Philly's share of education stimulus contested

Governor Rendell’s proposal for spending federal education stimulus money is coming under fire from lawmakers who say it unfairly singles out Philadelphia. But education equality advocates say the move will help bring Philadelphia in line with other districts across the state.

Governor Rendell’s proposal for spending federal education stimulus money is coming under fire from lawmakers who say it unfairly singles out Philadelphia. But education equality advocates say the move will help bring Philadelphia in line with other districts across the state. WHYY’s Shai Ben-Yaacov reports.

Transcript:
Governor Rendell wants to set aside roughly a third of the $1.1 billion education stimulus just for Philadelphia. About $88 million would go to suburban Philadelphia districts.

Michael Churchill is with the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia. He says putting more money into Philadelphia schools follows the stated goals of the federal stimulus.

Churchill: “The stimulus money was designed to be spent to help areas that had great poverty. The Philadelphia school district has over a third of the students in poverty in the entire state.”

But some suburban and rural lawmakers disagree. They say the money should be divided among all districts.

Listen:
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