Ackerman says she will provide Mayor details on Philadelphia school money

Philadelphia’s school superintendent is working on turning over lots of budget details to Mayor Nutter as the city looks to help the district close giant deficit.

Mayor Michael Nutter says even though full-day kindergarten has been saved, the school district just re-arranged money so other things will be cut. Nutter wants a full accounting from the school district and School Reform Commission what he calls an “education accountability agreement.”

“We the city need to have a much better understanding of the financial picture of the school district I want to have a closer partnership and working relationship with the school district and the SRC but in order to be able to do that we need to have much more information, much more date and we need to have access to that data in a real-time manner,” said Nutter.

Superintendent Arlene Ackerman says she has no problem with being accountable and is working to comply with the mayor’s request.

“We believe that we’ve shown we’re worthy in terms of student achievement and we just need to reassure the mayor the council and the larger Philadelphia community that we will be good stewards of the public funds,” said Ackerman.