Saturday, November 10, 2012

It's Microcosm Time (everybody dance)

The Philadelphia School District is in the hole and their finances are putrid.  I wonder what caused the problem.
How did the district arrive in its current financial predicament?
A failure to cut costs as it shrank was a factor; certainly big cuts in state and federal revenue and the brutal economy have contributed to the fiscal woes. But Ramos has acknowledged that "poor fiscal policy" - too much borrowing, too much spending on the part of prior administrations - also landed the district in its tight spot.
 
The short version is that they spend too much, and when enrollment drops in the city, they refuse to close schools and consolidate, because that would mean the layoff of employees (the teacher's union would not allow that).

So, how are they going to fix the problem?
 The Philadelphia School Reform Commission moved Wednesday to borrow $300 million - money it needs just to pay teachers, heat buildings, and buy books for the rest of the school year.
 
The vote by the commission was unanimous.  This is how Liberals apply economics.  Spend, and then borrow.  Tax...then keep spending...then borrow again.


ADDENDUM:  You know what?  Let's do some research. 

The Philadelphia Public School District has a teacher to student ration of 1/19.   There is a teacher for each 19 students.  This is low.  And yet, they will layoff no educators.  They will close no schools and consolidate students.  Not only would they cut down on costs tremendously through salary and building maintenance, they would be in a position to sell prime real estate to private entities due to the abandoned locations.  These are significant figures.

Also, the total enrollment of the Philadelphia Public School System is 196,309.  They receive $7,669 for each student, which totals over $1.5 Billion.  They can't make the system work with that much money, and require a $300 Million loan just to make payroll.

Does anyone remember President Obama's priority in solving the economic crisis?  That's right, he wants to hire more teachers.

Burn America Burn...

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