Philadelphia public schools open next week for a school year shaped by looming closures, declining reading scores and political tension between the district and City Council.

Nine district schools are set to close at the end of the 2026-27 year, the first wave of a plan approved by the Board of Education in April to shutter 17 schools over the next decade. For Northeast Philadelphia families, the fights playing out over closures, curriculum and charter school oversight will ripple across the entire system.

Nine closures move forward over City Council objections

Superintendent Tony Watlington’s facilities plan includes closing 17 schools, colocating several others and upgrading nearly 170 buildings. The district has said it needs an additional $2 billion to pay for the upgrades.

Schools slated for closure at the end of this year include Lankenau Environmental Science High School, Paul Robeson High School and Overbrook Elementary, all of which have mounted fierce resistance with backing from members of City Council.

Education Committee Chair Isaiah Thomas and a group of councilmembers have demanded the district “return to the negotiating table” and consider removing some schools from the closure list. They have threatened lawsuits, called for board members’ resignations and explored shifting to an elected school board.

Mayor Cherelle Parker has been largely absent from the public debate. In 2024, Parker said her administration would form a committee to review the facilities plan, but that committee never materialized. Debora Carrera, chief education officer for the Parker administration, said in an email that the mayor “supports the plan” and will work with the district, City Council and state lawmakers “to identify the funds necessary to move forward with improvements.”

Reading scores fell as curriculum overhaul continues

Test scores released last school year showed third grade reading proficiency declined, with fewer than 1 in 3 students reading on grade level.

“We are going to get our reading scores up,” Brenda Elliott, the district’s deputy superintendent of academics, told Chalkbeat. “We are committed to ensuring every one of our students are reading on grade level.”

The district is about four years into a multimillion-dollar curriculum overhaul. Math materials came first in 2023-24, English followed in 2024-25 and science was added this past school year. Math scores have improved, but reading scores have fallen. Some educators have told Chalkbeat they dislike the new curriculum and remain skeptical of its usefulness.

The district has opted not to release school-level data from last year’s PSSA and Keystone exams to educators and principals while the state reviews the results. District spokespeople say the data cannot be used to compare student performance or for selective admissions this school year.

By next school year, the district plans to offer an algebra course to all eighth graders, meaning it must expand access to more than 50 schools that don’t currently offer the class.

Charter evaluations and cellphone rules on the horizon

The school board’s charter school office is expected to release a new evaluation framework called Project RISE this fall. Schools that don’t meet certain standards could lose their charters. Recent nonrenewals have led to lawsuits from charter leaders who allege the process is biased. The board has also approved the first new charter school in nearly a decade, set to open this fall.

Individual schools currently set their own cellphone policies. Gov. Josh Shapiro has called for a bell-to-bell cellphone ban and more regulations on minors’ use of artificial intelligence. The governor has also not said whether Pennsylvania will opt into the Trump administration’s school tax credit program, which could funnel money to private schools.

The district has pledged to help families affected by closures navigate their options. The first day of school is next week.