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Decisions about Pittsburgh Public Schools’ future footprint could be made final by Thanksgiving.
District administrations shared new details Thursday about staffing, transportation and other changes families can expect to see next school year and beyond if board members vote to approve PPS’ reconfiguration plan. The board will hold a meeting to discuss the plan Monday, Nov. 17 and is expected to vote on it as early as Tuesday, Nov. 25.
Over several weeks this summer, PPS held a series of state-mandated hearings, community meetings and informal conversations on the plan, which would permanently close nine school buildings and dissolve, relocate or restructure nearly two dozen others.
Board president Gene Walker has repeatedly stated his intention to hold a vote on the nine school closures before three newly-elected board members take their seats on Dec. 1.
“I don’t believe that we can sit by even for another day knowing that change is possible and choosing not to make that change because we’re not comfortable with every little piece,” Walker said.
Attendance zones and transportation
Thursday night’s presentation responded to calls from families, district staff and board members for more details about the execution of these changes ahead of any final decisions.
The 140-page plan unveiled includes a first look at school staffing projections under the plan, updated school boundaries based on community feedback.
According to the facilities implementation plan, students in grades 6-8 who live in the Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar neighborhood will now attend PPS Sterrett in Point Breeze before going on to Westinghouse High School in Homewood.
All East Hills K–5 students will now attend Pittsburgh Faison, which the district said simplifies feeder patterns and reduces travel time. PPS leaders also said expanding Lincoln K-5 boundary north and Sunnyside K-5’s boundary east would balance enrollment at the schools.
Facilities Implementation Plan
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Pittsburgh Public Schools
The district also decided to rewrite the boundaries for Weil K-5 in the Hill District after hearing concerns about crowding. Instead of attending Weil, students in the Upper Hill and North Oakland will attend Liberty K-5 in Shadyside under the plan.
PPS, too, opted to revert the boundaries for Westwood K-5 in the West End to their original pattern to avoid under-enrollment, and similarly expanded Roosevelt K-5’s zone in Carrick.
On the North Side, while renovations are underway to reopen Northview PreK-5 in 2028, English language learners would temporarily attend Morrow K-5 in Brighton Heights. Elementary students living in Perry North and Summer Hill would also attend Morrow before relocating to Northview.
K-5 students from Northview Heights who currently attend King K-8, slated to become a K-5 school, would remain there before relocating to the new school. King 6-8 students would attend a new Schiller middle school located inside the facility currently housing Allegheny Traditional Academy.
The district said its early childhood centers will not be affected by the plan, although PreK programs currently housed inside an elementary school slated to move will also relocate.
Regarding transportation, district leaders say the average ride time for students will drop from over 30 minutes to 17 minutes under the changes. The number of bus routes offered will be cut nearly in half, and an additional 1,500 students will be designated as walkers.
That’s expected to save the district an estimated $5.6 million annually, largely driven by the disbandment of magnet programs that require PPS to bus students across the city.
Administrators said transportation for students receiving special education services will be fully preserved and highlighted plans to partner with the City of Pittsburgh to ensure crossing guards and other safety measures are in place in high-traffic areas.
Student experience and equity
Since the district first began discussing portfolio changes in late 2023, administrators have stressed that closing schools, disbanding magnet programs and reconfiguring grade structures not only saves money, but also more equitably distributes opportunities and resources across the district.
The plan notes, for instance, that STEAM lessons would be available to all middle school students districtwide instead of the 15% receiving them now. Where only some elementary magnet school students are currently exposed to world languages, the district says these lessons will be introduced to all third graders. Every PPS second grader will be screened for gifted education to ensure equitable identification.
The district plans to expand access to advanced coursework and enrichment opportunities to Black students, and to integrate culturally responsive practices into individualized instruction and supports.
“ These opportunities should never depend on a student’s zip code, and because equity must be more than a buzzword, this plan places a special focus on students who have faced the greatest systemic barriers,” PPS superintendent Wayne Walters said.
Counselors will be expected to check in with students in the first weeks of transition and facilitate restorative circles and peer mediation to build trust among new student groupings.
The district has also planned to train students and parents to serve as school ambassadors, host multilingual family orientations and campus tours, and send home welcome kits ahead of the 2026-2027 school year.
For students with disabilities, schools will hold preparation meetings with families, along with review meetings to address any missed or delayed services.
And in developing six new English language development centers for immigrant students, the district said Thursday that seven additional roles will be added to the department. The district will partner with organizations serving these communities, such as Casa San Jose and the Latino Community Center, to support families attending these new and reconfigured centers.
The district also announced plans to introduce a new community sponsorship and school adoption program for local businesses, nonprofits and organizations. The model will be piloted first at four elementary schools, with outside partners helping schools serve as community hubs.
Financial and staffing changes
Most of these changes, if approved, would go into effect for the 2026-2027 school year. That would mean major shifts in staffing districtwide, and additional moves once the district’s gifted center closes in 2027.
An initial breakdown of these staggered changes, broken down by position, would reduce the number of positions districtwide by nearly 7% within the first year of the plan. That includes 55 fewer general and elective teacher positions, 48 fewer food service worker positions and 11 fewer principals.
District head of human resources Margaret Rudolph said some core content teachers will be reassigned to “related arts,” encompassing high school electives in English and math, among other subjects.
Rudolph also cautioned that many positions in question are currently vacant and would therefore changes would not require mass furloughs. More than 50 new positions would be added for the 2027-2028 school year, not including hiring driven by yearly resignations and retirements.
Rudolph said recruitment would begin early this spring.
“Applicant pools have, over the past several years, been very shallow. Professionals are in high demand,” she said. “So if we can get an early offer to a qualified candidate, we have a better chance of starting the school year fully staffed.”
The district reiterated that closing nine facilities would help the district avoid nearly $103 million in building improvements and utilities over the next seven years.
But expanding programs to increase equity across PPS will also cost the district considerably. Expanding English language development, in-school gifted services, and math and literacy coaching would cost a combined $4.7 million annually, largely as a result of hiring. Scaling up professional development centers for teachers would raise the total cost to $7.5 million by 2030.
Chief financial officer Ron Joseph said the targeted increases will be partially offset by the building closures and transportation savings, reducing select budget items by approximately $8 million by 2027.
“It represents a critical step forward toward achieving fiscal sustainability, reinvesting our resources into instruction, staffing, and student supports,” he said. “In short, the plan helps us to slow our use of our financial reserves.”
But how the district will maintain sustainable finances was not detailed and little information was included about the sale of any closed buildings. Aside from Northview, three other buildings closed during a previous round of closures still remain in the district’s portfolio: Knoxville, Bon Air, and Fort Pitt.
Financial forecasts Joseph presented show PPS is still likely to operate with a multi-million dollar budget deficit and drain its cash reserves by 2028, even with these changes factored in.
“It’s still really not clear to me — how is this going to benefit us in the long run if we still are not going to be great with money?” asked board vice president Devon Taliaferro.
Director Jamie Piotrowski, who will leave the board at the end of her term next month, pointed to a report from city controller Rachael Heisler this week that found the district could be saving millions of dollars if it implemented better procurement policies.
“How do we know that it’s not going to fall apart in five years when [the implementation plan] is over? Because we haven’t figured out a way to address all of these other issues that this district has because for whatever reason,” Piotrowski said.
Board members asked the district to provide them with additional, detailed timelines with the “milestones” families could expect and monitor during each phase of the plan.
Additional community listening sessions will be held over the next two weeks, including at the Pittsburgh Project on the North Side on Nov. 6 and at Obama Academy in East Liberty on Nov. 13.
Director Yael Silk will hold office hours for her constituents over this weekend. Silk, like others, said the condensed timeline in the first year of the plan gave her pause. But she openly questioned her colleagues who indicated that they would not vote to set the plan in action.
“I personally don’t think that a no [vote] is an option for our students, for our staff, for our families, for our city,” she said. “I think that that would be disastrous.”