For the School District of Philadelphia, the past month-plus has laid bare its fraught relationship with Philadelphia City Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Facing budget cuts \u2013 and potential school closures and job losses \u2013 Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. and the school board have faced nonstop criticism from City Council and education advocates over its approach to addressing an uncertain fiscal future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now that the district has ended tumultuous weeks of will-they-or-won\u2019t-they speculation over the fate of 340 classroom-based jobs by confirming those jobs will remain, it\u2019s time to see how we got here \u2013 and what\u2019s next:\u00a0<\/p>\n
SDP says cuts are on the way<\/p>\n
Starting off on the wrong foot with contentious school board meetings in April, the school district, facing a $300 million structural deficit, attempted to right-size its budget, formalizing Watlington\u2019s long-term spending plans that included closing 17 schools, renovating 169 others and eliminating 148 teaching jobs and 119 climate staff positions.<\/p>\n
The meetings included shouting matches between city councilmembers \u2013 including Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier and Isaiah Thomas \u2013 and the school district board. Emotions ran so high that Councilmembers disrupted the board meeting discussion of the facilities plan, prompting the board to hold a closed-door session, where it completed its initial vote via video call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are asking them to come back to the table,\u201d Thomas said at the time. \u201cPolitics is a happy compromise. What you saw at the last meeting was our response to them walking away from the negotiating table.\u201d<\/p>\n
The board moved ahead with its facilities plan, which included the closures, putting political pressure on city lawmakers to play ball \u2013 or find another solution to boost school district funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parker\u2019s rideshare tax sparks intense debate<\/p>\n
With the school district\u2019s cuts in motion, leaders in City Hall put their heads together to come up with additional revenue sources to help fund the struggling district.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parker had introduced a tax on rideshare services like Uber and Lyft in an attempt to remedy the situation. The initial proposal, floated at $0.20 per trip, was quickly upped to $1 per trip. Parker said the increase would generate $48 million for the school district in new recurring funds and insisted that, if approved, the tax would save the 340 school-based jobs on the district\u2019s chopping block.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mayor\u2019s proposal was greeted with widespread skepticism, with councilmembers questioning whether the tax would make tech giants like Uber \u201cpay their fair share,\u201d as Parker pitched, or make trips in the city more expensive for residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Uber immediately pushed back on the proposal, launching a lobbying campaign against the tax, arguing it would raise prices, reduce demand and ultimately lower driver earnings in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Conversely, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers called on City Council to pass the rideshare tax as the best option for saving classroom jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe academic, attendance, and enrollment progress made in our schools is real, and fragile. Philadelphia public schools have long been under-resourced and understaffed. Forcing schools to cut math teachers, reading tutors, special education assistants, and safety personnel because of a budget shortfall will absolutely worsen learning conditions for 198,000 students,\u201d the educators union said in a statement in May, adding that Parker\u2019s rideshare tax is the \u201conly solution that has been proposed that provides both new and recurring dedicated funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPhiladelphia public school students deserve the world. They deserve a District and City government that shows them that their futures are precious and important,\u201d PFT added in the statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson initially indicated he would be willing to use the rideshare tax to leverage an amended facilities plan from the school board.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On top of concerns about implementing a new tax, there were plenty of questions surrounding the district\u2019s financial situation and whether the fates of the rideshare tax and district job cuts were tied together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Parker largely stayed mum following the school closure vote. She continued to tout the rideshare tax as a viable solution, but stayed out of the broader debate and seemed to be in lockstep with Watlington as he lobbied Council for support for the facilities plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
School board passes $4.6B budget with classroom cuts<\/p>\n
On May 28, the school board unanimously passed Watlington\u2019s spending plan that included roughly $50 million in classroom cuts and $169 million in central-office cuts on top of the loss of 148 teaching positions and 117 climate positions. The $1.3 billion multiyear district plan, which would entail 17 school closures, 169 modernization projects and one new school building, went largely against the wishes of several councilmembers, who made their outrage over the closures loud and clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watlington, who pointed to rising salaries, healthcare premiums and charter school payments as drivers of the budget cuts<\/a>, said that no staff would be laid off, but teachers and school-based staff might be reassigned to other vacant positions across the district. At the time, he said if the $1-per-trip rideshare tax were to pass, the school district’s position would be restored.\u00a0<\/p>\n Facing substantial opposition from Councilmembers, school board members blamed state and federal underfunding for the district\u2019s financial position.\u00a0<\/p>\n City budget passes with alternative education funding<\/p>\n The city\u2019s own budget negotiations were yet another turn in this school district saga.\u00a0<\/p>\n After days of behind-closed-doors talks between the Parker administration and Council leadership, Council gave initial approval to a more than $7.1 billion budget \u2013 notably without Parker\u2019s rideshare tax.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Instead, Council took an alternative route, allocating an additional $48 million to the district for the year through a grab bag of savings initiatives<\/a> from a variety of departments, including $10 million from the Commerce Department\u2019s contracts with outside venders and $9 million in savings from debt service.<\/p>\n \u201cWe heard loud and clear from Philadelphians that raising taxes is not an option right now. Residents are concerned about the cost of living \u2013 and with good reason. Many Philadelphians are struggling financially and, as a body, we could not in good conscience move forward with the proposed taxes,\u201d City Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson said in a statement. \u201cAt the same time, we recognize we must address the deep, systemic and long-standing issues with the School District of Philadelphia and its structural deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n Parker admitted that the tech companies \u201cwon Round 1\u201d in the funding negotiations, but the battle won\u2019t end with this year\u2019s budget. She also assured that her administration and City Council are \u201cnot at war over public education\u201d but that there continues to be a \u201cdisagreement here about who should pay.\u201d The mayor added that she is awaiting a \u201csecond round\u201d of negotiations.<\/p>\n District says cuts will still take place<\/p>\n Following passage of the city\u2019s budget, Watlington sent a letter to city officials saying the school district\u2019s cuts would go forward, explaining that his position was based on the additional funding for the school district being a one-time revenue and not a long-term fix.\u00a0<\/p>\n The letter immediately sparked outrage from Councilmembers who said they did their part in finding funding for the district.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor them to make a decision and say, \u2018Oh, no, we\u2019re not going to restore the cuts,\u2019 it\u2019s just short-sighted,\u201dJohnson told reporters after the letter was sent. \u201cThe question should be to them: \u2018What are you going to do with the $50 million? Why not save the positions?\u2019 I think that\u2019s what the parents should be asking the Philadelphia School District.\u201d<\/p>\n Educators didn\u2019t take the news well, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n PFT President Arthur Steinberg said it was \u201cdeplorable and really absurd\u201d that district leadership wouldn\u2019t use the additional dollars to prevent the classroom cuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNever once did they say, \u2018If we only got it for one year, we\u2019re not going to restore the cuts,\u2019\u201d Steinberg said at a June 5 press conference.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Watlington tried to defend the district\u2019s position, saying the district has to \u201clive within our means\u201d and that he was clear about the need for funding to be recurring and not temporary.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parker, Watlington announce deal to prevent job cuts\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As the school year came to a close, the school district saga took one last turn, with Parker and Watlington announcing on June 10 that the 340 classroom-based jobs would not be cut.\u00a0<\/p>\n