To enable it to administer, manage, and operate the School District of Philadelphia, the Board of Education shall have the powers and duties enumerated herein and any other powers and duties, not inconsistent with law, which are necessary to carry into effect the powers and duties conferred upon it in this Article. The Board shall succeed to, and shall possess all the powers, rights, and privileges, not inconsistent with law, formerly possessed by the Board of Public Education of Philadelphia.
The Board of Education shall adopt a date for the beginning of each fiscal year appropriate to the requirements of the District and shall adopt a fiscal calendar consistent with such fiscal year and with all public notice and other timing requirements of this Article and state law. Any change in fiscal year shall be made only after public notice and public hearing on the proposed change. Not less than ninety (90) days prior to any proposed change in fiscal year, the Board shall publish, by advertisement at least once in two newspapers of general circulation printed in the City, notice of such proposed change; such advertisement shall include notice of public hearing scheduled for not less than sixty (60) days before such change is to become effective.
(a) The Board of Education shall, at least thirty (30) days before the end of the fiscal year, adopt by majority vote of all its members an operating budget setting forth in lump sum amounts the proposed expenditures of the Board during the next fiscal year as to each principal administrative unit of the District, according to such classes of expenditures as the Board may determine, and the estimated receipts of the Board during the next fiscal year, including approximate estimates of proposed revenues and all other receipts. The total amount of proposed expenditures shall not exceed the amount of funds available for School District purposes.
(b) At least sixty (60) days prior to adoption of the annual operating budget, the Board shall adopt and submit to the Mayor and Council a lump sum statement of anticipated receipts and expenditures for the next fiscal year and a request for authority to levy taxes to balance its budget for the year. Provided, however, that if Council shall no longer have the power to authorize taxes for School District purposes, the statement need not be submitted to the Mayor and Council.
(c) The Board shall, at least thirty (30) days prior to the time any budget or amendment thereto is adopted, conduct at least one public bearing thereon. At least thirty (30) days' notice of such public hearings shall be published by advertisement at least once in two newspapers of general circulation printed in the City. The Board shall make available to the public a reasonable number of copies of such budget or amendment, and the notice of public hearing shall state where copies may be obtained or inspected.
(d) The Board shall have the power to amend the budget to authorize the transfer of any unencumbered balance, or any portion thereof, from one appropriation to another, or from one spending agency to another.
(e) The Board shall have the power to make additional appropriations or increase existing appropriations to meet emergencies which could not be anticipated when the budget was adopted, the funds therefor to be provided from unexpended balances in existing appropriations, from unappropriated revenues, if any, or from temporary loans. Under no other circumstances may the Board increase the aggregate total of budget appropriations unless unappropriated revenues become available in sufficient amount to maintain the budget in balance, in which event the Board may make additional or increased appropriations.
(a) Not later than the date of adoption of the annual budget, the Board of Education shall, by a majority vote of all its members, adopt a capital program and capital budget for the District. The capital budget shall at all times conform to the capital program and shall show in detail the capital expenditures to be made or incurred in the next fiscal year that are to be financed from funds subject to control or appropriation by the Board.
(b) The capital program shall embrace all physical public improvements and any preliminary studies and surveys relative thereto, the acquisition of property of a permanent nature, and the purchase of equipment for any improvement when first erected or acquired that are to be financed in whole or in part from funds subject to control or appropriation by the Board. It shall show the capital expenditures which are planned for each of the six ensuing fiscal years. For each separate purpose, project, facility, or other property, there shall be shown the amount, if any, and the source of the money that has been spent, encumbered, or is intended to be spent or encumbered prior to the beginning of the ensuing fiscal year and also the amounts and the sources of the funds that are to be spent during each of the ensuing six years.
(c) The capital program shall not be adopted, nor shall it be amended, until the Board of Education has requested the recommendations thereon of the City Planning Commission. The Board shall not be bound by such recommendations and may act without them if they are not received within thirty (30) days from the date they were requested. Immediately upon adoption of the capital program, the Board shall forward a copy to the City Planning Commission for publication as part of the capital program document which the City Planning Commission publishes annually.
(d) The Board shall at least thirty (30) days prior to the time any capital program or amendment thereto is adopted, conduct at least one public hearing thereon. At least thirty (30) days' notice of such public hearing shall be published by advertisement at least once in two newspapers of general circulation printed in the City. The Board shall make available to the public a reasonable number of copies of such program, and the notice of public hearing shall state where copies may be obtained or inspected.
(a) The Board of Education shall levy taxes annually within such limits and upon such subjects as the General Assembly of the Commonwealth or the Council of the City may from time to time prescribe, in amounts sufficient to provide funds for the current operation of the schools of the District, the payment of interest and sinking fund charges on or other amortization of the debt of the District and its predecessor districts, and to provide for any services which may be incidental to the operation of the schools. Provided, that if the rate of taxation shall be fixed at a mill rate it shall also be stated in dollars and cents on each one hundred dollars of assessed valuation.
(b) When any levy of school taxes has been made by the Board, the Board shall forthwith certify the levy, under the seal of the District attested by the President and Secretary of the Board, to the proper authority of the City of Philadelphia authorized to prepare tax duplicates, to be entered thereon, and by such authority to be properly certified to the City's Department of Collections. The school taxes shall be collected as provided by law, at the same time, in the same manner and with like authority, subject to the same discounts and penalties as other taxes collected in the City.
(c) If the General Assembly of the Commonwealth shall enact legislation bestowing taxing power on the Board of Education, the Board shall levy and collect taxes as provided in the enabling act.
The Board of Education shall have the power to create and incur indebtedness against the District and issue bonds to secure the same for the purposes and payable as provided by law, but no debt shall be incurred or increased which will cause the aggregate indebtedness to exceed at any one time five (5) per cent of the assessed value of the taxable property within the District without the consent of the electors thereof at a public election in such manner as shall be provided by law, nor shall the aggregate indebtedness of the District exceed fifteen (15) per cent of the last assessed valuation of property taxable for school purposes in the District.
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