PRINTER'S NO. 3709
No. 494 Session of 1998
INTRODUCED BY EVANS AND BARLEY, JUNE 9, 1998
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, JUNE 9, 1998
A RESOLUTION
1 Providing for a review of the financial matters of the
2 Philadelphia School District by the Appropriations Committee.
3 WHEREAS, Commonwealth appropriations provide in excess of 58%
4 of the revenues available to the Philadelphia School District;
5 and
6 WHEREAS, The Philadelphia School District's own financial
7 projections indicate that it faces ever increasing deficits; and
8 WHEREAS, The education of over 213 thousand school students
9 is dependant on the long-term financial stability of the
10 Philadelphia School District; and
11 WHEREAS, Every effort must be made to assure that the
12 Philadelphia School District's resources are directed to the
13 classroom to the maximum extent possible; and
14 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth must assure that educational
15 resources are distributed in a fair and equitable manner within
16 the School District of Philadelphia; therefore be it
17 RESOLVED, That the chairman and minority chairman of the
1 Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives
2 undertake an examination of the financial and other resources
3 available to the School District of Philadelphia to:
4 (1) determine how taxpayers' dollars are spent by the
5 Philadelphia School District in such a manner that
6 comparisons may be made of costs by school, by program, by
7 grade and by spending categories;
8 (2) analyze the results obtained;
9 (3) examine current cost determinants, the reasons for
10 their development and their future cost implications;
11 (4) analyze current management and administrative
12 practices and their impact on the educational and
13 noneducational activities of the school district;
14 (5) identify cost reduction strategies to minimize
15 future budget deficits and identify management strategies
16 that result in the redirection of financial and other
17 resources to the classroom in a fair and equitable manner;
18 (6) provide for the widest distribution possible of the
19 results obtained from the committee's analysis to the
20 citizens and taxpayers of this Commonwealth; and be it
21 further
22 RESOLVED, That the services of independent consultants and
23 experts, to be paid for from funds appropriated to the Chief
24 Clerk, may be obtained to assist the committee in its work; and
25 be it further
26 RESOLVED, That the committee complete its work and make its
27 findings and recommendations to the House of Representatives no
28 later than November 30, 1998.
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