COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, December 9, 2024 11:40 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMAN JIM HARRITY COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILWOMAN RUE LANDAU COUNCILWOMAN QUETCY M. LOZADA COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMAN NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA COUNCILMAN ISAIAH THOMAS COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR. RESOLUTIONS: 181014, 240888, 240889, 240986 - - -
This is the public hearing and public meeting of the Committee of the Whole regarding Resolution Nos. 240888, 240889, 240986 and 181014. Mr. Christmas, will you please call the roll.
Present. Thank you very much, Mr. Christmas. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. Mr. Christmas, will you please read the title of the first resolution.
Resolution 10 No. 240888, appointing Rick Carrion to the Board of Directors of the City Avenue Special Services District. Resolution No. 240889, reappointing Howard Wurzak to the Board of Directors of the City Avenue Special Services District. Resolution 240986, appointing Gary Brandeis to the Board of Directors of the City Avenue Special Services District of Philadelphia and Lower Merion. And Resolution No. 24 181014, calling for the Council Committee of the Whole to convene public meetings and public hearings pursuant to the Educational Supplement of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter to review the administration, management, operation, and finances of the School District and adopt plans to coordinate the activities of the Board of Education, the Mayor and the City Council for the improvement and benefit of public education in Philadelphia.
Thank you very much. This morning we will first consider three resolutions to appoint and reappoint directors to the City Avenue Special Services District. After considering the City Avenue appointment resolutions, we will hear testimony on Resolution No. 181014 to review the administration, management, operations and finances of the School District of Philadelphia. Before we call our first witness, I would like to recognize Councilmember Jones for any remarks he would like to make concerning the City Avenue Special Services District resolutions.
Thank you so much, Mr. President. As my colleagues know from around the city, Special Services Districts augment the regular services that are done on behalf of commercial corridors. In the case of City Avenue, they're one of the most exemplary Special Services District I can imagine. And I speak from authority of having been the President and CEO of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation, which was responsible for over 100 commercial corridors in the city of Philadelphia. I also state that as we start to look at the long-term viability of these commercial corridors, these services districts also serve in a planning capacity. A report was done on City Avenue that said that density and traffic calming were two of the priorities. And as you look on both sides of City Avenue, working with our partners in the county, you're starting to see more and more development. We had to say goodbye to Lord & Taylor, but we are getting more residents in the area to work from the Schuylkill Expressway all the way down to St. Joe's University, so they coordinate and collaborate with the existing businesses, community organizations and universities, so we are thankful for what they do keeping us safer, cleaner and greener. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you very much. Will Mr. Christmas please call Brian Fenstermaker, President and CEO of the City Avenue Special Services District. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Good morning, Council President Johnson and Councilmembers and Councilmember. Thank you for the kind words, Councilmember Jones. My name is Brian Fenstermaker. I'm President and CEO of the City Avenue Special Services District here to testify on Resolution 21 240888 with Mr. Rick Carrion, Resolution 240889 with Mr. Howard Wurzak and Resolution 240986 with Mr. Gary Brandeis. I did submit written testimony, but I'm happy to provide a little bit of an overview of what we do. And again thank you, Councilmember Jones, for kind of highlighting the work that we do with Philadelphia and Lower Merion as a convening organization. We're about 2.7 miles long, running from 76 to 63rd Street encompassing about 400 different parcels on both Philadelphia and Lower Merion. We've done about million in 15 public improvements with capital 16 improvements and landscaping work as well as retail strategies, so we're really involved in making sure it is a clean, green and hospitality-focused district and we continue to work and strive to make that happen. As you know, we can't do that without our Board members, and we're putting forth three Board members today, Mr. Wurzak who has been a long-time standing Board member and was really a reappointment, and Mr. Rick Carrion who is a new -- the Vice-president of all of TD Bank's Philadelphia market, so we're happy to have him come on board as well as Mr. Gary Brandeis who is now back in City Avenue District representing the Marriott on City Ave, but most notably some of his scholar hotels throughout the state. So we're really happy with the new Board members coming on allowing us to do our work. Happy to answer any questions at this time, so thank you.
Thank you very much for your testimony. Any questions or comments from members of the Committee? The Chair recognizes Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you, Council President. And thank you, Councilmember Jones, to our District Councilperson and my colleague. And also to you, Brian. I just wanted to put on the record the work that you all have been doing on the City Avenue corridor and just say thank you for responding to the community's calls and working with Councilmember Jones and also working with me regarding some of the overarching concerns that continue for the Philadelphia County side of the City Avenue Special District. I just wanted to put two things on the record as we continue to work through some of the overarching challenges in that community relative to traffic safety and just putting that on the record because we know we had an incident with a University student on City Avenue I think between 54th and Cardinal Avenue, which is directly south of the current construction site but also sort of north of where most of the economic development activity is happening currently. And in addition to that, I wanted to, just if you could for me because I don't have the list in front of me, if you could go over the entire list of all the members of the City Avenue Special Services District now.
Sure. I will try to do my best off the top. At least on the Philadelphia side, we'll go from there, would be President McConnell of St. Joseph University. It would be Bernie Prazenica, a General Manager of 6abc. It would be -- well, Mr. Wurzak who's a reappointment. And then on the -- so we have nine and nine on each side, so these will be --
-- the three, yeah. So these are an additional three, Jeff Goldstone who's also on the Philadelphia side as well. On the Lower Merion side we have Richard Gottlieb of Keystone Development. We have Duke Kennedy, it is a real estate firm, Corporate Realty Solutions. We have Mark Brennan of Federal Realty. We have --
And for the record, that's the organization currently doing the housing development in the shopping center?
And then we have Nathan Muchnick, who owns properties on both sides of Philadelphia and Lower Merion --
Yep. That would be at the corner of Bryn Mawr on both sides of the street there.
Joe Kender, Vice-president of Government Affairs for St. Joseph University on the Lower Merion side.
We have Jonathan Spergel with Manko, Gold which is an environmental law firm.
We've recently had with the sale of the Tishman property, which is 123 Bala, we had Janet Giuliani who just recently stepped down and we're making a reappointment there as well. That's on the Lower Merion side.
Yeah, mm-hmm. And we're looking to also include Mack Property which owns the Presidential City moving forward, so we will be looking to bring those in front of you at some point when that space becomes available as well. I think we're still off a couple --
That would just be one more for the Lower Merion side.
And so, for the three resolutions that we are considering today, that would be three on the Philadelphia County side in addition to the President of St. Joe's, Bernie Prazenica from 6abc, Mr. Wurzak who's a reappointment, that would be three plus three is six. Jeff is seven, so --
Okay. And then it's just -- and one more.
Yeah, Ber -- you said who is the reappointment?
Oh, okay. Okay. All right. I have it here. So then that would be nine. With the three it would be nine?
Okay. And so, the only thing that I would respectfully request as we move forward -- and I am in support of these three resolutions for the record. And I am in full support of Councilmember Jones who's my District representative. But the only thing that I would request moving forward is that we see more diversity on the Board and on the Philadelphia side of the Board. There are not many women represented on this Board at all outside of St. Joe's President. I think she may be the only one.
And then in addition to that, I don't know -- is there any person of color or African American who's on this Board?
So Mr. Carrion is Hispanic. We did have two women who stepped down on the Philadelphia side, which is why the two new appointments came in so we're working with that as well. We are trying to make a youth movement as well as diversity movement, so we're aware of those situations. And we'll look forward to kind of moving forward and looking for suggestions on that end as well. This is something of my concern when I came on as well. I will say that we do have some limited -- because the parcels are limited on the Philadelphia side and that does limit kind of our choice selection on that side of the street.
No, I understand. And I want to say for the record you have been very great working with the community and working with us responsive to phone calls. But I do think it's exceedingly important. It's 2024.
We got to have diversity on these boards. We have to have a diversity of thought at the table when we are making decisions for communities that are much more diverse than the composition of the board currently. And so, I'll say for the record that I am in support of the three resolutions that are before us today, but I'm doing so with the thought in mind that in the future that we add additional diversity to this Board. And I know that's something that Councilmember Jones has already been working on and I'm fully in support of that, but I have to state that for the record. These appointments come across this body. It's 18 people on both Philadelphia County and Montgomery County, and we recognize the challenges relative to the ownership perspective. I get that, because my uncle used to own one of the gas stations on Conshohocken Avenue who lives in Bryn Mawr. And so, I understand the sort of real estate challenges that present themselves currently on City Avenue. But I just want us to be mindful in the future of ensuring that we are keeping women at the table and people of color at the table and Black people at the table, particularly because that community on the Philadelphia County side is predominantly Black. Okay.
Thank you very, very much. Thank you, Councilmember Jones. And thank you, Council President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Oh, I'm sorry, Council President. I don't have any questions for this --
Chair recognizes Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr.
Thank you again, Mr. President. And thank you, Member Gilmore Richardson, for that observation. But I would also put on the record one of the challenges in that commercial corridor is that to my knowledge there's only one person of color and a female that owns property along that commercial corridor so it's a little more difficult. And one of the focuses we need to place is on economic development and making sure that there is that diversity among building owners and apartment owners and those kinds of things. My question to you on the Lower Merion side how many units are under construction as we speak?
We have -- well, in the Business Journal as of last Friday was another project coming online at 111 Presidential that will be 425 units. It's a $21 million acquisition through Hanover Group, so that'll be a larger project coming right at the corner just off of Presidential Boulevard at 111. 1, and Bala are under development. I think we'll see a hotel come on there first. And then from there we'll see some additional residential and kind of commercial retail. And then the 200 units which is at the Lord & Taylor space will be moving forward. We see that opening in 2026. And these are all mixed-use. We're actually bringing down the big blocks. And so, any parking lot you see anything at least on the Lower Merion side we'll be getting a new streetscape as well as a smaller block, so it will be walkable, pedestrian-friendly focused. And so, we're bringing in kind of retail that'll attract that kind of demand as well.
Do you have a number of new units that you know of? I know the developments, but new --
I can share that with you when I get back because all the projects -- we did have Keystone who was looking at doing a larger scale development. They've scaled that back given economic conditions. And so, that project was going to have about another 200 units. I think it's just going to be a strictly retail play at this point. But I can get back to you with some firmer numbers. And we have some other additional smaller units of 86 here and another 30 in another spot on Bala Ave. I can kind of give you those numbers as what we have in front of Lower Merion Township at this point, but I can give you those and see what it is. But there is development, yes.
So to my At-large members, great space on the Philly side to live, work and play and we welcome you in the 4th District. Thank you, Mr. President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes -- I had a quick question though before I recognize the next member. Are there any community members a part of the City Avenue Special Services District? Is there representation from the community?
On the community side? It's just property or business owners at this point. That's what the bylaws state.
That may be something to consider. Now, although I'm from South Philadelphia, but my family also comes from the 5300 Block of Lebanon Avenue, so I used to go catch crayfish over there at Lankenau Hospital in the back, right, so I know the area. And I think as time went along, the lack of Black businesses along City Line Avenue is the result of the development that has taken place over a period of time. And so, it's going to be a challenge as time going forward, right, that balance out that Board with business owners as Councilman Jones who comes from PCDC, Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation, who has a background in supporting small businesses, but that may take some time. And in the meanwhile, my recommendation as a thought would be it shouldn't just be limited to just business owners. In South Philadelphia we have the Special Services District and the Stadium. We have all four sports teams. However, we have representation from the various neighborhoods in South Philadelphia that are impacted by everything that takes place in the Stadium Special Services District, so it may be something to consider just in terms of equal representation at the table. And we can't impress upon you how important it is because as we look at and we read Project 2025, right, there is a movement in America to reverse through policy Black, Brown and women from being at the seat of the table of power and progress in America. And so, I echo the sentiments of my Majority Leader Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson as well as my colleagues. I know that we're all feeling the same thing. And so, that could be something to take a look at to kind of expand your footprint in that area in terms of representation on both sides equally.
Yes, I think it is important to myself as a whole. For one, I had background working in this area. I worked at the Enterprise Center for seven years before coming over. And the other piece is we do work with the Black Business Showcase and do a lot of work trying to bring up minority-owned businesses within the district, so we're working on that heavily and recruiting and trying to get things situated that way. So it is something at the forefront of what we do. And our staff is mostly minority.
Okay. Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Anthony Phillips. But, Mr. Harrity, your button is on so am I calling on you? CMH: (Gestured).
Okay. Thank you, sir. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Anthony Phillips -- and your button is still on, sir. But I'm going to call Councilmember Anthony Phillips.
Good morning, Council President. I just had a really quick question because I guess it's been burning in my mind since you're here. With City Avenue being a major thoroughfare and something I drive often, what specific initiatives are being taken to alleviate traffic congestion, improve pedestrian safety along the corridor and will this Board be able to help with working on that? That's pretty much the only question I had because I know it's a major, major thoroughfare and there's a lot of traffic and there are pedestrian issues when it comes to safety.
So one of the pieces -- at the anchor end I guess at Lancaster we have Lankenau Medical Center, which is a heavy driver which isn't in our district. And so, it does pull a lot of traffic of different hours and times a day. And then there's the development of the St. Charles Seminary at some point in the future as well. So we understand that there is a traffic issue. We've been doing a number of improvements, capital improvements along that regarding streetlight and infrastructure to kind of help that. We just completed a $3.4 million reconnection of Monument Boulevard on the other side of Target. That was a project that we did. We do understand that and we're hoping that with some of these new developments coming online that people will park their cars and walk. We are well in tracking kind of these things. I will say within the first quarter of '25 the Bala Cynwyd Bridge will be down to one lane each way and that is a PennDOT project. And so, we won't be able to do anything with traffic for about two years after that because it'll be down to one lane, so we'll definitely bottleneck between Conshohocken State Road and Bala Ave. So my apologies in the future, but it's one of those things when the bridge is falling down we need to have that taken care of. And so, it is something on top of mind for us as well.
Just thank you. One lane, you said one lane across that bridge?
It'll be down to one lane each way for about two years.
Oh, all right. Well, we've got to gear ourselves up for that, Philadelphia. Thanks a lot, Council President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. Good afternoon, Brian. I just wanted to chime in on this issue of allowing community representation on the Board in a way that would help expand the diversity and probably the quality of the work. If that representation were there, to say that the University City Special Services District as you know includes all of the major civic associations or representation from all of the major civic associations in the area as well as the institutions and the major business entities so there's a precedent for that as you're thinking about moving forward.
Thank you very much. Any other questions and comments from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Hearing none, are there any other witnesses to testify on Resolution Nos. 240888, 240889 and 240986? (No response.)
Hearing none, we will now go into our public meeting to consider the action to be taken on those resolutions. Mr. Christmas, would you please call the roll.
Oh, pardon me, Councilman Jones. Councilman Jones and Councilman Young. Thank you. Pardon the oversight.
Thank you, Mr. Christmas. A quorum of the Committee is present. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jones, sponsor of the bills, for a resol -- sponsor of the resolutions for a motion on Resolution No. 240888, 240889 and 240986.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that Resolution 17 Nos. 240888, 240889 and 240986 be moved from this Committee with a favorable recommendation. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the second -- the Chair notes for the record that Councilmember Gauthier seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that Resolution Nos. 240888, 240889 and 240986 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and Resolution Nos. 240888, 240889 and 240986 will be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation. We will now resume the -- you can be dismissed, sir. Thank you. We will now resume the public hearing on Resolution No. 181014. Mr. Christmas, will you please call the name of our first witness to testify on the resolution.
The Honorable Cherelle L. Parker, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. (Applause.)
First and foremost, it's always an honor and privilege to have you back inside our chambers. And so, I want to officially say welcome home.
And just state your name and title for the record and please begin your testimony.
Thank you, Council President Johnson. My name is Cherelle Parker and I am the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you so very much, Council President Johnson, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, Majority Whip and Education Chair Thomas and all members of City Council. Thank you all for inviting me to speak with you today. I am pleased to be here with our education leaders, School Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington and members of the Board of Education who you will be hearing from shortly. I want to thank School Board President Reginald Streater for all of his work for the children of Philadelphia and for the service and partnership that is essential to help move the School District forward. We were grateful for your leadership. I also want to congratulate the Board's new Vice- president Sarah Ashley Andrews. (Applause.)
Yeah, and welcome you to your new role. We look forward to working with you very much. I also want to thank Wanda Novales, the outgoing Board Vice-president, for her service and -- (Applause.)
Yes, and for her help transitioning to a new Board of Education with five incredibly talented new members as well as for the hardworking veteran members. Thank you for your continued collaboration as we work to build a world-class education system for all of our children in Philadelphia schools, traditional as well as charters. On today, Mr. 2 billion, a longstanding problem so vast and so egregious that the Commonwealth Court determined that our system of funding education in Pennsylvania was unconstitutional. To not move full steam ahead in Philadelphia would fail to recognize the scale and the urgency of the needs of our children. We're working every day with intensity and focus. In March, Mr. President, in my first One Philly budget I asked this body for its support for a millage rate shift that would gradually shift millage from 55 percent to 56 percent adding $29 million in new City funding to public education over five years, and you delivered for our students. City Council stepped up to the plate, as it always does. Now, whenever our schools and our children have needed help, City Council has always been there. This body has consistently taken the tough vote, I just want to say that for the record, the tough votes needed to increase funding for our schools and our city, Mr. President. I thank this body for that leadership. In addition to the millage rate increase, the Parker administration also captured growth and property revaluations that will bring an additional $119 million in new City funding to the School District over five years. Now, someone somewhere is doing the math and they would be accurate, that is nearly 250 million in additional local funding for our schools over the next five years. And, Mr. President, that's something we all should be very, very, very proud of, but that's not it. We're doing more. In my action plan, I laid out an agenda to provide opportunity to young Philadelphians through our education system. I am committed to supporting efforts by our School District for both traditional and charter schools to recruit and retain a diverse educator workforce. And I want to state for the record that I am inspired, Mr. President, by leaders like Sharif El-Mekki from the Center for Black Educator Development who is working creatively to address the teacher shortage crisis. And I know Dr. Watlington, unbeknownst to me, both of us had an opportunity to present recently at his Global Gathering Educators not just from the United States but from across the globe. It was unlike anything that I had ever seen before. Why is that work, Mr. President, so important? It's important because representation matters. Many of you know by now that I am a certified high school Secondary English teacher by profession. And I have to always describe for people that means I didn't get here like another program. S. I know from my own journey, and it was shaped by teachers like Mr. Towns at Austin Meehan, Mr. Fairfax at Austin Meehan; Jules and Parkway, Allan Edmunds many people here know him because of his work in arts and the creative economy, but for me that's Allan Edmunds the art teacher at the Parkway Program High School. Their presence, Mr. President, strong Black male teachers, it was so pivotal for me as a young Black woman because it showed me the importance of seeing someone who looked like me and being a male in particular who could guide and inspire me. It was important to me but so many others during that time. I want to state for the record that it matters for young Black boys to see and learn from teachers who look like them, and we can't be afraid to advocate for that and do say it out loud. I did it in Harrisburg, in Council and I won't stop saying it as Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. In September we worked together, Mr.
President, to launch this Extended Day Extended Year initiative which has created, and I'm proud of this stat, 7,355 new and free enrichment opportunities including STEM programing with the Franklin Institute. This thing that I learned about through a group run by I think the gentleman's name was Sylvester Mobley. Allan Domb spoke about it. It was the first time I heard about it. It's called Coded for Kids. And coding, so along with arts and intramural programs, before and afterschool care and programming -- this is important -- during school breaks and for six weeks in the summertime channeling Vincent Hughes' summer slide. The Extended Day Extended Year program is essential to me because no one can deny that there is an opportunity gap between the enrichment and educational experiences of children in suburban schools versus children in our schools here in Philadelphia, and we must close that gap and we will close that gap because quite frankly, it is a damning limitation otherwise on our children's future leaving them on the outside looking in. We need an educational enrichment programming across the board that amongst other things sets our children on pathways to succeed in this highly technical 21st century global economy in the modern world. We're also investing, this is important, in the first of its kind in the nation, City College for Municipal Employment, CCME as we call it. When the idea first came to me, Mr. President, I must admit that the term good trouble from the late great Congressman came in mind. People were talking about this vacancy number increasing in city government. And I said, well, wait a minute, that could be a bit of good trouble. Why wouldn't we just naturally create a vehicle and a pathway for students in the School District of Philadelphia. And here's the other one, not just the students but their caretakers and their parents as well. Why couldn't we create a vehicle where students and families could enroll in a program housed at the Community College of Philadelphia, the City's college, and be trained for good-paying City jobs when they graduate. In addition, another component of the CCME is a curriculum within our high schools to expose students to City jobs. There are people today right now, even if some of them have retired, who many of us in this room will know say that they worked for the City for 30, 35, 40 years and you say, well, how old were you when you started. And they say, well, I was years old. This is the 9 first and only job I've ever had. 10 And those men and women had access, 11 the opportunity and ability to live 12 with self-sufficiency, be 13 homeowners and take care of 14 families because having a City job 15 was a good opportunity. 16 With that being said, 17 Mr. President, I am committed to 18 working with the District, Philadelphia Works and the litany of other partners in the Philadelphia Building Trades to make sure that career and technical education programs like CTEs are available to every student that seeks it. These programs will help prepare students for in-demand careers that address workforce needs and offer sustainable economic opportunities. It is here, Mr. President, that I want to insert that this is not just CTE as we know it for the building trades. It's training for programs, unions like UNITE HERE to help those who are working in the food service industry. They too offer training and apprenticeship programs that this City of Philadelphia should be funding. And, Mr. President, with your assistance I won't make an announcement today but in the very near future you know that we will be standing together to make an announcement where UNITE HERE will be the foundation for training the next generation of food service workers in the city of Philadelphia. And I don't know about you. It's never been done. )
-- in the city of Philadelphia because I'm happy about that, Mr. President. Now, I want to pivot to a difficult one. This is school facilities. Even as we acknowledge and are working to fill the enrichment gap, we must also acknowledge that our students face an even greater gap, and that is in the quality of the school buildings that they attend every day. There has been some progress and we have to acknowledge the progress when it gets done. And I want to thank the City Council of Philadelphia for its work on this issue but also our Governor Josh Shapiro and representatives in Harrisburg, including, but not limited to, our trailblazing trend-setting Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton, our Appropriations Chairmen Harris and Hughes, all Delegation members in both chambers and quite frankly, Mr. President, all legislators, both Democrats and Republicans. We can't leave out the House Education Chair Schweyer and Senate Education Chair Williams and we ain't forget about our Republican leaders in the Senate; Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward; Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman; and Senator Appropriations Chairman, the Majority Chair Scott Martin; House Majority Leader Matt Bradford and House Minority Leader Jesse Topper. Why do you go through the exercise, Mayor Parker, to list all of these names, leaders who all have a stake in moving forward funding for public education? Because we don't get anything done alone. By working together, we were able to witness the state legislature for the first time in a decade to set up dedicated funding for school facilities, but it is only a drop in the bucket and we need to do more in order to address this issue. This funding for us, when people say, well, what did it help us do, it addressed the major environmental issues in our schools affecting students and teachers alike like lead, asbestos and crumbling ceilings. Now, it is true we need Harrisburg to play an important role in helping us to solve this problem and we definitely have to work together to find common ground and solutions that work for our School District. Now is the time, Mr. President, for the School District, the City Council and the Parker administration to move boldly ahead in intergovernmental collaboration to create a Facilities Plan that will lay the pathway for public schools in our great city over the next years. 10 Imagine, we need to 11 imagine public school facilities 12 that are safe, modern and which 13 match the 21st century economic 14 opportunities that our children 15 deserve. And for the record, 16 Mr. President, we can't do it on 17 the cheap. Lead by Dr. Watlington 18 and the School Board, a school 19 facilities master planning process 20 is already underway. And I don't want to steal their thunder because they will speak on this, but I do want to talk to you about this priority and the hard work that lies ahead for all of us. While we continue working to secure more state funding for our schools and bringing in the programming that every student regardless of the zip code that they live in ought to be able to access to succeed, we must also work together to ensure that our school facilities are well- maintained and modern. Our families need to know and have confidence that we intend to close the school facilities gap and create spaces with PreK classes and gyms and modern laboratories and enough classrooms for the growing number of our students with disabilities. We as a city need to be the smartest, most strategic collaborators on our public facilities so that there are, and this is when Appropriations Chairman Harris comes into mind, there should be playgrounds, rec centers, pools and even community facilities -- I'm thinking about him -- health care facilities, we've had this conversation with our students and their families, can access. This is integral to our planning. Suffice to say the challenges are formidable.
I don't want any member of this Council or anyone in this chamber or watching on television to think that I have just proclaimed something that is very easy and simple to do. It absolutely is not. But we are so very lucky that we have the most dynamic Superintendent in the country leading our public schools, and he will talk about the plan which will consolidate, colocate and repurpose our schools. This plan will make it easier to ensure that students have, and I want the public, the viewing public, to listen to this so they understand what the vision and the ultimate goal is. The plan is to ensure that students have nurses and counselors and music and art teachers in the building all day not just some days, but that we also have to be in the midst of this thinking realistic about facing some hard truths. First and foremost, some school buildings are just so antiquated and outdated, Mr. President, that they're just too expensive to restore responsibly, and we can't be afraid to say that out loud. The process is going to require some hard choices, but we can make together those rightsizing decisions collaboratively and together. Why is this important? And this is when history comes into play, and I'll talk about this in a second about a previous decision we weren't forward-thinking at the time. If we only knew what we could have done had the School District of Philadelphia held on to that real estate and worked in partnership with the City of Philadelphia, and you imagine Turn The Key on steroids and what we could have done with that real estate. Why do I mention that, Mr. President? Because as you know, I have been very forthright about a bold and ambitious agenda to develop or restore 30,000 units of housing right here in the city of Philadelphia. And we should, if we're forward-thinking, keep in mind that repurposing our school buildings certainly has to be a potential avenue to address our city's critical housing short shortage. We have to be willing to think outside of the box and use innovative approaches that are win-wins for both the School District, our city, families and caregivers alike. Why is that important to note now? Because we are a tough city, Mr. President, that's lived through some tough times when it comes to our schools. C. They have been hard at work on this issue for a very long time. I want us to take a stroll back to 2011. And, Philadelphia, I want you to remember when the General Assembly cut $1 billion, and I'm talking about 1 billion with a B from the education budget. And Philadelphia was forced to make huge cuts to every school. Because of those, and this is just my humble opinion, they were misguided cuts, Mr. President, a total of 16 Philadelphia school buildings 17 closed that first year and many of 18 the schools that remained open, 19 they did so with shoestring 20 resources and staff. 21 Now, at the time I was 22 the leader of the Philadelphia 23 Delegation, and in partnership with 24 Philly Delegation members in the House in particular, I can remember our meeting we said no more. Then when I was chairing the Delegation, you got to remember and this is important to note for the record because some people take for granted that we have a McClinton as a Speaker and a Harris as an Appropriations Chair, but when I was Chair of the Philadelphia Delegation in the Pennsylvania House, Mr. President, I didn't get to the negotiating table for Philadelphia because I was special. I got there because the first time in a long time Philadelphia had no 17 legislator who was a leader on either side of the aisle.
There was no Dwight Evans as Chair of the Appropriations Committee, there was no John Perzel as Speaker of the House and/or leader on the Republican side, and that is how as Chair of the Philadelphia Delegation I became the chief negotiator for the City of Philadelphia in the House and had to learn something that I had never done before, and that was I had to learn how to negotiate with a Republican Governor and a Republican-controlled House and a Republican-controlled Senate. People who I had agreed to disagree with quite often. But I couldn't just simply go to a rally and give a feel-good speech, Mr. President, and come take a picture with my fist in the air advocating, and then at that time it was Dr. Hite and all of the other school advocates, I remember standing with Jerry Jordan and the PFT at rallies in the Capitol, couldn't stand there and give a speech and put your fist in the air. They elected us to lead and to negotiate and bring back something tangible and they didn't care that both chambers and the executive branch were led by Republicans. They elected us to lead and that's what they expected. And guess what, people said how are you going to find a way to agree with folks who you disagree with quite often? How are you going to get money to the city and prevent more schools from closing? There were some folks, Mr. President, who said that it was impossible until it wasn't impossible. I learned how to negotiate in a bipartisan fashion with political leaders with whom I didn't necessarily see eye-to-eye with on many things. And I did learn, Council President. And it's really interesting if you're talking about history from your own frame of thinking. I thank God I had a witness because you were there, so I'm not speaking out of school here. And you know that two things can be true at the same time. You can stand very hard to support your morals and convictions. But when you have to govern and deliver for a constituency, it is possible to do both. And I am proud that while this Council and when I say this Council, I'm trying to think who was here. I don't see Brian O'Neill. I don't see Squilla. Jones was here and I'm trying -- Councilwoman Bass was here. I'm thinking about the tough votes that the Council took under the leadership of Council President Clarke, and we couldn't move some of those things if the Council didn't act because we had leaders in Harrisburg who said to us will you come to ask us to do this tough work, what's your local body doing, and they did the heavy lifting. So by the time we got on the trail and we had the ability to put together the deal in the plan, we could say we were in lockstep with the executive branch, even though we agreed to disagree sometimes with the legislative branch, even though we agreed to disagree sometimes with the legislators in Harrisburg. And I don't know how many people remember this, because thankful to Jim Kenney's administration, we just had come back under local control. People forget we had an entity called the SRC, and we had to deal with that entity. I'm trying for the benefit of this big heavy lifting that's in front of us to encourage, inspire and get folks to believe that, yes, it's heavy lifting. But if we all work together, we can do it. How did we do it? We were able to get the cigarette tax funds which were $58 million as well as the sales tax increase of $120 million for our schools. Now, here's the -- this is what's important because sometimes people like to talk about a one-time infusion of some kind of cash. The School District of Philadelphia was facing a structural deficit. We couldn't have any one-time stimulus funds to inject into the District's budget and say, hey, we fixed it. No, it needed badly recurring funds to help stabilize the finances of the School District and to put it on sound fiscal footing. We did this work by working together.
If they can hear me, I say thank you, Senator Vincent Hughes and Senator Anthony Williams and the Republican leaders that we worked with. We all worked together and we were able to get things done. And, Mr. President, we can do it again for our schools, for our children and for their families. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to get the funding to create the school environments that Philadelphia children need, so I am here to pledge on today that we can and we will do it again. Why, because we must. In the next two weeks, Mr. President, I will announce an Interdisciplinary Facility Planning Committee with membership from my administration, from your office as well as leaders in the real estate development field. The committee will have designated input from key labor leaders as well and the finance industry, because if we're talking about reimagining and repurposing old real estate, you can't do that without the lending community to be a part of the conversation. So the committee will review the District's plan and provide guidance and feedback to my office, to you, Mr. President, and Superintendent Watlington, Chairman Streater on the best way to rebuild our schools and raise the funds that we need in order to do so. So to you, Mr. President, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, to Majority Whip and Education Chairman Thomas and every member of this body, I want to thank you for your steadfast dedication and unwavering determination to follow every lead, chase down every clue and look under every rock that might reveal new solutions to problems that previously we thought were intractable or unsolvable, because if it were easy, Mr. President, I would argue that people would have done it a long time ago long before I became the Mayor and you became the leader of this body. But it's because it seems impossible to get done, that each and every one of us who are elected in our own right, putting disagreements and politics aside, but to get to the table and do what I learned how to do with Republicans, figure out a way to get to yes and address a problem. My vision every day doesn't change for Philadelphia and, that is, to make it a safer, cleaner and greener city with access to economic opportunity for all. I am committed to working together with all of you, with Dr. Watlington and Chairman Streater to marry our vision with the School District's vision to align our resources to improve student outcomes and -- Dr. Watlington, don't kill me for stealing your line, as you would say -- ensuring that the School District of Philadelphia becomes the fastest improving, large urban school district in the nation. If we do that together, I know we will deliver on our shared vision of a world-class education system our children need and deserve. Together, Mr. President, when we work together, when we work together, Mr. President, and we don't allow disagreements to get into our way, that's how we demonstrate to the City, to the Commonwealth, to the nation that we truly are One Philly, a United City. And you know, Mr. , right. Let me tell you what it does. I think to myself that means they think it's impossible. That means they don't think that we can get it done. That means that they think that differences and disagreements will stop us from getting to the finish line. I'm an eternal optimist, Mr. President. Get frustrated, cry, disappointment, feel human like everybody else, not perfect, never promised perfection. So glad I didn't campaign to the people in the city of Philadelphia that I was perfect and/or -- and another thing I'm grateful for, that I ain't never been to know it all, even when I was in this body, Mr. President, and in Harrisburg. I'm the sponge. I learned as much as I can from my colleagues. I'm learning, never been a know-it-all, right.
But so grateful that I haven't allowed my experience in government and politics to think that all of the big challenges, school facilities, housing, public safety, jobs, jobs, jobs, everything clean and green, it seems so big and how do you chop it down. I compartmentalize it all a little bit at a time, all the right people at the table. If we do it together, we can be One Philly, a United City. And no 6 matter how often people laugh and make fun at me for saying it, I'm not going to stop trying because that's who I am. My name is Cherelle Parker. I'm proud to be the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, and I'm proud to work with each and every one of you as members of Council. No matter what you read, let me tell you what I know and I understand, and I want to look at you to tell you so that you hear it from me. I respect this body. I learned in those chairs over here when I was only good enough and knew enough to take a memo that was signed from here and run it upstairs to the Chief of Staff, but I learned in this body by watching some of the best and the brightest do it. I respect each and every one of you who are members. Doesn't mean that we're not going to agree to disagree. We're going to fight sometimes. And some people who I have very personal relationships with and will fight you over, we are going to agree to disagree, but we should never let that get into the way of our ability to deliver. And for those people who have never had to work the way I have with people who you agree to disagree with, I learned that some people are only comfortable when you're in front of an audience that's clapping or your fists are in the air, because I'm telling you it's easy to be with an audience that's rah-rah and clapping for you. When you got to deliver when people are not happy about it, that's when you measure who someone is. I'm proud, Mr. President, that I respect each and every one of you no matter how many people or entities, industries try to drive a wedge between us, because if this administration doesn't work with this legislative body, it's gridlock and I fail. I can't succeed as Mayor without you, in partnership with you, Mr. President, and all members of this body. And I'm not afraid or weak because I've said that out loud. Thank you. )
I didn't say this to my team, Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley; Sincere Harris, Chief of Staff; Tiffany Thurman; Deb Carrera, Director of Education and all members of my team, let me publicly affirm to each of you, I know it's not easy working with me. The sense of urgency and the passion of expecting you to deliver the best that you have to offer, it comes from everything this city gave to me and I owe it to give 1,001 percent. I expect the best from you because that's what the people of our city deserve. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you, Madam Parker. Mr. Christmas, will you please call the next panel.
Would Mr. Reginald Streater, Esq., President of the Board of Education School District of Philadelphia please come forward. And, Dr. Watlington, could you also please come forward. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Just state your name and begin your testimony.
My name is Reginald Streater. I am the proud President of the Philadelphia Board of Education. And I will begin and then Dr. Watlington when his time is up, he can start. He will --
So good morning to our amazing Mayor Parker, President Johnson, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, Chair Thomas and Whip of the City Council, Minority Leader Brooks and Minority Whip O'Rourke, thank you all for having us and inviting us to your house, we really appreciate it, the Board of Education and School District of Philadelphia, to share some key updates on our work since the last time we were all together. I am joined today by the whole Board. All nine members are here: Vice-president Sarah Ashley Andrews, Crystal Cubbage, Cheryl Harper, Whitney Jones, ChauWing Lam, Wanda Novales, Joan Stern, Joyce Wilkerson and our Student Board representatives are also here. They took time out of school today to be a part of this process, and they are Charles Rinker, Kenzy Ahmed and our alternate Jake Benny. And as I stated earlier, I'm the President of the Board of Education Reginald Streater. On behalf of the Board, I would like to begin by taking a moment to thank Mayor Parker and all members of City Council for your continued partnership with the Board and District. It is my high honor to provide remarks following a true partner and supporter of public education, our Mayor Cherelle Parker, the first Black woman Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. Madam Mayor, we thank you for your commitment to public education, our shared focus on student achievement and look forward to continuing to work with you and your team on education priorities. Beyond these meetings, we appreciate the opportunity to engage with the Education Committee under Chair Thomas' leadership on a monthly basis to provide more regular updates on the work of the District and the Board where appropriate. As you can see behind me, joined with us today in addition to the whole Board of Education is also Superintendent Watlington to my right, his leadership team, who will share updates following the Board on the District's progress toward achieving the Board's goals and guardrails, facilities planning and the upcoming budget cycle. Please move to the next slide. Since our appointment, we've been busy. In the confirmation process in the spring, we have spent the last seven months coming together to get to know one another and the diverse talents and unique perspectives we each bring to this Board. This is a picture from a team-building session we did early on as a Board over the summer. We also had the opportunity to participate in an orientation process, including the opportunity to attend a conference at Harvard to learn more about board governance and how we can be the most effective stewards of this 200-plus year old Philadelphia anchor institution in our city, this great city of Philadelphia. Again, I am incredibly proud and honored to serve as Board President under this talented board of individuals. Together we represent a rich tapestry of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. This diversity allows us to approach challenges from multiple angles and develop more inclusive and well-rounded solutions. While each of us brings a unique perspective, we are indeed united by a single goal, that's student achievement and the academic success of our children, which must be in the forefront of everything we do. Our diverse perspectives foster robust discussions, but what has made us effective is our respect for one another and our ability to find common ground in what's for the best interest of the students we serve, all of our students. Together we function as a cohesive team recognizing that our collective strength lies in our ability to lead together. By leveraging each other's talents and working collaboratively, we can ensure that our decisions are thoughtful, balanced and focused on what's best for students. In that spirit, I'll be asking my colleagues to join me in giving this presentation today.
We are excited about the updates we are sharing with you today as we believe we are working together to advance our vision and mission to improve student outcomes in again this great city of Philadelphia. Please move to the next slide. And I would like to invite Board member Harper to the (inaudible) to give some comments and present. Would you like each Board member to state their name for the record as I did in the beginning?
Good afternoon. I'm Board member Cheryl Harper. I'm one of the newer Board members but we are all one Board.
How are you doing, Ms. Harper? Good to see you again.
I'm fine. You too. As we start, I would like to share a brief outline of our presentation today. Excuse me, I have a real bad cold. We would like to start with our vision and mission, which the Board adopted alongside the Accelerated Philly strategic plan to improve progress towards our goals and guardrails. We will then provide some updates on the work of the Board and recent progress it has made that seems -- I'm sorry. We will then provide some updates on the Board -- on the work of the Board and recent progress it has seen aligned to its goals and guardrails. Next, we will provide an update on the Board's vision and facility planning while Dr. Watlington will share more details in his presentation. We will also share some charter authorization updates, including more information on a new initiative Project Rise, an initiative to consider revision to the charter schools performance framework. Finally, we will preview some ways we believe we can work together in the coming months to chart a united path forward in support of the academic achievement and the success of all 200,000 children under our collective care. Thank you. And at this time, I will pass it on to Board member Lam for the first set of updates. And I apologize for being so cold and hoarse.
You want me to turn up the heat for you? Jonathan Fenton, where you at? Turn up the heat please. I got you, Ms. Harper, to make sure you all right. Please state your name and title for the record.
Hello, everyone. I'm ChauWing Lam. Thank you, Board member Harper. We believe it's important to always begin with our vision and mission. Next slide please. It was only six years ago that the governance of the School District was returned to local control after almost years of state control. 14 Since this return to local control, 15 the Board has been consistently 16 laser-focused on our students and 17 their academic success. We often 18 say as the governing body it is our 19 job to focus the organization on 20 focus. Next slide please. This goals and guardrails governance framework was adopted by the Board in December 2020 and continues to guide the Board's work as we adopt budgets, approve expenditures, review and adopt policy and monitor the progress of the District's performance. The academic goals we set include benchmarks for reading, math and college and career. We also have four guardrails to create the necessary conditions in every school to deliver on our goals. These include welcoming support of schools, enriching and well-rounded school experiences, partnering with parents and family members and addressing racist practices. Through these adopted goals and guardrails, the Board has set its expectations for the Superintendent and the District. We continue to monitor progress towards these goals and guardrails and ensure that our decision-making furthers our progress towards these expectations. As this new Board enters the next phase of continuing to focus on student achievement, we are continuing to work together to make an integrated, coherent and equitable approach to public education that includes all public school options available to our young people, as they are all our children. Through this we remain wholly committed to the Board's vision for a unified system of public education that prepares all students, all students, to imagine and realize any future they desire. In the coming months we will be working to further clarify how we make this vision a reality. Please move to the next slide and I'll pass it to Board member Wilkerson.
Thank you, Board member Lam. First, in terms of academic progress of our students, we're excited to share --
First, in terms of academic progress of our students we're excited to share that this Board's focus on focused approach is working and we remain committed to achieving our goals and guardrails as the District strives to become the fastest improving, large urban school district in the country. This is evidenced by preliminary data from the 2023-24 school year, which showed student attendance increase, the four-year graduation rate increase, the number of dropouts decrease and the District's increased performance in 9 out of 13 areas. These increases support progress towards the Board's adopted academic goals and we look forward to Dr. Watlington sharing more highlights for all of you later this morning. The Board also remains committed to visiting every corner of our city. For example, Board members attended back-to-school events as seen in the two pictures in the top right. The Board has also appointed two student Board reps and one alternate for this school year. These students include Charles Rinker from Franklin Learning Center -- Charles, you want to stand. (Applause.)
And as our alternate, we have Jake Benny from Central High School. (Applause.)
We're also excited to have received 50 complete applications for the Board's Parent and Community Advisory Council that was created as a result of a Charter change implemented or initiated by the Board -- by City Council. In the weeks to come, we solidified our membership for this cycle so we can get to work. The student and community voice provided to the Board through its Student Board reps and PCAC are invaluable and align the Board's guardrails. Please move to the next slide, and I'll pass the mic on to Board member Vice-president Sarah Ashley Andrews.
Just state your name and title for the record and please begin.
Hi. My name is Sarah Ashley Andrews. I'm the Vice-president of the Board of Education. Thank you, Board member Wilkerson. First, I want to thank Mayor Parker for addressing the important topic of facilities. The last time we were all together one of the key issues that this body raised was the need for a facilities planning process. We are pleased to share that in September the Board directed the Superintendent through a formal resolution to begin this process. As the Superintendent concluded the first seven phases of a facilities planning process, the Board formerly directed Dr. Watlington to begin Phase of 8 the Facilities Plan by engaging community stakeholders in a robust process that will result in recommendations addressing the following: Maximize the use of our school buildings and student rostering to provide more equitable rigorous academic offerings, pre-kindergarten opportunities, access to high-quality arts, music and physical education and career and technical education opportunities. We also want to address enrollment trends that have created financial and operational inefficiencies, identify District school buildings to be modernized, colocated or repurposed or closed. We recognize that this is a complex issue, but we believe engaging in a robust planning process is an important step towards creating the conditions that must exist for our academic goals to be possible. Thank you to members of City Council who have been supporting the District and sharing information about the opportunities for engaging in community conversations on this topic. We greatly appreciate your partnership and spreading the word of our listening sessions and feedback surveys. We know that robust engagement is critically important in this process. Members of the public can continue to monitor at our website philasd.org/fpp to join a remaining session or complete the survey, and we do encourage you all to do so. Later on this morning or afternoon Dr. Watlington will share additional information on future community updates and stakeholder engagement and we value Council's continued partnership with these efforts. In closing, we know that maximizing the use of our buildings, better rostering students and responding to enrollment trends, we can increase the rigor of our academic offerings and the opportunities available to our students which will make great strides towards the Board's academic goals and guardrails that are critical to student success and achievement. We expect the Superintendent to present a draft Facilities Plan at the end of next year for Board consideration. Dr. Watlington will provide a more detailed update in his remarks later on this morning and we are committed to supporting him and his team through this important process. Please move to the next side as I pass it to Board member Jones.
Just state your name and title for the record and please begin.
Yes, Board member Whitney Jones. Thank you, Vice-president Andrews. As a new Board under a new Mayor, we have reflected deeply on everything we heard from City Council in our confirmation hearings, our monthly meetings with the Education Committee, through other channels and also the incredibly helpful feedback we have received from all corners of Philadelphia's public education sectors since we have assumed governance reins of the School District of Philadelphia. While we are still a young Board and have much to learn, we are committed to continuing the conversations and remaining open to feedback as we move forward. Please move to the next slide. We are excited to share that in September the Board participated in an in-person convening that the Charter School Office organized between Board members and Charter school leaders. In fact, this was the first inperson convening since before the pandemic and Board members were really excited and thankful to be able to present and connect with leaders from across the charter sector. This was an important opportunity for us to not only get to know each other on a more human level but also learn firsthand about the exciting things that are happening in many of our charter schools. At the convening, the Board and the Charter School Office announced an important initiative, reimagining school excellence or in short, Project Rise. Next slide please. The Board knows that strong accountability systems must evolve over time just like much of society and K-12 learning has evolved in recent years. Project Rise seeks to determine how the charter school performance framework should evolve to best support the needs of our students and in consideration of the feedback we have heard over the years. There will be three phases to Project Rise that will involve charter school engagement at every step. We are currently in Phase 1, which involves a collection of specific actionable feedback from key stakeholders such as Charter School Board members, leaders, families, policy experts and authorizers from across the country. So far we have heard from individuals representing over 50 charter schools and organizations. This work in Phase 1 is being facilitated by two external national authorizing experts and will result in the publication of a specific actionable scope of work that will serve as a foundation for Phase 2. In Phase 2, an RFP will be issued to identify a partner or partners to embark on a comprehensive review of the existing charter school performance framework and recommend an evolved version of the current framework. This phase will culminate in the Board voting to adopt an updated framework. Finally, in Phase 3 the CSO will develop updated processes that are responsive to feedback received from stakeholders, including and especially charter school leaders. This phase will culminate in updated administration procedures to be posted online. We want to be clear, our focus remains on student achievement and experiences. So while we work diligently to update the framework, we will continue to center our students and hold charters accountable to their charter agreements. Please move to the next slide and I will pass it to Board member Novales.
Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Board member Wanda Novales. Good afternoon, buenas tardes. It is an honor to be here. Thank you, Board member Jones. I'd like to provide an update on this year's new charter application process. The Board has received four applications by the November 15th deadline set by the Pennsylvania's Charter School law. The applications are Celestina Cordero Bilingual Charter School, Early College Charter School of Philadelphia, Pan American Academy Charter School - Pathways High School, and Philadelphia Charter High School For Real Estate and Building Trades. More information on each application can be found on the Charter School Office's website as noted on the bottom slide. The Board will begin its review process this month by holding the first mandated hearing on December 19th. At the hearing the Board will hear presentations from each applicant to take public comment. In January, there will be a second hearing, during which the Board will have an opportunity to ask each applicant clarifying questions through an assigned hearing officer in review of the application. Additionally this year, at least one member of the Board will be present and act as the Board representative for each hearing. The Board representative will ask questions on behalf of the Board and report back on the proceedings of the hearing. This change to our process is a direct result of the feedback we have heard from members of this prestigious body and other stakeholders. This is just another way this Board is seeking to be responsive to the feedback we have received thus far. Please move to the next slide and I will pass it to Board member Stern.
Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Thank you, Council President. My name is Joan Stern. I a member of the Board of Education. Thank you, Board member Novales. In closing, I want to come back to how excited and proud we are of all the work that is happening right now. We often talk about the educational renaissance happening in Philadelphia. I'm proud of the momentum we are building on the progress towards our shared mission that all sectors of public education in Philadelphia can and will work with urgency to provide every student with the opportunity to achieve positive life outcomes. We are grateful and hopeful that with the leadership of our Mayor and this City Council we can continue to work in partnership in support of public education in the great city of Philadelphia. The City through the Mayor's Office and this City Council has also provided increased funding to the District to support our evidence- based and strategically-aligned investments. We thank Mayor Parker and this legislative body for your financial commitments to the success of our students. We cannot do this without you. Though we would be remiss if we did not continue to mention that to achieve our shared goals for public education in Philadelphia, the School District and our children require reliable, adequate and equitable funding to deliver the education our kids deserve. When we look at our financial outlook, we know that we must be prepared to tackle the financial challenges that lie ahead. Our financial outlook is complex given the change in Presidential administration, the sunset of historic ESSER funding and upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations. In the months to come, we look forward to remaining engaged with our local Commonwealth and federal funding partners to ensure we can continue to deliver for our kids and their academic needs, our facilities and our workforce. Please move to the next slide and I will pass it back to Board President Streater to close us out.
Thank you, Board member Stern and to all my colleagues, for these important updates. As evidenced by these updates, we are hard at work in service of our students and to be good stewards of the School District of Philadelphia as its governing body. We look forward to the continued engagement with each of you in your offices. I believe now we will pass it to Dr. Watlington and his team for their updates.
State your name for the record and please begin, Dr. Watlington.
Tony Watlington, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. Good morning, Mr. President, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, Whip and Education Chair Thomas, it's a pleasure to be here this morning. I also want to say good morning and thank you to all of the members of City Council who are here this morning. Also, I'd like to say a special thank you to Board President Streater and Vice- president Sarah Ashley Andrews, and I offer again a very strong congratulations for your recent elections and the roles in the Board of Education. Finally, Mr. President, I would like to recognize members of the senior leadership team in the School District and would ask them to stand quickly. Deputy Superintendent of Academic Services, Dr. Jermaine Dawson, if you'll stand. (Applause.)
Deputy Superintendent of Operations, Colonel Oz Hill. (Applause.)
Chief of Communications and Customer Service, Alexandra Coppadge. (Applause.)