{"id":292884,"date":"2025-10-10T20:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T20:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/292884\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T20:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T20:59:10","slug":"some-philly-preschools-running-out-of-funds-due-to-state-budget-impasse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/292884\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Philly preschools running out of funds due to state budget impasse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter<\/a> to keep up with the city\u2019s public school system<\/p>\n

For more than three months, Lisa Smith has operated several state-funded pre-K classrooms at Amazing Kidz Academy early learning centers in Philadelphia without being paid for those services.<\/p>\n

More than 100 children at Smith\u2019s preschool rely on the state\u2019s Pre-K Counts program, which is meant to provide free early learning to lower-income families and children who may be English language learners or have special needs.<\/p>\n

But as the state budget impasse stretches beyond 100 days, Smith and dozens of other Philadelphia providers who participate directly in the program are still waiting for funding, pushing some to consider furloughing staff and shuttering classrooms, according to advocates. Around 150 Philadelphia preschools provided Pre-K Counts seats last fiscal year, serving 5,000 students. <\/p>\n

For Smith, the budget impasse has meant draining thousands from her personal savings and taking more out from a line of credit to keep the preschools afloat. As of this month, she said the state owes her business more than $300,000 for her Pre-K Counts program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho can carry a program for months with no money?\u201d said Smith. \u201cTo not pass a budget that is funding these programs and expect us to cover it this long \u2014 it is disgraceful.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Philadelphia, some Pre-K Counts slots are managed by the school district, which is already having to borrow up to $1.5 billion<\/a> to make up for state budget funding. <\/p>\n

Tyrone Scott, director of government and external affairs at the Philadelphia-based advocacy organization First Up, said that providers contracting with the district are getting help with costs and are in a more stable financial spot right now. <\/p>\n

But for the dozens of preschools who contract directly with the state, providers and advocates say the budget impasse has pushed an already tight business model to the brink \u2014 and not even a new public loan program is offering full relief. Lawmakers propose waiving interest for Pre-K Counts loan program<\/p>\n

In the state Capitol, lawmakers appear to be at a standstill on key budget issues, such as funding for schools and Medicaid. Pennsylvania has become the only state in the nation without a finalized state budget for the fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Though the Democratic-controlled House passed a new budget Wednesday evening<\/a> that includes a 5% spending increase, the Republican-controlled Senate has rejected increasing spending and has not voted on the proposal. <\/p>\n

State officials have recently offered some support measures, including a new public loan program<\/a> for Pre-K Counts providers. That program, called the bridge loan, allows providers to take out funds to cover operating expenses as long as they agree to pay the loan back with 4.5% interest within 15 days of state funds being released.<\/p>\n

But Scott said the interest rate and tight deadline to pay back the loan has some providers concerned. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s still something that people are kind of wary of,\u201d said Scott. \u201cThey want to help kids, they want to serve the families, but they just need the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate Wednesday passed a bill that would enable the treasury to waive interest for early education providers and some other programs that would be eligible for bridge loans. Republican lawmakers have presented it as a solution to the funding crisis that they blame on Democrats.<\/p>\n

But some Democratic lawmakers have pushed back<\/a> against the legislation, saying the treasury does not have authority to create the loan program. The House has not yet voted on the legislation. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, some providers say they\u2019re running out of back\u2013up funds. <\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Mercedes Fleet, who operates Bright Little Scholars early learning center in Northeast Philadelphia, sent a letter informing parents that if the state budget doesn\u2019t pass by the end of the month, the preschool will have to close its Pre-K Counts classroom until funding is released. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t go to my landlord and say, \u2018Hey, the budget didn\u2019t pass, I can\u2019t pay you money.\u2019\u201d said Fleet. \u201cCan\u2019t expect people to show up and work and not know when they\u2019re going to get paid.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Smith, she said she applied to the bridge loan program on Monday and has not yet heard if she\u2019s been approved. She hopes to get the money to help keep her preschool afloat. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do not want to close these classrooms,\u201d said Smith. \u201cI don\u2019t want to do it to the families. The parents depend on us. They need us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly every day, she calls lawmakers to ask them to pass the budget and get her and her industry out of this funding mess.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that impact students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter to keep up with the city\u2019s public school system For more…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":292885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,10911,3070,4439,93203,24354,1448,2830,1311,66368,6214,67016,149964,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-292884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-class","10":"tag-classroom","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-first-day-of-school","13":"tag-lunch","14":"tag-pa","15":"tag-pennsylvania","16":"tag-philadelphia","17":"tag-preschool","18":"tag-students","19":"tag-teacher","20":"tag-the-family-center-la-familia-in-fort-collins","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115351884148245924","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}