{"id":211142,"date":"2026-06-05T02:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/211142\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T02:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:01:16","slug":"philadelphia-schools-superintendent-says-50-million-in-city-funding-wont-stop-staff-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/211142\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia schools superintendent says $50 million in city funding won\u2019t stop staff cuts"},"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

School District of Philadelphia leaders say $50 million in one-time funding approved by the City Council will not restore hundreds of staff positions the district is cutting, according to a memo obtained by Chalkbeat.<\/p>\n

The City Council gave initial approval on Thursday to a $7.1 billion budget deal for the 2027 fiscal year, but rejected Mayor Cherelle Parker\u2019s proposed rideshare tax <\/a>that her administration said would generate $48 million in its first year and would stop the elimination of 340 staff positions<\/a> at Philly schools. <\/p>\n

Instead, the council sent $48 million from other budget sources in a one-time allocation to the school district to stop the cuts.<\/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

But later on Thursday, the City Council received a memo from Superintendent Tony Watlington saying that the funding was insufficient because it did not address the \u201cunderlying drivers of staff reductions.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe District cannot restore the 340 school based positions without a commitment to recurring and predictable funding over multiple years,\u201d Watlington wrote in the memo. <\/p>\n

He also wrote that the district\u2019s finance team believes relying on a one-time funding to support recurring expenditures like salaries \u201cmay be viewed as a structural budget imbalance and could negatively affect the District\u2019s long-term financial outlook, borrowing costs, and future capacity to invest in school facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watlington\u2019s memo does not address how the district could use or plans to use the $48 million instead. <\/p>\n

Councilmembers quickly denounced the letter.<\/p>\n

Education Chair Isaiah Thomas called Watlington\u2019s memo \u201coffensive and disrespectful\u201d in a speech from the City Council floor on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me that\u2019s very, very shortsighted and doesn\u2019t show leadership,\u201d Council President Kenyatta Johnson said of the letter. He said district leaders should welcome the $50 million and reverse the cuts.<\/p>\n

Standing alongside Watlington and Board of Education President Reginald Streater at City Hall Thursday, Parker called the $48 million a \u201cband-aid\u201d solution that would not solve the district\u2019s persistent financial challenges: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get to the heart of the matter which is a $300 million structural deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said councilmembers remain committed \u201cto work for long-term recurring revenue for the school district.\u201d <\/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":211143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7623,92618,539,28,69,71,70,7625],"class_list":["post-211142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-chalkbeat","tag-city-council-president-kenyatta-johnson","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211142","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=211142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}