Philadelphia Public School Principals Plead Budget Case To Councilmembers
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- With the Philadelphia school district about to unveil its 2015 lump-sum budget (details will come later), education advocates are rallying to get more money for public schools.
Even the normally reticent principals' union is pressing City Council for help.
Today, principals spent the day visiting councilmembers, with a message.
"Schools are not okay the way they are," says Cindy Farlino, principal of the Meredith School, in Queen Village. "They opened, and our kids came, but they are not okay."
Farlino says students are not getting the counseling services they need, some don't even get recess because there are no aides, and principals are filling in for lost staff.
"Monitoring of the instructional program is not what it should be because principals are answering office phones or monitoring the lunchroom," she tells KYW Newsradio.
And she says the school district's projected budget for next year is no better than this year's.
"It's going to be too hard to operate. There's going to be no money for books, no money for materials. Support service is going to suffer," Farlino says.
The public school principals recently took a 16-percent pay cut (see related story). They are asking city officials to pass promised legislation that would provide $200 million for the city's schools.
