{"id":137458,"date":"2026-03-13T15:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/137458\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T15:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:46:07","slug":"philadelphia-school-district-shares-plan-to-close-300-million-budget-deficit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/137458\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia school district shares plan to close $300 million budget deficit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter<\/a> to keep up with news on the city\u2019s public school system.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia school district must make deep cuts to plug a $300 million budget hole, officials said this week.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Tony Watlington told reporters no teachers would be laid off in the round of proposed cuts he shared<\/a> this week. But for the 2026-27 school year, hundreds of district employees would be reassigned to fill vacant positions and an already-lean central office will shrink further.<\/p>\n

Philly\u2019s school budget crisis is the result of decades of underfunding and the end of federal pandemic relief funds, coupled with rising teacher salaries, charter school payments, and increased health care costs, Watlington and district Chief Financial Officer Mike Herbstman told reporters Wednesday. That means the school district is currently spending more money than it\u2019s taking in.<\/p>\n

The district proposes eliminating all of its approximately 220 building substitute positions and reassigning another 340 school-based positions, like some climate staff and special education aides, to other roles. Those two changes combined would save $56 million. <\/p>\n

Some 130 vacant central office positions would be cut, outside contracts would be reduced, and other central office \u201cbudget efficiencies\u201d would result in $130 millions in savings, Watlington said. Those budget efficiencies would include combining some administrative teams, reassessing property casualty insurance, and changing the way the district approves travel expenses among other savings. <\/p>\n

The district would also end two programs championed by former superintendents that gave additional resources and staff to low-achieving schools to help them improve: The former Acceleration Network<\/a>, previously known as the turnaround network<\/a>, and the System of Great Schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The district\u2019s goal is to eliminate its deficit by cutting $225 million in fiscal 2027 and an additional $20 million in each subsequent year through 2030.<\/p>\n

The district will present its initial budget summary for the upcoming fiscal year, including the proposed cuts, to the Board of Education on March 26. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re restructuring some to keep everybody who\u2019s in the house in the house so that there are no position cuts or layoffs,\u201d Watlington told reporters on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

We’re here to help.<\/p>\n

Every day, Chalkbeat Philadelphia reporters are answering your questions, following the money, and digging into what’s happening in the city’s public schools. Keep up with our free newsletter, delivered every Wednesday and Friday morning.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how these cuts and reassignments will affect classrooms as principals have only just begun the process of setting their school budgets for the next academic year. But Watlington said he couldn\u2019t rule out some larger class sizes, for one. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to hide or obscure the fact that it will have some impact, because we\u2019ll have<\/p>\n

to do more with less,\u201d Watlington said. \u201cWe will not take our foot off the gas in terms of our expectations.\u201d <\/p>\n

Watlington said school leaders will have the discretion to decide which roles are reassigned though they can\u2019t move roles for classroom teachers, principals, and assistant principals. <\/p>\n

He did not provide a list of which contracts or vendors the district is looking to cut. But Watlington said he\u2019ll take a \u201chard look\u201d at reducing any program that does not show a clear throughline to improving student attendance, teacher attendance, test scores, graduation rates, and dropout rates.<\/p>\n

In a statement, district spokesperson Monique Braxton said a full list of the vendors who may see their contracts cut or sunset \u201cwill be detailed later in the budget cycle.\u201d <\/p>\n

Watlington said in the long term, he expects the state to deliver on its constitutional mandate to fund its public schools adequately. A state commission calculated Philly schools need an additional $1 billion to meet student needs. But \u201cthat won\u2019t happen in two days or overnight,\u201d Watlington said. <\/p>\n

Because Philadelphia is the only school district in the state that can\u2019t raise its own revenue, it is dependent on philanthropy and state and local policymakers.<\/p>\n

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro recently proposed an increase of $151 million<\/a> for the district, and Mayor Cherelle Parker this week<\/a> said she wants to send $12 million more to public schools via a new tax on rideshares and a modification to tax calculations for cell towers. <\/p>\n

But even if those increases occur, they would still not be enough to solve all the district\u2019s budget problems, Watlington said. And last year\u2019s state budget delay<\/a> cost the district $6.5 million in interest payments.<\/p>\n

The district is also trying to find a way to pay for its $2.8 billion proposed facilities plan<\/a> that could result in 18 school closures in addition to modernizations for 160 buildings.<\/p>\n

Philly district budget cuts would hit substitute teachers hardest<\/p>\n

Watlington pointed to large school districts like Broward County in Florida<\/a> and Los Angeles Unified School District<\/a> that recently announced thousands of public school employee layoffs to plug budget holes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve done our level-best to have a different story here in Philadelphia,\u201d Watlington said.<\/p>\n

Though no teachers will be laid off, eliminating building substitutes could mean headaches down the line for Philly\u2019s larger schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Herbstman, the district CFO, said schools will continue to receive long-term substitutes for teachers out on extended leave as well as day-to-day substitutes if a teacher calls out sick. But he did not say how those roles would be coordinated or whether additional money would be needed for outside contractors to fill substitute roles.<\/a> <\/p>\n

The individuals currently acting as building substitutes may be assigned to fill other vacant positions, Herbstman said.<\/p>\n

Watlington says Philly schools are not wasteful<\/p>\n

Watlington emphasized that despite persistent claims of district waste and administrative bloat<\/a> coming from some elected officials, \u201cthe school district of Philadelphia already has a very lean central office.\u201d He said that position is backed up by external audits and recent credit increases.<\/a><\/p>\n

The narrative that there is rampant waste in Philly schools is \u201cpatently, absolutely false,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Watlington said in addition to the cuts, his office is going to \u201cbe very aggressive and very assertive\u201d about growing enrollment <\/a>in the school district through recruitment \u2014 including making their case to private school families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis school district has so many wonderful, fantastic things that are happening,\u201d Watlington said, citing his usual talking points about increasing test scores, rising graduation rates, and declining dropout numbers<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a good story to tell. We\u2019re getting better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a breakdown of the planned budget cuts:<\/p>\n

Freeze central office vacancies, cut 130 vacant central office positions, and cut other central office costs ($30 million).Reduce contracts and \u201clow return on investment\u201d programs ($36 million). Implement efficiencies in the budgeting process ($103 million). Eliminate 220 building substitute positions ($13 million).Reassign 340 school-based positions ($43 million).<\/p>\n

The school board is expected to adopt a final fiscal 2027 budget on May 29. <\/p>\n

Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter to keep up with news on the city\u2019s public school system.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7623,539,28,69,71,70,7625,63276,40959],"class_list":["post-137458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-chalkbeat","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philly","tag-superintendent-of-the-school-district-of-philadelphia","tag-tony-watlington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}