revenues to the District have so far generated only $80 million of the $180 million requested by Superintendent William Hite, so most of the cuts made to balance the budget are still in place.
While saying he had no hand whatsoever in developing Gov. Corbett’s rescue plan, Nutter continued to argue that extending the city sales tax surcharge and borrowing $50 million against it is a better plan for raising money than the one put forward by City Council President Darrell Clarke. The mayor questioned whether enough money could be generated this year by selling off District properties. He acknowledged that he needs City Council approval for any borrowing plan.
Here’s what the mayor had to say about the governor’s plan to fund the schools through sales tax revenue, how it came about -- and his own strategy:
While I put forward a path, this is really not my idea or plan. This is using power and authority granted to the city of Philadelphia by the General Assembly in a piece of legislation that was signed by the governor. There’s not a person sitting at this table who was in negotiation on what came out of the legislative process. None of us were in a room anywhere with anyone. I know there have been these thoughts that I somehow signed on to something. This was the ultimate in “This is what you’re getting, put it on the table, you can take it or leave it, but that’s what you’re getting.” …It happened at the end of the process and I believe we ultimately learned its components literally by reading it on a blog site. … There were rumors, conversations, discussions that things might be going in this particular direction, but at the end we were not a party to anything. We were the recipient of certain authorities granted by the General Assembly. … It is much like if you asked someone for $25, and they say “All I have is $15” -- you can decide to either take the $15 or take nothing. I chose to take $15 on behalf of the children of Philadelphia. I am going back for the other $10.We went to Harrisburg with this plan. … I announced a $95 million proposal out of the city of Philadelphia: $28 million in enhanced delinquent tax collection on behalf of the School District, $45 million in funding in a half-year to come from the new cigarette tax, $22 million to come from increasing the liquor-by-the-drink tax from 10 percent to 15 percent. That was my plan.The General Assembly chose not to take up either of those two measures, even though City Council had passed the cigarette tax by 16-0. The General Assembly and governor said, “That’s very interesting, we’re not doing that, we’re doing this. Take it or leave it.”In the late, late hours of this budget discussion, the governor's office came up with the idea: We may not have any “state” dollars to put on the table, but we can extend the sales tax that we know is going to expire next year and we’ll devote those resources to the School District. The sales tax generates about $135 million, maybe upwards of $140 million a year. They gave us $2 million of additional state money; they incorporated our $28 million in enhanced tax collections into their “plan.”And the excess revenues from the disputed fine with the federal government, the Department of Health and Human Services -- the state essentially put aside more money than ultimately they were required to pay by the federal government. It was not the feds’ money, it was the state’s money. They put aside about $140 million … and through a negotiation [involving U.S. Rep. Bob Brady], they ended up with a $93 million settlement. … It was always the state’s money … in the state treasury and now that they don’t have to pay to the federal government, they can do whatever they want to do. And so they decided, "We’re going to give you a one-time infusion for this upcoming year of $45 million" -- solely in their discretion.They attached requirements to it in terms of the state education secretary’s certification, that’s their interpretation. They can do whatever they want. Until the education secretary determines that those conditions have been met, that’s that. … That’s solely in their jurisdiction, and there’s not a soul around here who can do anything about that.My focus is to work on an area where I do think I can do something about. ... The city of Philadelphia was given the authority to do something right now to access $50 million.Is it the best piece of legislation ever written? No. Does it have problems? Yes. … But this is what we have at the moment. I’m not going to sit around and leave money on the table, let the perfect interfere with the good, and not have children go back to school on time or safely. … It’s not a perfect plan, but it is what it is, and we should access those dollars. It’s not debt to the city, it’s not debt to the School District, but it allows us to move forward.The extension of the sales tax will result in $600 million in additional funding in the School District of Philadelphia over the next five years, and $400 million in additional funding to the city’s pension fund over the next 10 years. That’s what you get from what’s on the table, as imperfect as it may be. And there is no other proposal, plan, or idea that comes anywhere near that level of sustained, recurring, stable funding for schools or the pension system right now.
More from this interview to come.
On budget reductions and school conditions: What teachers are seeing
by thenotebook on Aug 16 2013 Posted in Commentary
by Erin Rooney
Residents of Philadelphia are counting down the days until the city’s public schools open. We are faced with insufficient funds and abundant worry about the School District’s ability to open safe and functioning schools. Amid a massive budget crisis, the District has slashed numerous positions, programs, and resources. These reductions raise serious concerns.
Of course, this budget crisis and its consequences have been in progress for a few years. Schools have been working with reductions in staffing, programming, and funding since the start of the 2011-12 school year, the same year I began data collection in two neighborhood schools as part of a dissertation study on teachers’ working conditions. Though I did not intend to research the impacts of budget reductions at the local school level, this reality inevitably surfaced in conversations with teachers about their work.
Below I share a few of the many lessons that I gleaned from speaking with teachers. They are important to consider as we enter the school year with our city’s schools drastically underfunded.
School facilities: “It’s very unclean and dilapidated, and I feel like it should not be a school.”
It’s no secret that some of Philadelphia’s public school buildings are dated and in disrepair. Even the nicest school buildings suffer when there are reduced maintenance services. Teachers bemoaned the deteriorating conditions of their school buildings as maintenance crews were cut and the cleanliness of the school buildings declined over the course of the school year.
The overall impact that a school building has on teachers and students cannot be overstated. In my study, the reduced maintenance services shaped teachers’ daily experiences. One teacher said, “When I walk in the back doors, it smells, it’s dirty, it’s disgusting.” Certainly, other issues will take precedence as the city works to open schools on time. But we have to think through school facilities as well. We have to consider the messages that the conditions of our school buildings send to the children and the adults who inhabit them each day.
Short on staff, short on support: “I think it’s the worst year for the school. ... The loss of staff has really affected us.”
The above quote was uttered by a teacher at an Empowerment school. For many in the School District, the term “Empowerment” was synonymous with scripted instruction and increased monitoring. What people tend to forget is that, at one point in time, this model brought additional financial and human capital to struggling schools. Those services were severely reduced in the 2011-12 school year, weakening this particular school’s ability to support struggling students, and to build stronger home-school connections. Furthermore, instructional programming suffered when there were not enough adults to implement instructional interventions in the manner prescribed.
Staffing reductions compromise how schools organize rosters and what services can be offered on a consistent basis. This year, as schools negotiate changes within the Common Core state standards, it is imperative that a variety of supports are available to help students. Undoubtedly, schools will struggle to provide a consistent, coherent, and supportive educational program with fewer supports in place.
Reduced opportunity for teacher collaboration: “Unless you make time during lunch, or before school, or after school, that’s really the only time that we have to come together.”
High-achieving schools encourage teachers to learn from their colleagues and often organize time during the week for teachers to plan and problem-solve together. In Philadelphia, it is challenging to find time for teachers to work and learn together during the school day.
At the time of my data collection, grade-level meetings among teachers were nearly nonexistent as there simply were not enough people in the building to provide teachers with a weekly meeting time. This year, we have a massive budget crisis coupled with significant movement of staff members across the District. Under these conditions, it is unrealistic to expect that schools and teachers will be able to build the kind of professional community common to schools that achieve high levels of student learning.
The early lessons presented above are just that -- early lessons. Undoubtedly, they will pale in comparison to the conditions under which schools will operate this year. Though the District estimated, before closing 24 schools, that almost a quarter of its seats were empty, the fact is that plenty of Philadelphia’s children will be sitting in School District seats this year. As the nation prepares to raise standards and create shared goals through the Common Core state standards, here in Philadelphia, we laid off more than 3,800 teachers and staffers, decimating the very conditions necessary for increased achievement.
Erin Rooney is an advanced doctoral student in Urban Education at Temple University and a former School District teacher.
Helen Gym: SRC
statement: Going to
war on your own
soldiers
These remarks were made at the Aug. 15 SRC special meeting which stripped seniority from the teachers’ contract. This means that the District has the right to arbitrarily determine which staff to return to schools based on “need.” The SRC voted unanimously to do so.
Last week when you Superintendent Hite issued your ultimatum, parents across the city sprang into action on your behalf. Within 24 hours we were down at City Hall meeting with the Mayor’s office staff and City Council members. Parents wrote letters to the editor, made phone calls, contacted the media about our stories ,and turned out for press conferences for support. We stayed up late, emailing into the night, and met and planned – all on behalf of you because , foolishly, we somehow believed.
Of all the things which have run through my head in the past week, the saddest one perhaps is the sinking in that all of last week – the plea from you, Superintendent Hite, the threat not to open schools which sent parents and families across the city into a panic, the dueling press conferences – all of it was nothing but political theater to justify this.
This was never, never about educating our children.
If it were, you would have made the smallest effort to make sure the state money was on the table. But you didn’t even try to get money from the state, money which would have alleviated, if not solved, this crisis. Instead you are permitting the woeful unprepared opening of schools no superintendent or educator in their right mind would declare fit or ready for children. You allow this opening of schools in order to provide pathetic cover for a governor who has not only failed to do his duty but has manufactured and exploited a crisis for political gain.
You normalize poverty, deprivation and inequity in his name.
The selective elimination of seniority also goes by another name – justification for institutional inequity. Your job is not to make arbitrary calls on which students are needy enough for a guidance counselor. Every child deserves a guidance counselor. Every child deserves a school aide to watch over them in the lunchroom or on the playground. (Labeling this seniority and claiming some pretense at reform to justify denying one child a guidance counselor and granting it to another is an example of the moral vacuum you live in.)
You demand standards for children to be college and career ready but deny them the resources to open functioning schools. You talk about a war for education, yet you fire on your own soldiers who are going to fight it for you.
Your actions breed cynicism, disgust and drive away countless parents and families revitalizing this city. For the first time Philadelphia has turned the tide on five decades of population decline. We’ve done so by attracting new residents and young families, new immigrants who overwhelmingly land in our public schools. And here you stand, ripping out the heart of our schools, denying possibilities for our children and eroding a future for this city.
And yet, still we hope. The Governor holds only two votes on the SRC. The other three comprise the majority. There is still a choice.
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