PHILADELPHIA - A trade school founded more than a century ago to teach business and vocational skills to black workers will close this week because of financial troubles.
Berean Institute, once well-known for its cosmetology, court reporting, data processing and stenography programs, does not have enough money to pay staffers, said John Braxton, chairman of the school's board of trustees.
The planned closing Friday is the final blow in a series of setbacks that started in November, when the North Philadelphia school lost its accreditation because it did not have enough paying students to keep it financially stable, Braxton said.
The accreditation problems then led to Berean losing all of its $1.4 million in state funding for 2008-09, Braxton said.
The school is also being evicted from the state-owned building it has occupied since 1973, said Sheila Ballen, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. Berean hasn't paid any rent since 2005 and owes the state more than $310,000, she said.

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