Nutter hedges on source of $60 million to help Philly schools

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter isn’t ready to elaborate on how the city will come up with the $60 million in new funds requested by the Philadelphia School Disitrict.

 

Nutter said Thursday it’s too early in the budget talks to say how the city will respond to what he calls the school district’s “serious need.”

“We’ll either pay for our children’s education now or we’ll pay much later in public safety costs, in (Department of Human Services) costs, in prison costs or the like,” he said. “So I want to invest in children, I want to work with Council President Clarke and all the members of City Council to collectively figure out a plan to address a very serious need.”

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The mayor would not say if the money will come in the form of higher real estate taxes.

“We need to have a broad-based discussion about a wide variety of things to support the educational advancement of children here in the city of Philadelphia,” Nutter said. “Where there are ideas on the table, when someone has put something forward, I will be in a much better position to give a much better answer in reality as opposed to in theory.”

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