Funding cut for 2 local partnerships

Penn is losing a tenth of its city funding for programs run with two West Philadelphia elementary schools.

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission approved this reduction last week as part of $22.3 million cut from the School District of Philadelphia's budget.

Ann Kreidle, Penn's coordinator for partnership schools, said Penn officials will review the partnership budget to determine what will be cut as a result of the decision.

The cuts were proposed by School District CEO Paul Vallas in response to the system's $70 million debt.

As a result, Penn will no longer receive as much funding for its partnerships with Alexander Wilson and Lea elementary schools, where the University provides teacher training and curriculum development as an "educational management organization."

Currently, the district pays Penn $450 per student enrolled in the partner schools.

Penn, Temple University, two non-profit organizations and two for-profit groups have such partnerships with more than 40 public schools in the city.

The partnerships began in 2002 and are aimed at helping poorly performing schools boost test scores.

School district spokesman Fernando Gallard said this decision will not have any bearing on the School Reform Commission's decision of whether or not to renew the partner institutions' contracts next spring.

He also said that standardized testing results, which are used to monitor the success of individual partners, did not influence the cut.

"The 10-percent reduction, again, is outside of the evaluation of the performance of the school. It purely is a fiscal remedy to work at reducing the deficit in the district," he said.

The reduction in funding for partner organizations like Penn is expected to save the district $1.8 million.

"I understand that the district has a financial problem," said Margaret Harrington, chief operations officer of the for-profit educational management organization Victory Schools. "Unfortunately, cutting money to contracts like this cuts services in very needy schools."

The commission also rejected $4.6 million worth of additional proposed cuts, which targeted various community- and school-based organizations.

Gallard noted that "we have held several public hearings in which the public has commented, and made it very clear that they would like to see no cuts in regard to school-based budgets."

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