School-district officials last week, and again yesterday, said the district's budget crisis will require them to put the brakes on the charter movement, which they contend is too costly to be allowed to grow as in past years…. Some charters deemed to be low-performing may be shut down, while others that have been approved to open may be allowed to do so with smaller student enrollments, and applications to open new charters for this fall may be rejected, district officials have said…. They estimate that the city's 56 publicly funded, independently managed charters are costing the district $220 million this year.

The School Reform Commission next week is expected to postpone from April 1 to April 18 the date for voting on the five-year charter-renewal requests of 13 schools. SRC Chairman James Nevels said the later date would give the reform commission time to get from staff information and recommendations "as to who should stay and who should go."… Paul Vallas, the district's chief executive, said: "Look, we can't go on approving 10 to 15 charters a year. We just can't do that anymore. We're getting killed."….

Tim Daniels, executive director of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, said the district's argument that charters drain the district's coffers is false…. While the district spends $11,918 per student, it spends only $8,137 per charter child, he said…. And because the state reimburses the district $2,250 for each charter student for transportation costs, Daniels said, the actual cost to the district per charter student is $5,887 - or 49.9 percent of what is spent on district students.

Mensah M. Dean, Philadelphia Daily News, March 8.