State Ordered To Draft $45 Million Plan for Phila.

By Ann Bradley

Pennsylvania officials would have to find $45.1 million this year to improve what Philadelphia schools offer to minority students, following a state judge's ruling.

Commonwealth Court Judge Doris A. Smith last month absolved both the city school district, which cannot levy taxes, and the city of Philadelphia, which has had severe financial problems in recent years, from the responsibility for paying for a 1994 remedial order calling for extensive changes in the district.

Ruling in a 25-year-old school-desegregation case, the judge rejected the state's argument that the district could pay for the court mandates through cost-saving measures, including cutting other educational programs. The state also argued unsuccessfully that the remedial plan was too extensive, affecting schools that...