|
By John M. Perzel, Majority Leader
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
What do the Philadelphia School District and the Philadelphia Parking Authority have in common? Both are full of holes.
The school district has a $260 million hole in its budget. Among other problems, the Parking Authority is responsible for a $48 million hole in the ground at Eighth and Market streets.
As a lifelong Philadelphian, born in Germantown and raised in Abbotsford and growing up and now raising a family in Mayfair, I love this city. That is why, as a Philadelphian and as Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, I am working to help the children who attend Philadelphia's public schools.
If we can help our schools and improve the Parking Authority at the same time, everyone wins.
It's sad, but it's a typical Philadelphia story: patronage is more important to the mayor, City Council and Philadelphia's leading state senator than educating our children.
In any other city in America, there would be a public scandal if the school district and city council conspired to approve a school budget with a $200-plus million shortfall. Consider this. Instead of allocating more funds for our schools, Philadelphia is constructing new buildings to store garbage trucks.
Instead of stepping up to better educate Philadelphia's children, the mayor, city council and the school district say the problem belongs to Harrisburg.
If the state wasn't doing anything for Philadelphia's schools, I would be standing right with them, but the reality is that state pays six of every ten dollars for the education of Philadelphia's children. In the coming budget year, that will amount to nearly $1 billion for the Philadelphia schools.
Funding for Philadelphia schools has increased every year since I became majority leader in 1995. At the same time the city's commitment has become stagnant.
That brings us to the Parking Authority. In one dramatic step, we located one dedicated source of local revenue to for our schools and began to overhaul the parking authority.
With a new, businesslike governing board, the Parking Authority will have an opportunity to make a difference in the education of Philadelphia's children.
Among the first items on the new authority's agenda will be a performance audit, conducted by a professional, neutral, auditing team.
No more major projects-gone-bust such as the $48 million hole in the ground at Eighth and Market streets, site of the failed DisneyQuest development; $65 million bond issue for the still-in-court Rittenhouse Project; and the $100 million debt incurred for the new garages at the Philadelphia International Airport.
Every dollar we can squeeze from the Parking Authority should be dedicated to educating Philadelphia's children. That money - whether it is $44 million or some other figure - should be dedicated to the city's schools. By itself, this will not solve the school district's fiscal problem, but it is a good first step.
Some will say this is a blatant political grab on my part - changing control of the Parking Authority. Because of the bad politics practiced by the mayor and former mayor, City Council and the School Board I was forced to grab their attention and take action in Harrisburg to begin to clean up the messes at the School District and the Parking Authority.
As Philadelphian who loves this city, I felt very sad that I had to do that. As a Philadelphian who loves this city, there was no other choice to make.
(Mr. Perzel, a resident of Mayfair who represents the 172nd Legislative District in Northeast Philadelphia, has been majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives since 1995)
|
