COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE FY26 BUDGET City Hall, Room 400 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, April 29, 2025 10:00 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILWOMAN RUE LANDAU COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD COUNCILWOMAN KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE-RICHARDSON COUNCILWOMAN QUETCY M. LOZADA COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMAN CURTIS J. JONES, JR. COUNCILMAN NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR. COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS HELEN LOUGHEAD, CLERK - - -
I got this. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, everyone. COUNCIL MEMBERS: Good morning.
This is a public hearing and public meeting of the committee of the whole regarding Bills No. 250195, 250196, 250197, 250198, 250199, 250200, 250201, 250202, 250210, 250211, 250212. And Resolution No. 14 215, 250214, and 1811014. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the roll to take attendance?
Councilmember Landau. Councilmember Brooks. Councilmember O'Rourke. Council President Johnson.
Present. Thank you. A quorum of the committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the title of the resolutions?
Bill No. 24 250195, an ordinances amending Chapter 19-1500 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Wage and Net Profits Tax by revising certain rates, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250196, an ordinance adopting the operating budget for Fiscal Year 2026. Bill No. 250197, an ordinance to adopt to Fiscal 2026 capital budget. Bill No. 250198, an ordinance to adopt a capital program for the six fiscal years 2026 through 2031 inclusive. Bill No. 250199, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-2600 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled Business Income and Receipts Taxes to revise tax rates and end certain exclusions from the tax on receipts, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250200, an ordinance amending Chapter 12-1000 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Traffic Code to revise a fee for the use of parking meters, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250201, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1800 of the Philadelphia Code entitled School Tax Authorization to provide for an increase in the tax the Board of Education of The School District of Philadelphia is authorized to impose on real estate and amending Chapter 19-1300 entitled Real Estate Taxes to establish an equivalent reduction in the tax rate for the City Real Estate Tax, all under certain Terms and Conditions. Bill No. 250202, an ordinance amending Section 19-1806 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled Authorization of Realty Use and Occupancy Tax to eliminate certain exemptions, all under certain terms and Conditions. Bill No. 250201, an ordinance amending Section 10-1001 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled Fees of Commissioner of Records to increase the portion of fees for the recording of deeds and mortgages and related documents to be used for housing trust fund purposes, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250211, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1400 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled Realty Transfer Tax by revising the rate of the tax, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250212, an ordinance to amend Chapter 19-4400 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled Development Impact Tax to end the imposition of the tax, under certain terms and conditions. Resolution No. 250214, a resolution providing for the approval by the Council of the City of Philadelphia of a revised five- year financial plan for the City of Philadelphia covering fiscal years 2026 through 2030 and incorporating revisions with respect to Fiscal Year 2025, which is to be submitted by The Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority pursuant to an intergovernmental cooperation agreement by in-between the city and the authority. Resolution No. 181014 calling for the Council committee of the whole to convene in public meetings and public hearings pursuant to the educational supplement of the Philadelphia Home World Charter to review the administration management operations and finances of the school district and adopt plans to coordinate the activities of the Board of Education, The Mayor, and the City Council for the improvement and benefit of public education in Philadelphia.
Thank you very much, Ms. Loughead. Today, we continue the public hearing of the committee of the whole to consider the bills read by the clerk that constitute proposed operating capital spending measures for Fiscal Year 2026, a capital program and a forward- looking capital plan for Fiscal Year 2026 through Fiscal Year 2031. Additionally, this meeting meets the requirement of the educational supplement of the Philadelphia Home New Charter to renew the administration management operations and finances of The School District of Philadelphia on a biannual basis. This morning, we will hear testimony from The School District of Philadelphia and in the afternoon, we'll hear testimony from the Community College of Philadelphia. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the first witness to testify?
The first person to testify is the Honorable Cherelle L. Parker, Mayor of City of Philadelphia.
Thank you so much. I want to have another dental emergency. Good morning. Good morning, Mr. President.
I'm coming along, Mr. President. Thank you so very much for having me.
That's good. Just state your name officially, for the record, Madam Mayor, and you can please begin your testimony.
Good morning, Mr. President and members of Council. My name is Cherelle Parker, a forever member of the City Council of Philadelphia, who happens to be The Mayor of the city of Philadelphia. Thank you.
You're welcome. Somebody playing biggie. That's what we doing this morning? Okay. At least I know you got some, you know, some swag, whoever that is out there.
Okay. Thank you. So I'm sorry, before I get started, to my team, if somebody could bring me some tissues now, that'll be good. It's allergy season for those of you who don't --
-- don't know. Let me start by saying thank you so very much, Council President Johnson, Majority Leader -- thank you. Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson, Majority Whip in Education Committee Chairperson Thomas and all members of Council. Thank you for having me here today. I want to acknowledge Board President Streater, and members of the Board of Education and our superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington. And I want to thank them for their continued hard work on behalf of our city and our students. I also, Mr. President, want to start by thanking all of the members of the City Council of Philadelphia who are present today for your continuing commitment to our Philadelphia public schools. We all have high expectations for our students, both district and charter, and together, we will give them the support that they need to succeed. We also share a vision for our schools. A high quality, well compensated educators, strong academic programs, modern facilities and playing fields, enrichment programs, and academic supports that rival our suburban neighbors. The ambitious path set out upon us, it has challenges, but together, we have made progress and our momentum is building. As you will hear from Dr. Watlington and the school district's team, test scores have improved, student attendance is up, and the dropout rate is down. It came as no surprise then when District Leadership Development Institute named our superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington Sr. the Nation superintendent of the year. Can we all give Superintendent Watlington a round of applause?
Madam Mayor, he was also honoring this body for achieving such a significant accomplishment.
Well, thank you. Thank you, Council President. So I use the language that no 14 surprise, it's no surprise because we've seen with our own eyes that Dr. Watlington is a leader of vision and principle, who not only faces the most difficult challenges ahead, but finds the best solutions, and then moves quickly to address the next one, and then the next one. That's why I often refer to him as the best superintendent in the country. Last year, Mr. President, together, this administration along with the City Council, we made critical investments that affirm the city's financial commitment to the school district to meet the district's needs and priorities. I also have to inject here as a matter of personal privilege, I want us, the Council members along with the administration to always be proud of the fact that no one had to mount a campaign or organize to advocate against us about that increase in the millage that we made last year, or what we introduced in our budget that was presented to this Council, Mr. President, because we did the right thing because it was the right thing to do. I also want to affirm that we made investments that support parent priorities, and that their children are inspired through quality enrichment programs, find interests that keep them engaged in school. And that part is important to have an -- increase their sense of belonging, and to also simply bring them some joy. Our first budget, this Council, along with the administration included that increase of $250 million over the five-year plan in direct funding to The School District of Philadelphia. And that was on top of the 284 million in annual general fund support. And again, it's like thinking about the argument right now and the battle that we're in for mass transit. I want the people of the city of Philadelphia, our taxpayers, our residents, this legislative body, the administration to realize we didn't need anyone, Mr. President, to tell us to do the right thing. Philadelphia is already paying its fair share and continues to as we invest in public education. So that's why it's important to note that last September in very close collaboration with Dr. Watlington, the Board of education, we launched the Extended-Day/Extended-Year pilot initiative across schools to 11 support our families and shrink the 12 enrichment gap. That's 20 13 traditional schools and five charter 14 schools. Now, this initiative, 15 Mr. President, has added 7,000 new 16 seats in before and aftercare 17 winter, spring, and summer camps, 18 all featuring new art, science, 19 sports and other enrichment programs 20 designed to engage and inspire our 21 students. 22 I am proud to state for the 23 record, and Mr. President, I was a 24 little excited. So I, like, made them go back and check these numbers like five times because I was so proud of them. But I am proud to state for the record that our spring break camp that concluded a little more than a week ago was a great success with almost 1,660 students enrolling and a utilization rate of almost 90 percent, Mr. President. So what are we doing here? We are modeling for students to meet the goal of having them attend 90 percent all-year round. So no, I haven't given up on that idea of having year round access to educational opportunities in a structured learning environment, and the stats here affirm that it is not only desired and unneeded as it relates to parents and families, but the children had an amazing time. In addition to that, I want to pivot now to the partnership with the school district and the Community College of Philadelphia, where we launched together with Philly Works, the City College for Municipal Employment or CCME, that we refer to it as it's a national first, Mr. President, to create pathways to careers in public service. Where did the idea come from? Mr.
President, I kept hearing even when I left this body, people talk about the vacancy rate of employment opportunities and positions that were in existence here in the city of Philadelphia. And I remember the day that I had a John Lewis good trouble moment, and I said, we shouldn't look at that as a negative, that is that right now we can find a way to capitalize on that, since we know all of our young people are not going to college, that's not the path they desire, we can talk about the building trades, but don't you ever forget to talk about city employment. When I grew up, the police commissioner, cops, firefighters, teachers, they all lived in our communities. Why not work to plug our students? Imagine graduating this summer or spring from The School District of Philadelphia with a high school diploma, and walking directly into entry-level training and the employment opportunity with the city of Philadelphia that pays a living wage, retirement security, and healthcare. That was a very important moment for me, Mr. President. Again, real jobs, city government that pay good wages with healthcare and pensions. That is the pathway to self-sufficiency. And for all of the people who love data, who had -- who have been reading Raj Chetty's research relating to economic mobility and you can relate to Philadelphia standing and we are not proud of our standing. We are glad that before that data was released, we had already introduced our city college for municipal employment concept, but it's amazing when the data affirms work that is already being done and we'll get to the private sector in a minute. It is important for me to note that CCME is not just for adults, because I was at the Catto ceremony. The Penny Ceremony took place yesterday at the community college, and I'm looking at the young people who are there and I was talking to some people who were observers and they had never heard of it before. Can I get my young person engaged in that program? Absolutely. Together with the Mayor's Office of Education and the Chief Administrative Officer, Camille and Dr. Carrera have done an amazing job and I want them to know I'm grateful. CCME started what we are referencing as Serve Your City. it's a program designed to increase awareness of city jobs among high school students and to give them credit that counts towards graduation. So now while we're creating that pipeline, consider it like work study almost. So we're really happy about that. Our collaborative work with the district, and nonprofits, and colleges, and universities to strengthen the teacher pipeline, it has also gained momentum and Mr. President, we've talked about this as an aside about the number of teachers that Philadelphia needs to recruit and have in the pipeline. In February our city joined with our partners to establish, and this is important for everyone to note, for the record, to establish a five-year goal to increase new teacher retention from 79 percent to 85 percent and to work together to meet that goal. We reaffirmed our commitment to building a diverse teaching workforce, one that reflects the diversity of our city and our student population. We are currently right now working with Sharif El-Mekki and other partners to create new programs to achieve this goal. In addition to that in my budget proposal for the next five- year plan, it continues to support these priorities. 5 percent in FY30, generating an additional $12 million per year for schools. Now, Mr. President, I know and I have heard, you know, some members of Council affirm that we should be doing more, we should be doing more sooner. And, you know, I agree, I love the idea of doing more, but this is what we can achieve given all of the other demands on our city. And those are needs also that we -- that we must address. In addition to that, Mr. President, I have to note for the record, for those who said they wanted to do more, again, I say don't listen to what I say, watch what I do.
I was the candidate on the trail who committed to moving the portion of our property taxes dedicated to public education from 55 to 58 percent. So I'm on the record as making of that commitment, and I've never been one to try to shy away from any commitments that I've made. But we have to do it in a fiscally responsible manner. We'll negotiate and work in partnership, first of course, with you, Mr. President and all members of the leadership team and members of Council, but I just needed the record to reflect, because sometimes people, when you communicate messages to people, they might not get the whole -- get the whole picture. So again, no one had to force us to make an investment in public education. We believe in it because you and I wouldn't be in the roles that we're in now without it. In addition to this, I want to note that I have made the commitment and I plan to stick to it. So with your agreement, Mr. President, and members of Council, our hope is that we plan to expand the Extended-Day/Extended- Year program to include more 4 district schools in September as 5 well as five more charter schools 6 increasing the number of Extended- 7 Day/Extended-Year schools from 25 8 schools to 40. 9 In addition to that, there 10 were some members at a meeting we had last week, and while we haven't done it directly here, I know the school district, I remember hearing Dr. Watlington talk about something that a former -- the late superintendent, Dr. Arlene Ackerman, I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, parent university. I think that was it. Something that she worked on. And while we -- while we were in the meeting talking about our new program or proposal to go from to 40 schools, 24 Mr. President, is nothing like having the public check, there was a woman who said to me, that's nice, but what about a focus on the parents? We need to do more for the parents, because if you want to take treat and support the whole child, it's not just the child, it's their caregivers and their providers. So I wanted to acknowledge that we don't -- we don't have it. It's not perfect, Mr. President, but we constantly attempt to move the needle. In addition to that, I want to say this, and I think right now our legislative leaders in Harrisburg, along with members on both sides of the aisle, I think they are watching the City of Philadelphia, that means the school district, this Council and the executive branch, they are watching us very carefully about what I'm about to mention. Mr. President, since I was here last year, we have done a significant amount of work to identify and vet members of the Mayor's School Facilities Advisory Group. And Mr. President, I plan to announce, and my hope is that you'll be standing right by my side along with Council's leadership, the members of Council to announce that membership in a few weeks. This group will be co-chaired by Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley from my team and John Christmas, chief of staff to the President, Council President Kenyatta Johnson. I will continue, and I know you will and members of this Council will continue to advocate for new state funding. The school district is facing a deficit and needs new state dollars. But make no mistake, the General Assembly does have a constitutional obligation to make up for two decades of underfunding, and we will remind them of that responsibility, Mr. President, and for you and I, Councilmember Driscoll, I'm not sure or who else who served in Harrisburg, reminding the legislature about that responsibility is not new to any of us. We did it when we were in Harrisburg and we continue to do it now. So, you know, let the record reflect that those of us who served in Harrisburg are no Johnny-come- lately advocates to advocating for and securing, that's important to note too.
And when we did it, we did it with a Republican governor, a Republican-controlled house, and a Republican-controlled Senate, and I'm looking forward to continue working with you and members of this body, and working with our legislative leaders and Speaker McClinton, Appropriations Chairman Harris, Leader Bradford, Appropriations Chairman Hughes, Governor Shapiro, and our colleagues on the Republican side as well to continue to push for that support. Finally, let me say this is not Mayor Cherelle Parker speaking, this is what the Commonwealth Court has noted as it relates to the Commonwealth investment in public education. Finally, I also need to acknowledge that we are facing a new level of national uncertainty and that I know it is troubling to our residents. We are crystal clear here in the city of Philadelphia because we are a city united for our children, that every child in our schools is deserving of our very best efforts every day, Mr. President, and they deserve our care, our respect, and our support. And that is what I promise to continue making a priority. I look forward to working with you, sir, to adopt a budget that builds upon the progress we've made together, that reflects our goals and supports those values. Finally, I want to say this, because I've been thinking about this, Mr. President, I was thinking about this last night. As an aside from public education, we are working on the $2 billion housing plan right now. For the people of Philadelphia, I want them to truly understand what I meant when I said, in no way, shape, or form would I ever support policy- making and/or financial investments being made in the city of Philadelphia while I'm The Mayor that pits the have nots against those who have just a little bit. And I'll tell you why I don't think that makes good economic sense and why it's not worth taxpayer dollars. That is, we need to fill the teacher pipeline. We need to have police officers, firefighters, nurses, correctional officers, and we want them all living in the city of Philadelphia when and where possible. We want to train the next generation of skilled workers in the building trades who can become our dedicated workforce to help us with home preservation. With that being said, we have to find a way to incentivize them to want to choose Philadelphia. So, Mr. President, the best way someone described it to me recently is that, you know, Cherelle, you've got to have a giraffe lens when you're looking at the city of Philadelphia and you don't get the opportunity to just think about one thing in isolation. You've got to think about how employment in the city of Philadelphia, housing in the city of Philadelphia, tax policy in the city of Philadelphia, public safety, public health, how does it all seek to incentivize people to once again choose our city? And if we're going to have a citywide housing program that is supposed to have a citywide impact, Mr. President, and that means people from all places and spaces. And so my hope is that on the day members of the City Council of Philadelphia will take that, even housing, we're here today to talk about public education, but couple it with what the governor was brilliant enough to propose in his budget. He didn't pull that idea of providing stipends for student teachers as education majors across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, of giving them a stipend while they're doing that student teaching, that came from him talking to subject matter experts in higher education and people who are doing the job. Mr. President, that says you need to incentivize folks to choose education as a major because it's not lucrative, particularly with student loan forgiveness seeming to be running away as a potential for everyone. It may not be available. How do you encourage people to choose a industry in a -- in a career that doesn't make them a millionaire? Well, I think about housing in the same exact way.
Municipal workforce, teachers, nurses, let us lure them and tell them to choose Philadelphia because we implement public policy from a holistic perspective. Thank you so much for your time, Mr. President, Leader Gilmore-Richardson with Thomas and all members of the City Council of Philadelphia. My name is Cherelle Parker, Mayor of Philadelphia, and I want us to be one Philly, a United City. Thank you, Mr. President.
You're welcome, Madam Mayor. Let's give our -- let's give our mayor another round of applause, please. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the next person to testify?
Yes. Reginald Streater, Philadelphia School Board President and Dr. Tony B. Watlington, Superintendent.
We'll have testimony from Dr. Watlington then Chairman Streater. Okay. Streater, you want to go first?
Sure, Mr. Chairman. Before you get started, I just want to acknowledge Dr. Dawson. Can we give him a round of applause please? Special academics. For those who don't know, Dr. Dawson is the deputy superintendent for Academics. Dr. Dawson has worked with me in our 2nd Councilmanic District, my most important position as a district Councilmember supporting schools where young people had perfect attendance. I worked with some partners in the neighborhood to provide them free bicycles as a way of encouraging them to stay on the path of getting a good-quality education, but most importantly, focusing on academic achievement. So I want to personally thank you for your hard work and your dedication, and as always, it's good to see you, Dr. Watlington, and you are no 5 stranger to being out in the community, rather as child elementary school, rather as talking to me about how we can improve the conditions of John Bartram High School. You're always out and about making sure you're on the ground running and addressing the issues. And I tell you privately as well as -- as well as me telling you publicly, I do thank you for staying on the job. Usually when there's a new administration, there's a new superintendent from David Hornbeck to Dr. Arlene Ackerman, to Paul Vallas, but I thank you for sticking and staying on behalf of our young people. I know Philly could be a little rough, you from down south, so I thank you for sticking it out. And so I appreciate your support and I mean that sincerely good brother. Thank you for your hard work and to Chairman Streater, we talked this about just being dads beyond just us doing our work as public servants. So always thank you. I know you're celebrating Alpha anniversary this past week, and so congratulations as well. And with that being said, please start your testimony.
Thank you, President Johnson. So good morning, everybody. Good morning to Mayor Parker, who is here. President Johnson, Chair of Education, Isaiah Thomas and Whip Vice Chair of Education, Councilmember Dr. Anthony Phillips, Majority Leader Gilmore- Richardson, and Minority Leader Brooks, and to the rest of City Council, thank you all for being here today for this very important ritual that we engage in every year around the budget time. Thank you for inviting the Board of Education and School District of Philadelphia to share key updates on our work since the last time we were together. I'm joined today by my colleagues on the Board and force, Vice President Sarah-Ashley Andrews to my left, board members Crystal Cubbage, Cheryl Harper, Whitney Jones, Chau Wing Lam, Wanda Novales, Joan Stern, Joyce Wilkerson, and I'm Board President Reginald L. Streater. I'm going to ask the Board members to please stand to be recognized. Thank you all for your service. And on behalf of the Board, I would like to begin by taking a moment to thank Mayor Parker and all members of City Council for your continued partnership and commitment with the Board of Education in our school district. Madam Mayor, thank you for your steadfast commitment to public education and our shared focus on student success. We look forward to continuing our partnership with you and your team to advance key education initiatives. We also value our ongoing collaboration with the education committee led by Chairman Thomas and co-chair Dr. Phillips -- Councilmember Phillips, I appreciate the opportunity to provide monthly updates that keep you informed and your members informed of our progress and priorities. Thank you so much for spending some time with us monthly doing so. And seated to my right is our superintendent, Dr. Tony B. , and members of his leadership team who will share important updates on the district's progress toward the Board's, goals and guardrails, facilities planning, and the current budget cycle. Please move to the next slide. Over the past four months, the Board has been hard at work expanding our village, bringing together leaders, advocates, and allies committed to propelling our school district to ever new heights. Together as a nine-member board with diverse perspectives, we've learned, leaned into healthy debate knowing that our differences make us stronger and lead to more thoughtful student-centered decisions. We remain focused on educating the whole child, prioritizing access to the mental, physical, and emotional supports students need to thrive in and beyond the classroom. While we are proud of the progress we've made, we know the journey isn't over by no stretch. Still, we feel confident, we are on the right path and remain committed, Council President, to pushing forward with urgency and care. Even as we face uncertainty, including around federal funding, our commitment is unwavering. We will not be pressured into decisions that compromise student safety or our wellbeing. We stand firm on our values and our responsibility to serve Philadelphia's children with courage and integrity. Please move to the next slide. As we get started, I would like to share a brief outline of our presentation today for the Board. We would like to start by reviewing our vision and mission, which the Board adopted alongside the Accelerate Philly Strategic plan to improve progress toward our goals and guardrails. We will then provide some updates on the work of the Board and recent progress it has seen aligned to those goals and guardrails. Next, we will share an update on the Board's recent progress, including our community engagement efforts, ongoing work with charter schools, and recent advocacy initiatives. We will close with brief updates on facilities and the FY26 budget. To be clear, our presentation will provide a high- level overview of progress while the district's leadership team will offer a more in-depth presentation. Thank you.
And at this time, I would like to pass it to the Vice President of the Board of Education, Sarah-Ashley Andrews for first set of updates.
Thank you, President Streater. The Board's vision to prepare students to imagine and realize any future they desire, grounds every decision we make in the limitless potential of our young people. Our mission calls for -- calls on all sectors of public education to act with urgency and in partnership with families, educators, and communities reminding us that student success is a shared responsibility. Whether we're -- whether we're approving policies, allocating resources, or evaluating progress, the Board's vision and mission serve as our anchor, ensuring every decision is rooted in equity, opportunity and respect for all students. Please move to the next slide. Our goals remain clear and ambitious, and focused on educating the whole child. And our guardrails, keep us focused, ensuring every decision, censors, student achievement, equity, and the voices of families and the communities that we serve. From early literacy to college and career readiness, we are driving towards significant gains in student proficiency across ELA, math, Science, and CTE by the year 2030. We know our goals and guardrails are working. Early progress shows student outcomes are improving, and we're building on the momentum to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed. The Board will continue to operate with a steadfast focus on its mission and vision, using its goals and guardrails as the foundation for all decisions to ensure increased student achievement. Please move to the next slide. Our students are making real measurable gains, especially in reading and math, demonstrating the strength of our recovery and then instructional focus. Our strategic investments in academic recovery and acceleration are showing results with students steadily regaining ground, and exceeding state and national trends. These early wins affirm that our long-term goals are within reach, and we remain focused on sustaining this progress across all grade levels. To ensure that we are indeed headed in the right direction to meet our long-term goals, the Board remains actively engaged, whether celebrating staff at the IAMSDP's pet rally supporting early learning through the Thrive by Five campaign, participating in video production for one of our CTE programs or visiting schools to connect with students and educators. The ongoing presence reflects our commitment to staying connected, accessible, and grounded in the real experiences of the communities that we serve. Because our best decisions are made when we listen, when we learn, and when we lead together. Next slide, please. The Board continues to conduct regular school visits to stay closely connected to what's happening in the classrooms across the city. These visits give us firsthand insight into how students are engaging with the curriculum and how school communities are supporting learning. So far during the 2024-2025 school-year, the Board has visited 12 district -- 12 schools, eight district schools, and four charter schools. In October of 2024, John H. Webster School, Amy at James Martin; January, 2025, Sadie Alexander School and Paul L. Dunbar School; February of 2025, math, Science, and Technology Community Charter School, and Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter School. In April, 2025, we visited Roberto Clemente Middle School, John H. Brown School, Baldi Middle School, Belmont Charter School, and the Jacqueline Y. Kelly Discovery Charter School. By observing instruction and action and speaking directly with educators, principals, and support staff, we're better able to understand the opportunities and challenges schools face each day. Our visits also help us assess building conditions and facility needs, critical insights that inform our planning and resource allocation decisions. Please proceed to the next slide and I will hand it over to our board member, Cheryl Harper.
I got it. I'm good. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you, Board Member, Vice President Andrews. Next, I will give you an update on the individuals who bring feedback and perspective to the Board: Our Parent and Community Advisory Council, as well as our student board representatives. Next slide. Okay. During the January action meeting, the Board introduced its parents and -- introduce 14 11 parents' community advisory council 12 for the '24-25 and '25-26 school- 13 year. This iteration of Parents 14 Community Advisory Council represents a broad range of voices, including parents from the district and charter schools, community members and staff who reflect the diversity of Philadelphia schools, communities, and neighborhoods. The Council will provide valuable feedback on board policies and initiatives to ensure that they align with the goals and advancing student achievement, and they will continue to share monthly reports during the Board action meetings. Please go to the next slide. Okay. Our student board representatives: Our student board representatives are Charles Rinker, Kenzie Ahmed, and Alternative Board Member, Jake Benny. They play an essential role in evaluating the student's voice, particularly their own involvement on the facility planning project team where they ensure students' perspectives, shape, and the district and long- term planning. Please proceed to the next slide and I will introduce Board Member Whitney Jones.
Good morning, and thank you Board Member Harper. Now we'll move to an update on the Board's work as it relates to the Charter School Office. Considering that we've received new charter applications this year, and we'll start the renewal process within a few weeks, we thought it would be helpful to review the Board's role as an authorizer for charter schools in Philadelphia. The Board's responsible for overseeing all brick-and-mortar charter schools in the city. Our role is to oversee outcomes, not operations. We do not run charter schools, choose charter school curricula, or make staffing decisions for charter schools, but we do ensure transparency, responsible use of public dollars, and strong results for students. Next slide please. The Board's responsibility expands the entire life cycle of a charter. At the start, the Board considers and authorizes new charter schools' applications. Once the school's approved and receives its charter, it is evaluated annually in partnership with the charter school's office. Then at the end of the five-year term, the school returns to the Board for a comprehensive renewal review. Annual charter evaluations and continuous monitoring conducted by the CSO and charter school leadership take place during years through to determine if the schools are on track culminating in a comprehensive review in year 5. Next slide, please. In October 2024, at the direction of the Board office, the charter school's office launched Reimagining School Excellence or Projects RiSE, a bold three-phase initiative designed to reexamine how we evaluate charter school performance in Philadelphia. At the heart of RiSE is a simple but essential question: Are the tools we are using to assess charter schools still serving students well? Phase 1 of RiSE focused on listening. The CSO engaged with charter school communities, elected officials, education advocates, and other stakeholders to gather diverse perspectives on the framework. Their input helped shape a request for proposals or an RFP, which drew eight submissions from potential external partners for Phase 2. Currently, as part of Phase 2, a scoring committee made up of representatives from the district, including the Board Office, the Charter School's Office, the Office of Research and Evaluation, Office of DEI, Office of Strategy, and Assist -- and an assistant superintendent are conducting interviews with the applicants. The next step, committee members will complete detailed scoring rubrics to help select the most qualified partner. The goal is to bring a contract to the Board for consideration at the May action meeting. Central to this work is clearly defining and setting parameters around what constitutes a high-quality seat and how that is measured. This reimagined framework will not only guide oversight of charter schools, but also foster a shared understanding of high-quality education across the city. Ideally, this new framework would better position the Board to consistently measure performance and ensure all students, regardless of district or charter, have access to the excellent educational opportunities that they deserve. We can move to the next slide and I'll hand it back to President Streater.
Thank you, Board Member Jones. The Board continues to advocate fiercely for our students, both in Harrisburg and on Capitol Hill, ensuring that the voices of Philadelphia's young people are heard where decisions are made. Most recently, I joined Dr. Watlington, our superintendent and the district's government relations team for a series of meetings with members of Congress in Washington D.C. We shared stories of our students' Academic progress highlighted the critical role the Federal funding plays in sustaining that momentum and call for continued investment in public education, especially for high needs urban districts like our great city of Philadelphia. In addition to direct advocacy, the Board has also passed a formal resolution opposing resolution -- opposing proposed federal education funding cuts that would significantly impact services to low income students, English language learners, and students with disabilities. We're urging our community to get involved, write your representatives, raise your voices, and stand with us in demanding the resources our children need and so deserve. Additionally, while in D.C., I attended the Council of the Great City School Legislative Conference, along with board member Joyce Wilkerson, Dr. Watlington, and members of the Board and district teams. During this convening, the Board gained insight into how other large school districts are navigating the political landscape as it relates to education and how they are addressing student needs. While the information presented an insight from other school districts reminded us -reminded us of the challenges and opportunities in public education today, board members were encouraged to hear repeatedly that our school district -- our school district has become a model for student achievement, one that districts across the country aspire to emulate. I would also like to recognize Board Member Wilkerson, our representative to the Board of directors of the Council, who has been an indispensable connector between the Council of the Great City schools, and the city of Philadelphia, and the Council's nationwide strategy as it relates to advocacy on this topic. We are better for it, we're all better for it. Please move to the next slide. The Board recognizes that student achievement does not occur without providing students with the necessary conditions to succeed. That is why one of our guardrails is to make every school a safe and welcoming place, where our students, staff, and community want to be and learn each day. Next slide, please. As a reminder, to support this guardrail, at the September action meeting, the Board adopted a resolution formally directing Dr. Watlington to complete Phase 8 of the facility's plan by engaging community stakeholders in a robust process. As we pass that resolution 15 unanimously, we handed the baton to the district. They have been doing the work, and then they will hand the baton back to the Board of Education to continue moving this work forward. You'll hear more from the district during their presentation, but I will say that we are on track. Please move to the next slide. The Board is currently in the midst of the budget process. Next slide, please. This includes the adoption of the lump sum budget, which occurred during the March action meeting, a budget hearing held last week, today's hearing in the adoption of the operating and capital budgets scheduled for the May action meeting. Again, the district will provide a more comprehensive update on the budget. Next slide, please. So with that, I thank you for hearing me and my fellow board members, and we look forward to answering any questions that you may have. And I believe Dr. Watlington will go right into his presentation unless President would see otherwise.
Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. President. Good evening. Good morning, rather. The day's not afternoon yet. I do want to thank you for the opportunity to join President Streater, Vice President Andrews, and members of the Board of Education.
Tony Watlington Sr. Thank you. Council President, Majority Leader Gilmore- Richardson, Council Whip Thomas, and Education Chair Thomas, Majority Leader -- Minority Leader Brooks and Minority Leader O'Rourke, good morning. On the next slide, I want to just highlight for you, I have seven fairly brief updates, Mr. President. And they're outlined here today, we'll certainly want to thank the Council for your support of the district, and we'll get into the district results. I'll provide you with a brief update on the initiatives that Mayor Parker referenced earlier. I will share with you the priorities that are driving the district in School Year 24-25, and we'll continue those in school year '25-26. Then we'll get straight into an overview of the budget, development for Fiscal Year '25-26. And as President Streater said, we'll share a bit more details about the facilities master plan pursuant to the Board's resolution in September, directing the staff and myself to get this wrapped up by December. And then we'll certainly thank you and be happy to receive any feedback or questions. Slide, please. Before I go forward, just want to say a very special thank you to City Council and Council President. You'll see in that picture in the center, you're all over the place and you as well as other Council members, and we very much appreciate the active support. It sends a very visible message to our young people that the City Council is on their side and rooting for them. I would like to take a moment just to ask members of The School District of Philadelphia team, who are here to please stand and be recognized. I'll start with Dr. Jermaine Dawson, Deputy Superintendent of Academics, Deputy Superintendent Colonel Oz Hill, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, Chief of Staff, Sarah Galbally, Chief of Communications and Customer Service, Alex Cubbage, Chief Financial Officer, Mike Hersman, Chief of Evaluation Research and Accountability, and she insists that you say it just like that, Dr. Tonya Wolford, Deputy Chief Edwin Santana, and someone you see fairly regularly, Director Laura Garback, good morning. Please give them a round of applause. They work really hard. Thank you,
Dr. Watlington, yeah, I do just want to go on the record also to acknowledging Edwin Santana and Laura. Edwin will respond to my text messages, rather is in the morning, late at night, Sunday. I know he got a family, like, dude, what you doing? But I do thank him just for being responsive, for being patient, as well as when I'm looking for different data and so forth and I'm reaching out to Laura, as well. I just want to acknowledge them publicly.
Well said. Thank you, sir. Slide, please. I'm going to get straight into the additional results. Slide, please. I want to report that, again, I want to say when lots of people work together under the leadership of the Board of Education relative to the Board's goals and guardrails, as I believe vice President Andrew said, we are making significant progress. And so we want to thank the Council and our full community for the team effort. Slide, please. In terms of the outcomes that we're receiving, as in, in large part, because of the Board's goals and guardrails and focusing on student achievement and Council and mayoral support, we're pleased to report that our student enrollment increase this year for the first time in a decade by 1,841 students. The number of students who are coming to school, 90 percent of the year has increased by more than 3,500 students over the past couple of years. Third grade reading performance is up, 3rd through 8th grade. 5 percentage points. 6 percentage points, and our graduation rate is up, and the dropout numbers are down significantly, as The Mayor mentioned. We're really pleased with that. Slide, please. I also want to note that every two years, the Nation's report card comes out and there are four tests given by the -- this was established in 1969 by Congress. Basically, there's a subset of kids across the -- children and young people across the United States in all 50 states and 26, what we call Nate Tudor (CHECK) districts. We're one of those districts. But 4th grade reading, 4th grade math, 8th grade reading, 8th grade math, it's the only test in the United States that's consistent across all 50 states. And when the data came in earlier this year, our 4th grade students achieved a seven-point increase in our performance on the -- this national normed 4th grade math test. It's important because the children in Philadelphia outpaced the national public-school average. Our children in Philadelphia outpaced their improvement, outpaced the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania average, and it outpaced all but four other big cities in the United States as a part of the Nate Tudor district. So we're really pleased with our young people. Next slide. I also want to provide an update on the initiatives that Mayor Parker referenced. Slide please. I want to thank The Mayor for her vision around Extended-Day/Extended- Year schooling. As The Mayor noted, this year, we have district 8 operated Extended-Day/Extended-Year 9 pilot schools joined by five charter 10 pilot schools, and next year we'll 11 be increasing that number by an 12 additional 10 in the district and 13 additional five in the charter 14 sector. 15 The programming and the 16 enrichment is free. m. , and there are thousands 19 of kids who are getting the 20 opportunity to experience everything from intramural sports to chess, to dance, and lots of other great things. Now let's talk about what the results look like so far with our Extended-Day/Extended-Year performance. We have six goal measures to evaluate how the Extended-Day/Extended-Year goal measures are working. So far, we've noticed that 38 percent of the before-school slots are filled, and 81 percent of our after-school seats are filled. Clearly in year 1, there's been a stronger demand for the after-school than before-school. We're working closely with the mayor's education staff and Dr. Carrera and others to make the morning options well known for our parents, and we anticipate to get more participation in the mornings next year. Seventy five percent of the pilot schools are offering intramural sports. One hundred percent of the pilot schools are offering intramural -- are offering enrichment programs, some exciting enrichment programming, and 80 percent in The School District of Philadelphia, we're pushing hard Council President and Council members to get our kids to come to school 90 percent of the school year.
Because part of what hurts our achievement over the past decade is our kids just don't come to school at the same level as the average for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, although that's increasing. I'm pleased to report that 80 percent of the students who are enrolled in extended day or extended year schooling are coming to school 90 percent of the school year so far. So the average 90 percent attendance rate is 65 percent. So 65 percent of our students this year are in school 90 percent of every month. As compared to the students in Extended-Day/Extended-Year, they are coming 80 percent. So this is a good trend to see, and we're really pleased with that. The last two items we will have data at the end of the year relative to the percent of students reporting a sense of belonging, and the percent of parents and caregivers who report satisfaction will have a survey at the end of the year, and then we'll get that feedback. Slide, please. I also want to note, The Mayor talked about CCME, the City College for Municipal Employment, and we're pleased to be partners with the Community College of Philadelphia. The long story short, this provides a free workforce training program and a pathway to employment right here in the city of Philadelphia. And at present, we have 30 high school students who are enrolled and representing five high schools. And under Dr. Dawson's leadership, we will continue to grow those numbers next year. Slide, please. I also like to share with Council our priorities that are driving our budgetary expenditures and our CFO, Mike Herbstman and the Strategy Office that reports to our Chief of Staff, Sarah Galbally, works hard to make sure that all of our expenditures are aligned to our priorities, and there's a high bar for how we spend resources in the district. Three broad areas that we are focusing on, and that we are aligning all of our budgets to: state funding, local funding, and federal funding. First priority is accelerating academic achievement, the second is improving customer service, and the third is to partner with our families as equal partners as Mayor Parker mentioned earlier. So on the next slide, how are we're doing with accelerating academic achievement? You've seen this slide before, I just want to put it back up and say we're doubling down to drive even better and faster improvement in these same areas. I do want to note that you see a lot of green arrows here, but one area where we've fallen down and we've not hit our mark is Algebra. And we look forward to coming back next year and telling the Council that we've gotten better at Algebra. Next slide. Relative to customer service, how we're doing under Chief of Communications and Customer Service, Chief Alex Coppadge, we are pleased to announce that our -- according to our Let's Talk system, which is our two-way communication system, if you go to the District website, there's a nice yellow button that says, Let's Talk. And anybody can hit it any time of day, hours today to report a concern, 4 a complaint, or a commendation, and 5 sometimes people give the District's 6 commendations. What we found is 7 since the -- since July -- from 8 the -- from July 1 until April 25th 9 of this year, we've had over 50,000, 10 almost 51,000 messages and concerns, 11 commendations, complaints, et 12 cetera. And we track our response 13 time. 14 Our response time is down 15 to one-and-a-half days, which is the 16 industry standard. We always want 17 to respond within 24 to 48 hours. 18 And on a scale of 1 to 10, our -- 19 anybody who interacts with the 20 district has an opportunity to fill 21 out a survey -- a short survey, and 22 give us a feedback score. 0 out 24 of a 10, and I want to thank Chief Alex Coppadge and her communications team for the great work we're doing there. Thank you. Slide, please. The other big priority is around partnering with our families as equal partners. We're doing several things this year.
Later as we get into the summer, we'll be relaunching Parent & Family University. The Mayor was correct, Dr. Arlene Ackerman started this initiative years ago, and we've heard such fantastic feedback about it. We figured out how to reallocate some district work resources and, in a budget, neutral manner, I want to be clear that we're not adding any additional dollars to the budget for this. And by reorganizing other district resources and pursuing some external resources through the fund for The School District of Philadelphia, we will relaunch Parent & Family University later this year, Mr. President. We also are launching a Parent & Guardian Superintendent Advisory Council. We're taking a page out of President Streater's and the Board's book, where they have a parent council and we think it's important to emulate that so that we'll get some additional feedback along with the Teacher Advisory Council and the Principal Advisory Council, and the Student Advisory Council. And Chief Coppadge's team are also going to launch a family engagement app so that we can begin to communicate with our families on cell phones this year. Slide, please. Next, I want to provide a budget update in March. We presented the lump sum budget for Fiscal Year '25-'26, and I'm happy to provide a brief overview. Next slide. First, I want to note that if you go to the District website, you can get a detailed accounting for the district's overall operating budget. Chief Financial Officer, Mike Herbstman, has done a wonderful job making sure that this is very detailed, well laid out. So if you have any questions about the budget, it's a very open transparent process. And you can also, on their website, see that school budgets, the district operated school budgets on the left, and you'll see the consolidated district budget on the right. Just find those two pictures, click on the link and you can get right into the details. Slide, please. As shared before we are operating under our aggressive strategic plan entitled Accelerate Philly. There are five priority areas. The first is related to ensure safety and well-being of students and staff. And certainly, we're doing some work as directed by the Board with regard to facility improvements and continue to focus on safety, both school safety, physical and emotional safety and the like. Area 2 involves building stronger partnerships with our families. And as I shared earlier, we're going to relaunch Parent University -- Parent & Family University later this year. We're also going to launch something called Parent Ambassadors, where we are going to connect with some people who normally wouldn't be at the table, but we're going to pay some key parents and key community members a stipend to meet with the District, to help us to connect with families and communities, and they don't have to be degreed, they don't have to have a teaching degree, they don't have to have a certain pedigree, we're just going to be looking for people who have that. There are some people in some communities and you just know they have these relationships with everybody. They have a better -- a different kind of relationship than any teacher, principal, or police officer, whatever have. And we want to figure out how to make them a part of the school district team and pay them a stipend for their time to do that. In Area 3, our core business, we're going to continue to drive faster improvement. I'm pleased to announce that last year we allow -- we launched a new state- of-the-art math curriculum. This year we launched a new state-of-the- art Reading curriculum, and that next year we are going to launch a new state-of-the-art Science curriculum. So that all our kids in Philadelphia, regardless of your zip code have the very best instructional materials. What kids learn in the classrooms matter. This is really important. All of our students now have the same math curriculum that Penn Alexander has had for years.
And so we feel like that's going to help us to lower the level -- not lower, level the playing field. Area 4 involves recruiting and retaining highly qualified staff in a number of areas. We're really appreciative of the partnerships with The Mayor around building the teacher pipeline and working with groups like Sharif El-Mekki in particular, because we've got to continue to recruit more Black, and Latina, and Latina males in particular. An area that we are making some progress in, I think we've got about a two-percentage point increase last time looking at the numbers. And then finally, we want to have focus on efficient and effective operations, how we manage the District and priority Area 5. Slide, please. Chief Herbstman and I have had an opportunity to share some of this with individual Council members, but there are five major considerations as we bring forward to President Streater and his board the budget. One, we're in the process of negotiating three labor contracts with the teachers union, PFT, administrator's union, CASA, and with our school police officers union, SPAP. We're also focused on driving faster and harder improvement in our strategic plan, Accelerate Philly. The third thing you'll see on this slide is that adequate and equitable state funding is an issue. And we are very thankful to Governor Shapiro and members of the legislature who provided some additional resources this year for the first time in some years. We're very thankful for The Mayor and the Council for the change in the millage rate by one percentage point that would result in up to 230 plus million additional dollars in the school district over the next four to five years. We still have a gap, though, and right now it looks like the Commonwealth is on a 10-year plan to get us to -- us to adequate funding based on the recommendations that the bipartisan commission in Harrisburg represented. So we'll say more about that in a moment. Item Number 4, I just want to remind the Council that the COVID dollars that we got from 2020 to 2024 all went away in September of 2024. We had a shortfall and a deficit before the pandemic. The COVID dollars helped us to get our heads above water and stay steady. We're going to stay steady above water through this year and next year we'll have some challenges, we'll say more about that in a moment. And Number 5, we know there's a lot of uncertainty about what's happening in Washington. As of today, the only district funding that we have definitely lost that we are aware of is 115 -- $150,000 grant that was rescinded by federal officials earlier this month. $150,000 grant related to libraries. And as hard as we're working to improve libraries and grow them, that was not a good thing. But to date, that's the only impact. Next slide. You've seen this slide before. Council members, the dark blue line shows our revenues and the lighter blue lines shows our expenditures. You can see that our expenditures were out, what grow our revenues over the next five-years. I want to be very clear that is happening, not because we're not being -- not because of any problem with financial stewardship. In fact, under the Board of Education's leadership, our investment credit -- our investment grade credit rating has been -- has improved twice. The best we've had in 40 years. The credit outlook for the District has been upgraded twice by food Moody's and Fitch services. What's driving greater expenditures than revenues, two big areas: One, the school districts are people intensive organizations, 8zero percent of our budgets are people in benefits. And so salary increases in benefits and health insurance, et cetera, are driving that, number one. Number two, another big driver is the payment -- the charter school payments. And so it's not inefficiency. The District is very lean and efficient. You'll also see the yellow line that shows our fund balance going down over time.
We will get through this year, our recommendation to -- the staff's recommendation to President Streater and the Board is to dip into the fund balance this year. The Board has been very good stewards of that -- of those dollars, and we can afford to do it this year with no 19 cuts, no personnel cuts, no 20 programming cuts, because what we're doing is working in the District. The good stuff is going up, and the bad stuff is going down. After this year, however, we won't have that level of fund balance and we'll be dependent on some additional resources when we come back next year talking about the budget for fiscal year 26-27. Again, we'll get through this year with no impacts to people and programs that are working. Slide, please. And then finally, President Johnson, I want to give a quick update on the facilities master plan update. As President Streater mentioned, the Board directed me and this team -- me and the staff to get Phase 8 of this facilities master plan completed by the close of this year. And we were -- we are on schedule to do that. President Streater and the Board also directed that we have a very strong and robust engagement process to get our community involved. On the next slide, I just want to note, again, the problem that we're solving for on the left end of this chart is that we have some old schools approaching nearly 74 to 75 years old, and we've got a problem because we have under- enrolled schools, and we have some schools that are just bursting at the seams and not enough room for the children. As a next step, we developed a cross-functional project team that went to work. We commit -- we put together nine advisory groups, and we know The Mayor is also -- mentioned her work around some additional advisories to provide The Mayor and the Board some additional context. And the outcomes we want to drive to are on the right. We want to better utilize our facilities, better use our budgets so that we can schedule schools differently, so that we can support -- have the conditions there to improve student achievement -- continue to improve student achievement. I want to be clear, new buildings by themselves do not improve student achievement. You can build a Taj Mahal School and not have the right staffing, and you can get worse, not better. It's about creating the conditions and how we use the resources. We can use our resources more efficiently if we don't have very overcrowded schools, and then some schools with a very small number of children. So we'll maximize our school buildings. We will be able to, if we do this -- when we do this well, we'll be able to have more Pre-K opportunities available and where kids need them, we will have more rigorous course offerings in all our schools that no matter what your zip code is, for example, some of our schools don't have Algebra in the middle grades and others do. Well, we have a plan to do -- when this process concludes to put algebra in all of our middle schools and to make sure that all of our high schools have access to advanced placement courses, or international baccalaureate courses, or dual enrollment opportunities, depending on where they're located. Slide, please. As I get almost finished here, I just want to note, there are eight phases to this. Eight-phase facilities plan. Phase 1 through 7, you'll see green. They are complete. We're in Phase 8 now. And if we go to the next slide, I just want to quickly walk you through where we are on the timeline. And I'll be bright, brief, and gone, as they say. Well, maybe not gone, because I'm sure you're going to ask some questions. So this is a timeline of what occurred in the fall following the Board's direction that we get this work completed. And if you go to the next slide, Ms. Garback, this is the slide that shows the work that's happening now through the end of this year. Right now, we're focusing exclusively on testing.
While we're in the testing season, we've decided that we are going to put a pause on everything and focus on optimal testing environment. Right after we finish testing, we'll be coming back to the Board with next steps in terms of what we're finding in the data now that the data warehouse is complete. But make no worries, we are unscheduled to still complete this process and to bring President Streater and the Board of Education some draft recommendations early to late fall. The Board will then go back above the line, and the Board will deliberate make some decisions. I would imagine have some community engagement sessions, and then by December, we will be in a place for the Board of Education to make final decisions about what was specifically happened with all of our 300 buildings in the school district. President Johnson, thank you very much. That concludes my remarks, I'm happy to receive any feedback with President Streater and answer any questions. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much for your testimony. I do believe, though, if we have more Taj Mahal like schools for our youth, it won't solve everything, but it does do something to the psyche to be able to go into a high-quality building on to receive your education. So as we make some tough decisions on how we right-size but invest in making sure our young people get a chance to go to a high-quality school building, I think that'll be something beneficial for all of us. I have brief questions, but actually, the Chair of Education is going to take the lead during these discussions. And so I just want to get an idea of, particularly a school in my district, where I received several calls from students, parents and teachers expressing concerns regarding cuts of seven full-time teachers at the CAPA, School of Creative and Performing Arts, express their concerns. I just want to get an idea of the reasoning for the decisions. Will these decisions be reinstated in the near future? A very high-quality top school. We want to make sure we continue being one of the best schools that produce some of the best and brightest entertainers.
Yes, sir. President Johnson, it's no secret there have been some -- as the new principal who's at CAPA has been there, I think Year 2, if I'm not mistaken. And some several parents who were at the last school board meeting and registered some concerns, we're fielding those concerns as we speak, and we're reviewing that staffing. Our intent is to get to the bottom of each of those concerns. And we're going to make sure that CAPA continues to be a pride and joy for the city of Philadelphia. Of course, a fantastic school like CAPA, we never want the enrollment to go down, and -- because we've got -- if there's any city in America that has some talented artists, it's here. And so we'll attend to all those issues.
Okay. Thank you. Staffing for teachers, councils, and food service workers have been improving. However, one area that have declined is the area regarding specialist education assistance. And so how are we addressing it to make sure the most vulnerable population individuals who may have special needs are having their issues addressed from a resource standpoint?
Yes, sir. Almost every hiring category, we've hired at a better rate this year compared to last year, except in the area of some of the special education staff. For speech language pathologists, there's a national shortage. And so there's a big conversation about when you have such a huge shortage, should salaries be higher to drive, you know, supply and demand. The supply is not as high as it needs to be. And I was just on a call yesterday with Dr. Dawson -- with members of Dr. Dawson's team and our Human Resources Department with Cheyney University's president -- provost. And we were highlighting two of the biggest areas that we need more partnership support on special education, both teachers and on support staffs as well as math teachers. Those are two areas that we are just beating the bushes as best we can, but we are experiencing a significant state and national shortage.
Okay. And last question before I turnover to my members, filled several different emails or concerns regarding, I think I saw something on social media. How are you managing the Jewish-Palestine environment inside the school district? I've saw different teachers deciding to put lawsuits against the school district. I know you can't speak on the lawsuits.
But also, you know, people from the Jewish faith feel like they under duress in terms of certain freedom of speeches, in terms of presentations, curriculums and so forth in the school district. How are you managing that?
Under the leadership of our Chief of Equity Dr. Sabriya Jubilee, we're doing several things. On the one hand, because we need some additional help in the school district to understand the complexity of the Middle East, a very old part of the world, and we want to make sure that our students and also some of our community don't just get their information from social media or other non-historic, or a historic and not reputable sources. So we partnered with the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and a group called Facing History & Ourselves. We meet on a monthly basis, and they're providing professional development for teachers, they're providing professional development for members of our curriculum department in the central office, and under Dr. Jubilee's leadership, they're also fielding some community dialogues so that people who have a lot to say can have a chance to talk about those issues totally voluntary, instead of showing up at the Board meeting. You can still come to public comment, and the Board can hear that.
Okay. There you go. I'll stick -- I'll get back in my lane there. And we feel like we can help educate folks with those resources.
All right. Thank you, sir. I thank you for working in partnership with the leadership of our Chair of Education regarding, what's that room called, Councilmember Thomas? Chairman Thomas, what's the room 15 called? The rubber room, what is it called?
The reassignment room. And so we thank you, your leadership, Dr. Watlington for working in partnership with our Chair of Education and addressing the reassignment room and making sure that that's an issue that we can work in partnership on in alleviating the issues and concerns around that particular issue. So with that being said, the Chair of Education is going to begin kicking off the question session. And so Chairman Isaiah Thomas, God bless you.
Thank you, Council President. Good morning to everyone, and thank you for all of your service. Similar to you, Council President, I just want to take a moment to just do a couple thank yous, because we do a lot of work on a consistent basis with the Education Committee, members of Council monthly meetings, quarterly meetings, and that's outside of the regular concerns and advocacy. So, of course, Dr. Watlington, your leadership, Board President Streater, thank you both. To all of the Board members that are here, I'd just like to always remind the constituents of Philadelphia that it's a voluntary position. I personally think you should be paid. We can have that conversation about governance later, but your service is definitely appreciated.
He said board members are paid in other states, so, Dr. Watlington, thank you. I also want to say a special thank you to Laurel. She probably hears from me more than anybody and other members of City Council, so thank you for your patience. Dr. Dawson, the work you've done on the academic aside, I definitely appreciate it. And your visibility in the school is definitely appreciated. Similar to Council President, Edwin Santana, the great work you're doing, thank you so much. And then to Mike, the CFO, I very much appreciate you. You might as well come on up, though, Mike, because you know me and you, we're going to do a little dance today and talk about the finances, so definitely we looking forward to our conversation. But thank you for everything, Mike, to you and your entire team, especially around the procurement side. At some point, Mike, I definitely want you to talk about what we've done around local procurement for the district, for Philadelphia-based businesses, and how those numbers have grown. And last but not least, Colonel Oz Hill. Dr. Watlington, you know, Colonel Oz Hill is one of my favorite people in government. And what he's done as it relates to changing the climate and addressing issues with the district. The Council President talked about the reassignment room. We give him a lot of credit for that. I have several questions, but I want to start with the finances. I think that one of the biggest issues that we have in the city of Philadelphia is schools, quality schools. We understand we have issues around facilities, we understand we have looming contracts coming up for different union representation, but none of this can happen if we don't have the money to be able to take care of business. And you talked earlier about the fact that the school board approved stepping into your reserve to be able to get through the operating -- to get through your operating costs for this year. Mike, can you take a minute to break down to the listening public as well as my colleagues, not just in City Council, but really more important, my colleagues in Harrisburg, so they could understand what type of fiscal cliff is on the horizon for the School District of Philadelphia. And Mike also, where would we be right now have, we not had that reserve? And the reason I want you to explain that, Mike, is because former Councilmember, now, Mayor Parker, was a part of the legislative body that made several decisions over the last couple of years anticipating this fiscal cliff being on the horizon. And here we are today, thank goodness we do have the reserve in place. But help us understand a better picture. We all looked at Slide 21, but, you know, a lot of us are audio learners and not just visual learners. So please give us the breakdown of where we are financially, the state of the district, and what your -- what our vision is to rectify this problem.
Yes, sir. And thank you for the recognition, Councilmember Thomas. To begin with as we are in the current year, we are already beginning to start to spend in deficit. We project for this year that our deficit spending will be relatively small to future years, but about $35 million. As we move into next year, we see a deficit of just over 300 million, about 306 by our projections. And that will require us to use a lot of that fund balance that has been mentioned that we've been able to build up as we have had federal funding over the last four years. In all that, 306 million represents about 4zero percent of our current nearly $800 million fund balance that we were able to build to this point. Getting back to your earlier question, when we were here about four years ago, we faced a similar deficit right around $300 million that was before COVID 19. And that funding has been able to sustain us in recent years. The $1.8 billion in total that we received in all federal COVID 16 relief funding, that of course is no 17 longer available going forward, and 18 we are dependent really on the state 19 and city funding overall to sustain us from this point.
So, Mike, just so people understand, how important is it that we pass Governor Shapiro's budget based on the recommendations he has, and what is the fiscal impact around his recommendations, specifically looking at allocations to cyber charters per people?
Yes. So it is critical that this budget is passed at this level. What we already have built into that projection that still shows a $306 million deficit is the governor's budget proposal. So less than that being funded would reduce or would increase our overall deficit even going into next year. For the charter proposal itself, the governor proposed really two things. This is specifically for cyber charters. It is to cap the rate paid for regular education at cyber charters at $8,000 per pupil. That would have an impact of about $70 million overall to the district. And that is also, as the rest of the governor's budget is, built into our current projections. In addition to that 70 million that is partially offset by what would be ending a grant that provides about $20 million to the district and other school districts around the -- around the state for help with supporting cyber charter schools, so it's a net impact of about $50 million.
And Mike, listening to all of this, as far as the fiscal status of the city of Philadelphia, none of this includes the capital deficit that we face. We've only talked about the operating deficit. Can you take about 30 seconds to talk about where we are as relates to the capital deficit? We listened to you talk about the idea around a plan, but let us know where we are and listening to both the capital and operating deficits, where will we be in five-years? Because you do five- year projections, where will we be in about five years, if these looming deficits are not addressed?
So I would say that for the capital side, most of that is separate from the operating budget. The exception to that is our debt service, where we annually pay out of the operating budget, not for capital projects just coming up, but for the last 14 plus years of capital budgets that 15 have been spent. And that equates 16 to about eight percent to nine 17 percent of our budget right now. We 18 do have a substantial capital 19 backlog and that, of course, 20 increases each year and is one of the major reasons that the Board of Education has directed the superintendent and team to begin this capital planning project -process. On the operating budget itself, as we look five years out, our deficit does increase each year, and the annual deficit alone in five years would be about 774 million.
So we, in five years, if we don't act now, we can be looking at a deficit of over 500 million on the operating side, and several billion on the capital side. Would you agree with that?
Now, Council President, I just wanted to provide context to lay out today's conversation because it's important that we recognize while we have some things that we've accomplished and some things that we've done well, all of those things can go in the trash if we're not putting up the dollars that we need to make sure that we can keep the lights on to address issues within our facilities, and to put us in a position to be able to say we want to stabilize the ship. Now, you have a couple contracts coming up as it relates to union negotiations. Listening to all of this fiscal uncertainty, how are you going to handle the contract negotiations that's coming up with several unions whose contracts are about to expire?
So I think as we look at our collective bargaining agreements and we look at our overall deficits coming up, we know that we need to be focusing our funding on where it matters the most. And Dr. Watlington and the Board have repeatedly talked about the major levers that move student achievement. And the top two in those areas are a well-supported stable teacher over time and a well- supported stable principle over time. We know that as we look to prioritize very limited funding going forward, that our -- all of our employees are a priority in that area.
Okay. So we got a lot of work to do, because one of the issues that we know that exists, and I could get to this in my second round, it's issues around teachers and paid sick leave, and how we handling some of that stuff. So we'll get into that a little bit. I want to shift directions if I can, Council President, in just one more minute. Earlier in the testimony you talked about, and this is specifically looking at school board related stuff, earlier in the testimony you talked about the project RISE initiative. And we know that Project RISE is something that came out of a number of advocacy-based efforts, where are we at with Project RISE and how are we doing as it relates to assuring that there's a transparency communication and input from our black and brown- led institutions?
Yes. And thank you so much for that question. And the Board understands that, the Board has heard the community loud and clear. The Board has heard you loud and clear, Chairman Thomas as well. The Board created a process through Project RISE on the first part of the process as it relates to engagement for -- from third parties, such as charter leaders, advocates, as well to be inclusive of our black founded -- our black and brown populations as well, and that's going to continue. So the process is designed to continue that through the next part of the process. I'm going to ask the CSO to come up here real quick. Chief Chao to come up and add some more context, because he's much more in the weeds on this right now than the Board is.
Thank you for the record. Peng Chao, Chief of Charter Schools for the school district. Thank you for the question, Chair Thomas. As the Board President mentioned, we are being very deliberate with this process in Project RISE to make sure that we are engaging with very many stakeholders that you already referenced that were part of the advocacy to help -- to help get us here. In the presentation, we referenced an RFP that we are in the middle of right now. And so we are eager to get through the process and have the Board take action on our partner for May, 2025 and on.
So the school board reversed the decision around laboratory charter as well as Southwest Leadership Academy a little while ago. In the midst of several conversations that we've been a part of, one of the things that we talked about was that when the Board decides to make a decision to close the institution, it begins to have impact on staff, students, and parents, and all parties, all stakeholders involved even before the school is closed. So if you go to appeal or if the decision has changed, the impact from the original decision is lasting. So looking at what happened with those two institutions and collaboration with your vision around Project RISE, how are we supporting those institutions based on a decision that was changed, right, because those institutions are suffering. They suffered from a decision that we made. They lost teachers, students left the school, they got hit pretty hard. So what are we doing to kind of support those institutions post the reversal of that decision?
Thank you for the question. You are right that these processes are in some ways disruptive to school operations, and so we're mindful of that. I think coming out of both of those situations with the schools that you've referenced, we have stronger relationships with both of those school leaders and their boards. We have been supportive of them through the various conditions as a result of the renewals that they did receive from the Board of Education. And so we are in closer contact to them -- with them today than prior to those initial actions.
So I'm sure those institutions and folks who represent them are watching right now, do you think they would say the same thing? Do you think those institutions feel like they're getting the support from the school board and the charter office based on a decision that was made that did -- that was beyond their control, that helped, you know, kind of expedite some of the problems that they were already having in the institution? If they were sitting here, do you -- do you think that they feel the different level of communication and supports based on some of the goals and objectives that we have through Project RISE?
What I'll say is all those concerns are definitely understood and the Board hears you. And all I can say is that the Board of Education through our -- and the CSO, we've directed our CSO to improve processes going forward. We're all in the learning of environment where we're trying to do better as we go forward or to address concerns as we go forward. Understanding the Board does have a duty under the law to ensure that we go through the renewal process and look at the things we should, we do know that our CSO has improved, so increased -- improved some improvements in this process, such as increased transparency, streamlined accountability, and targeted supports for charter schools, as well. It's also my understanding that the Board -- that the superintendent through the school district also supports charter schools with things such as trauma supports with our CSO and also supports charter schools as it relates to transportation. And for schools that are in our district operated buildings, we've also tried to be better at -- not better, but be better partners at ensuring that we can meet charter schools where they are, so we can help improve student achievement and support students.
Thank you. Council President, I'll come back for a second round, but before I close out, I do want to say thank you to The Mayor. I did hear The Mayor talk about going from 55 percent of real estate taxes to 58 percent of real estate taxes going to the district. She's absolutely right. No one had to twist The Mayor arm for that. It's something that I'm extremely supportive of, and I listen to her go from 56.5 percent now and doing it in 2030, and she's right. I'm one of the people who are pushing for us to do it a little sooner than 2030 based on some of the numbers and the information that we heard. Before I --
It was about me. It's okay. She was my Councilmember -- my council person, representative of town. Before I close out though, Council President, I think it's really important, and I know the members of City Council know this already, but one of the things that we've been advocating for, and I thank all of my colleagues for being supportive is just safe travels to and from school. That's a big thing. And when Commissioner Bethel was in charge of the Safe Corridor program, we talked a lot about safe travels to and from school, we talked a lot about communication to crossing guards. Actually, hopefully at some point today, someone can give us an update on where we are, where communication to crossing guards when emergencies take place. But I just want to offer my condolence and the condolences of the entire legislative body, while we were here today, a man was hit in a wheelchair and unfortunately lost his life in a car accident involving one of our school buses. So I do want to offer my condolences to the -- to the victim, all of the people who had to witness that trauma, and I also want to thank my colleagues here at City Council, as well as the mayor's team, and the school board, and the school district for all of the coordinated effort around safe travel to and from school, and constantly being willing to come to the table to think about what do we do to make sure people are safe. It's unfortunate and it's heartbreaking when we get these text messages, whether it's a 11-year- old, or a 70-year-old, or whoever it is, but I do appreciate the fact that everybody has an appetite to try to rectify what we all agree is a problem. Thank you, Council President. You can tee me up for the second round. Thank you, Dr. Watlington. Thank you, Board President. I very much appreciate it.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Vice Chair of Education, Dr. Anthony Phillips, then Councilman Curtis Jones, and then Councilmember Cindy Bass.
Thank you, Council President. I too just want to echo the work that The School District of Philadelphia is doing to continue to approve. I've seen a lot of -- I've witnessed a lot of your leadership over the past several months, and I feel like improvements are making, so thank you Board President Streater, and also Superintendent Watlington. I just want to quickly just go to just a couple questions and I'll turn it back to our colleagues. One, anti-bullying is something I brought up in meetings, and I want to thank you-all for responding to having a meeting with me about anti-bullying. I just want to learn more about how much funding is allocated in FY26 to comprehensive anti-bullying initiatives, including staff training, student workshops, peer- led super -- peer-led support programs, and additionally, what district -- what strategies is the district implementing to proactively prevent bullying?
Thank you, sir. I think that the way I answer that is there are -- there are a number of required trainings that we're doing around harassment, bullying, and discrimination. And they occur through a lot of different funding sources. I think we'd love to take as a homework assignment to put a detailed report back to you itemizing where -- how that fits in the budget. In terms of what the outcomes are, I can tell you that the training and the support that we're providing is resulting in a modest decrease this year in weapons. There's been a modest decrease in assaults, robberies, thefts, drug and alcohol offenses and the like. There's also been an uptick in some of the -- what you would call more like disrespect kind of issues and things of that nature. But I'd like to be able to come back and just -- or just put in writing to you the more detailed report on harassment, bullying, and discrimination, because we are doing required training across all schools.
That would be helpful. And if you can care to share more about the results of Parent University, how many people have attended Parent University, what are some of the outcomes of the Parent University program from this year, and also, what is your intentions for the Parent Ambassador's program? I know you mentioned the type of people we want there --
With Parent & Family University, we're in a pre-launch phase, and I'll ask Chief of Communications Coppadge, Alex Coppadge, if she'll come and say a few specifics about it, because she's closest to it. Long story short, her staff and Dr. Dawson's staff have been engaging in community forums across Philadelphia to try to make sure what we think we heard parents say that they want to be parts of Family University are indeed going to be the work that we're doing. And we wanted to make sure that we tie the loop on that so we can go back to President Streater and the Board and say, okay, this is what we thought, this is what we've heard, and this is where we're going. I don't think we've gone back to the Board yet, but Chief Coppadge?
Good after -- or Good Morning. Just in terms of Parent & Family University, we wanted to take an opportunity to reintroduce it to the city. So we had about -- over different 10 listening sessions that took place across the city to introduce Parent & Family University. And then we also introduced what it could look like in the fall, where we introduced four key topics: So student attendance and achievement, health and wellness, financial literacy, and adult learning. We're continuing to refine those topics, but we're really trying to find ways to not only engage our families, but bring students along too that can help them with achievement, but also having a healthier lifestyle, doing more with either civic engagement and financial literacy to help empower our families and their communities, and we look forward to bringing more information to the Board before the beginning of next school year.
I look forward to it. Just for the record, seconds, I just think 12 that also, I want you to consider in 13 this budget aftercare. Not every 14 school in the city of Philadelphia 15 has aftercare, and a lot of families 16 are paying for that out of their 17 pocket, you know, when it -- from 18 kindergarten through 5th grade. You 19 know, if we could find ways to 20 extend that through the Extended-Day program, maybe get buses, you know, from one school to that Extended-Day population. I'm not sure how we do that, but I think that's something that's important. And I'm also supportive of, and I mentioned this to your team about anti-bullying ambassadors. Students and parents and staff who could be trained around anti- bullying to notice it, and -- but also to figure out how to report it properly. And they don't necessarily have to be people that you know -- that are known as being anti-bullying, they can be secretive, like, you know, but at the same time, I think it's important that we have anti-bullying ambassadors that report cyber bullying, bullying in schools and so forth. But I do want to mention the aftercare thing in the budget, I think that's really important. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you, Dr. Anthony Phillips. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jones, then Councilmember Bass.
Thank you so much, Mr. President, and welcome back. I want to narrowly focus my questions on the area of public safety. Public safety student-to-student, public safety student-to-teacher, public safety parent-to-administrator or a teacher. As you know, we do a roll call every 7:00 a.m., you've been on that with various schools. And as we try to get our babies to and from school safely in those Safe Corridor programs, we started to find out that the issue was not just student- to-student, it was parent coming up showing a type of aggressive love for their children that actually threatened teachers, that actually threatened other students. And I wanted to find out, A, about that aspect of it, but the second part of this is the vast majority of our young people graduate going to live productive lives. A small percentage of those scholars are disruptive. And I wanted to understand how our educators are allowed to safeguard the minority -- the majority from those minority of students that act out. I was told in one instance that there was an annual -- not annual, bimonthly freak-out, where this young person is going to lose control and start to throw things, and everybody was conditioned to take cover and allow that to work itself out, allow people to isolate that individual. But there was no kind of permanent movement of that individual. And I just don't -- I'm not allowed to do that in this body. When I want to freak out, Katharine Gilmore- Richardson and Cindy Bass to my back are designed to make sure that I don't violate protocols. How do we do this for our educators?
Thank you, Councilmember Jones. I'll say three things. Number one, it is absolutely unacceptable. We take a -- the position it is absolutely unacceptable for young people, or young adults, or grown adults to come into schools and to behave in an unacceptable manner. Chief Craig Johnson and Deputy Superintendent Oz Hill regularly communicate with Commissioner Bethel and members of his team, so that we can -- when we need support, we can draw on it quickly without hesitation. Number two, we are explicitly teaching kids how to behave and how to comport themselves in schools regardless of what they may or may not do outside of schools. And this whole notion of code switching and the like, I will tell you, there are times that there are some kids, I'll just shoot you straight, who can be a bit hard to love. And we've got a -- and there's some of the kids who need some love the most. Now for kids who are endangering others because of physical assault and things of that nature, there's one caveat that doesn't get talked about a lot, but the federal law requires that students with a diagnosed disability, we are required by federal guidance to do what's called a manifestation determination. So if Curtis Jones has a diagnosed --
Dr. Anthony Phillips has a diagnosed disability, there are some controls where Principal Streater, esquire, can't just suspend him out of school three days, and then four days, and then five days when it comes back. We have to conduct a manifestation determination review by law. And sometimes the behavior is found to be a manifestation of the disability, which requires us to do something other than or different from a suspension. It gives principals a headache. I've been there as a principal three times and, you know, I've seen that happen a couple times myself, and sometimes you'll hear about that, but I do want you to know that we're following the letter in the spirit of the law at the same time. Sometimes it can be a pain in the neck for an administrator.
So to your staff's credit, we are having a meeting with that disciplinary rights and responsibilities group coming up to kind of talk about where are the rights of a student and where are the responsibilities up to make sure that the climate is such that the other 98 kids don't get penalized, because this individual cannot control themselves or emotions. So I'm going to stay tuned for that. And we need to get a little more, and I'm going to end on this, Mr. President, like, you know, it's incredible to me that you as a parent may not know your biology, your student -- your kid's biology student's name, a teacher's name, but you feel that it's okay to come up school and threaten that same teacher because you didn't like the way they talked to your child. I kind of sense that we have to have rights, but there got to be some responsibilities because in that group of educators, you didn't come to school to get a cell phone thrown at you or to come out to the parking lot and be afraid looking over your shoulders. We have to protect the teachers as well because otherwise they'll go find another job.
That is going to be a part of Parent & Family University. How we build a much stronger, and better, and partner relationship in some of our school communities that need some work.
Thank you. And I also just want to add that part of that also is having a teacher climate and administrative climate that also meet people where they at.
You're in low-income communities and some of the teachers, and some of the administration doesn't come from that type of background, therefore, that level of interaction sometimes can be one sided, at least from me talking to constituents and then no 8 type of violence or reaction is acceptable under any circumstances, right. But I also recognize as an institution, right, you got to meet people where they at because if you're not meeting them where they're at, and understand the conditions and environments where they coming from, right, and a lot of that, this could be tone, right, and just also more listening and not accusatory, right, just based upon the frustration you may have dealing with little bad behind inside the class all-year round, right?
I mean, we just having a real frank conversation, but there's a level of sensitivity. So I concur with the Council members experience and remarks, because I have seen folks come up to the school and I'm like Commissioner Bethel have told me times where folks will show up and kind of incite the whole riot. And a matter of fact, getting involved with the fight with the kids against the other kids, right? But it's also de-escalation methods that can be used, because you are also dealing with a population of individuals in most neighborhoods, low-income, emotional intelligence may not be at the level of how we may think as professionals, so to speak. But with that being said, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass, then Councilmember Jeffrey J. Young, then my Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson. You're raising your hand, sir, but it's not on the screen.
(Indiscernible) as soon as I came in, it was only me and Curtis here.
It's not -- I'm just letting you know it's not up there, sir. The Chair recognizes Councilmember --
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass. It's there on there now, Member Harrity. It is noted, sir.
How you-all doing? Thank you so much for being here. And I want to start out with a thank you for all the work that's done in the school district for our students. You know, listen, nothing's perfect and it, you know, like there's always work to be done, but I do want to take a second and just recognize that, you know, like if it was easy, anybody could do it. And it -- and it will be done. So this is not easy work, you have a great team assembled with you, and so I just want to tell you how much I appreciate as a school district parent, how much the work you-all do matters. And you know this. But that being said, I do have a few questions for you. And I want to -- I guess, part of my questioning really wants to tie -- figure out how to tie parents, families to the Parent University Concept or programming at the school district. Because there's a lot of sort of loose ends in my opinion at least, and maybe you can help me with some of those. So the first question I have for you is, I was over at TM Peirce last week, and it was a beautiful day outside, and so there were kids, you know, out and about in the neighborhood. It was in, you know, after school hours. And I noticed that the gym at TM Peirce at 22nd, 23rd and Cambria was empty. There was no 20 activity, there were after school activities going on. But how, and I hear this all the time, how do we make sure that parents, community groups, leagues, have access to school district facilities, especially ones as beautiful as that in the neighborhood. And there's two -- there's construction going on right now at the two neighboring recreation centers, Cecil B. Moore in Councilman Young's district and Panati in my district up the street, they're both on 22nd Street, but they're both not able to be used right now. So how do we better coordinate so that the community can use that space?
In the operations side -- on the operations side of the house, there's a process where community groups can go through the facilities department, I think it's called Facilitron, if I'm not mistaken, is that so, Colonel?
So and actually, I do know that that there's a process, but I guess the ease of the process is what I'm saying, because if you tell me, you know, if I got like my little basketball league in the neighborhood, and you tell me I've got to get insurance for 10,000, and you know, like most people don't -- aren't able to provide or fit the requirements that the school district lays out, so it just becomes a way to say no as opposed to trying to figure out how to say yes. So I'd like for us to try to figure that out.
We want to be on the side of trying to find a way to say yes.
Because when I go to some of our high schools that have a track, for example, I think it was Roxborough, and I was there one day, middle of the day, and saw some community folks just out walking on the track. And, you know, schools are community centers, and always have been. And it just makes sense that if I live in a community, I ought to be able to access within reason. Now, there are times where if a community group is going to go into a school and have a formal program, for liability purposes, we have to go through the facility trying to make sure that, you know, we arrange for their building cleaners, if some things has to occur to prepare for them, or to prepare when they leave, and to make sure that we're dotting the T's and crossing the I's in terms of insurance and safety at the same time. But to come into school to walk on a track, use the facility, but we hear that loud and clear. The best way to help us get better is when anyone wants to register a concern or thinks that something's not quite kosher, go to our website and hit that yellow "Let's Talk" button, because we track every single concern and complaint, and right now we're responding in -- within two days.
Okay. So I'm going to encourage anyone listening who wants to access school district facilities to reach out online and/or if you don't have access online, to reach out to our offices and Council, so that they can find a line of communication to try to make things happen. Because it doesn't make sense, especially as we go into warmer months, summer months, you know, times when the schools are closed, and, you know, again, we've got these great facilities, there's nothing else in the neighborhood and they're not accessible. So anything we can do around that would be -- would be fantastic. Also, I know I'm, you know, this time is moving really quickly. I wanted to talk really briefly about principals. And we did get a list of principals that you all were searching for, none of which were in my district, but going back to TM Peirce there without a permanent principal, I know the retired last principal has decided to or agreed to come back and act as an interim principal, but we have this, you know, great new facility without the vision and leadership of a new principal at its home. And so, you know, I've just wondered if you could talk about that and the fact that there's no computer teacher at the site as well.
Yes. Our intent is to not later than July have a new permanent principal at TM Peirce. By the way, TM Peirce is one of the Extended-Day/Extended- Year pilots that The Mayor referenced earlier today. The 5 current pilots. 6
I 9 would really like to see if it's 10 Extended-Day in my mind means -- 11 extended programming, it means more 12 kids in the building and not, you 13 know, like a big beautiful gym 14 closed off of empty on a day when 15 there's tons of kids playing 16 outside. 17
Thank you, Member Bass. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jeffrey J. Young and Councilmember Katherine Gilmore-Richardson, then Councilman Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Mr. President. And good afternoon to Dr. Watlington and President Streater -- Board President Streater. Sorry about that.
Member Young, could you speak into the mic, please?
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So I noticed that on the presentation, you know, it was good to see that the numbers are going up, you know, in proficiency and things like that for the district overall. But I just wanted to point out some numbers and -- of schools in my Council district, because there was a constituent here from Charlotte White Mansion, he just left, Mr. Calvin, but I just wanted to point it out. So in Blaine -- at Blaine School, 3rd grade reading and math, zero percent proficiency. Richard Wright, zero percent proficiency in math, percent 6 reading. Gideon, zero percent 7 proficiency in math, 5 percent 8 reading. Meade, zero percent 9 proficient in math, 4.8 reading. 10 Hartranft, zero percent proficiency 11 in math, 18 percent reading. And, you know, these are all elementary schools in my Council district, right, these are my constituents. In 3rd grade, they do not know math. And it's -- so given these numbers and just to -- just to show that, you know, all these schools are economically disadvantaged, there are only 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 schools that are classified as economically disadvantaged that have at least a 20 percent proficiency rate in both math and reading. And so given these numbers, what is the school district's plan to, I guess, increase these rates? Like what -- how do you increase these outcomes given your, you know, budgets shortfalls and things like that? How do we increase the outcomes of these 3rd graders in North Philadelphia?
I just want to -- okay. Just Councilmember, just briefly as far as from the Board's perspective, goals and guardrails is that answer. And I'll just give you an example of how we are seeing movement, even though there might be zero percent proficiency at certain schools, we monitor 3rd grade -- math -- 3 through 8 math, reading, and Science. And what we are seeing is you may not see right now the proficiency numbers go up, but we're seeing students be right below that tier, right? So like at basic. So there's three tiers. There's proficiency, there's basic, and there's below basic, right? And then there's advanced. Those are the four tiers. We are seeing more students move from the bucket of zero proficiency or actual zero proficiency, which is below basic to basic. So while you might not see right now the data on the proficiency side go to be what we want it to be, we do feel like at some point the dam is going to break and more students are going to spill over from the cup of basic to proficiency. So I think our children are learning something, but I hear you. We want them to be proficient so they can grow up to be lawyers like you and I. So we understand your question, and Dr. Watlington is going to go into the weeds now of like what the district's going to do as it relates to the strategy.
And just one minute, I'm going to -- or last, I want echo what president -- what President Streater said. You know, I'm a runner, and let's just say you give me a test. And you say, now, Tony, you've got a PR, so we want you to run your 5K in minutes or 15 less. And at the beginning of my 16 training, I'm running that 5K at 35 17 minutes, I get it down to 30 18 minutes, 28 minutes. And on the day 19 of the test, I get my 5K, I run it 20 in 24 minutes and 30 seconds. But 21 my goal was to hit minutes. And 22 if the mark is either you met it or 23 you didn't, you could say, well, Tony failed the test. You know, he didn't make improvement. He didn't get to the cut score, he didn't get to his PR on the 5K, even though I've reduced my time by minutes. 5 It's the same point President 6 Streater is making. 7 There are children who 8 don't hit the cut score, but you can 9 track and see significant 10 improvement they've made in their scale score. Get it? They start here, they get closer to the bar, but don't cross the bar. But to be able to go to law school, medical school, graduate professional school, good paying jobs, all that's irrelevant at some point, because we need kids to be proficient. There are three key things. I don't care how much money you have or don't have, there are three key things that we know now from the research. Number one, the number one most important factor, particularly when you concentrate a lot of really poor kids in hyper segregated areas, the number-one thing we can do, it ain't switch out the parents, is number one is always you've got to saturate the school with highly qualified, well-supported, stable teachers. The poorer schools are, the more likely, for whatever reason, the turnover rate is higher. And so when we interview and hire people, we try to match people who have a disposition and who have the experience and who have moved the needle somewhere else. But if I've got a big, huge choice of 50 places to work, not everybody raises their hand and say, I want to go where the work is hardest and where the kids need the most. I might go there and work for, you know, a year or two until I can make a few car payments until the job opens at an easier place, even if it's outside in the suburbs. And so that's why it's so important that we've got to recruit, and support, and wrap our arms around teachers, because if you badmouth them and you, you know, just say they're terrible, you know, they don't feel like staying. And so we've got to support them, and that's number one. The research says the number two factor it isn't technology. And believe it or not, it's not AI. Although AI is important now and can be used really well, is a highly qualified, stable, well supported principal. And the third thing is what kids learn matters. And that's why we launched state-of-the-art green rated curriculum in math, reading and Science. But we know what keeps up at night is those schools that have zero to very low proficiency, and I can assure you, we will get better.
And I hear you -- so I hear that, Dr. Watlington. And I think-- so from the three things you mentioned, you are implementing the third one, which is the curriculum, but can you talk to us about what are you doing to support teachers -- better teachers and better principals, right? The first two are things that are necessary to bring up these, you know, these scores for our students.
Brief response. Long story short, what The Mayor said about the city support and recruiting teachers is so important because the percentage of teachers coming out of Pennsylvania universities is down by 71 percent, whether it's a public or a private university. And so we've got a lot of emergency-licensed teachers that don't have the background and a teacher education prep, so we have to give them more professional development, more support, and it takes time.
Thank you. I have to come back in Round 2, Mr. President. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson, then Member Harrity, and Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Council President, and thank you, Dr. Watlington, and congratulations again on your recognition. I had a national call Sunday night with elected officials across the country, including Congresswomen Kamlager-Dove and Tlaib, and we had another member of Zeta who is a part of the greats schools conference that you-all attended, and she mentioned both you and Board President Streater and members of the Board, and so I just wanted to congratulate you again. And to Dr. Dawson, thank you for always answering the call and for following up and following through. Of course, to Santana, we appreciate you. I saw him somewhere here, and Laurel. We couldn't do this work without your steadfast leadership and ability to help us navigate The School District of Philadelphia based on your experience here in Council. I have to also give a shout out to Michele Armstrong, Principal Argro at Girls High, Principal Lon at Mastbaum, Jonathan Jacobs who's a teacher, and working to stand up the police Science CTE program that we've been working on for like three years at this point, and then, of course, give a shout out to President Steinberg at the PFT. I have several issues that I'd like to get on the record today, but you know that I took the time to go through the spotlights for each of the school years, and I just want to start on this issue. And obviously, Councilmember Bass has already put on the record the schools in her district. But when I went through this spotlight and I saw the Philadelphia High School for Girls, you know that I was going to really focus in on Girls High based on all the in-depth work that we've been doing there over the past several years. And I will say that Principal Argro, I think, is doing an excellent job at Girls High. I watched via social media on how many schools she visited, how many middle schools she visited to increase the enrollment at the Philadelphia High School for Girls. I've personally been there twice already in the last several months even, and I see that their FY25 enrollment states 596. The FY26 projected enrollment is 603. And budgeted for the same amount of principals from FY24, 10 and 26, add one assistant principal 11 from FY25-26. But this is where I 12 have concern, and I'm -- I want to 13 put this on the record because I 14 need you to know early that I have 15 consternation regarding this matter. 16 Teachers for general 17 education for FY24 was 39.5, for 18 FY25, it was 36.6, and for 19 FY26 proposed is 31.6. So even in 20 all the work that we've been doing 21 to help increase the enrollment at 22 Girls High, and I give all the 23 credit to Principal Argro, and to 24 our dedicated alumni, and of course the teachers, and the staff at Girls High, I need you all to explain to me why they're receiving a decrease of five teachers in the general education category, and a decrease of one teacher in the special education category, and a decrease of a student-climate staff by one, which would total seven positions that the Philadelphia High School for Girls would lose from FY25 to the projected FY26. And I am going to come back on the second round, but I don't mind using all of my time in this first round for my beloved alma mater. The reason why I am a member of Philadelphia City Council.
That is of great concern to me, and I thought that we were holding Girls High harmless based on the conversations that we've had over the last two budget cycles, while they have an opportunity to rebuild and increase the enrollment, which they have been doing.
Thank you, Madam Majority Leader. I think you're absolutely right. We held the Philadelphia High Schools for Girls harmless last year. We were banking on a strategy of Principal Argro being able to get out there and beat the bushes and to, you know, recruit, recruit, recruit. I know she's been all over this city recruiting. I follow her on social media, as a matter of fact. And if you'll give us an opportunity to go back and review that information, my sense is I don't have the data in front of me, but I think that's old information. I'm happy to, on the record, follow up in writing about where we stand with the Philadelphia High School for Girls. I have every confidence that that school is not just going to -- not only will grow the enrollment, but will exceed the targets that we've set for the school under Principal Argro's leadership, it's just how much confidence I have in her. So may we follow up on the record?
Please. Please. And I did hear the bell, and I want to honor the clock. And I am going to come back and start here in the second round. But I cannot -- I cannot support a budget that showcases a decrease to this, you know, effect for the Philadelphia High School For Girls. They would be down six teachers year-over-year, and then one climate staff person year-over-year. And I'm sure, you know, there's a bunch of changes for a number of other schools, right? And I've reviewed them all, but I'm very concerned about what's happening at Girls High. And the only way that I can be supportive of this school district budget is of Girls High is kept whole. And I want to be clear about that from the beginning of this process. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Majority Leader. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, and Councilman Jim Harrity, then Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad, then Rue Landau. I actually --
I thought there might have been someone before me.
Harrity, Gauthier, Dr. Ahmad. And I'm sorry. It's Nicholas O'Rourke after that. Sorry.
Yeah, I apologize too. My thing doesn't seem to like me, it acts up every once in a while.
Hey, man, you're in laborer, you got to figure it out.
You know how laborers figure it out. We throw them against the wall, yeah. I'll use the shovel on them.
His buttons keep getting stuck, so they going to be down here picketing us.
I think it's my guy on the switchboard. He don't like me, I don't know. I got peace, brother.
I'll put it up for you over there. No, seriously, and it wasn't that deep. I already have a few questions. As usual, you know, my concerns are on the mental health of our children. I'm still trying to figure out what we're doing to provide these services, not only when trauma happens, but, you know, I just feel that if a kid that's going through something is able to talk to somebody in-person, not just on the internet, that it's kind of, you know, I get it, anything helps, but nothing beats that personal contact with a mental health person. And I, you know, last time you guys were in, I read the numbers out from the study. I don't remember it offhand, but it was really awakening to actually see numbers of the mental health of our children in our school system and how they were feeling and how many kids were suffering from some form of depression or who had actually thought about suicide. I just want to make sure that we're doing enough, because, you know, I see firsthand every day in the neighborhood I live in, the trauma that our kids see every day. So I just want to know how we're doing with staffing for the mental health's workers, or therapist, or whatever we're doing inside the actual schools to talk for these kids.
Since I know Council President's going to say be brief, I'm going to yield my one minute to Dr. Jermaine Dawson, Deputy Superintendent. He just did a fantastic presentation. And he and Dr. Jayme Banks are Chief of Student Support Services summarizing the need and the specific aggressive actions he and his staff are taking. So, Dr. Dawson, could you say a word about that?
Sure. Good morning. Jermaine Dawson. To answer your question quickly, number one, we do have counselors that support in all of our schools. Secondary to that, we have a STEP program that supports mental health and supports for our students in a number of our schools where we are seeing that there is an increase desire and need to support our students. And then a third tier of that is now we have mental health supports called Hazel Health that is supporting in a number of our schools where we are looking to increase the support. So we have it at different tiers of support from the counselor as the first level with the teacher, then to the STEP program, which is those who have recommendations, who need some additional support, can go to some of those managers and support to get that help. And then in some of our schools for that high-level of tertiary support we now are implementing a national program called Hazel Health to support those students.
So you're saying we're fully staffed on counselors in every school?
That's not what I -- you have counselor supports, or you have counselors in every school? That's -- there's a difference there.
Yes, we do have counselors that support in all of our schools, yes.
Is that me or is it -- that's -- what I'm asking is not that supports every school, I get that. Is there a counselor in every school?
Yes, there is a counselor in every school, and maybe in some cases where a counselor position may be vacant. But yes, we do have counselor supports for all of our schools.
Point of information, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Bass.
I thank you, Mr. President. Point of information. How many school counselors do we employ?
We employ over -- I don't -- I have to get that number to you, but definitely is over 200 counselors that are counselors.