Catherwood LibraryILR School

The Philadelphia School District says that it may have to cut up to 3,820 employees or around 16% of its total workforce. The school says that it has to close a $629 million budget gap and that this is the only way to do it. The current budget proposal includes $75 million in concessions from unions, which the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers says they will not agree to. The president of the union said that they had already agreed to a wage freeze and would not reopen their contract. The school district says that it has begun negotiations with other unions, and though legally allowed to impose conditions, the district says that it would prefer to bargain with the bargaining units. The school district is also offering an early-retirement incentive to cut down on the number of layoffs.