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WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia cannot continue to revitalize its economy without creating and maintaining an educated workforce that is prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st Century knowledge-based economy; and
WHEREAS, The success of students in Philadelphia is vital to the economic well-being of the state as a whole; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia School District has made considerable strides toward improving the quality of education in Philadelphia’s schools, and is in the process of continuing broad based reforms; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia School District still faces the difficult task of providing an adequate level of education for its diverse student body of 196,000, many of whom attend struggling inner city schools; and
WHEREAS, Due to the budget that has passed the State House, the Philadelphia School District is currently facing a shortfall that is forcing cuts in schools across the district in areas including classroom staff, library staff, and extracurricular programs for the 2006-2007 academic year; and
WHEREAS, These potentially steep cuts for the 2006-2007 academic year and beyond have caused serious concern among City parents, students and education advocates; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia School District depends heavily on the $25 million state appropriation; and
WHEREAS, The Governor proposed budget contains the $25 million to fund 43 of the lowest performing schools in the School District and to help finance private managers running several of its schools; and
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia School District entered into a partnership with the State of Pennsylvania in 2001 with the expectation that this annual appropriation was not bound by any specific time limit; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby urge the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to adopt the Governor’s proposed 2006-2007 education budget.
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