City Council will switch focus on Monday and hold hearings about the operating budget for the School District of Philadelphia. Council is required to authorize the transfer of $889 million in local tax dollars to the District. These hearings-- five in all-- will be the final stage of the budget process.
I've been doing a little digging into the District Budget. It's been an interesting experience. Frankly, there seem to be more people who seem to understand the budget and have strong opinions about it. That's partially thanks to the presence of several strong advocacy organizations.
The School District also does some things right. Take a look at the portion of their website dedicated to the school budget. It's fairly easy to navigate and there is a link on the front page. The site has a calender of budget events, links to documents, and a message board. In comparison, the city only has a links to a few documents.
Here is another little nugget to ponder: Council has held more than sixty hearings on Mayor Nutter's $3.9 billion budget. There will be only five hearings about the School District, which has a budget of $2.3 billion. Does that make anyone else go "Hmmm.."?