Philadelphia School District Needs To Borrow $300M To Get Through Next 2 Years
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia School Reform Commission is borrowing more money than it previously announced, to cover its shortfall for the next two years.
The school district's five-year financial plan includes a huge loan, says chief recovery officer Tom Knudsen.
"We recommend that we borrow a staggering $300 million to finance our deficit for Fiscal 2013 and most likely part of Fiscal 2014," he said today, because it will take longer than one year to cut the expenses necessary to bring the district into structural balance.
Knudsen says that includes more concessions from its employee unions.
The district had already planned on borrowing $200 million this year, but Knudsen says that was before City Council failed to adopt the mayor's "Actual Value" property tax initiative and the extra $94 million it would have provided.
