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<\/p>\nPhoto: Shutterstock<\/p>\n
For a while now, Philadelphians have been calling for an audit of the School District of Philadelphia. It looks like they\u2019re about to get it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By Denise Clay-Murray<\/p>\n
From the moment that the School District of Philadelphia announced its facilities plan, a lot of folks, many of them parents of school aged children, have had one question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n
While the School District continues to say that Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.\u2019s facilities plan has nothing to do with the district\u2019s financial picture and the more than $300 million structural deficit contained within it, anything that involves the closing of 17 schools \u2014 including some of the district\u2019s best \u2014 is going to include a demand to look at the books.<\/p>\n
Well, it looks like folks are about to get that look.<\/p>\n
The School District of Philadelphia is about to go under City Controller Christy Brady\u2019s microscope for a comprehensive performance audit.<\/p>\n
The audit, which was requested by City Council, will look at a pretty extensive list of things, most of which are connected to the district\u2019s $4.6 billion budget, and includes the following:<\/p>\n
\u2022 The structural deficit and the assumptions being made that impact it.
\u2022 All of the funding increases the district has gotten from Council over the past decade, including recurring and non-recurring revenue sources and the impact those increases have had on the financial condition of the District.
\u2022 The status of the payments the District is supposed to be getting from the Philadelphia Parking Authority. For those of you who may not know, the reason leaders in Harrisburg gave for taking over the Parking Authority back in 2001 was the additional funding it could provide for schools. Depending on who you ask, the district has gotten maybe $4 million over the last 25 years, or nothing at all.
\u2022 How the district\u2019s reserves are being used, including such expenses as contracts, vacancies, administrative costs and consultants, and how those usages impact the district.
\u2022 How effective and efficient the district\u2019s operations and administration is.
\u2022 Whether or not the district\u2019s financial management practices, budgeting, and long-term financial planning stacks up with the best practices for school districts of similar size.
\u2022 A review of the district\u2019s internal controls, procurement practices, contract management, and consultant utilization to look for ways to make the district more accountable and cost efficient.
\u2022 And, last but certainly not least, how the proposed school closures will impact the district in terms of savings, transition costs, impacts on transportation, facility maintenance and impact on the neighborhoods near the closed schools.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of stuff. But folks want to be thorough. Thanks to $1.7 billion in taxes, $332 million from the FY 27 operating budget \u2014 which includes the additional $48 million in additional funding the district said it needed to avoid laying people off \u2014 and new revenue from an increase in the Use and Occupancy tax, the district has $2 billion to work with.<\/p>\n
All Council, and by extension the voters, want to know is what the district is doing with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the SDP\u2019s current budget challenges, requests for additional public revenue, and recent proposals involving school closures and operational reductions, City Council believes a comprehensive performance and management review is warranted to ensure transparency, accountability, and informed public decision-making,\u201d Council President Kenyatta Johnson said in a statement announcing the audit. \u201cThe City of Philadelphia has a responsibility to ensure that all available revenues, expenditures, obligations, and funding strategies have been thoroughly reviewed before significant decisions affecting students, families, educators, neighborhoods, and public assets are implemented.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been no date set for the audit to start, but the goal is to have it done by the time Mayor Cherelle Parker and Council start considering the FY28 budget.<\/p>\n
My guess is that everyone will be on the lookout for it.<\/p>\n
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author\u2019s employer, The Philadelphia Sunday SUN, the author\u2019s organization, committee or other group or individual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Shutterstock For a while now, Philadelphians have been calling for an audit of the School District of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-262433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}