Philadelphia waits to see if extra money for schools will loosen purse strings in Harrisburg

Philadelphia is giving $53 million extra to the city schools partly in hope that lawmakers in Harrisburg might follow suit.

State Senator Vincent Hughes said the only guarantee he had from state officials was without new money from the city there was no chance of additional state funding.

“The fact that the city stepped up is only a positive sign and we are trying to work out with the governor and with the other leaders in the four caucuses that there be a significant increase in basic education funding across the state and in that Philadelphia would hopefully get a lot more money,” said Hughes.

Senator Hughes said 80 percent of school districts are planning some sort of tax hike, but even so many teachers will be out of work.

  • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

“Right now there are projected across the entire state layoffs of 11,000 teachers and and another 1,000 personnel,” said Hughes.

The Chester Upland school district may be hit the hardest. Officials there are preparing to lay off up to 40 percent of teachers.

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal