Phila. SRC Restores A Few Cut Items In Preparation For Start of School Year
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Some music, sports, and secretaries previously eliminated in the Philadelphia school district's "doomsday" budget are being restored, in time for the start of classes on September 9th.
Schools superintendent William Hite says he has identified $33 million that the district can spend now to restore itinerant music teachers, fall sports, and at least one secretary per school.
"Schools open in six weeks," Hite (fourth from left in photo) noted today, "and these are things that we feel need to happen. Is it a time of uncertainty, a tremendous amount of uncertainty? Yes. But these are the things that we feel that we have to do to begin the process of opening schools."
This is a first step toward resolving the district's budget crisis (see other related stories). Thousands of counselors and other school staffers remain laid off while the district seeks to fill its $300-million budget hole.
