It’s the most well known fact about Philadelphia schools: they’re underfunded and have been for over a decade.
Think we can drink our way out of the problem? Click below to see how much your night out helps fund the schools.
Ideas on how Philadelphia might fully fund @PhillyEducation? Share 'em with me & let's get this conversation started. 📚✏️🍻
— Ben in Philly (@beninphilly) May 7, 2015
The annual budget for the schools is $2.76 billion. Sounds like a lot, right?
In Philadelphia, that breaks down to $13,077 per student. In Lower Merion (about 10 miles away), the schools spend $22,963 per student.
Philly’s schools get about $2.76 billion in funding. About 9% of that comes from the Federal government. About 50% comes from the state. And the rest comes from Philly.
Philly contributes $897.6 million through taxes: Real Estate (73%); Use and Occupancy (15%); the drink tax (7%); school (non business) income (4%); and public utility realty (less than 1%).
Maybe. Maybe not. Some bars just eat the cost of the tax. Some pass it on to the consumer.
We do know that the amount collected for the schools has nearly doubled since 2005 ($33 million) and has increased by $10.4 million since 2012.
The drink tax accounts for $300 worth of each student’s $13,760 education.
Check out these articles to learn more about school funding. And find out where the mayoral candidates stand.
This project is the result of a collaboration between YIP, Code for Philly, and the Philadelphia Chapter of NLC. Special thanks for the generous financial backing of the Next Mayor Project and Philly.com.