Ben Franklin. I'm going to get there too, right, because I think that's a perfect segue because I've been getting calls from constituents regarding, you know, we have the colocation of schools, and I think it could be a great model, right, cost-cutting things like that. But when we're at SLA and you're at Ben Franklin, it's two separate worlds in the same building. And so, I guess my first question regarding that is what baselines are set for public schools in this city, right? And I think we all should have the same baselines for each and every school, whether they are a traditional catchment school or a charter school or a special admin school. But do these schools have the same minimum baselines that are necessary to adequately run a school? Because if I talk to the parents, they're going to say, no, they're not the same at all regarding those particular schools. Could you just talk to us about what those basic minimums are that we need to have in our schools to be a successful school?
I'm going to say this just to put in context -- I'm sorry, Dr. Watlington. Benjamin Franklin is the public school for folks who live in Logan Square and Rittenhouse Square, right. I don't see any parents from Logan Square or Rittenhouse Square sending their kids to Ben Franklin High School, right. So again, can we talk about some of those baselines?
The best way I know to answer that question, Councilmember Young, is to share with you that there are baselines, a formula, that's used for the minimum teacher allocation and class size that's governed by the collective bargaining agreement with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. There are baselines regarding how we staff schools, whether it's the core teachers, enCORE or special education teachers, climate managers, assistant principals, building engineers, etc. There's also situations where based on unique needs of a school, you'll find some cases where there are more resources provided, partly because the need is greater. And you'll also see in schools like, I think this came up last year or the year before, there are some additional resources in schools like Penn Alexander and the Henry C. Lea School get the University partnership with the University of Pennsylvania.
Yeah, I understand some of those schools have special relationships with outside partners which is great, right. We need as many of those partnerships as possible. But I had a meeting with some folks from Temple University yesterday. And essentially they said the school district folks -- Temple has so many programs at public schools, but, one, parents don't know about it. And, two, they mentioned that folks got kind of upset at the level of communication that Temple was providing to the school district because it was coming in from so many levels, so you want to centralize that communication process regarding how an outside vendor interacts with the public schools to provide services. So can you talk to us about what's the process for allowing some of those nonprofits, those partners, to become a vendor at the Philadelphia Public School District?
Certainly, the first thing I would say is that the Board of Education has clear policies relative to our procurement and we follow the state law. So I will yield to President Streater in terms of that piece. But we are bound to follow those policies to the law to the letter. Also, to your point about budgets, Councilmember Young, I do want to note that the district's itemized budget is available on our website and each individual school budget very itemized is available on our website as well. We would be happy to share the links about information. If there are other questions pursuant to any individual schools, we would be very happy to follow up in writing about any of those particular questions.
The vendor process, are you able to explain, just give us --
Relative to the vendor process, we follow the law procurement policies within the school district. Certainly for procurements that are in excess of a certain dollar amount, we're required to use a competitive process --
Not necessarily vendors as far as the school district purchasing services. What I mean is people, organizations, entities actually coming into the school district to provide I guess the services to the students, like afterschool type programming or extracurricular programming, things like that.
Let me say it this way: One of the things we've learned is under the leadership of our Chief of Staff Sarah Galbally, who oversees the Office of Strategic Partnerships, which is led by Executive Director Ayana Lewis, some schools have a different engagement and communication strategy as they work in a very organic way with grassroots organizations and community members. And some schools do that very directly. Some schools are very timely and quick at returning phone calls. Some schools are more engaged. Some schools are more inwardly focused. But to the Mayor's point three years ago that we ought to be able to draw a circle, Councilmember Young, a three-mile circus -- circle, not circus, but circle around every one of the 250 district-operated schools and be able to map out what are all the community resources and supports that exist right in these communities and figure out how to get them engaged in the schools in a way that benefits our children, it's easier said than done in some places because quite frankly, some schools are so tied to getting the academic process going, they're so tied to doing the day-to-day operations that they don't spend as much time on engagement. And that's why we're investing in the Office of Strategic Partnerships so that we can map out all of these partnership opportunities. Because everywhere I go in the city, I hear about people who want to do more in partnership with the city. And I think part of it is communication, timely communication and follow-up so that we can manage the plethora of help that sometimes schools have shared with them.
Thank you. I think Dr. Phillips had a great point because I've never been asked to be a part of this mapping process. If you're looking at three miles outside of where the school is, we are engaged -- we get calls from organizations and folks who want to be involved with the schools on a weekly basis. And so, you say that it's difficult, but I think if you engage the District Councilmembers who the parents and the communities hold us accountable, right, they can't vote for the School Board President. They vote for us. They choose us, right. And so, they hold us accountable. And I'm just asking to be a part of that process. If it is a difficult process, maybe that's one that we as City Councilmembers can help make a little bit easier on the district because we're on the ground with these organizations talking to them on a weekly basis. So I just want to throw that out there, I'm more than willing to volunteer my time to help with that process.
I think President Streater was going to add something there as well.
I just want to level-set. I mean, everything you all are saying makes a lot of sense. I think the Board agrees in principle with all these things. But I do think that we are all marching lockstep in a journey back to local control. And I think that there are probably a lot of things that we used to do or the capacity that we used to have that we've lost throughout the process of not being under local control. So again, I know this Board, I know the Superintendent, we're striving to build a relationship that's in closer lockstep with City Councilmembers, our District Councilmembers, our At-Large Councilmembers. But I just want to posit that and say I didn't see, hear anything that's problematic. But I think the Board of Education is always thinking about not unintentionally putting us back into position where we lost local control, which I think has had deleterious effects on all of this stuff. And I don't want to see us in 20 years starting over again, rebuilding the car that's going a million miles down the road for our children because we can't stop. But that's not to minimize anything you said. That's to affirm it. Also, I think to say that there's an appreciation here for that. We're all relearning the muscle memory that we might have lost after years of not having 8 local control. Thank you. 9
Thank 10 you. And just one more question in 11 this round. We have parents here 12 and folks from KIPP North in my 13 district. 14 (Applause.) 15
And 16 the City just invested thousands of 17 dollars to do traffic calming 18 around this school. This school 19 absorbed a neighborhood school that 20 was closed by the district and reopened that school to be an asset to that community. And that school was -- the charter was essentially not renewed. And we have other schools in that particular area that have similar or even worse numbers than what this school has. And in light of this, being that that community is probably one of the most challenged parts of my district, particularly looking at that -- I looked at last night the voting numbers in that district, right, you can tell the type of community that is just based on the data. This school went through the pandemic. It opened literally right before the pandemic. And so, most of the students were our students who went to school not in the traditional sense. And so, the data may look one way. But can you explain to us just the rationale on why this particular school was denied its renewal versus some other schools or even talking about some other traditional public schools, like why are they allowed to remain to continue year after year to have these horrible outcomes I'll say, because essentially that's what they are, but allowed to remain open for generations, but this particular school has to close?
It is our practice and it'd be imprudent of me to speak on an active matter that's an act of litigation. But what I can say, to give context to the process, the school has not been not renewed at this time. The Board has triggered a process under state law, mandated by state law, to trigger a due process where the school will have this opportunity where individuals are under oath, there'll be a hearing officer where the facts, whatever could be mitigated, or facts that are not true will be true and deemed true. And this time next year -- well, not this time next year. After that process is finished, the Board of Education will make a final decision as it relates to nonrenewal. But as it relates to the issue of the school that you mentioned, I would think it would be the service to the school themselves, to the public to opine in this space to that and there's active litigation.
Let me jump in before I go into the finance side. And then after this, we'll recognize Minority Leader Brooks. The Councilman I think asked a quality question. And I think you talked about academic achievement as part of the issue. So when my team did a deep dive into the recommendation that was made around the two institutions that were recommended to be closed, I think part of the concern that we had wasn't necessarily just the decision around them, but we compared in contrast that decision to other White-led institutions, right. I'm not going to sugarcoat around this issue. I've been talking about this issue for some time. And for me, I've always looked at the fact that over 80% of the charter schools have been closed in the City of Philadelphia have been Black-led schools, while Black-led schools only make up 20% of the population. So with that trend being a problem, and we've seen that with the Ballard Spahr report that I want to thank you, Board President Streater and the rest of the school Board, and your leadership for agreeing to work with Council to assure that that report was produced. What we noticed based on this decision was that schools who were allowed to remain open had worse academic achievement than the two schools that were asked to be closed. Now, some schools that were allowed to remain to stay open were White-led institutions. I'm not going to name the institutions. But the conversation right now is about schools that have Black leadership. So if academic progress is the focal point when these decisions are made, why would we give a five-year renewal to schools who did not meet academic standards, but then entertain the idea of not renewing schools that did. Help us understand the thought process behind that decision as it relates to how we got to this point that we're at right now?
I won't speak on behalf of the Board. The Board this year for the first time since I've been on the Board, in response to advocates if there are two sides to the issue, but I believe everybody wants to support children, have asked the Board to be more transparent about its decision-making. I'll give you an example. In the past, the Board might have discussed all of its renewals in one meeting tucked into an action meeting and then without much opportunity for the conversation to decant into an air raid. But this year, for the first time the Board of Education did it over three meetings. And I believe that the record is ripe with the reasoning, the deliberation and the thoughts and the perspective of Board members as it relates to the decisions that are being made. So I would direct you, Chairman Thomas, and others to the record. But I do believe the Board is laser-focused. We have a policy .003, which governs the Board of Education to focus on student outcomes and ensure that we not just focus on quantity, but also quality as well. So --
Let me take a step back. Let me give you credit for transparency, right. I want to be clear, I'm not accusing you of not being transparent. I'm not accusing you or the Board of not being willing to meet around this issue to discuss it with stakeholders. I'm not even accusing you of not being open to the idea of change because that would be disingenuous, and I'm not doing that. But at the same time, while giving you credit for all those things we're still sitting here today with the possibility of Black-led institutions being closed while their White counterparts are allowed to stay open. And the decision in a lot of folks' opinion is very subjective. Because it's not clear cut that the Black-led institutions were, I guess you could say, were doing a worse job, just putting it in layman's terms. It's not clear cut that the Black-led institutions were doing a worse job than their White counterparts who were allowed to stay open. So I understand your reasoning, and I'm definitely not accusing you of not being transparent. But when you look at institutionally what's creating these problems, a lot of the things that we talked about around the renewal process is still in existence. And I think when you look at the Charter Office making a recommendation and the Board moving different than what the recommendation from the Charter Office is, it now creates another level of confusion for folks, right. And again, another elephant in the room is that one of the people who testified against a Board member is the leader of one of the institutions that were asked to be closed. So in a lot of folks' mind it's not a coincidence. People feel like it was a retaliatory decision. It has a lot of educators scared to even come down here today to testify because they feel like the Board is going to retaliate if academic leaders communicate in a public capacity things that's not necessarily advantageous to the vision or even in some cases to the character of Board members. So I hear everything you're saying. But I want to give you a platform and an opportunity to respond to some of the things that's been communicated to us around this particular decision around these two institutions.
I won't speak to the Board member you're referring to because there's active litigation right now in the Court of Common Pleas about this issue. So out of respect for that process, I won't do that. But I would just ask and plead with the public to listen to what the Board has been saying, not just this year but since I've been on the Board, this focus, hard-core focus on student achievement. I would also ask the public to look and review the public meeting that is on our website where Board members for the first time I believe in the history, since I've been on the Board of Education, said exactly what their perspectives were and what their comfort level was and what their energy was around topics. And I don't remember Board members saying things that were contrary to, I believe, our duty under the state law to look at charter schools in the way that they were designed and created to be, to be utilized, improving pupil learning, innovation and things of that nature, and these other things that you've mentioned. Understanding that people's impressions and impact matters. As a Black man, I understand that 100 percent. But I would be remiss if I didn't just again redirect everybody to the record, a record that we created being responsive to the needs and of the request of individuals for us to be more public with our reasoning and our perspective as Board members.
Thank you, Board Chair Streater. And I'll just say, again from the perspective of a lot of folks, it looks very retaliatory. It looks like a person who came down and testified not in favor of the School Board now is suffering the possibility of their institution being closed when they clearly have met standards that institutions who were given five-year renewals did not meet. So I do think that that's something that should continue to be explored. So when we ask the public to go back and listen to the record, I think the public need context. And that context is not a part of the record that you're asking people to go back and listen to. So I wanted to provide that information. Council President, did you want to add anything? I seen the steam coming from your head, Council President.
I don't have no steam. I just want to get clarification on comparing a school that has a recommendation to be nonrenewal versus the other two schools that received a renewal. Do we have the metrics to compare the two, just for the record?
We have the ACE reports. But I also want to clear the record, there are other schools in that cohort that were discussed that have not yet agreed to a charter and a renewal. And I will be remiss if I didn't remind the viewing public that, as directed by the Board through me, that if certain schools there might be a moment where the Board has to reconsider other decisions, depending upon the actions of those schools engaging in good faith with the Board of Education around a charter agreement.
I'll take a moment to give you credit for that, Board President Streater, because I was the one who brought to your attention that a number of the Black-led institutions were concerned around the agreement renewal that was given to them, because again they felt like it was something that was going on whereas though their standard was different than others, and you immediately jumped in and agreed to meet with folks to try to rectify that issue. So, Council President, thank you for that question. And, Board Chair Streater, thank you for entertaining the possibility of discussing the conditions of renewal, specifically looking at institutions who have a catchment zone of a lot of magnet schools. It creates a very high standard for a lot of those institutions to adhere to. So I appreciate that. I want to move over to finance, and then I want to recognize Minority Leader Brooks. On the finance side, to my surprise you communicated that you anticipate getting rid of the deficit by 2029-2030. If that is true, that's probably the best news I've heard in 2025. So please explain to us -- first and foremost, let us know what your fund balance is right now. Let us know any examples you have in rainy day funds as well as labor reserves. And then talk to us a little bit about how do we get to a point where we have no deficit for the School District of Philadelphia by 2029-2030.
Thank you, Chair Thomas. And I'm joined by CFO Mike Hirschman. I'll make a couple of introductory comments and kick it straight away to him. As you know, Mr. Chairman, the school district received nearly $1.2 billion in COVID-relief funding between the time period that the pandemic hit in March of 2020 and when those dollars sunset in the fall of 2024. Because those federal COVID dollars were married together with state and city dollars in a way where the Board of Education managed them well as good fiscal stewards, strong fiscal stewards, and schools put those dollars to good use, we recognized that we started prepandemic with a $300 million structural deficit. During the time of these COVID dollars, we chose not to pull back and make big cuts because it was not the time to do it. It's the reason why we are driving higher test scores, higher graduation rates and lower dropout rates. However, at some point it's incumbent upon us to eliminate that $300 million structural deficit. And so, we want to do this in a thoughtful, phased process over the next four to five years to get that structural deficit down to zero. Why? It's simple. If you make $100 a month, you can't spend $150 a month. We have to live within our means. Now, the reason we've not made those kind of surgical cuts to date is because we've been driving faster improvement. And it's not lost on me, I can see it clearly every day what President Streater talked about earlier. And decisions that were made years ago while the district was under state control, where the district in historic underfunding is so prevalent that we've not wanted to take those resources back, but over time we can't afford them. So as revenues increase, we'll also be looking at how to trim back on our budgets over time in a way that's strategic and thoughtful and intentional, such that by Fiscal Year 29-30 we can get that structural deficit down to zero. And from thereafter, year over year operate in the black, not in the red. Chief Hirschman, can you speak more to that?
Yes, sir. Good afternoon. For the record, Mike Hirschman, Chief Financial Officer for the School District of Philadelphia. Dr. Watlington covered it well. But to reiterate his point, after decades of unconstitutional state funding and following the end of COVID-19 relief dollars last year, we have a deficit in our budget that looks very similar to where we were before we began to receive COVID-19 relief dollars. Both the Board and the administration are fully committed, as Dr. Watlington shared, to eliminate that deficit in this five-year plan through 2029-30. Right now we stand just over six months before the Board of Education will be adopting a budget. We will have a substantial public engagement effort and will be regularly, publicly updating the community on where we stand in this plan. And in terms of that, we'll continue to develop this plan and share both how we will look at the current budget and the five year plan as a whole, knowing that it's incumbent on all of us to both maximize our revenue and look at the expenditure costs necessary to reach that ultimate goal, which we will achieve, of eliminating that deficit by 29-30.
Our current fund balance as of this last June 30 was $749 million.
Of the general public and for the people to understand, where is that number on that slide right there, Slide No. 33?
Yes. So it is on the bottom left on this chart here. We see the revenues in dark blue, the expected expenditures in lighter blue, and then the green shows where we are in terms of our annual deficit and the yellow, which is the difference between that light blue and dark blue, and the yellow-orange color shows our current fund balance over time.
That's the teacher in me, right. So I just want people to understand the context of today's conversation and what we're discussing right now. So the City of Philadelphia, when we do our budget we have what's called a Rainy Day Fund for emergency situations, we have a labor reserve for contract negotiations. For the understanding of everybody listening, does the school district have any of those?
All of that for the district would be within here. There's no separate rainy day fund or negotiations --
So can you give us the fund balance again? And through the lens of the seat that you have, based on the number that you give us as it relates to the fund balance, how much are you trying to preserve for a rainy day? How much are you trying to archive for contract negotiations?
So I think we'd say that for the rainy day everything is within here. This is a comprehensive look at it. This includes all of those areas and we don't have something outside of here. We're a separate reserve. We need to look at this. We see the estimates of our expenditures here and they are inclusive of everything that we plan to spend. But there is no separate reserve as the city has for that.
Nor is there, Mr. Chairman, a statutory requirement that I'm aware of in the Commonwealth or policy that requires us to --
Yeah, I know you're not. I'm just trying to make sure that people understand. So the fund balance is what again?
How much of that is earmarked for contract negotiations in your mind? I understand that you don't have a labor reserve. But out of this $700 million you have -- let me word it this way. You're sitting on $700 million. They haven't had a contract since August. What's the hold up? You're sitting on 700 million. They haven't had a contract since August. We're trying to ask you -- we clearly see you have the money. Now, this is the thing, you had to borrow money from Harrisburg in order to make sure that we could keep the lights on. Harrisburg passed the budget. When Harrisburg passed that budget, do you have to pay back -- Harrisburg is going to give you the money back that you borrowed, but do you have to pay interest on it? The interest, I know, is a lot. In the state budget, are they going to cover the interest on the loans or just the loan amount itself?
So to answer each of the questions, so that fund balance of 749 million, I would like to point out that in the current year we are already projecting to use, as the slide says, 45% of that to cover the balance this year of 341 million. This is not an infinite pot. This is not money that we have available. This is slowly dissipating through this year and is the reason that we are required to take action to balance our budget. In terms of --
So you plan to balance the budget on the back of the principals?
Because we got to figure this thing out, right. We have a fiscal cliff. And I'm going to let Dr. Watlington go. Then I'm going to pass it to Minority Leader Brooks. And then after that, we can revisit this conversation because it's clearly a certain level of confusion as it relates to where we are. And I mean, not confusion from y'all but confusion from us and the general public. You got dozens of principals that's down here right now who took the day off from work to advocate for a fair contract. Again, these are intelligent people with high level degrees. I'm sure they're not here for nothing. And we haven't really been able to get clarity as it relates to what direction we're going to go in around this particular issue. So I'll let Dr. Watlington respond. Then after that, I want to pass it to Minority Leader Brooks. And then hopefully you guys can give us a clear explanation on what's going on with the CASA Union's contract negotiation.
Mr. Chairman, the only thing I'd like to say to just add a bit of context, over the next five years as expenditures outpace revenues, largely driven by salaries, benefits, health care and the like, we could spend the fund balance down to zero, which I know President Streater, Vice-President Andrews and the Board members would not allow us to do. But we could spend that fund balance down to zero and still have deficit spending. We have to take some austerity measures over the next five years and at the same time continue to press upon the Commonwealth to implement what the Commonwealth Court ruled about unconstitutional funding. We're being good stewards of the dollars. And this is not us versus them. Certainly, we're sensitive folks who want more librarians, who want more fees to pay for athletic facility use, folks who want more speech language pathologists. We've got to balance our budget. We've got to get our house in order. And so, we're committed to doing that over the next four years, and we're equally committed to reaching an appropriate and well-deserved contract with Teamsters Local 502 CASA Union.
So let me provide context. I want to be clear I definitely don't want to create the perception that it's an us versus them thing or School Board and school leadership versus principals and workers. That's not what I'm saying at all. I know Dr. Dawson is here. I know the work that you do, Dr. Watlington. I do commend you all for the work that you do. But the elders taught us that politics is the allocation of scarce resources, and the key word in that definition is scarce. And it sounds like the district is in a space where you have scarce resources. And I think what we're trying to do is examine if you plan on ending the deficit by 2029-2030, based on the definition of politics and there being scarce resources, it's not enough for everybody, right. So that means somebody has to not get. And I think part of why people are down here today is because they want to make sure in the midst of all these goals, they're not the demographic that essentially doesn't get. Chair recognizes Minority Leader Brooks. And then after Minority Leader Brooks, we'll go to Councilmember -- I don't know who we'll go to. But Minority Leader Brooks.
Thank you so much, Chair. So I'm going to start by -- once again, I don't know if I had a chance to publicly thank the school district for the work it did in my neighborhood when we had the explosion in Nicetown. And seeing Oz Hill and Ms. Fleming being on the scene, being very open to what our community needed in a crisis and allowing the building to stay open for my community to provide resources for each other, I just want to say thank you so much. When I think about that experience, I get very emotional because it was just a time that we were fighting to keep that building open. I know we're not answering any questions about school closures, but as we think about school closures I remember that would have been a building that would not have been available in an emergency situation if it was closed. But I just want to thank you for the awesome work that the entire school district did for keeping our Nicetown community and keeping us whole. So my questions have nothing to do with that. Okay. So across the country, we've seen heartbreaking images of families being ripped apart by ICE. I want to know what policies exist if ICE raids were to happen near a neighborhood school? I -- have the ICE raid reported throughout Philly affected children in the school district -- have you heard of any that have been affected in children here in Philadelphia directly?
Thank you, Councilmember Brooks. Let me just say first that we provided -- to date, we have to my knowledge zero incidents with ICE last year or this year. Number two, we provided comprehensive training for school leaders. I've been present for three or four of them myself so I could see it firsthand and be able to tell you without fear of contradiction that it's happening with rosters, with people knowing exactly who's been through it. We also developed an online training and made it required for staff across the school district. Don't have those exact numbers in front of me, but we'll be glad to take that as a homework assignment, so that we know exactly what we're responsible for and how to proceed should we have one of those incidences, which knock on the day as we have not had to date.
Thank you so much for that information. Because over the weekend, Trump stated that he was going to send federal agents and ICE to North Carolina. And this morning I heard on the radio that Charlotte had 2100 children who were absent from school because of the first ICE raids carried out in North Carolina. With the amount of money increasing in the federal budget for ICE and the changes made in local leadership, I think it's a matter of when that happens here in Philadelphia, if not. Is the district prepared to deal with the level of absenteeism due to ICE and do we have an estimate on how many children would be affected if that was to happen? Also, I want to add to that -- you've mentioned this several times to me that you've done training for staff. Has that been overflowed to make sure that the parents understand how the school district is there to protect them in the event of ICE coming to the school or anything like that?
I'll say three things, Councilmember Brooks. One, there's always an opportunity to continue to communicate. We can't overcommunicate enough on a tough topic like this, particularly in the landscape that we find ourselves in right now. Number two, we're continuing to pay very close attention to what's happening in Charlotte, North Carolina, talked to some colleagues there this morning as a matter of fact as well as other districts like Los Angeles Unified School District and the Chicago Public Schools that have had a different experience than Philadelphia has had to date. And number three, relative to parents, while we've put a number of resources on our websites about local agencies that provide targeted support to families, which is clearly not enough, while we've done that we think there's an opportunity for more ongoing engagement, absolutely.
Thank you so much because you kind of answered my next two questions behind that. My other question is, I've heard of heartbreaking stories about overcrowding. In the Northeast, the population is younger with more immigrant families sending their children to public school. What are the long- term plans to address these demographic shifts to ensure that the school district is meeting the needs for immigrant communities and English language learners in the Northeast?
Absolutely. We constantly look at our changing demographics to include the fact that more than 162 languages are now spoken in the School District of Philadelphia. And I'll just tell you on the record, we don't have the budget to hire enough translators. We don't have enough of the appropriate staffing. And so, we're trying to be very thoughtful under the leadership of Dr. Nathalie Neree, our Chief of Special Education and Diverse Learners and her supervisor Dr. Jermaine Dawson, Deputy Superintendent of Academics, to make the resources go as far as possible. Part of the issue is being sensitive to our diversity and recognizing our diversity as a strength and not where we have to compete against each other and have winners and losers. That's the approach we're taking in the school district. And while we've got a lot of work to do, we're going to keep our foot on the gas there.
And my last line of questioning is around joy in schools. Early this year I held a hearing around joy in schools and we heard directly from parents about the needs of their children and how we can improve the wellness in school. So the demand centered around creating systems, wide standards for bathroom breaks, lunchtime recess and many other things throughout the entire school day. Can you give me an update on where we are with this process? And why is it taking so long to finalize these policies, particularly around bathroom breaks?
Minority Leader, I'll speak to this because now the policy is in the Board's hands. And I think this is again another moment where we're all learning the muscle memory of local control. Advocates came at our Board meeting in the summer and advocated, and the Board felt persuaded to put the policy back into the Policy committee. In doing so, the Policy committee heard the engagement, also heard the engagement from the district and directed the policy to reflect some of the energy and the points that you just made just now. So that policy I believe is up for a first reading, which means the public will have an opportunity to opine on it tomorrow, I believe. And then I believe there may be another reading. And at that point, the Board will determine whether to put it back in the committee or not. But I do believe, Dr. Watlington, we also have a member of the Policy committee right here, Board member Stern, that there is some work being done on the back end so that all the interest can be best protected and represented. But we do agree that children should be able to use the bathroom as needed. I have two babies myself, so I understand the energy. But with that, Board member Stern --
Thank you. There was an interview recently with Dr. Watlington with KYW talking about this exact same issue. And to just refresh my memory, just so I'm clear I believe Dr. Watlington said that it shouldn't be a formal policy because we have teachers who are smart enough to be able to figure this stuff out when it comes to kids. So is it going to be a formal policy or should we not have a formal policy regarding this type of issue? Thank you.
I think Dr. Watlington was speaking to policy versus administrative procedures --
-- and then vis-á-vis the autonomy of one of the world's most respected and important professions, vocations, teachers, that there should be some level of agency and autonomy, while also the Board through its policy and the district through its inner workings sending a signal that some behavior will not be tolerated. And if that behavior is tolerated, Dr. Watlington and the district will do their due diligence to put individuals through that process, and maybe that could lead to a Board action or a termination, who knows? But I believe that's the energy Dr. Watlington was speaking to but he can speak for himself though.
That is correct, Mr. President. Councilmember Young, since policy is the purview of the Board of Education, not the Superintendent and staff, our responsibility is implementing administrative procedures and regulations that are pursuant to the Board's policy. It's not my intention as Superintendent to bring forward any recommendation at this time to the Board of Education that it do anything different than what we have in place at the moment. Because, as President Streater said, teachers should have the professional judgment and know their students and know how to manage kids who need to go to the bathroom when they need to. Some kids need to go two times a day. Some need to go times a day, and 10 we should make accommodations for what -- we should know our children and make accommodations for them accordingly. But I think you have a policy member here, Board member Stern. I think she may have had something to add since she's a part of the Policy committee.
I'm sorry. First of all, thank you for your service. Can you just state your name for the record and then you can begin --
Councilmember Thomas, please forgive me. I'm used to testifying at City Council, but not in my current capacity --
My name for the record is Joan Stern and I am a member of the Board of Education. I would like -- and I'm Co-chair of our Policy committee. We did hear public comment from a number of interested parties on this administrative procedures for this policy. And at Dr. Watlington's request, we separated the administrative procedures so that he could take them to various advisory councils that help the Superintendent fashion the appropriate procedural language. We also asked the school district's general counsel to give us some advice on wording that was proposed by certain groups, and we're just waiting to hear all that, get it back. And I believe we plan at the December Board meeting to bring first reading of the policy revisions and administrative procedure revisions for more public comment.
Mr. Chair, may I just say pursuant to what Board Member Stern just said, so while the Superintendent and team doesn't plan to bring recommendations to the Board for substantive policy changes, we are working in good faith and in earnest with community members, Lift Every Voice and others about the appropriate language for administrative procedures.
Thank you. I want to let Minority Leader Brooks finish her line of questioning. And just to provide context on where we are as it relates to this hearing, I know Councilmember Landau had a question. Councilmember Young, did you have -- are you good?
Councilmember Young had a couple questions. And then we're going to try to move into public comment by 2 o'clock for the sake of the stenographer. All right. So Minority Leader Brooks -- oh, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson is here as well too. So we'll just go in that order: Minority Leader Brooks, Councilmember Landau, Councilmember Young. We'll close out with Leader Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you so much. So my final question, you mentioned Lift Every Voice and their platform. I was wondering what happened or what's going to happen with the Chief Joy Officer, which is a part of their platform as well? Do we know where we are? Is that something that we're moving forward with? And I'm thinking about in the time where we were talking about school closures and the dynamics that that could put on school communities, it has to be somebody's responsibility to make sure that we're looking out for the mental stability of communities and schools. We've seen what school closures have done in the past. And to your own point, the principal don't have time for that. That's not the principal's job solely. So how can we make sure we have the supports to pull together these community organizations and folks that can help the school district center some level of joy and stability in communities? So the Chief Joy Officer is something that's part of their platform and I was just wondering what's the status of that?
One, we've named joy as a core value in our strategic plan, Board-approved strategic plan one of the five core values. Two, as we've launched Parent Family University, the first significant -- and this is significant -- the first bucket of the four is student attendance and joy under Chief Coppadge and the Deputy Chief's leadership. We are working with families to help to reimagine what will make school more of a joyful place for children, such that they will want to be there 90% of every month. And third, we're taking the position that the Superintendent, the Deputy Superintendents, all of our Chiefs, all of the administrators throughout the district, we all are collectively taking on the responsibility to be chiefs of joy in our respective roles without adding another cabinet position to the administration.
Chair recognizes Councilmember Landau and Councilmember Young.
Thank you. Thank you for being here and answering all of our questions. I wanted to ask more about language access and a budget for translation, for interpretation and translation services. How large of a budget do you have? And how do you utilize it throughout the school district?
Certainly with 162 different languages spoken, we're able to translate all of our major documents in the district in the 10 most popular or the 10 most prevalent languages. I think about recently we had a Parent and Guardian Advisory Council meeting, and there was a parent who was there who speaks Russian who had to bring her own translator with her to be a part of the conversation on that particular meeting. We just don't have the resources. We'll pull the budgets and we can itemize what the spend is currently for translation services. I can promise you, even if we doubled it, I feel confident in saying it still would not be enough simply to make sure that for 162 languages with -- we do well with the most prevalent, but 10 with the other 152 it would take a major investment. So we have to be strategic about how when we hire people in key roles without violating any of the laws in terms of quotas, etc., we're trying to be thoughtful about how we hire people who have multilingual abilities because we think that's a superpower.
It's quite a skill set, isn't it. It's just a resume enhancer. There is absolutely no violations of DEI policies in any way to hire somebody who can speak multiple languages. In fact, it's a gift. And for all the students out there, it will potentially help you get a new or better job. I also wanted to ask you about Policy 252, and it's enforcement throughout the school district. How are you educating all adults in all schools about Policy 252 as well as the students?
Do you want to speak to that from the policy perspective -- we're affirming across the district at the 10,000 foot level and at the granular level in schools that we affirm all of our young people, we affirm diversity in all its manifestations, and we absolutely expect every student and staff member and their families to be treated with the respect that they absolutely deserve.
I appreciate your answer. I also want you to know if you saw me surprisingly quiet today, it's because I understand you guys are being surprisingly quiet today as to not put details in public and would love to follow up with you in another conversation. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Councilmember Landau. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Young.
Thank you, Madam Leader. Question about just I guess academic standards. So we have a school in my district, Carver, and within a few blocks from Carver -- E&S is one of the best schools in the country, right. One of literally -- that was the other day, amazing STEM program that was just funded there. It's an amazing program. And Carver has the ability to take in some students from surrounding schools, i.e., particularly Dunbar and Duckrey, which are other public schools that surround Temple University, to bring them in to teach the middle schoolers, 7th and 8th graders, particularly 8th graders, Algebra 1, right. And we all know Algebra 1, that's the marker for success for some of our students. And so, what are we doing -- and I went to a charter school in our district here in Center City. I would talk to the 9th graders. They were doing fractions in 9th grade, fractions, right. So what are we doing to get our kids really ready for the real world and preparing them for the real, you know, type of education that they really need to succeed, right? Because if I have Carver, which is one of the best schools in the country in my district, surrounded by Dunbar and Duckrey which are some of the worst schools in my district, but they're allowed, they have the ability to come and teach those students who are already Algebra 1, what is the district doing to provide those resources to allow that to happen when that type of education can't be achieved at their traditional school?
First, I think that that is one of the questions that gets me the most excited and appreciate that question, because that to me, that work is our core work. I believe we affirm, obviously we should affirm the existence of our children. We should do all these social and emotional supports. But if children graduate and have to take remedial courses, drop out of college, can't become a welder or can't do the things that you've mentioned, we believe we failed. The Board of Education does. So I wanted to start this answer off with our role and the goals and guardrails and Policy 003 is the answer to that, that we believe that we should use every tool in our toolkit on the charter side and the district side to move the needle on academic achievement. On the charter side, unfortunately we don't have a lot of tools under the law, right. On the district side, our major tool is Dr. Watlington. And it's my understanding that he is doing the work to ensure that some of our schools that have opportunities for growth will grow. So I'll give you an example. For math this year, we had a heat map of the City of Philadelphia. And one would assume that certain neighborhoods, your district, other districts, would have had yellow circles or red circles for no growth or negative growth, but we saw growth across the whole city as it relates to student achievement. And I believe that's the work that the Board of Education does when it monitors goals and guardrails once a month. We put the data out there and we use the tools we have. Unfortunately, under the law the tools for us is not to close a neighborhood school for academics, right. But our tool is to ensure that we hire a superintendent who's laser-focused on ensuring that he empowers, increases the system that creates the opportunities for academic achievement in our district schools. And I believe on the charter side Project Rise I believe is also that way for the Board of Education. What tools do we have to incentivize and persuade those who have a whole lot of independence to also do the things you just mentioned as well. And that's our theory of change. So I just wanted to put that there. So people say, what is the Board doing. Academic achievement is the North Star, and it's the one thing you can't fake. That's why we do focus so much on data. Dr. Watlington.
Thank you. Councilmember Young, I'd say two things. One, I do think the fact that our district and three out of the four of the Nation's Report Card areas, the fact that we're making faster progress, outpacing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and other like- situated big urban districts across the country is significant, but it doesn't answer the problem for an underperforming school that's in your district that has not closed gaps. We hear you loud and clear. One of the things I might suggest, sir, is that similar to how Councilmember Jones has his 7:00 a.m. roll call and he's invited me and principals and Deputy Superintendents and others to be a part of, we'd be happy at your invitation or if you'd like us to extend an invitation, we'd be happy to convene -- Deputy Superintendent Dr. Dawson and I will be happy to convene the respective Learning Network, Assistant Superintendents who are in your Councilmanic District and the principals for a conversation about how we work together to drive faster improvement, particularly in the most underperforming schools. I think you've hit a very important point there, sir.
I'd be more than happy to participate in those types of meetings just to get that perspective. I'm just curious on how do we get to that point. I mean, I know it's years of just stuff happening. But for 9th graders to be doing fractions, they're just way behind, way behind. And I think we really need to be more focused on putting the resources necessary to get our students ready. And I'm excited about the Extended Day, Extended Year, right, because then that allows us to provide those resources to those kids. And one thing we had when I was in school -- of course, I went to a private school. We were mandated to do extracurricular activities. It was mandated. We could not graduate unless we did extracurriculars. We had to play sports. We had to go through these clubs. We had to do these things in order to graduate. And if we see that our young people are after school committing, you know, getting into things that young people get into in the city, why are we not mandating that they participate in these extracurricular activities in order for them to move on from our school district?
The short answer, Councilmember Young, is that we are laser, laser, laserlike focused on three things: First, not opposed to extracurriculars because we think it helps build the whole child. It helps to extend what we learn in the classroom. But the research is crystal clear. The number one thing that the Board needs to hold me accountable for is to getting the best, highly effective, highly qualified and stable teachers into the classroom. Number two, the same true for principals. And number three, to make sure that the instructional materials that are in that school are the absolute very best reading, math and science materials that we can find between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. And the other side of that is when the teacher teaches, when you get highly-qualified, well-supported and stable teachers in schools across the board, recognizing that there's a 71% decline in the people coming out of Pennsylvania universities, public or private, to be a teacher, when we get highly- qualified teachers and very high- quality instructional materials in reading, math and science in the classroom, the number one thing that our budget should focus on if we're going to move the needle is how strong that core instruction is during that class period. Because when we do it really well, the MTSS, Multi-Tier Student Support system says the gold standard is to teach the material to the point that 80% of children, poor kids, middle class, wealthy kids, rich kids, 80% of the children master the material. And then you don't have to spend as much money downstream on tutors and mentors and lots of other Tier and Tier supports. They're all 2 important. But we've got to get to 3 the point where the instruction is so good during that class during the day -- we're so effective, excuse me, so it's so effectively done that children master the material. So that's why we focus first on those three areas. And you'll see our investments in our budget around those three things first consistent with the research. But you're not wrong. Extracurricular access is really important.
Councilmember Young, briefly I want to say I appreciate your energy. And I can't wait for this. I'll give you a quick anecdote. I did a town hall with some parents about 50 to 60 parents. And a Black mother asked me, why are you also focused on outcomes. These children have this barrier, these children have that barrier. And this is what I said to her, "Our children can't wait another 400 years. I feel that energy from you. I believe our Board has that energy as it relates to the many types of students we service. And I think the Board's laser-focused on outcomes, I think is guided by our babies can't wait another 400 years." So I'm going to tell you there's a sense of urgency with this Board of Education to ensure not only our children are affirmed, our guardrails, which are anti- racist practices, extracurriculars, are honored to the extent that we can under the law until we're funded, but we want to ensure that all babies can learn and do what we can to ensure that those babies get the resources that they deserve, that you discussed so you don't have students in your district, having the same conversation in 4 years. 5
Thank 6 you. And just for the record, I 7 want to make note that I did go to 8 public school. I went to a 9 traditional neighborhood public 10 school, I went to a special admin public school, and then I went to a private school, right. So I just want to put that on the record. Last question I have is regarding budgeting. Councilmember Thomas talked about this deficit. It was reported that when the district went to a zero-based budgeting method, the district was able to save some money in certain areas. I just would ask if the district has been looking to go to a zero-based budgeting method for its entire budget in order to figure out how to save some money, cut costs and things like that?
Thank you, Councilmember Young. We're currently in a modified zero-based budgeting process in our $4.5 billion budget, and we'll continue to grow that work.
And for the record, because again they're all our children, one of the things that keep me up at night are not just about outcomes, but also what is the financial situation of charter schools. So those who don't know when the Board -- when the district tightens its belt, the year after the per pupil charter payments are going to go down as well. That makes me worry. Understand, there's some schools that may have a few days of money on hand and things like that. So just for the record, to show and those who are listening, I'm hoping that the charter schools are also following the lead of the School District of Philadelphia to prepare for lean times that are coming. Because when it rains on the just, it rains on the just.
One thing about finance matters, Mr. Chairman. I was the public finance bond counsel for the School District of Philadelphia from the time I graduated from law school for 50 years, so I can remember when the School District of Philadelphia had no market access at all. We didn't even have a credit rating. And I became an experienced bond counsel and drafted quite a bit of legislation for the school district when Dr. Clayton was appointed superintendent. When we came to the conclusion that it was important for us to eliminate our structural deficit, because we had received so much COVID funding from the federal government we were able by saving and scrimping to accumulate a fund balance. We contributed $300 million of that fund balance to our operating budget this year, Fiscal Year beginning July 1 of 2025 and ending June 30 of 2026. This body, you, the City Council, did your job. You authorized our taxes well before the beginning of the fiscal year. You appropriated our grant money. The Mayor delivered her budget on time. The Governor delivered his proposed budget on time. The legislature in Harrisburg did not enact a General Appropriations Act until last week, so we received not one penny from the state beginning June of 2025.
So that leads to my next line of questioning. So let me ask this because I asked Mike to come in and specifically looking at that point right there, when we were talking about the finances earlier, right, how much money total did we borrow from the school district, because I started this down this lane -- I mean, I'm sorry. How much money did we borrow total because the state didn't have a budget? And how much are we on the hook for paying back, including the interest? Because, Mike, when we did our finance meeting maybe in August or September, you told me the number was about $1.5 billion. But at that time, we were told that the state would only give us the money back that we borrowed and we would have to absorb the interest on our own. Can you give us those numbers? How much did we borrow? And based on the budget, how much does the district have to pay back both the loan amount as well as the interest?
We did not borrow it from Harrisburg. We borrowed it from two banks. And we borrowed it in the form of a draw- down loan. Mr. Hirschman can give to the Council exactly what we borrowed and when we have to pay that. The state has not enacted any legislation that will reimburse us for the interest cost we have incurred. We still have not received any cash from the Commonwealth, including the cash from the unfrozen federal funds that the state received because it had no appropriation power to pay us. So I do want this body to understand you all did your job on time. The Mayor and the Governor did their jobs on time. We can debate in private which House of the Legislature we think did its job on time, but we're still waiting for our cash. When we adopted a resolution asking to eliminate our structural deficit, we assumed that everybody would abide by the rules of the Pennsylvania Constitution and that we would have a General Appropriations Act on July 1st or very close to July 1st, not still be looking for our cash in November. So as someone who is also involved in financial advocacy for the school district, I'm asking Council to help us keep to the correct schedule every year. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony and thank you for your service. Very much appreciated.
Good afternoon. Again for the record, Mike Hirschman, Chief Financial Officer for the district. To your direct question, on September 10 the Board of Education authorized 11 $1.55 billion in a not-to-exceed amount for the district to borrow through tax and revenue anticipation notes. Through mid-November, the district did not receive total funds from the state that we would have received about $800 million, and that required us to borrow about 700 million of that 1.55 billion. We anticipated at the beginning of this when we were first authorized on September 11th, that that would come in an interest cost of just under $15 million --
Yes. 5 For the time that we need to borrow 6 it. The payback timeline is that 7 all the money is finally due on 8 April 1st, but we're required to 9 deposit one-third of it into 10 accounts on February 1st, a second 11 on March 1st, and then the final 12 amount on April 1st. 13 Because we were not 14 required to borrow the full amount 15 of the 1.55 billion, that 15 million in interest will come down some, but we're still looking at daily cash flow and if any additional borrowing will be required on December 1st as a result of this. As Board member Stern noted in the General Appropriations Act or the legislations that the state passed, there's no provision to repay any school districts or other entities the interest that they incurred to borrow during the impasse.
That's very disappointing. So the million in interest that you 9 anticipated from the 1.55 billion, 10 how much do you estimate we'll be 11 paying back in interest out of the 12 15 million you thought, because 13 thank God we don't have to use the 14 whole 1.55? Hopefully, you don't 15 have to touch any more than the 700 million that you already did. But based on the 700 million that you touched, how much do we anticipate in interest being paid back out of that?
So we will get you a final number. But based on where we were, it will be approximately half of that.
Wow, that hurts. All right. We're ready to close out today's conversation. I want to first acknowledge that Councilmember Nina Ahmad is present. Thank you, Councilmember Ahmad. Councilmember Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson is our last person for today. So after Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, then we'll move into public comment and we will try to close out our conversation today. Majority Leader.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Thank you for this opportunity. And I apologize in advance for missing the presentation that I will go back and watch at night, like I typically do all the hearings. So I apologize in advance if any of these questions were already asked. But I wanted to first start with a thank you to you, Dr. Watlington, and to Board Chair Streater and to everyone over at the district, particularly Dr. Dawson and so many of you that we work with. I wanted to first start by saying thank you for leveling. I think it's been working this school year. We haven't heard any complaints. So very appreciative of that. And also, thank you to you and also the PFT for working with us regarding the $500,000 we were able to secure in the budget to pay for the required teaching certifications for the CTE teachers. Just wanted to know if you all could provide an update on the number of teachers that have been enrolled in the program thus far and how many additional teachers were looking to enroll in that opportunity. And if the $500,000 that has been allocated currently from FY26 fully funds the program and what we need to do moving forward. And then just to get it in because I know we're pressed for time, I think you all completed an audit of the CTE programs within the last year. And so, if that has been finalized, if we could receive a copy of the results, that would be helpful. And if you could also share the status of all of your contracts with each of your unions for all of the unions for the district. And my last question obviously will be in response to the questions and responses that we received from you all regarding questions we had back in April for the hearing. I have to register my continued concern around enrollment management and how the facilities process will play a role in the enrollment management process as it relates to the catchment areas. So I wanted to also put that on the record, particularly with the new special admission process. You know my concern. You already know where I'm going, Philadelphia High School for Girls. Because relative to being able to accept students and accept a certain amount of students for your school, I don't know if that's being capped which would then limit their ability to have a larger increase in enrollment, which would then lead to not having to realize the projected changes that were shared with us and the responses that you all gave. So I wanted to try to get all of that on the record. I will submit the additional questions for written reply. But I wanted to at least put that on the record so we can discuss that here today. And finally, thank you to Laurel who's on maternity leave and Chris.
Thank you, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson. Let me just quickly say relative to your point about enrollment management and special admits, etc., we've kept our commitment. We've worked very closely with the Philadelphia High School for Girls and a very fine new principal Ms. KaTiedra Argro, who is building that enrollment. She's been out all over this city recruiting like I just have not seen in my tenure here. So I just want to commend her for that. And certainly, we did share with Chair Thomas and the Council that while we successfully resolved the collective bargaining agreement with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, the PFT and our School Police Officers Union, we are absolutely optimistic in the near term doing the same with Teamsters Local 502 under the leadership of Dr. Robin Cooper. I will ask Dr. Dawson to speak because his team is doing some fantastic work related to that $500,000 that Council appropriated to help us with our CTE teacher credentialing. And he can also tell you about two audits that we finalized relative to CTE career technical education and how we're going to use that. Dr. Dawson.
Just really quick, Dr. Watlington, I wanted to state that I think the overarching concern for enrollment is relative to meaning you all are not capping any school's ability to accept over a certain amount of students, right? There's no cap on the amount of students that can be accepted at a special admit, correct?
Well, we want to be careful that we don't overenroll the capacity of the school, such like we've historically had that problem. Although Lincoln is not a special admit, they've had kids come there for special things. And so, we don't want to go over what the capacity of the school numbers are. And we do projections every year for schools so that we can allocate teaching staff such that we don't have to go down that road of leveling anymore.
Right. And I think the question is more so around I remember one year when I was visiting with the girls, there was only 85 students who were accepted who chose to attend Girls' High for that particular year. So then you have an incoming class of 85 students. But as an example if they're able to accept, I don't know, 300 or 400, you understand what I'm saying, so when you have the final number of folks, you have an actual class, a larger class of students which would then help with their projections for teachers. I think that's how we kind of got to this process. And I also had heard, and I don't know if this is true, that a school that I attended Masterman, they're only 10% Black; is that true?
I don't have the demographics in front of me for the Julia R. Masterman School, but I can pull that for you.
And I'm hosting the students in Council this week, but I just recently heard that. And I'm like, wait a minute, that is completely off because when I went to Masterman, it was much more diverse than that.
I understand the spirit of your question. I'll be sure to reply in our written response to Council. Let me just say, long story short I believe Principal Argro's expectation is to recruit to the extent so that she can fill every seat, every available seat, and we're going to support her 100% and other principals in that regard.
Dr. Watlington, let me jump in there. My son is in 8th grade right now. I am currently going through the process as it relates to special admission schools. I just want to make sure I echo the sentiments of Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, specifically looking at clarity because the process isn't necessarily clear. You're limited to how many schools you can apply for. As a parent it's somewhat --
I want more than five, right. That's just me as a parent. I don't know if I like Parkway, Center City or whatever. You know, we're entertaining a lot of options. So the limit as to five is definitely problematic. But I think the concern that I'm listening from Councilmember Gilmore Richardson, because I also put on my PIAA District hat on there, we need 4 clarity, right. 5 So when you provide 6 clarity as it relates to the 7 percentage of Black students -- 8 first of all, please don't do that 9 just for Masterman, right. We want 10 to see that reflective of all of 11 the magnet schools. Because if I 12 remember correctly, you all changed the process of admissions and you took some of that autonomy away from principals because you were concerned about the process. And now a couple years later, while well-intended in a decision that you made, we've seen that that decision has disproportionately impacted students of color. And so, based on the seat that I'm sitting in, not just as the Chair of the Education Committee but as the father of an 8th grader, and I'll brag about my son, he gets all A's, right. That's not even me. I would never ask my child to do that. That's a tough standard. That's the standard he created for himself. And now that he's in a position to be able to choose a high school, he's limited to only five schools. Now, if I decide to go choose a school that's not a comprehensive school or a magnet school, part of our decision will be because we were only able to choose from five schools. Now, I went to the high school Vare. I coached high school basketball. I've been in a lot of spaces. And it's very hard for us to limit our choice down to five schools. So when you get back to Councilmember Gilmore Richardson around the demographic information for our magnet schools, please also provide clarity as it relates to where we are in the process of special admission schools and if this new policy has put us in a position where we've seen some unintended or ill-advised consequences. I want to --
The reason, it's not so much about limiting choice for our young people and their families. Remember, three years ago we had huge concerns coming to President Streater, the Board of Education, about not just the lottery that was implemented under the previous administration --
So I apologize. Let me put that on the record. It was not you. It was the previous administration so I apologize for that.
But I want to be clear. I believe Dr. William Hite, Jr. and the team did the right thing. I want to be really clear. Two, once we got an external audit, and we didn't want our people to do it, we didn't want our very fine research and accountability department led by Dr. Tonya Wolf to do it, we wanted to get a reputable national standing organization. And ultimately, Accenture is the group that came in and did an audit of our school selection process to ask the question, one, are we doing what we say we're going to do; two, are we doing it with integrity and fidelity. And one of the things they told us, one of the problems with filling our seats is that we didn't have the best system, and the best systems in the country like we found in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans was a rank order system. So we procured a new system that will allow families to rank order their choices 1 through 5. And once people have a chance to rank order their choices, it makes it easier for us to fill those seats without you running the lottery and then you've got a whole bunch of movement. And before you know it, folks didn't get in anywhere and they're off to some non-district opportunity. And so, we're trying to solve for that problem.
We look forward to that in writing. I want to let the Majority Leader close out her time so we can move forward.
Mr. Chairman, did you want Dr. Dawson to speak to CTE questions or would you like that on the record?
Yes, that's the next phase. So we'll hold off the special admission conversation and we'll make that to be continued, because I think we need to do a deeper dive than what the level of fatigue will allow us to do today right now. Majority Leader, I'm sorry, back to you.
Yes. I put the CTE questions on the record.
First of all, we would like to thank you to the City Council, particularly to you, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, for your partnership. Our CTE teachers have said to us and recognize that there is a hardship for many of them trying to get that certification. And for you and the entire council to vote to give us those funds really will make a difference for many of our teachers. To specifically answer the question, in the fall we have of those CTE teachers who are 11 already registered at Temple and 12 there is open enrollment right now 13 for the spring semester for 14 additional teachers, CTE teachers 15 to be a part of that program. We 16 are already hearing from our CTE 17 teachers that is going to make a 18 huge difference to keep them in the 19 district, so they do not have to 20 leave and go to another surrounding 21 district or to another profession, 22 that they can stay right here in 23 the classrooms working with our 24 students, which is what they love and what they want to do. And so, we want to thank you and all the work that you've done there. In partnership with that, our Superintendent has given us guidance to really revamp our CTE programming. And so, we went out and received an audit from the SREB, which is the Southern Regional Educational Board, to really look at our programming, to really tell us what's working, what's not working in our programs, and we've done that through their programs to revamp our programs in our CTE over the last three years. The second audit that we've done now, now that we have these robust programs in place and we're really looking at supporting our teachers and providing that right type of professional development in a partnership with one of our philanthropic partners. We looked at a program to audit the CTE programs that we offer in alignment with the City of Philadelphia and what the labor market is saying what the needs are. And so, because of that audit, we are now going through to look at every single CTE pathway program that we're offering and how we can revamp to make sure that, as our Superintendent is expecting of us, that we get our students in jobs that are high-demand, high- wage jobs. And through this partnership with you and with our CTE teachers getting that certification, we will be able to realign and get more of our students into those pathways into carpentry programs, into the building trades, if you will, and other interests of what our city is saying that we need.
That'll be great. And I'm glad that you all are looking at the high demand occupation list that we typically utilize through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to see the careers in demand, not just here but across our region. And the second part of that question is relative to additional allocation. Meaning, has all the dollars been spent for the CTE teachers with the who 14 are already enrolled? And what do 15 we need to potentially be prepared 16 to do during this budget process? 17 That was the ask. 18
So those 19 funds are right now being utilized. 20 We just did the enrollment for the 21 fall. In the spring, we can come 22 back and give you an update. Once 23 we get the application window 24 closes and Temple University gives us the number of individuals, then we can give you a true summary of the allocation of those funds based off the enrollment of those CTE teachers from the fall and those who are currently enrolling right now for the spring.
Okay. That'll be great, because we want to continue to support that effort and that work. And, Dr. Watlington, thank you for sharing the status of your contract negotiations earlier in the hearing. I'll go back and listen. And congratulations with PFT and I think the School Police Union as well, and working with 502 with Dr. Cooper. I think I see CASA here, so thank you to our school administrators for the work that you all do each and every day in our schools. I will reserve the balance of the questions for a written response. But I just have to put on the record that I too agree that Principal Argro is doing a phenomenal job at the Philadelphia High School for Girls. I've watched her recruiting efforts across the city of Philadelphia. I visited with the young people last month around bringing in city resources to our students there as well. Girls' High and all of our schools, but really our special admission schools are important to me because I am a product of Gompers, Masterman and Philadelphia High School for Girls. And I just want to ensure as we are going through these transitions with the special admission process with facilities management, with enrollment management that we are being cognizant of those institutions as we are doing this work. And so, I'll circle back on the special admission process in particular, particularly around some of the information I've heard recently around the racial demographics of those schools to ensure that we are meeting the intended goals of the program. So thank you all very, very much. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Madam Leader. Chris, if we can make sure that at our next monthly meeting, that could be one of the things that we discuss and we will invite the Majority Leader to our next monthly meeting, that would be appreciated. We're trying to close this out. Real quick, Board President Streater, just seconds. The annual enrollment numbers that normally go up October 1st, there's still a delay on that. Are they going up any time soon? What's the delay?
10 Population of students, all of the 11 enrollment numbers. That normally 12 goes up October 1st, but for some 13 reason it's a delay. If you can 14 just take 15 seconds to explain 15 that. Councilmember Ahmad is going to have a quick question and then we're going to transition to public comment.
I want to make sure I understand, Mr. Chairman. You said the district's annual enrollment --
Long story short, last year we grew by 1841 new students. I don't have that exact number in front of me. But approximately 1200 to 1300 of those we've maintained. We did lose about approximately 500 related to the 2.5-week period when SEPTA services were reduced.
I just wanted you to put it on the record. There we go. Thank you, sir. Councilmember Ahmad, quick question.
Thank you, Chair. Good afternoon. Sorry, I was late. I was at a press conference about human trafficking. We're starting a prevention and awareness campaign in the city so everybody be aware. But thank you for the Chair for letting me get in this one question. I am late so I don't know if it's been asked already. As you know, we are in the midst of redoing how SNAP is delivered, how people access that and all these new regulations that are going in. A few weeks ago, we had a hearing on the crisis that we were facing. And someone from your administration said we had asked about food that is given to our children, the breakfast and the lunch. And we were told about $100 million goes towards food for our students. However, we also were told that a lot of the food is not eaten, that kids call it nasty. So there was one question about understanding how we cater to their choices. But the second part, because we are in a crisis in our city I had asked, is there availability to make that food, which has not been touched, put it on a community table at our schools so the community can have access. I know there's things associated with that. We have a lot of administrators here and it would fall on them to make this food available to our surrounding community, sort of a community schools approach to the leftover but untouched food. I wanted to know how we can proceed on that?
With your permission, Councilmember Ahmad, I'd like to take that as a homework assignment and put that on the record to ensure that it's absolutely accurate. I can tell you that when we look at the dollars that the USDA appropriates for the federal school lunch programming, the dollars are not robust enough to have filet mignon every day but it is sustenance, and I say that very respectfully. I also want to note that we've continued uninterrupted serving breakfast, lunch and in our Extended Day, Extended Year program sending food with children as appropriate. And earlier, Mayor Parker talked about the One Philadelphia Fresh Produce Initiative that we launched that was planned in advance of the SNAP interruptions, and very thankful for the support of Aramark and doctors and other people who partner with the district and the Board. We'll put that on the record and I understand the spirit of the question. We'll give you the details.
Thank you. With that being said, I want to take a moment to say thank you to a number of people. First of all, thank you, Board President Streater. We appreciate you being here all day. We understand you're not getting paid to be here. We appreciate your service, we appreciate your transparency, and we appreciate your advocacy for what you believe in. We have a lot of dialogue about it. And again, I want to personally say thank you as well as thank you on behalf of City Council. Dr. Watlington, thank you, sir. We appreciate you. We appreciate how you represent our city, both locally as well as nationally. To all of the Board members that are still here, thank you very much to the ones that had to leave. Thank you so much. I want to thank the Mayor and the Mayor's entire administration. I also want to say thank you for the work that you did with Frankford High School. Frankford High School is now open. That is very much appreciated. That is a huge capital project that we were able to accomplish. Also want to say thank you to what you did with Lincoln High School. When we talk about overenrollment in that capital project, we definitely appreciate that. And to your team, Dr. Watlington, I want to definitely say thank you to Mike, our finance guy. We were able to move local procurement numbers from 25% to 32%. So if you don't know, since Mike has been in charge of finances, 32% of all school district contracts now go to Philadelphia-based businesses, and that's a huge accomplishment. I want to say thank you to Chris for dealing with all of the issues from City Council. He gets those late-night texts and all that other stuff. Laurel, congratulations on having a baby. She used to get the late-night texts and all that other stuff. Of course, Colonel Oz Hill and the entire operations team. Thank you all so much for the great work that you do. And last but not least, little do you guys know, the person I probably talk to more than anybody is Mr. Craig Johnson. Craig texts me every single day. I don't know if he's still here, but every single day there's a serious issue within the School District of Philadelphia, Craig calls me, texts me. We're on the phone on a consistent basis and we try to make sure that we're as transparent as possible and as supportive as possible whenever there's a major incident. With that being said, folks, the time right now is 2:30. We're going to take a 15-minute break for our stenographer until 2:45. We'll resume at 2:45 with public comment and we'll allow two minutes for public comment for all of the people who signed up because there are a lot of you and we want to hear every one of you before we go on recess. I want to give Dr. Watlington and Board Chair Streater a final word as we transition.
Mr. Chairman, I thank you for this opportunity to appear before the Council with Board President Streater. We do have a food show tomorrow at the Dr. Constance E. Clayton Education Center. I'll ask Chief of Staff Sarah Galbally to get a formal invitation extension --
So we got an important hearing tomorrow. I know it's my bill. So if that food could come down here, we'll be more than willing to go ahead and try that food.
There you go. And let me also say, because he deserves his kudos as well, thank you to Dr. Dawson and the entire academic team for the great work that they do as well too. Dr. Dawson, thank you. We're on recess until 2:45. And at 2:45, we'll start public comment. (Brief recess.)
Good afternoon, everybody. I want to welcome everybody back to the public hearing and public meeting that's happening here today as it relates to the Committee of the Whole. We've heard from our School District as well as our School Board. We've heard from our Mayor as well as questions from members of City Council, and we're now ready to move into the public comment period. I would just ask that during the public comment period that we respect the comments of everyone who's coming to speak. Even if we don't agree with them, we allow them to have their time. Because we are limited in our time this afternoon, today's hearing has been over five hours at this point, we are going to ask the witnesses who are here to testify to try your best to limit your comment to about two minutes. We're going to have a timer up here that will specifically time you to try to limit to two minutes. So once you hear the timer go off, you'll know that we're coming close to your time ending as it relates to public comment. Members of City Council, as members come in to return for public comment, I want to ask that we allow people to comment and not necessarily engage to comment and allow folks to say what they have to say and then we can move forward from there. So with that being said, I would first like to call -- this is the teacher in me. If I say anyone's name wrong, please charge it to my head, not my heart. I would first like to call Dr. Cassandra St. Vil. Did I say that right? (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. As we said, you have about two minutes to provide your testimony. Please start by stating your name for the record. And after you state your name for the record, you may begin with your testimony.
Thank you. My name is Dr. Cassandra St. Vil, Chief Executive Officer of Philadelphia Charters for Excellence, also known as PCE, which represents Philadelphia's brick-and-mortar public charter schools educating more than 64,000 students across our city. Today you will also hear from charter school leaders and parents who are deeply committed to fairness, accountability and opportunity for every child in our city. We're here because the current charter authorizing process in Philadelphia is broken. It has lost the consistency and transparency our families deserve. Decisions that should be guided by data and clear policy have become unpredictable and uneven, which undermines the stability that schools need to plan responsibly and serve students well. Such patterns destabilize schools and ultimately hurt students and families. We can all agree that this is not how a strong public education system should work. Recent renewal and contract negotiation practices have been coercive and closed door, pressuring schools to accept conditions or risk being labeled as noncompliant. While the Rise initiative aims to improve authorizing over time, its current design and pace won't solve the urgent problem schools face today. We need transparency and consistency now, not just years from now. We have two specific requests for City Council's consideration. First, we respectfully urge the City Council to exercise its oversight authority and public platform holding the School Board accountable for fair, consistent and transparent authorizing practices. Second, in the immediate term we will be asking the School Board to pause all nonrenewal decisions currently in process and we respectfully request that City Council publicly support this request. A temporary pause would allow time for transparent review of recent, impending nonrenewal decisions and the procedures used to reach them. So families know the process is fair and aligned with established policy. Families need to know that public school decisions that directly impact their children's futures are made openly, consistently and with integrity, deserving nothing less. Thank you for your time and your leadership. (Applause.)
Thank you for your testimony and thank you for sticking to the time commitment. Next up is Amy Hollister. Apologize if I said your name wrong. After Amy is Dr. Alberta O'Brien. So you both can come on up. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Amy Hollister. Good afternoon, members of City Council. My name is Amy Hollister and I serve as a Director of Membership for PCE. Thank you for this opportunity to testify. I am a proud graduate of Philadelphia public schools. And for 30 years, I've served as a teacher, administrator and advocate. I've dedicated my career to strengthen the educational experiences of our city's youth. In my role at PCE, I work closely with charter school leaders who are deeply committed to ensuring every child can access the learning environment that best meets their needs. Families continue to affirm this through their choices. Today in public school students attends a charter school, and 26,000 students remain on wait lists. At the core of our mission-driven schools is a nimble, community-rooted approach that extends beyond what is publicly measured. Nearly 80% of our lottery-enrolled students are Black or Latino, and our schools welcome increasing numbers of English learners and students with disabilities across my work with more than 70 school leaders directly, concerns about the charter authorizing process remain urgent. Despite years of good faith effort, schools face shifting expectations, inconsistent oversight and subjective decision- making that appears influenced more by politics than by clear and consistent standards. This instability erodes trust, wastes public dollars and harms students and families. On the ground, we see a system that is hindered by flawed policy and uneven implementation, which includes, one, discrepancies between the Charter Schools Office recommendations and the final Board decisions; two, closed door negotiations that pressure schools to accept conditions and sign; three, unpredictable and urbanly burdensome requirements that pull resources from our classrooms; and finally, a fear of retaliation for schools that speak publicly. These patterns undermine the coherent, collaborative system our students deserve. For these reasons, PCE seeks your partnership in pursuing a more independent, transparent objective authorizing structure. And while the Rise initiative is promising long term, it does not address the immediate challenges that our schools face today and we need clearly now. We thank you. And in this moment, we ask for steady leadership for equitable, consistent, student-centered collaboration. Thank you for your time, for your leadership on behalf of Philadelphia students. (Applause.)
Thank you for your testimony. Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Dr. Alberta Bryan, the CEO of Community Academy of Philadelphia. As the first charter in Philadelphia, CAP meets the needs of our students with innovation. CAP prioritized strong, emotional support teams, multi-tiered support system programs before it was in, experiential education before it was trendy, clear book bags for safety, dual enrollment and year- round schooling before traditional public schools. It's not just about academics. It's about the whole child. And charters do it innovatively and we are not cookie- cutter. There's a space in Philadelphia for all types of schools to exist so that all the families have the best resources and support, and we need you City Council to protect it, one Philadelphia. The Board of Education has an intimate effect on charter schools. The School Board lays down the path the CSO follows. Charters have no choice, no seat at the table and definitely not in the room where it happens. No one else in education is there a consistent, loud voice bellowing we want to shut you down. They have no 9 transparency, no accountability. There needs to be continued oversight by you. The School Board wants us to be them. The Charter School law was created to modernize the Pennsylvania Code of 1949. There should be an independent authorizer, someone that does not have skin in the game. The spirit of the law was that charters would help local school districts to be more innovative when dealing with modern education, modern students and modern community, not the other way around. We seem to have this mixed up in Philly. We need an authorizing process that is consistent while preserving the autonomy and independence of charter schools to do what is the best interest of our students. How can there be nonrenewals when the process itself is flawed? Even the lawyers at Ballard Spahr said the math is not mathing. That needs to stop today. City Council, you represent all the children of Philadelphia, including 65,000 charter school students. Their education is in your hands, One Philadelphia. And finally, CAP stores were always open. We are in our 46th year of educating children in Philadelphia, so come over any time, visit us. The School Board has not visited us yet. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Up next we have Ashley Redfearn. I apologize if I said that wrong. After Ashley will be Matt Kelley. And after Matt Kelley will be Naimah Wimberly. I apologize if I said that wrong. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
My name is Ashley Redfearn. I'm CEO for American Paradigm Schools. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the urgent need to stabilize public charter school communities across Philadelphia, especially in the Kensington and Port Richmond areas. I also want to recognize any educator across all public schools who continue to speak up for stabilization, equity and other issues that impact our students. The COVID pandemic, food insecurity and longstanding funding inequities have intensified what it takes schools to support students in their learning. American Paradigm Schools serves 4200 public charter school students across four schools, Lindley Academy, First Philadelphia Tacony and Memphis Street Academy. Each school is committed to safe and well- maintained facilities and meeting community needs. Memphis Street Academy in particular is one rooted in the most challenging neighborhoods of our city and provides a school-based health center, full food pantry for families and English classes for students and adults. Our English language learners have a 92% attendance rate currently showing that when families feel safe and supported, students show up. Yet despite meeting all financial and operational standards, Memphis Street faces potential closure due to the academic success domain. The way this metric is currently applied is structurally and statistically racially-biased. It compares schools to districtwide averages without accounting for poverty, trauma, violence or racial segregation. As a result, schools serving primarily Black and Hispanic students in distress, zip codes are penalized for the demographics of the children they serve, not for instructional quality. State data tells a different story. According to Pennsylvania's own growth measure, PVAAS, Memphis Street Academy earned a growth score of 100 in reading and math, far above the state averages of 75% and 74%. Students who often enter with wide academic variation are growing faster than expected because of personalized data-driven instruction and high supports. Data should strengthen programs, not destabilize communities. Conditional or one-year renewals make it harder to hire, retain staff and teachers and finance safe facilities. We appreciate the Council's attention to the Ballard Spahr report, and now the issue should not only analyzing the framework, but how the process is applied. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
My name is Matt Kelley. I am the Chief Executive Officer of Independence Charter School. We are an 810 student K-8 public charter school located in Center City, serving a truly diverse group of students that roughly reflects the city of Philadelphia. Our mission is to promote equity and excellence through rigorous academics, global citizenship, bilingual education and creative arts. ICS is here today to advocate for meaningful reform in the charter renewal process so that charter schools can spend more time focusing on students and less time jumping through the moving hoops of the current process. Our primary educational goal at ICS is ensuring our graduates are set up for future success. And I'm proud to report that ICS typically sends 75% to 80% of its graduates to criteria-based magnet high schools, the most rigorous high schools in Philadelphia. But this accomplishment requires our entire staff to be all in, focused each and every day on maximizing the support for every student. But here is the inherent paradox of the charter renewal process: Our intense focus on student support is directly jeopardized by the renewal process itself, the extensive documentation, the administrative burden. The constantly shifting metrics required every five years or sooner for some schools, distract significant energy and resources. This means we are limited in the services we can fully develop or deliver at least once, if not twice, during a student's critical K-8 career at ICs. The process of proving we are worthy of existing often pulls focus away from the students we exist to serve. I want to share the reality of this burden. We have a 7th grade student. Let's call her Jade. When she entered her 4th grade, PSSA scores were basic according to the test. But she was making progress. Unfortunately, our academic program last year was delayed in its rollout so that she missed valuable time getting the skills that she needed. While we believe that Jade will make progress this year, she would have benefited from that support last year that we were unable to give. This is the hidden cost of the current system. It limits our ability to fully focus our time and energy on urgent student needs when we are undergoing renewal, which can be the critical time that specialized support is needed. So in closing, I ask that this Council step in and take oversight over the School Board to improve the renewal process and charter governance. Overall, our students deserve a renewal process that reinforces rather than distracts from our shared mission of education. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Before you state your name for the record, let me have Andrea Crompton, who will be next. I apologize if I said that wrong. Isabel Ortiz will be after Andrea. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Naimah Wimberly, CEO of Tacony Academy Charter School, and I'm here to tell our story. Since 2009, our school has upheld a mission rooted in equity and excellence. Today Tacony Academy probably serves approximately 1100 scholars in Grades K-12 in Northeast Philadelphia. From the beginning, we were founded on the principles of a caring school community, placing the social and emotional well-being of our scholars at the center of everything we do. This year I'm especially proud to highlight two major accomplishments from the 24-25 school year that uniquely positioned us to bring the PCPCS 2025 Charter School of the Year Award back to Philadelphia just a few weeks ago. First, Tacony has expanded beyond traditional academics with the launch of our Medical and Technical Skills Institute, which offers career- ready certification programs in high demand fields. Our inaugural phlebotomy certification program successfully launched this past summer, allowing seniors to gain work for workforce-ready credentials without ever leaving campus. This spring, we are expanding to include clinical medical assistant, veterinary tech, digital marketing and more. These pathways address Pa's urgent workforce needs while building confidence, pride and purpose in our scholars. Second, our commitment to excellence, both academically and athletically, has earned U.S. national recognition. Tacony Academy High School became the very first high school in the entire country to achieve Level 3 status and the prestigious National Federation of State High School Association School Honor Roll. Our middle school earned Level 1 status, demonstrating athletic excellence across all grade levels. In addition, we are one of only 40 schools nationwide to receive the NIAAA quality program assessment award. And Tacony Academy is the only charter school to have earned this national recognition in its 17-year history. So as we celebrate these accomplishments at Tacony and the many successes across Philadelphia's charter school sector, we ask for your continued support. Charter schools ensure that every student has access to a high-quality education, regardless of background, zip code or learning pathway. When Philadelphia's youth win, we all win. Let us remain unwavering in our responsibility to put students first in every conversation, every policy and every outcome. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you for your testimony. Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Andrea Crompton. Good afternoon, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. My name is Andrea Crompton. I am the parent of a 1st grade student at KIPP North Philadelphia Academy, and my oldest daughter started there in kindergarten. My family has been part of the community for many years. For me, the story KIPP North is the story of how a school can stand by a family through the real life challenges. There are times when I was going through serious, personal and family crisis. There's times when I needed support, answers that people who wouldn't take what was happening with my children seriously. KIPP North was there in those moments. Staff members like Dean Harris and Ms. Martin did not just do their jobs, they listened. They checked in on me. They helped me understand what my children needed. They treated us like family. When something happened with one of my kids, they responded with urgency and care and they worked with me to get the right support in place. One of the hardest times was with my youngest son. He is now in 1st grade. When he started kindergarten, we did not know he had autism. We did not understand why he was struggling or what he needed. Then he had to go inpatient at Belmont Hospital. And when he returned in January, the school welcomed him back with understanding and patience. They adjusted for him, they accommodated him and they gave him what he needed to be successful. He is doing wonderfully now because he is in an environment that knows how to support him and makes him feel included. This is why KIPP North matters. My son would not get this level of support in our local public school. Public schools in our neighborhoods do not have the special education programs, the staffing or the consistency he needs. If KIPP North closes, the only option that will meet his needs is an approved private school because the public school is not a fit for him, and that is true for many children at KIPP North who have emotional or behavioral needs. They rely on the small environment, the relationship and the stability here. Closing this school will not just move children in a different building. It will uproot kids who have already been through so much. It will force children who are finally thriving to start over in schools that cannot meet their needs. It will impact families who depend on the trust and the communication that KIPP North has built with us. I want City Council to really think about that. Think about the students who will be affected the most. Think about whether you will feel comfortable sending your own child to a neighborhood public school we are zoned. Many of us cannot afford private schools. We rely on KIPP North because it works for our kids and because it is a place where they feel safe and supported. No school is perfect, but KIPP North has stood by my children and by me through some of the hardest moments of our lives. The kind of support cannot be placed by simply assigning us to another school. I've asked you to consider the impact of our children, our community. Please give them the chance to stay at a school where they are finally growing, supported and understood. Thank you for your time. (Applause.)
Thank you for your testimony. I understand that there are a number of people who had to leave early and wanted to provide written testimony, so we'll be sure that that written testimony gets added to the record. Up next is Shaneka Baker. After Shaneka Baker, we'll have Natalie Wiltshire. I'm sorry if I said that wrong. And then we'll have Julian Lopez and we'll close out with Lisa Haver. Apologize if I said someone's name wrong. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon, members of City Council. My name is Natalie Wiltshire, and I'm the Chief Executive Officer of KIPP Philadelphia Public Schools. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. As you heard testimony from the School Board and the School District of Philadelphia, I am not here alone. 44 of our families took the time out of their day to be here with me in support of their children. You did just mention that many of them were scheduled to speak today. But as it is dismissal time, they had to leave to get their children. As the Board comes before you today, I'm asking this body to urge them to pause all non-renewal actions, particularly for schools like KIPP North Philadelphia Academy that opened immediately before the pandemic and are being evaluated under a framework the district already knows is flawed. In 2023, the independent Ballard Spahr report found that Philadelphia's charter authorizing system was inconsistent, opaque and inequitable in its application. Nothing about that system has changed since that report. Yet schools continue to be judged under rules the district is already working to rebuild. KIPP North is a clear example of why a pause is necessary. KIPP North opened in the 2018-19 school year, just months 17 before COVID-19 shutdown every 18 school in Philadelphia. The school was still new, stabilizing its culture, building its team and growing its enrollment. Students did not return fully to the building until spring 2022. Yet in 2023, only one year after students were back in person, the school was issued a one-year renewal. A one-year renewal creates profound instability. Families begin to question whether their children will have a school next year. Teachers and staff consider leaving because they need security. Recruitment becomes more difficult. Year to year uncertainty undermines the very progress the School Board says it's measuring. And in North Philadelphia, we must view this in the context of history. H. Stanton, Reynolds, Fairhill and others. Each closure brought blight, disinvestment and trauma. Children were displaced, families lost trusted anchors and neighborhoods absorbed the impact. Many of these communities are still living with the scars of those decisions. And today, that uncertainty is rising again. The school district is in the middle of developing a new long-term facilities plan, one that could lead to additional closures or consolidations. Families across North Philadelphia are already anxious about whether their neighborhood school district or charter will remain open. Adding a non-renewal process for KIPP North on top of that only deepens instability in a community that has already shouldered far more than its share. We must acknowledge what KIPP North represents for its neighborhood. H. Stanton building, which the district closed in 2013. When the building sat empty, it became a danger, squatters, drugs, illegal dumping, constant safety concerns. A building that should have been a public asset became a public threat. KIPP North changed that. It transformed the site from blight into a community hub, a place where 860 children learn, families gather and the neighborhood has safe, reliable access to resources and stability. To move toward non-renewal now while the authorizing system is being rebuilt, while the facilities plan is still unfinished and while North Philadelphia once again faces the threat of school closures would destabilize not just the school, but the entire community and 860 families that depend on it. City Council has a powerful voice in ensuring fairness, clarity and stability in public education decisions.
I'm asking you to use that voice to urge the School Board to pause nonrenewal decisions and adopt the recommendation of the Charter Schools Office for five-year renewals until the new authorizing framework and facilities plan are complete and until schools like KIPP North open just before a global pandemic are given a fair chance to demonstrate long-term progress. Our students deserve stability, our families deserve transparency, and our communities deserve thriving schools, not another cycle of uncertainty and loss. Thank you for your leadership and your commitment to Philadelphia's children. I appreciate your time and your consideration. )
Thank you. Shaneka Baker, Julian Lopez, Lisa Haver, those are the last three people. Shaneka Baker, Julian Lopez, Lisa Haver, any of them folks -- I know Lisa's here. The other two folks are -- okay. All three people could make their way up so we can get ready to close out for today. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
That's okay. You read it how it's spelled so I'll take it as that way. I'm here representing or speaking on behalf of Philadelphia Montessori Charter School. We are a 250-student school in the far southwest of Philadelphia, about as far southwest as you can go and still technically be considered in Philadelphia. We serve predominantly a Black and Latino population. And I am actually representing the school, not as a director or as a CEO, but as a former teacher and as a current staff member. In my understanding, the purpose of a charter school is flexibility and the idea of freedom in how schools are run. The logic follows that not every child learns the same so why should we teach them the same. To that end, a Montessori-based public school should fit right in. It combines the helpful principles of Montessori-based education by tempering them with the public school accountability. We have had students consistently choose our school despite its distance and location from them. Students from North Philadelphia choose our school. And we have had students from other countries come and stay with us, even though it is not convenient for them because of our environment, fostering a helpful and successful environment for their children. However, currently there are only 11 Montessori schools in Philadelphia. 10 of them are private. One of them is public, and that is us. And currently, we are unsure about our current future because of the way that the framework is set up. The framework seems to disproportionately be advantageous to certain schools that we do not share similar qualities with. Large schools or K through schools seem to have a 4 much better advantage in the 5 current framework, and even they 6 are having problems meeting the 7 standards set forth by the Charter 8 School Office in the City of Philadelphia. Schools that receive similar scores on their ACE reports are given widely different decisions, and there is not a clear understanding about why this is. It is our belief that the Montessori education is valuable for students. It is not just a buzzword for suburban schools. Montessori is not just for rich kids in the outer areas of Philadelphia. We believe it is also for inner city Philadelphian and children, and we ask that the City Council help protect these schools from an unfair system of evaluation. (Applause.)
Thank you for your testimony. So I just want to make sure that we have nobody -- this is the last person for public comment. No one else who signed up for public comment is here. Shaneka Baker was one name that was called that we haven't heard from. I think everybody else is good to go. Please state your name for the record and begin with your testimony.
Good afternoon. Thank you. My name is Lisa Haver. I'm a former Philadelphia public school teacher and Co-founder and Coordinator of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools. Thank you for having this hearing today. I want to thank the remaining City Councilmembers who are here to actually listen to the public. Really appreciate it. I have a little bit of a different perspective on what's been said here today. The Alliance that we're part of, it's a grassroots organization, we are mostly retired teachers, librarians, counselors who have been in the public schools. And part of what we do is evaluate, looking at what charter schools have done. And we've been around since 2012, and I think it's important to remember that when people were selling the whole idea of charters as a replacement for public schools, the main selling point was whatever public schools are doing, especially in poor and minority communities, we can do better. So it's important to understand that if you say we're going to do better, you have to actually show that you've done better and that's shown by the evaluations. And every year, APPS does a summary of the evaluations. And I want to also point out that the current performance framework, and actually it's in process to change that performance framework, was fashioned with the full cooperation in a series of meetings about five years ago or so with charter operators. So that is the performance framework that people are referring to. And I want to say it was a little upsetting to come here today and not really hear anything about closing of the neighborhood public schools. We know -- yeah, I know you're going to have a hearing. Thank you, Councilmember --
I just want to provide important information. I stopped the clock so it's not going to impact your time. But I just want to provide important information for the public that we decided to pause those types of questions because we're going to have a facilities hearing in January.
And I just wanted to put that information -- I know you know, but I wanted to put that information out there for the public.
I mean, we've heard a lot today about nonrenewal of charter schools. There are many charter schools that have been renewed even though they do not meet standards, and I mean, academic or financial organizational standards that are way below. You can have does not meet, you can have academic rating below 45%, as at least two schools did in the latest round, and you can still be renewed by the Board. When the district and the Board moves to close public schools, people in those communities whose children go to neighborhood public schools have no 13 recourse, none. I mean, we've heard about public engagements. We hear about people going out in the community, but there is no legal recourse. When this authorizing body, which is the school district and the Board of Education, moves to not renew a charter school, the charter school is entitled to and their legal fees are paid so that they can have due process, and that can take years through the Charter Appeal Board, through the local courts. It can go up theoretically to the Supreme Court. So what's interesting to hear what is being said, but in reality there are many schools that are not meeting standards that are still being renewed. So I'm hoping that members of City Council will take action because time is running out. I know the Board and the Administration says, oh, we're going to have more public engagement. I don't know how much more public engagement you can have because, as I pointed out at the last Board meeting, members of APPS who went to meetings in neighborhoods across the city did not hear one parent or student or community member say, yeah, you know what, you should close some public schools. Not one, and we went to almost every single meeting. So I don't know what more the Board needs to hear, but I'm hoping that City Council will take up for the people in those neighborhood schools. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
Thank you for your public comment and your continued advocacy. Thank you to everybody who stayed to provide public comment today. Thank you to my colleagues of City Council for being here. I know some folks are visibly here. Some folks are watching the live stream. But to all of the parents, educators, advocates, stakeholders who decided to spend 5 hours and 34 minutes concerned about public education and advocating for the children of the City of Philadelphia, we just truly want to say thank you. We appreciate you. We listened to everything that everyone said, absolutely, and the work continues. So with that being said, I hereby adjourn today's hearing. Thank you all for coming out. We very much appreciate it. Hearing adjourned. (Committee of the Whole concluded at 5:20 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. ________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL