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City Council member Isaiah Thomas. (Courtesy of Philadelphia City Council)<\/p>\nThe Philadelphia School District\u2019s struggle to address its decades-old funding and facilities challenges erupted into shouting and angry accusations on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers and education leaders held dueling press conferences. City Councilmembers berated district officials for planning a vote this Thursday on Superintendent Tony Watlington\u2019s plan to close 17 schools, while council is simultaneously considering whether to approve a politically difficult $1-per-trip rideshare tax to help the district.<\/p>\n
At a budget hearing, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas shouted at Watlington and other officials, saying he had just come from meeting special needs students at Lankenau High School \u2014 which is on the closure list \u2014 and contended the district wasn\u2019t taking residents\u2019 concerns seriously.<\/p>\n
City Council member Isaiah Thomas. (Courtesy of Philadelphia City Council)<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to stand next to a young lady who is blind. She goes to a school where she\u2019s very comfortable, and everything works for her,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cWhat about the deaf children at Lankenau? What about the blind children at Lankenau? You\u2019re asking us to do some of the most ridiculous stuff I\u2019ve ever heard anybody ask me to do, and then\u2026tell them kids, \u2018You can\u2019t go to this school no more.\u2019 That hurt! That\u2019s tears!\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Jamie Gauthier criticized the superintendent for keeping Robeson High School on the closure list when he revised his facilities plan this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are asking us to do something that, at this moment, feels very unpopular, and that\u2019s fine. We are legislators. We are expected to do hard things and to engage in hard conversations. The problem is that you\u2019re asking us to engage in this difficult conversation and decision with you while simultaneously telling us that you\u2019re not going to listen to us or our communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At the end of the hearing, Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson asked Philadelphia school board President Reginald Streater to delay the facilities plan vote. He said he would check with the rest of the board and respond at a council hearing scheduled for the next day.<\/p>\n
Seeking support in Harrisburg<\/p>\n
Watlington and Streater argued that the funding and facilities issues are separate issues, but must both be addressed now.<\/p>\n
A number of schools are underenrolled or have aging buildings with major repair needs, or both, and consolidating schools will let the district serve students more efficiently, Watlington said.<\/p>\n
Responding to Gauthier, he said Robeson \u201chas a poor business building score. I cannot, in a good fiduciary sense, recommend to go in and renovate that building. It\u2019s not good business sense. It\u2019s not good use of the public tax dollar,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Merging Robeson\u2019s students into another school will allow the district to provide more resources, like Advanced Placement classes, a band, orchestra and possibly athletic equipment to the combined campus, he said.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the superintendent said he wants to find a lasting fix for the district\u2019s $300 million structural deficit, which has become acute due to the end of federal pandemic relief aid, higher staffing and healthcare costs, and the growth of charter schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That will come through cutting Central Office staff and other expenses, from the rideshare tax \u2014 which is projected to boost the city\u2019s contribution to the schools by $48 million a year \u2014 and, eventually, from the Pennsylvania legislature\u2019s compliance with a 2023 state Supreme Court decision on education funding levels, Watlington said.<\/p>\n
Right-sizing the district and tightening the budget may help speed the process, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur best estimate right now is that it will take a decade, at the rate we\u2019re going,\u201d he said. \u201cOur kids can\u2019t wait a decade. We can take some measures here in Philadelphia to help ourselves, and then go to Harrisburg and make the case that, \u2018We\u2019re doing our part. You do your part.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Blindsided by the upcoming vote<\/p>\n
In January, Watlington initially proposed closing 20 schools. Following complaints and lobbying by students, families and elected officials, he reduced the number to 18 and then on Monday to 17, after deciding to spare Ludlow Elementary<\/a>.<\/p>\n What he has called the \u201cfinal, final\u201d version of the plan would modernize 169 facilities, increase the district\u2019s investments in City Council districts 3 and 5 in West and North Philadelphia, and boost the plan\u2019s price tag from $2.8 billion to $3 billion. The district plans to borrow $1 billion and seek the rest from the state and charitable donors.<\/p>\n The district had planned to transfer Robeson and some other school buildings to the city for potential use as housing. Gauthier responded by introducing zoning bills that would restrict redevelopment of the Robeson property and three others, saying she didn\u2019t want the district to be motivated by potential sale revenues.<\/p>\n Watlington revised his plan this week to maintain district ownership of Robeson and Lankenau, while still closing both schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n Councilmembers said they were blindsided by his announcement of the \u201cfinal\u201d closure plan and the school board\u2019s scheduling of a vote to approve it just three days later.<\/p>\n \u201cHow dare you rush this plan to a Thursday vote when you haven\u2019t even taken the time to fully engage our communities, but then come in here and ask us to do something hard for you,\u201d Gauthier said, referring to the rideshare tax. \u201cThat is why the tenor of this conversation in the room today is what it is, because partnership doesn\u2019t look like that.\u201d<\/p>\n