{"id":185230,"date":"2026-05-06T10:47:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/185230\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T10:47:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:47:05","slug":"philly-schools-dont-need-more-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/185230\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly Schools Don\u2019t Need More Money\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A majority of the Philadelphia students receiving diplomas cannot read or do math at grade level. In 2025, barely one-quarter<\/a> of 11th graders were proficient in math and only about a third in reading. Yet, thousands of students are told they are ready for life beyond high school.<\/p>\n

How is this possible?<\/p>\n

As a recent Chalkbeat investigation reveals,<\/a> it\u2019s not because academic achievement has improved \u2014 it\u2019s because the system has changed what it means to graduate.<\/p>\n

Instead of passing Keystone exams measuring basic reading and math skills, students can graduate by submitting \u201cevidence\u201d from a state-approved list. In practice, that often means completing short, low-rigor online credential programs. One of the most popular? A two-hour online video about ladder safety.<\/p>\n

Intended to be an alternative for students who panic at taking tests or pursuing training or a career in trades, this has become the default to cover over the district\u2019s horrific track record of underperformance and lack of accountability.<\/p>\n

District officials claim they need more money. But analysis<\/a> of the District\u2019s spending suggests otherwise.<\/p>\n

In March, the school district posted its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report<\/a> (CAFR), a 200-page audit that the District is legally required to share. The report showed District spending increased by 78 percent since 2016, while highlighting several problematic patterns for the district over the past decade.<\/p>\n

Excluding charter expenses, the districts spent $32,122 per student \u2014 about $9,000 more<\/a> than the state average. This per-student rate is almost double what it was in 2016.<\/p>\n

The most alarming trend is the District\u2019s dwindling enrollment. Over the last decade, total non-charter student enrollment has dropped by 12 percent. Philadelphia continues to lose students to changing demographics and an increased interest in non-district educational alternatives.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia kids don\u2019t have another 10 years to wait for the District to get its act together. They need better options now.<\/p>\n

Despite the drop in enrollment, the District still managed to hire more staff. The District workforce has grown 21 percent over the same time. And with fewer students, class sizes have shrunk accordingly.<\/p>\n

But the bulk of employment growth occurred outside of the classroom. Philadelphia schools employ 4 percent more teachers than they did in 2016, but administrative positions have grown by 56 percent, according to the CAFR.<\/p>\n

Instead of taxpayers continually throwing more money at the same problem, Philadelphia kids need better educational options. This means empowering families and students with the resources they need to find better schools of their choice.<\/p>\n

Right now, Pennsylvania\u2019s tax-credit scholarship programs are doing a lot of that heavy lifting. Last year, the Commonwealth awarded about 101,000 scholarships<\/a> to PA kids, providing hundreds of millions of dollars to students in need of better schools.<\/p>\n

And these scholarships make a difference. The Children\u2019s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia (CFSP), which fundraises and awards millions of dollars in scholarships for students in grades K through 8, found that their recipients \u2014 about 70 percent<\/a> of whom formerly attended one of the state\u2019s low-achieving<\/a> schools \u2014 academically outperform their public school peers.<\/p>\n

But there aren\u2019t enough scholarships. About 69,000 applicants were denied or placed on waitlists due to program caps. Rather than limit how much money scholarship organizations can give to low-income kids, state lawmakers must remove these arbitrary caps that deny kids the funding they deserve.<\/p>\n

A new federal scholarship program could provide even more resources for students stuck in underperforming schools. The new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit<\/a> (FSTC) could provide upwards of $500 million<\/a> in additional funding for Pennsylvania kids, based on one estimate by Education Reform Now. [Editor\u2019s note: The FSTC, scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2027, is a state-by-state opt-in program that rewards individual taxpayers who give select cash contributions to designated Scholarship Granting Organizations with up to $1,700 in tax credits. So far, 27 states have opted in.]<\/p>\n

But before Philadelphia kids can benefit from FSTC, Governor Josh Shapiro must opt in to the program \u2014 something he has been hesitant to do despite the program\u2019s popularity<\/a> and zero cost to the state or District.<\/p>\n

More staff and nearly double the spending have produced little to no improvement in student outcomes. Increased spending without added reforms or accountability promises more of the same.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, education dollars must follow students to the schools that allow them to succeed. If District officials and state lawmakers are serious about results, they must expand educational options that deliver for families.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia kids don\u2019t have another 10 years to wait for the District to get its act together. They need better options now.<\/p>\n

Nathan Benefield is the Chief Policy Officer of the Commonwealth Foundation, a Pennsylvania free market think tank.<\/p>\n

The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.<\/p>\n

\"\" MORE ON OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS<\/p>\n

Five weeks before the School District of Philadelphia’s board voted to close Paul Robeson High School, students there joined Third District City Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier at a press conference asking for their school to remain open. Photo by Chris Mansfield for PHL City Council. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A majority of the Philadelphia students receiving diplomas cannot read or do math at grade level. In 2025,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3314,69,71,70,1998],"class_list":["post-185230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-guest-commentary","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-school-district-of-philadelphia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185230","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=185230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}