The cavalry came to the rescue last night in the great Pennsylvania education funding debate.
But you’ll have to excuse the folks in Chester Upland if they don’t feel all that good about it.
As they pledged they would, the state Senate last night restored $286 million in education funding cuts. Chester Upland is now in line for an additional $10 million.
But that still left them staring at a $10 million cut in funding.
And last night the ax fell.
The school board went ahead with a budget plan that slashed 40 percent of the district’s staff. That includes 150 teachers, 16 classroom aides, and six counselors, 295 employees in total.
The district is hopeful many of them can be hired back, once the money is restored.
But the district is not out of the financial woods just yet. The biggest hit they are taking is in the area of reimbursements for charter school students. Chester just happens to be home to the largest charter school in the state, Chester Community Charter.
Consider this: With almost 40 percent of its students in charter schools, last year Chester Upland was reimbursed for $11 million for these students. This year they will get nada. Zip. All that funding has been cut.
Just another chapter in the Schools of Hard Knocks.
But you’ll have to excuse the folks in Chester Upland if they don’t feel all that good about it.
As they pledged they would, the state Senate last night restored $286 million in education funding cuts. Chester Upland is now in line for an additional $10 million.
But that still left them staring at a $10 million cut in funding.
And last night the ax fell.
The school board went ahead with a budget plan that slashed 40 percent of the district’s staff. That includes 150 teachers, 16 classroom aides, and six counselors, 295 employees in total.
You can read John Kopp's story from the meeting here.
The district is hopeful many of them can be hired back, once the money is restored.
But the district is not out of the financial woods just yet. The biggest hit they are taking is in the area of reimbursements for charter school students. Chester just happens to be home to the largest charter school in the state, Chester Community Charter.
Consider this: With almost 40 percent of its students in charter schools, last year Chester Upland was reimbursed for $11 million for these students. This year they will get nada. Zip. All that funding has been cut.
Just another chapter in the Schools of Hard Knocks.
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