We’re all well aware that the city’s schools are, well, messed up. So today, Mayor Nutter delivered a promise, and a call for citizens to act, to make sure our schools are the best they can be. He said, in part:

This is a moment where we need to think about how we can best support them. Yes, there have been challenges from the past; yes, there are challenges going on presently. But again, as adults, as leaders, as elected officials, the citizens of this City want high quality education and a system of great schools all across the City of Philadelphia.

That’s my passion, that’s my commitment, that’s what I’ve been focused on. I love going to schools to see our children and certainly I want to do everything I possibly can to ensure that not only we fix our property assessment system, make sure that the City and the School District get the proper funds that they should from a fixed system, but that also, in this time of tremendous challenge and economic crisis, that we do all that we can, right in this moment, that we give our School District the additional funds that they need. Much of which, of course, is already built into their budget and unfortunately already anticipated in the 200 plus million dollar deficit for the next fiscal year.”

You can read Mayor Nutter’s full remarks after the jump.

Good afternoon everyone. I just have a couple brief comments.

“I know that Council was in session this morning, and I did not want to discuss the current situation while Council was in session. I think all of you know by now that I have a love and a passion for children of the City of Philadelphia and certainly for their future and their educational opportunities. It’s something that I’ve been focused on for all of my public life, and it is a topic I really concentrated on during my time as a member of City Council.

“As you’ll recall, during my first and second inaugurations, I emphasized the importance of education in the City of Philadelphia. We continue to be challenged with two major issues. Fixing a decades long broken property assessment system, which pretty much everyone in the building agrees certainly including property owners and homeowners all across the city agree, the time has certainly come to fix this system. We are certainly on our way to doing that.

“At the same time, our schools, our children and their teachers, desperately need our help and support as well. Kids just got out of school last Thursday. There will be kids in summer school this year but with less capacity than previously because of financial challenges. Schools, of course, will reopen in September. We need to make sure that our young people have as many resources we can provide as possible. This is our responsibility as adults, as citizens, as taxpayers, and certainly as elected officials.

“So, I am hopeful through the course of this day, working in partnership with Council President, many members of City Council, many members of the General Assembly, because of the interaction between and among the City and the State regarding certain pieces of legislation, I am certainly hopeful that we are able to accomplish these two very important goals that are in a way tied together but certainly have their own unique elements and components.

“This is a critical time in Philadelphia, a time that cries out for more support for our young people. I have the occasion to go to a lot of schools during the course of the school year and even visit some schools with programming and activities during the summer.

“The great thing about kids is that they are innocent. They are full of life and full of energy. They mostly enjoy going to school; they love their teachers; they like learning. You can see sometimes the little light bulbs go off when they’re in their classes.

“This is a moment where we need to think about how we can best support them. Yes, there have been challenges from the past; yes, there are challenges going on presently. But again, as adults, as leaders, as elected officials, the citizens of this City want high quality education and a system of great schools all across the City of Philadelphia.

“That’s my passion, that’s my commitment, that’s what I’ve been focused on. I love going to schools to see our children and certainly I want to do everything I possibly can to ensure that not only we fix our property assessment system, make sure that the City and the School District get the proper funds that they should from a fixed system, but that also, in this time of tremendous challenge and economic crisis, that we do all that we can, right in this moment, that we give our School District the additional funds that they need. Much of which, of course, is already built into their budget and unfortunately already anticipated in the 200 plus million dollar deficit for the next fiscal year.

“So, this is our moment and a great opportunity to take on two big challenges, two things that, quite honestly, have not been taken on in the past. I commend, of course, City Council for working on property assessment and trying to fix this system. It’s a heavy lift. These are tough circumstances, very complicated and detailed work. The members have been working a long time on this, and I continue those conversations with the Council President and certainly the other members. That’s what we’ve been talking about. We’ll stay in regular communication and try to make these tough decisions but ultimately do right by our children.”

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2012 at 11:27 am.