COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE City Hall, Room 400 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 22, 2026 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, The Clerk P R O C E E D I N G S
Members, please take your seats. Always good to see Harim Ashanti, A.K.A Will -- good morning, everyone. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, members of City Council, members of the public. Thank you for being here. This is the public hearing and public meeting of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill Nos. 260199, 260200, 260201, 260202, 260203, 260204, 260205, 260206, 260208, 260209; and Resolution 16 Numbers 260227 and 181014. Ms. Loughead, will you please take attendance.
Councilmember Phillips. Councilmember O'Neill. Councilmember Gilmore-Richardson.
Present. Thank you, Ms. Loughead. I'm calling the committee as present and this hearing is now called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the title of the bills and resolutions.
Bill No. 7 260199, an ordinance adopting the operating budget for fiscal year 2027. Bill No. 260200, an ordinance to adopt a fiscal year 2027 capital budget. Bill No. 260201, an ordinance to adopt a capital program for the six fiscal years 2027 through 2032, inclusive. Bill No. 260202, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-2400 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Hotel Room Rental Tax by providing for an additional excise tax on hotel room rentals, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 260203, an ordinance amending Sub-Code A, the Philadelphia Administrative Code of Title IV of the Philadelphia Code, the Building, Construction and Occupancy Code by adding and revising zoning board of adjustment fees and provisions regarding hearing scheduling, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 260204, an ordinance amending Title 3 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Air Management Code to modify the amounts of license and permit fees under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 260205, an ordinance amending Section 19-1806 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Authorization of Realty Use and Occupancy Tax to clarify the imposition of the tax on the use or occupancy of real estate with respect to cell towers, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 260206, an ordinance amending Chapter 6-600 of the Philadelphia Code, Asbestos, by adding and revising provisions related to various fees, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 260208, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1800 of the Philadelphia Code entitled School Tax Authorization to add a new Section 19-1808 entitled Authorization of Ride Share Use Tax to authorize the Board of the School District of Philadelphia to levy a tax upon the use by a passenger of a transportation network company for a prearranged ride that originates in Philadelphia, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 260209, an ordinance amending Title 19 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Finance Taxes and Collections to add a new Chapter 19-4800 entitled Retail Delivery Tax to establish a tax on orders for the delivery in Philadelphia of retail consumer and other tangible goods, all under certain terms and conditions. Resolution No. 260227, 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 2027 through 2031 and incorporating revisions with respect to fiscal year 2026, which is to be submitted by the Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority pursuant to an intergovernmental cooperation agreement by and between the city and the authority. Resolution No. 181014, calling for the Council Committee of the Whole to convene public meetings and public hearings pursuant to the educational supplement of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter to review the administration, management, operation and finances of the school district and adopt plans to coordinate the activities of the Board of Education, the Mayor and the City Council for the improvement and benefit of public education in Philadelphia.
Thank you very much, Ms. Loughead. Today we hold the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole to consider the bills read by the clerk that constitute proposed operating and capital spending measures for fiscal year 2027, a capital program and a forward- looking capital plan for fiscal year 2027 through fiscal year 2032. Additionally, this meeting meets the requirement of the educational supplement of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter to review the administration, the management operations and finances of the School District of Philadelphia on a bi-annual basis. This morning we will hear testimony from the School District of Philadelphia, and in the afternoon, we will have public testimony. I'd like to also acknowledge in our presence today who will be joining us for this hearing is State Representative Elizabeth Fiedler. Thank you for joining us. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the first person to testify.
The suspense. The Chair also recognizes the presence of Councilman Dr. Anthony Phillips, as well as Councilman Mark Squilla as present. As always, Madam Mayor, welcome home. And when you are ready, state your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Since you said welcome home, Mr. President, can I introduce myself as Cherelle Parker, former intern in the City Council of Philadelphia and former member of the City Council of Philadelphia, who has the greatest admiration and respect for this legislative body. And I want to say thank you to you, Mr. President, along with Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson, Majority Whip in Education Committee, Chairman Thomas, and all members of Council. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to speak about a topic that is critically important to me, and I know to all of you, the 198,000 students educated in our district and charter schools. Councilmembers, I want to thank you and, historically, the City Council of Philadelphia, because with all due respect, Mr. President, this body has been the leader in funding public education in the city of Philadelphia. And the records stated, I want to, before I leave, if you will allow, Mr. President, to submit for the journal or for the stenographer comments that I made that are listed in the Pennsylvania Legislative Journal from 2013 when we first increased the sales tax enabling authority. And I want to submit this for the record as a part of my testimony, but it also encouraged me, Mr. President, to take a stroll through Philadelphia's history as it relates to our investment in public education so that residents of the city of Philadelphia don't ever forget that it has been this legislative body in the city of Philadelphia proper that has been the foundation for funding the School District of Philadelphia. Quite frankly, when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania didn't get it right, it was this body that laid the groundwork. And I went back, I just got off the phone, Mr. President, with Ambassador David Cohen, and because reading up all night, going through these notes, for those of you who have been around long enough, I went back to 1994. I was a senior at Lincoln University hoping that my mentors would show up for my graduation. But I knew that they were in deep conversations and negotiations about something called the Liquor by the Drink tax. ” I remember industry coming in. I remember -- I don't know how many people, and I was thinking about this, Philadelphia, it is important for me to just share. We used to have a newspaper called the Night Scene. And the Night Scene was in neighborhood- base, bars and taverns and restaurants. It was a balance between the scoop and what we had with the Jimmy Tayoun paper. But it was very well read. And the Liquor by the Drink tax was being socialized in communities across the city. And we were told that our institutions, our restaurants and our bars, they would shut down, Mr. President, if we did not have access to that revenue. And guess what, this City Council of Philadelphia led and made sure that that Liquor by the Drink tax was passed. I wanted to get that part on the record because later on in the testimony, that's the first sort of point of reference of when the City of Philadelphia stepped up to generate revenue for the School District of Philadelphia. And I'm going to go through 2013 and 2014 in my testimony so that we can measure up our contributions to public education that were raised solely here on the backs of Philadelphians by the work that this legislative body and the executive branch would do during those years before the courts ruled in our favor. It is with that in mind, Mr. President, that I want to, again, thank you and Council for always standing up for public education and our students. And quite frankly, I don't expect anything to be any different this year because we have always done it. It has always been tough, it has always been a great deal of communication. But we've had talks in behind closed doors in public forums like this. But whenever the moment called, this legislative body and the executive branch, we have always risen to the occasion. It is with that in mind, Mr.
President, that I want to acknowledge Board President Reginald Streater, Vice President Sarah Ashley Andrews, and all members of the Board of Education. I want to wholeheartedly thank each of them for their dedicated service to Philadelphia students and for their stewardship of our district. Also preparing last night I Googled Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Mont Co. And I'm going through our four counties. And I know there's been some discussion about whether or not the city of Philadelphia should have an elected school board or an appointed school board. And for the record, I have always not been in support of an elected school board with taxing authority because I have always ruled that as a sacred -- as a sacred tool and power of this legislative body. And I wholeheartedly still do not believe that we ever need to defer taxing authority, that important tool, to any other entity, especially when it comes to education in the city of Philadelphia because of our history. I also want to thank, Mr. President, Dr. Tony Watlington and his amazing leadership team. I just read somewhere recently that one of the members of your leadership team, if you're here, Doc, has recently been poached to become the new leader of the Baltimore school district because they were so impressed, Mr. President, with the work that had been done here in the city of Philadelphia. So I want to thank you, Dr. Watlington. You came here and set an ambitious goal, and I want to get it right because I get right, Safe, Clean, and Green with economic opportunity for all. But I always screw this part up. I want to get it right. When you came here, you set an ambitious goal to make Philadelphia the fastest-improving large urban district in the country. That was Dr. Watlington's mantra in everything about his work as our school superintendent. Mr. President has affirmed that we're working to get that done. Finally, I want to acknowledge the members of our extended community, the education community, who are advocating every day, Mr. President, to ensure that our students have what they need to learn and grow. , the amount of times that they have raised taxes from 2020 up until now, solely dedicated to their public-school systems. And, you know, they have multiple districts in those counties. But when we took a look at that, I thought to myself how grateful we are to have an education community at large that is also advocating for our school district so that our students can have what they need to learn and grow. And that would be Art Steinberg from the PFT, Dr. Robin Cooper from CASA, Nicole Hunt from UNITE HERE, Bernadette Ambrose-Smith of the School Police, all of the principals, the teachers, all of our advocacy partners, and the parents and community members who care about Philadelphia schools. I am incredibly proud, Mr. President, of the progress that our Philadelphia school district -- I'm proud of the progress that it is making under this leadership. Why? Student attendance, test scores and graduation rates are increasing while dropout rates are decreasing. We are doing something right, Mr. President. Our extended day, extended year program, it is delivering real results for Philadelphia families, a true path to economic mobility. How do we know? Because 97 percent of parents report that they are satisfied with before and after school programming, that reflects real trust. Now, just as important is that 95 percent say that this free programming allows them, the parents and caregivers, to focus on work. And 92 percent say that it is ultimately helping them save money. Extended day, extended year programming, it helps students build strong connections to their schools. This year, students who attended extended day, extended year programs, just one day a week, this is just one day a week, Mr. President, they had a 78 percent attendance rate. And those who came four days a week, they had an attendance rate of 82 percent.
That's higher than the district average for all elementary schools. We are moving in the right direction and making progress, Mr. President. And let me say one more thing about this program, because I know there was some -- some were skeptical about the thought and the idea of these extended day, extended year programs at first. And when you're doing something new and different, I understand that. But what I said when we first started, it remains true. And that's why I stayed stuck last night on Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Mont Co. Our children deserve the same kinds of educational enrichment programs that kids in the suburbs get. That's a path to self- sufficiency. And I'm unapologetic about it. They're not better standardized test takers than we are. They're not smarter than our kids. But when you build in all of the assistance they get outside of the traditional school day, not just what they do during the day, but when you build in all of the academic enrichment, you say, well, wow, when I see your regions making that kind of investment in you, we now know why that investment is clearly connected to student performance. Why is this important? I want you to know that strengthening academic proficiency and performance is the foundation of it all. There is a school board member and she will beat you over the head with it if you don't listen to it. Cheryl Harper, I've known her for a very long time. She and all of the members of the board. I mean, you know, arts and culture and music, those things are extremely important. But if academic performance is not improving, nothing else matters. Why are we strengthening academics? Because it is essential. And I want you to listen to these pilot programs that are in schools. 5 Ten schools, Chairman Thomas. 6 Joyful Readers; I had never heard of 7 Joyful Readers. 8 And then, Mr. President, 9 Kumon; Kumon, Mr. President. Now, 10 for those of you who are smiling and you know Kumon, I want you to know I'm late to the party. I didn't find out about Kumon until last year or the year before, because personally, I needed access to the resource for my own child. He needed some additional support. Until I got in there for the interview. And they said, well, we're going to introduce you to some parents who have been a part of Kumon for many years so you can understand what it is like. And they had about three or four parents. I said, well, how long have you been here? Well, my child started at four, my child started at five. And I said, I'm way behind. I'm behind here. Like, I should have had him enrolled in this kind of program much earlier. But Mr. President, I never knew it existed until I saw it on Germantown Avenue. But guess what, Mr. , and so many other places, but guess where it is now, Mr. President? It is in the School District of Philadelphia. And our children get access to Kumon and their parents don't have to pay for it. Important. Another one I didn't know about, and many of you may be familiar with this one, Springboard Academy -- I mean, Springboard Collaborative. I had never heard of the Springboard Collaborative before. Now, it is actually in our School District of Philadelphia. We're also expanding enrichment. This is important. You shouldn't be confined to what is occurring in your zip code. So what else are they doing aside from those pilot programs? Strengthening academics, field trips. They've been, Mr. President, to the Marian Anderson Museum. They know who she is and they've been able to feel her and experience it. They've been to the Arden. You would be surprised how many of our children have not had access to the opportunity to participate in a live viewing of theater. They've been there. A partnership with the Arden and the Spirit of Philadelphia. I don't care how old I get, it is always going to be a super big deal to me. I remember the first time I went on the Spirit of Philadelphia. It is a tradition that is continuing now. And, Mr.
President, through the One Philly Produce Project. And we learned how important this was during the SNAP crisis that occurred. A lot of discussion here about geometric, if things ride about, if this happens, are we going to be prepared? Well, Mr. President, I am so proud that when that crisis with SNAP occurred as a result of those federal actions, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania attempted to respond and did the best it could, our One Philly Produce Project, we have distributed, Mr. President, 38,000 pounds of food to families, because supportive learning, it means supporting the whole child, our investments in public education, and that supporting families and children. So I'm proud of that. I am also pleased, Mr. President, that my administration, the school district and the board and this council, we are aligned. We are all aligned. Please don't allow people to do this divide and conquer strategy. It is great, Mr. President, when somebody is trying to get some clicks and get some likes and some views. But you can't say that my administration, this school district, this school board, and this City Council are not aligned in our commitment to public education and student success. I don't care who's selling it, I'm not buying it. We are united. People just don't want us to get together and figure it out because they benefit when there's chaos and confusion. Mr. President, Chairman Thomas, we've done some good work, Mr. Chairman, but we cannot rest. We are facing headwinds that threaten the progress, it threatens to stop that progress from moving forward. And that's just not my opinion. The data affirms what I -- what I just shared. And in essence, this reminds me of approximately 10 years ago. And this is what kept me 11 up, you know, all night, when the 12 district, the School District of Philadelphia was facing a financial crisis. And this is when I said, wait a minute, I need to go back and get a history of when we've generated additional revenue. I'm not talking about what comes to us through the Commonwealth's formula or dollars coming from the Commonwealth. I'm talking about dollars that are solely generated here in the city of Philadelphia. Our local share, just like Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Mont Co. raise taxes to support their local school district. What have we as the city of Philadelphia done? And when I started thinking about 7 years ago and that crisis, listen, 8 it was due to circumstances once 9 again, beyond its control. 10 It was the loss of both 11 state funding and federal funding. 12 And here we are, back to the future, right back at the same place. We all have been asking the question, how is the city of Philadelphia going to be prepared when we get hit by the federal government? We've been hit. We've been hit by the federal government. As soon as that $300 million in ARPA funding expired, that was the hit. We've got to respond. I've heard that from members of this body. You've asked over and over and over again, what are we going to do if the federal government does this? What are we going to do if the federal government does this? Guess what? They've already acted. And guess what? It is done. Mr. President, it has created a $300 million structural deficit in the School District of Philadelphia. To the viewing public, I want you to know, none of this has anything to do with mismanagement of funds. The School District of Philadelphia has crossed its financial T's and dotted its I's. They've made central office cuts. We are here today because that federal government stopped $300 million in revenue that our school district received in order for it to function. And now we have to figure out a way to continue. So don't let anybody say, this is not the council's fault. This is not the school board's fault. This is not Dr. Watlington's fault. We are trying to fix what the federal government has in essence, how it has impacted our school district, because that $300 million in ARPA funding is gone.
And that's why we're here right now. And so let me affirm that when we were going through this crisis, and it is eerie, the numbers are really basically the same. That's why I want my notes on the floor -- from the floor of the house to be submitted as testimony. Because it is almost the same exact message. I was chairing the Philadelphia delegation at that time, Mr. President. And then Council President Darryl Clarke was here. And you will remember we were fighting for the sales tax and then we were fighting for the cigarette tax. I see the depressor outside of -- in the Capitol where we had to ask R's and D's. I see Chairman Harris and Mayor Nutter, Leader Dermody, standing right there with us. And we were -- we were angry, Mr. President, because it was July. Bill Gray had passed away. Congressman Bill Gray. It was like the 1st of July. Everybody was standing up on the floor of the house giving speeches in honor of Congressman Gray. And I remember getting ready. We all have conversations about partisan politics. This was pre-MAGA. This was when MAGA was being born. In its infancy it was called the Tea Party. And we had to figure out how to get to yes with that constituency, and we couldn't get it all at once. So this is what they gave us. Remember, the sales tax was expiring, and we needed additional revenue. We said, give us the sales tax and we will use the first $120 million of those dollars to fund the School District of Philadelphia. We were very fortunate. We also negotiated during that time, and it was a bit of a civil war internally for those who are here who were a part of it. You will remember anything over $120 million we negotiated. And Leader Turzai, who was not the speaker -- Sam Smith was the speaker during that time, I negotiated with Leader Turzai and our chamber to have everything over $120 million directed to our unfunded liability in our municipal pension fund. Then Council President Darryl Clarke and I, we rumbled back-to-back, again, Mr. President, civil war, because you know, there were some people who didn't support it at that time, but we were able to get it done. That was 120. We couldn't get the cigarette tax. We got the cigarette tax the following year in 14, $83 million. So I want you to begin to count that up. It was -- I want you to, one, note: Liquor by the Drink. That was 1994. First tax that I can remember, like, in my lifetime, specifically generated here in the city of Philadelphia and directed to public education. In 2013 -- well, we actually got two. We had a tax fairness package, and we asked for the ability to lien properties of owners who were delinquent in paying property taxes here in the city of Philadelphia. And it was projected to generate $28 million. It was a drop in the bucket for what we needed overall. And that's when we were able to get the $120 million in sales tax revenue. The following year it was $83 million from the cigarette tax. Why do I affirm that for the record? , and taxes raised for education, public education, in their respective districts. And you will see how many times those local jurisdictions have had to step up for public education, and they have done it time and time again. My ask today is that all of us get together and do what there are some people out there are hoping that we don't do. Guess what they're hoping that we don't do? They're hoping that we don't figure out a way to get it right. They're hoping that we don't figure out a way to get the yes for public education. I'm here on the date, Mr. President, to tell you, I believe in your leadership, Mr. President. I value your leadership, Chairman Thomas, Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson, and all members of this body. And I know we can figure out a way to do it if we just stand together. Why is all of this important to get on the record? Because when we needed to stabilize the district with new recurring revenue, we stepped up. Guess what?
It took nine years, nine years later for the Commonwealth Court to agree with the Education Law Center, the Public Interest Law Center. They had filed a lawsuit. When we passed, we did sales and we did cigarettes. After we did that revenue, they filed a lawsuit claiming that the state system of education funding was unconstitutional, after we had generated that revenue. Yeah, we were happy we were able to do it. It wasn't all that we needed, but we knew it was wrong. And our two educational legal policy centers said, we have to stand up and we need to take this to court. It is fundamentally unconstitutional. Nine years later, Commonwealth Court agreed. 25 billion. The General Assembly acknowledged that. , their property taxes are like mortgages or like second mortgages in those areas. There's no way in the world we, little old city of Philadelphia, we can't afford to increase property taxes at the rates of those other jurisdictions. Our people just can't afford it. I wouldn't support it. You wouldn't support it. We wouldn't support it because it wouldn't be fair if we did it. We are dealing with an affordability challenge, and we didn't have the same tools in the toolbox that our regional partners had. Why is that important, Mr. President? Because right now, we've got a governor named Josh Shapiro, who has led in the funding of public education throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. After the court's ruling, the Commonwealth's investment, it has been at a historic rate. I'm thinking about the Philadelphia delegation and Speaker McClinton and Appropriations Chairman Harris and our friend Leader Bradford from Mont Co. The funding that's been driven to the school district, along with that pot called the adequacy sort of pot of funding, they have been fighting to ensure that the Commonwealth is paying off the debt that is owed to Philadelphia students. And we are grateful to them for their advocacy. I'm thinking about Chairman Hughes and Leader Costa. I'm thinking about all of their work. But Mr. President, years of chronic underfunding, guess what, it has caught up with us, Mr. Chairman. It is not fuzzy math. I know we -- some folks were questioning the math. It is -- like it is not. $300 million is gone because the federal government no longer has $300 million on the table in revenue that it is generating and sending to the city of Philadelphia and our school district. We don't have that anymore. The chronic underfunding from the Commonwealth, they are working to pay off the debt owed to students. However, we are right now facing another critical tipping point. The school district and that $300 million structural deficit will result in 340 school-based cuts. Now, this is where I want to be clear: the cuts would have an enormous impact. 149 teachers, 15 counselors, 119 climate staff, plus 16 other administrative and support 17 staff, 206 schools would be 18 impacted. 19 Now, in schools across the 20 city, from North Philadelphia to 21 West Philadelphia to the Northeast, 22 students will feel the loss of these 23 trusted adults in their lives. And the impact will be felt in neighborhoods across the city. So what does it mean? And this is the part that scared me the most, and how we got here, and I'm going to walk through that, too. How we get to $1 with what's being proposed. This is what scared me, and I want to put it on the record so I'm being very transparent with all members of Council. Larger class sizes, less academic and social supports for our students, and less stability in schools that have just started to make progress that we can actually measure. That was unacceptable to me, Mr. President. And I know it is equally unacceptable to all of the members of Council. 20 to $1, if I'm here, I would question that too. You have a right to question. 20, and then about a week later, we hear that the new figure is $1. You got a right to question that. Let me tell you how we get there.
On March 12th, I submitted my proposed FY27 One Philly One Future budget to City Council for its consideration. That evening, Mr. President, we first learned that the school district was planning to eliminate 340 school-based positions, jeopardizing our students' progress. And that was to deal with the $300 million structural deficit. Unacceptable to me. 20. 20 to $1. We got there with the dollar on ride shares originating in Philadelphia because, one, when we did the math, we had to get to a number that was $50 million. I would only hope and dream that the amount could have been, Chairman Thomas, the $83 million that we got back in 2014 from the -- from the cigarette tax, or the $120 million we got from the sales tax. This didn't generate that much revenue, Mr. President. A $1 tax on ride shares originating in Philadelphia would only raise $48 million a year to help the school district step back from, listen to this number, 240 of those proposed 340. So that still wasn't enough. I listened to school union leaders and education advocates, and -- because I want to tell you about this process because some people have been asking, well, you know, I don't understand. And, Mr. President, for us to -- I mean, we -- I sat in this body. I worked in this body. I've been a part of this body. While we are going through the legislative process, we get additional information that informs our decision making on a daily basis. So for anyone to act as if getting additional information while you're going through the legislative process, that's a part of the way we make the sausage. We get additional information from stakeholders who are going to be impacted by the legislative action that we are proposing to take, and then we make adjustments where and when possible. And I want you to know that that is -- that is what we did here, Chairman Thomas. And so 200 -- eliminating or stepping back from 240 of those 340 school-based positions being eliminated, that wasn't enough. It was listening to our advocates and our labor leaders: Art Steinberg from the PFT, Robin Cooper from CASA, again UNITE HERE, Donna Cooper from Children First, Dan Ackelsberg from the Public Interest Law Center. We had a roundtable. And I'm going to tell you what they told me at the table. “You're just not listening. You just don't get it. We're talking about 340 school-based cuts. You are being able to do this and only take 240 of the 340 proposed school-based cuts off the table. Mayor, thanks, but it is not enough. ” We went back to the drawing board. Our finance director, Rob Dubow, our budget director, Sabrina Maynard, working along with the finance department and the School District of Philadelphia, they huddled, and the direction was clear. I left a meeting with those advocates and the goal has to be, if we generate this revenue, we have to make it matter and it has to result in zero school-based cuts. So the math -- somebody questioned the math mathing, they told me my math wasn't mathing, because my math would have only addressed 240 of those school-based positions, and we needed to have zero impact as it related to school- based cuts. I mean, folks have asked the question. So I wanted to be very transparent with you all so that you know how we got here, and I'm sharing with you everything that we have gone through in this process. Once we went back to the drawing board, we were able to come up with the plan so that there would be zero school-based cuts. And they did that. 4 million. Remember, Mr. President, I started by saying the number we were trying to get to was that $50 million. 4 million in annual recurring revenues. And we were able to accomplish after the school district. And we waited on pins and needles for the finance department, because you and I know, it is just like when we are putting together the budget, Mr. President, we have thoughts and ideas about things we want to get done.
You have members in this room who have things that they need to get done in their districts, and your budget team and our budget team, we get together and they get in the room and there are spreadsheets and on computers, and they start trying to make the math matter. That's how we're able to respond to members of this body who have interests and desires and issues that they want to get addressed in their respective communities. Mr. President, what we did here is no different than what we do when we're getting to yes during our budget process here in the city. Why was that important to affirm? Because this week my administration submitted formally those proposed amendments to establish the $1 ride share tax. Now, this measure combined with an adjustment to the use and occupancy tax on cell phone towers. And for most people, I haven't heard a lot of feedback about it all. We don't -- most people don't even pay attention to it unless you look up in the sky and you see all these contraptions, you know, in certain areas. And, you know, each of them usually represents a cell phone -- a different cell phone carrier in the city. 4 million in recurring revenue for the School District of Philadelphia. Just a quick pin. Somebody said, Mr. ” Now, to the member -- the several members of Council who talk about that math is not mathing, I say that math is not mathing. Mr. President, we have a regional transportation authority that's called SEPTA. And we just had to put a band aid on a gunshot wound with a quick one-time infusion of cash and no new recurring revenue source. If you're trying to systemically fix a seemingly intractable problem, you don't fix it with a one-time infusion of cash. Just like any business that you run, you have to have revenue projections about how you're going to pay the workforce. And I know we all care about that workforce. We want everybody, no matter what they do for the school district, we want them to earn a living wage, get healthcare and retirement security. So a one-time infusion is some quick cash. I know, Mr. Chairman, a time is for education. When you hear that, I can only imagine what you're thinking about, because in your mind you're saying, well, whomever is talking about a one-time infusion of cash, they ain't never had to balance a budget or make payroll. Because if they did, you know, the one-time infusion, that just buys you some breath for a little bit, but it doesn't solve the systemic crisis that we have that other school districts can count on, and that is recurring revenue. So if we don't, Mr. President and Chairman and members of Council, approve these measures, we already know what will happen. And it is what, again, will scare the daylights out of me. Academic progress will be jeopardized. Larger class sizes, less support for students and less stability in schools. There has been a great deal of discussion and quite honestly -- and I guess for the people of Philadelphia, this is more so to you, about the ride share tax that I want to share with you, and I want to get this on the record. First, City of Philadelphia ride share taxes, they are common. 51 states and localities have passed ride share taxes. You've heard it a thousand times. I just have to get it on the record, Mr. President. C. has a ride share tax. Chicago has one and so does New York. Now, San Francisco, Philadelphia -- I just want you to think about what's happening here. San Francisco, where Uber and Lyft are headquartered, has a ride share tax. And guess what, not just yesterday, Mr. President, where these billion-dollar tech companies are located in San Francisco, and I'm just talking about two, they have a local ride share tax and they've had it since 2020, 2026. They've had it where they originate, where they've decided to plant their roots and do business. They've paid a price, a local price to the local community where they are located to do business there.
Somebody said -- and I don't know, maybe I was at a meeting or something like that, and somebody said, “Yeah, well, you know, we've heard you mention New York and Chicago, but, you know, you're not talking about scale now. ” I said, “Well, okay. I'm sorry, like, does Baltimore matter? Like Baltimore is close to us. ” So if there is anyone in this city who is watching, who would believe that the city of Philadelphia would be an outlier on this issue, that would be wrong. Now, I can't stop anyone from saying it, but those are not the facts and that's not the truth. In addition to that, Mr. President, and this one got me to my core. It was like -- I was triggered by this one. If you are concerned that this tax will rest on the shoulders of low-income families, let's look at the facts. For those of you who are members of this body who were here in 2016, if you worked here, or if you were a member here, that had to sound familiar to you. Because that was the same thing that we heard when we passed the soda tax. They said, if you pass this tax, it is -- one, they said it was -- Councilmember O'Rourke, they said the soda tax was a regressive tax, because it would disproportionately impact Black and Brown and low-income communities. And I think that was my seat or either where Councilmember Harrity is, I can't remember what side now, but I remember being patient and listening, but frustrated, because the whole time they're talking about this tax disproportionately impacting low-income Black and Brown communities, the only thing they're doing is talking about Black and Brown communities as consumers. Nobody thought about the fact that the stores that are selling the sodas where the Black and Brown people go to buy, they didn't own them. Why are we just talking about this constituency as consumers, not as owners, and then not trying to figure out a way that they could benefit from the revenue being generated from the dollars that they are spending. Same issue today. So let me get the facts on the record for those people who have said that this is a regressive tax. S. Census data on Philadelphia's travel patterns. S. Census data, would you say if you can't measure it -- if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Not me. S. Census measured Philadelphia's travel patterns and only one percent of Philadelphians earning under $50,000 use ride share or taxicab services to get to work on a daily basis. Now, I'm not going to sit here and affirm that some of us don't know an outlier or two. I don't know. Somebody may have given an example about a resident who uses ride share about eight to ten times in the day to go to work, to pick up, drop off, pick up, drop off. And, you know, listen, you know, I don't know, I'm not a regular user of it. So I'm not saying that that is not accurate. I'm not challenging that at all. If that is the pattern that someone has chosen to employ in their life to get to and from, we are struggling in this city. People are trying to make ends meet and they do whatever they can with what they have to make ends meet. So if that's the story, I'm not debating that story. S. Census data says about Philadelphia's travel patterns. In addition to that, this is another one that bothered me. Somebody said -- and I'm not a lawyer, Mr. President, I was just a little old certified secondary English teacher misspelling stuff sometimes. I'm not a lawyer. But this is what I remember. This is what I remember. I remember that we won the lawsuit for the soda tax. I was up all night. And I want to go back to the basis of the lawsuit because I'm not a lawyer, but I heard the question about the language and why the language is written exactly the way it is written in the text that we are proposing. Don't forget what was challenged, you, Councilmember Driscoll, and I, we know this argument. The first one is the Sterling Act of 1932. We had to debate and keep that Sterling Act alive every year.
A Republican in the house, a Republican in the Senate was going to introduce legislation to eliminate the Sterling Act. Now, somebody in here is saying, well, this is pretty boring, she's talking about acts in 1932 and after the Depression. Guess why it is important? It is the enabling authority that gives the city of Philadelphia to collect the wage tax, both the resident and the non-resident wage tax. Without the Sterling Act, we can't do that. Now, somebody's going to say that doesn't make much sense. And I thought about it, Mr. President, and I just wanted for the -- for the record, for someone who's saying that the Sterling Act of -- doesn't make much sense, when we look at the general fund revenue that we collect here in the city to run the city and the budget that we proposed, listen, Mr. 4 billion of the revenue that we use to run the City of Philadelphia, guess where it comes from? It is enabled, Chairman Thomas, through the Sterling Act. That's one. The second thing and reason or the explanation as to why the language has to be written that way -- because if you remember the basis of the beverage tax lawsuit, the next thing is my favorite thing. Again, I hate to keep picking on Councilmembers Driscoll and you, President Johnson, but it is because when you had to be on the front line fighting all of this, you know, you remember it. What do we have here that is definitely a line in the sand with the language that we use in everything that we do, and the revenue that we collect, that most of the cities in the nation don't have to contend with? It is almost like it keeps us fiscally handcuffed. We have something called the Uniformity Clause. I'm not making it up. The city of Philadelphia doesn't have the authority, the power, even if we wanted to. And look, you're talking about what would make our jobs a whole lot easier if we did have the ability like other cities do, to charge different tax rates for different classes of property. Man, I don't understand, somebody's watching, what are you saying? Most cities, they charge one rate for industrial properties. They charge another rate for commercial properties, and then they charge another rate for residential properties. That would make what we do, I think, a whole lot simpler if we could just say, we don't want to hurt our residents who are struggling with an affordability crisis. We just made historic efforts working together, no matter how difficult it was, historic $2 billion plan to create and preserve 30,000 units of housing in the city of Philadelphia. And we did that together. But guess what? We don't have the power because of the Uniformity Clause. So for the super smart people who questioned why the language was written the way it was written, and that we affirm in the legislation, very specifically, I want you to know that the finance department, the budget department, under strict guidance from the law department, the reason why it is written that way is because we would have had to stop or been finished before we started, because we would have been in violation of the Uniformity Clause and or the Uniformity Act. So when you see the language and you have a right to question it, because when you go outside, people are going to say for the people who do, that's a dollar on me. And you're accurate. It does specifically say a dollar on the rider. But we would have been challenged in court, and thank God we had this precedent of this -- of the beverage tax lawsuit, and we know how we won. So no one could say that we were in violation of Sterling Act or we were in violation of the Uniformity Clause because of the way we wrote the language. And it does say a dollar tax on -- in essence, on a rider and the consumer. But I want you to view that as our technical way of being able to introduce the legislation and generate the revenue so that we know we don't get sued and that we can generate the revenue. But let me tell you what I know is a choice.
We didn't have a choice in the language that we use in the way the amendment and the legislation is drafted. I just told you why. But let me tell you about who has a choice. Those multi- billion-dollar companies have a choice. We've got to write the legislation the way we have to write it so the city of Philadelphia doesn't get sued and we're not in violation of Sterling and/or Uniformity Clause. But if those billion-dollar corporations who benefit from doing business in our city -- this is the frustration about having been around. Mr. President, I left in January of 2016. For two and a half years we had debated TNCs, transportation networking companies, that's what we called them during that time. And our cab companies were rumbling heavily. It was a State Representative named Rosita Youngblood who fought really, really hard. Black cabs -- I think they were called Germantown Cab or Philly Cab. They were headquartered in her area, and people had spent $100,000 a year, I know I sound like a great grandmother now, buying something called the medallion. A medallion was what you needed in order to own the cab and you were regulated by the parking authority. But the cab companies were saying to us, you know, if you let these TNCs become legalized and regulated here in the Commonwealth, you're going to throw the cab -- the cab industry, we're no longer going to be, you know, in business. And I remember like feeling sorry, but I remember when the people, the Ubers, the Lyfts, the -- all of the folks were coming up and they were giving us demonstrations about what they could do. I remember like right before I was leaving, and it went -- and Governor Wolf was the governor during that time, he was the governor who got it done. I remember saying to those people, let me tell you something, you can't stop innovation in the private sector. This technology is here. Cab companies, cab industry, you all have to find a way to compete because I'm telling you this kind of personalized convenience, it matters. It is what people desire, it is helpful. And by the time we got here, I think it was that September or October, the ride share was passed in Harrisburg. Let me say this to you, Mr. President. These multi-billion- dollar companies, they don't have to make the choice to pass it on. It is no different than the beverage industry. S. Census Bureau's data. I want you to think about New York labor economist James Parrott. And I do want to get this on the record. Councilmember Driscoll and Mr. President, he comes from a place called the New School. We've worked -- I've worked with the New School and I know Councilmember O'Rourke and probably Councilmember Brooks, I know you are familiar with the New School because a great deal of what is referred to as progressive -- well, when I was in Harrisburg, they said liberal; a great deal of liberal policies have come out of the New School. Mr. President and Councilmember Driscoll, that's who did the research when we worked on the effort of retirement security. Alan Butkovitz was the controller. We were working on it here. We kept running into ERISA laws, but we called on the New School, and it was a professor there by the name of Teresa Ghilarducci, who was the person from the New School who did our research. So, Mr. President, when we get that letter from the New School and this labor economist, and he submits testimony to this body, I want to affirm that that is not the first time that the New School has ever had any kind of engagement with the City Council of Philadelphia. They guided my research and my work when I was trying to provide retirement security for the private sector. And when you listen to that testimony, guess what he said? He stated that it does not seem too much. ” Not my words, his. ” So for those multi-billion- dollar companies, Philadelphia, this is a choice and they don't have to make it.
They could choose to invest in the city where they are fortunate and have the privilege and honor of doing business in our city. They benefit from business in our city. Are they job creators here in our city? Yes, they are. And we want them. We're open for business. We want them to continue doing business, but there's also what we usually chalk up as a cost to doing business. And you talk to anybody who's successful -- Councilmember Jones, you were at PCDC, you know what that means. It is a cost to doing business. So I know how we technically -- Councilmember O'Rourke, Councilmember Young, I know how we technically had the law department say, based on the soda tax legislation and the court ruling, we wrote the -- we wrote amendment and the language the way we had to so that we complied with legal court precedent. But the choice about what you do, that's not us. That's not this Council. That's for that -- those billion-dollar companies to decide, and they can choose to make this investment in our city where they benefit from doing business. Before I leave, Mr. President, I want to discuss another major issue facing our district. And I know this one is on everyone's mind in this room. After decades of underfunding in the school district facilities, and we know that this has been an issue. I'm a product of the School District of Philadelphia. And I love every school I attended: Rowan Elementary, Austin Meehan Middle, and the Parkway Program High School. And if Ms. Gwen Ragsdale is watching, I just saw her in Fairmount Park this week, my first- grade teacher. And immediately, Mr. President, I wanted to sit at a desk and fold my hands. It was the first time I'd seen her since elementary school. Still that kind of impact and respect and reverence that you -- that you have for the teachers and the people who were a part of your personal village. And each and every one of us who grew up here in Philadelphia and went to school in the school district, I know you can remember the people who were a part of your journey. The simple fact is that when we think about those schools, we have to remember that to renovate or repair every public school, the cost -- this is the price tag that we've been given, my team has been given, was $7 billion. That's what we would need in order to renovate or rebuild every school here in the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia school facilities are on average more than 70 years old. They lack modern equipment and layout that's needed to educate students in the 21st century global economy, because it is no longer are we competing against each other, it is a global economy. We're competing with people now all across the world, especially when you can do business sitting at a computer. The world has changed. Many of these schools are operating far below capacity with thousands of empty seats across the system. Others are severely overcrowded. And I know members of council talked about that. Wait a minute, there's some disparity. I know one region of the city in the Northeast, I've gone by, I've seen the trailers, I've had to talk to the parents too, where they're bursting from the seams. And they're saying, you know, the demand is here, why haven't you built more? And then you go to another region of the city and you walk into a building. I spoke with a former legislator earlier today and we were talking about this. He said, I can remember a day when 1,200 students were in this one particular building. 1,200 students used to be in that building. He said, you know, how many I remember in there? I said, what? He said, the last time I checked it was about 200 or 250. That part I know we all agree on. I haven't heard a member of Council -- because this is a tough issue. I haven't heard a member of Council push back on acknowledging that there was a time when our school district had a larger population. What are we at? About 198,000 students right now.
6 million people living in the city of Philadelphia, our city has changed. The makeup of the district has changed. The population has changed. And so when we are thinking about Governor Shapiro, and this is why I really wanted to raise this, and I don't want you to -- please just don't take my word. I'm hoping that somebody will ask -- call Governor Shapiro, call any of our legislative leaders on the Democratic side or the Republican side in Harrisburg. I don't care who you talk to. Every time they go sit down to have a conversation about negotiating a budget along with public education, especially when it comes to Philadelphia, Councilmembers Driscoll, President, you were there. You know what I'm affirming. Budget conversations start this way. The majority caucus now in the House, the majority caucus in the Senate, that means Leader Bradford, Speaker McClinton, Appropriations Chairman Harris. They will meet with the Republican leaders in the Senate, because on the legislative side, the two majority parties, they're the ones who begin the conversation and they work in partnership with the governor's office. Eventually the table becomes a five-seat table, the executive branch leading the table. And you have representation from each caucus and each chamber. And you figure out a way to get to yes. Guess what question they are going to have to answer. And this is why I view what we're doing here right now in every way imaginable as us finding a way to help our legislative leaders to help us. First question they're going to ask is, what is Philadelphia doing? The City of Philadelphia proper, us, what are we doing to invest in our public schools? I'm talking about the new revenue right now. Yes, we should also be proud that for the first time, and I don't know how long, we, you know, increased the portion of the millage dedicated to public education here in the city. We didn't need a campaign or anything to tell us to do that. We came in the door with that. We committed from 55 to go to 58. 5 to go. So we're already doing that part. More of our property tax is dedicated. But here with the ride share tax, now ride share tax, tower tax, when they go to the table, we will empower them with the ability to say, don't tell us Philadelphia didn't already make tough decisions to address this $300 million structural deficit in the School District of Philadelphia. Because it has already done the hard work and we've generated the revenue. That's the one question. The second question they're going to ask, and, Mr. President, you know this, what has the School District of Philadelphia done to work through right-sizing the School District of Philadelphia in accordance with the student population and with a strategic plan that will allow you to build new schools, modernize schools, co-locate schools together? I mean, I can't remember the school, but Drexel, Mr. President, now we -- you have to be creative, because $7 billion -- I don't know anybody thinks $7 billion -- our budget is -- our whole budget for the city of Philadelphia is basically $7 billion. I don't have a way to get to $7 billion, but I do want us to be able to say that we've done our homework and we haven't asked anybody to simply, you know, come and address something that we've ignored. We've contributed our fair share. This is a shared sacrifice in supporting public education, and we've done it. They're going to ask us about right-sizing and they're going to ask whether or not the School District of Philadelphia had the courage, and if we as leaders were able to work together to support them making these very, very tough decisions. And, Mr. President, I know we're not trying to build the education system for the past. We're working on our children's future. Right now, we are maintaining square footage as it crumbles instead of investing in opportunities our students actually need. Yes, this means making difficult but responsible decisions.
And that's what the district has worked through in the facilities plan. Mr. President, this is not like it was when we were going through and 14. You want me to 8 tell you how? First things first, 9 we were under the SRC, the School 10 Reform Commission. Chairman Thomas, 11 I wasn't at every meeting, but I 12 think there were about two years. 13 For two years there were discussions and activities and conversations about all of this. That didn't happen when we went through this knee-jerk reaction years ago, because I didn't like it then. I didn't think it was well coordinated. The same issues, Chairman Thomas, that you raised about making sure that we are communicating with the public. You and I, we share that sentiment. And I think we saw Dr. Watlington and the board attempt to do that. In addition, I also know this, Mr. President, nothing is more frustrating in government when somebody tries to make a decision and they draw a line in the sand and say, this is it. What do I mean? Chairman Thomas and Council President, you know that the school district now, the plan doesn't look like it did when they initially introduced it because they listened to members in this body. They've listened to parents, they've listened to legislators, and I know they are not where they started. I know we're not finished with this process and I know we're still going through it. My ask is that we not exhibit what you'll hear me refer to as reflexive opposition, but that we want -- we acknowledge the facts that I put on the record. Not my emotions, just the facts about issues that we have to deal with here in the district. I don't think any of us refute that. All we have to do as leaders is figure out a way, Mr. President, to get there, so that when our team in Harrisburg goes to the table, we answered the revenue question. We've started working on the right-size question. We've started being creative. And I'm not sure of the name of the school that's near Drexel, but Drexel has done something amazing in partnering with the school. I don't know, it's Solace? I can't remember what the name of the school is, but it is amazing. And people talk about what Drexel University has done. I thought about what would happen if we were creative enough to say, Dr. Watlington and President Streater and members of the board -- because I don't manage the school board, and I don't try to micro manage their work because they're the educational experts. But I wonder with some of our challenges, that we -- that we do acknowledge, what if the University of Pennsylvania became a potential partner in trying to help when we talk about co-location and partnership and just being creative and thinking outside of the box. What if Temple University with the amazing John Fry -- Councilmember Young, in your district, because they've been having a lot of conversations about place-based learning in the area. What if Temple was able to come up with the strategy? Members of the City Council of Philadelphia, I don't know if that is possible. I don't know if those conversations are moving as swiftly as we would like. But for me, you know, I don't think it is over until it is over, and we can't get it done. I'm -- Mr. President, I'm here giving this address. I'm doing what we would call -- Councilmember Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson, leaning on the shield today, saying that we can't get this done alone. The School District of Philadelphia can't move without you. It is this legislative body, not that school board, that has the power to generate the revenue that the School District of Philadelphia needs. We're not like the other school districts in our region. It is this Council that's been the leader to save public education in the city of Philadelphia. And I'm the Mayor. And I acknowledge in Philadelphia, I affirm. As mayor, I can't get anything done. A budget can't get passed. The school district can't get funded.
We can't do anything to move our city forward if we are not all working together. I say it to you privately, I say it to you publicly. We have to work together in order to get it done. And I want us to figure out a way to get to yes. Why, Mr. President? Right-sizing buildings is not about abandoning communities. It is about strengthening them. If Chairman Harris takes me to that location on Broad Street, there's a recreation center, there is CHOP -- is it a library? It is a recreation center, CHOP, and the library, all co-located in one place. He says, listen, that's the model we need to be working on if we're thinking outside of the box to leverage these resources. But let us get there and let Harrisburg know that we are making real and tangible changes. Middle school students will have access to Algebra 1 instead of slightly over half students. More students will have access to art, music, and physical education. And the share of the schools offering five or more AP classes will grow from 38 percent to 58 percent. And the share of incoming kindergartners with access to pre-K will double from percent to 50 15 percent. But we have to be willing 16 to work together in order to make it 17 happen. 18 No matter what anyone says, 19 Council President and members of 20 Council, I know it is good theater 21 for people to see what they consider 22 to be our going to war, the 23 administration versus the Council, 24 the legislative branch versus the executive branch, in opposition with the school board, in opposition with the school superintendent. Let me tell you something, Councilmember Thomas, what we have on the table, we've never been here with this opportunity before. Persistently vacant properties in the School District of Philadelphia that have been vacant from three, some up to 30 years. We now have a plan to incentivize the building of affordable and workforce housing. And that's one box, and it shouldn't be -- we compartmentalize things. Because all of this stuff is not interconnected. We got a box there and we have the ability to do that. Then we've got a process to figure out how do we right-size the district. But we have to do it thoughtfully. And, Mr. President, I'm with you. It doesn't look the way it did, sir, I know when it was first introduced, but we've got to continue working through it and having conversations. And I'm asking us, sir, to please make sure that we do that. So that's facilities here. And then we've got the other bucket, let's help Governor Shapiro, Speaker McClinton, Leader Bradford, Appropriations Chairman Harris, Appropriations Chairman Hughes, Leader Costa, Senator Williams, along with Senator Picozzi in the Northeast, the lone Republican state senator representing the city of Philadelphia, along with President Pro Tempore Ward and Pittman. Let's generate the revenue that we need so that when they go to the table to negotiate that budget, shared sacrifice and One Philly and us doing the best we can with the tools we have, they know that we've tried. We couldn't deliver $300 million, but we do have the ability, Mr. 4 million. And if we come together to do it and make those billion-dollar corporations understand that there's a cost to do business in the city of Philadelphia and the dollar won't put them out of business, we can make sure we deliver for our students. Mr. President, I thank you so very much. I want you to know, we're not -- this is a unique time. This is a unique time, Mr. President. 2013, '14, 1994, Liquor by the Drink; 2013, sales; 2014, cigarette, and 28 million from the tax fairness package. We haven't delivered new revenue as a city for public education since 2014. I want you to just -- this is just me, do your own search. Type in 2014 to 2026, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Mont Co. And remember, we can't afford to increase property taxes at the rate that those counties do because we -- our people just don't have it. We don't have that kind of disposable income.
They can't carry it. And we have a Uniformity Clause. So our revenue-generating capacity, we're handcuffed. We can't do it. Please, let's help the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania help us. I want to work with you. I want to do whatever we can. Councilmember Young, Councilmember Ahmad, Councilmember Lozada, Councilmember Bass, Councilmember Squilla, Councilmember Landau, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Driscoll, Councilmember O'Rourke, and Harrity, and Brooks, and Anthony Phillips -- not Danton or Young, Phillips, Katherine Gilmore- Richardson, Councilmember Gauthier, and Chairman Thomas, and Mr. President. I can't do it without you. Humbly, I say to each of you, I'm asking you, whatever meetings need to take place, one-on- one conversations. It won't be perfect for anybody. We can't. But everybody acknowledges that we can't keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome and expecting them to respond when they ask us, are we willing to do the hard work? I want to work with each of you. Please, let's find a way to get it done. And whatever homework you give me, I want to say to each of you, you all look so convinced, and you like, you really believe me, right? Give me homework. Whatever homework it is, if I can get the homework done, Mr. President, 1,001 percent I will. Thank you so very much. Thank you. And always -- were there any questions, Mr. President? Anything I should do before I leave? Anything, Mr. President? I'm sorry, I don't want to leave without --
Any questions from members of the Committee? Hearing none.
This is -- Mr. President, it is straight. It is not BS. Everything I just said on the record, Mr. President, if you just go do the homework, the facts are the facts. We haven't generated revenue since 1994 from Liquor by the Drink, 13 for sales, 14 for cigarettes, and what we did with our tax fairness package. The leader of the New School is one of the most reputable economic and research institutions of higher learning in the nation. And if you were to talk to people about their work, they would tell you again, they're liberal, not -- they're progressive, they used to -- that's what we -- that was our language. Don't -- not just me. It is not. And please don't -- please take what I just said in the spirit that I was given. Thank you so much.
We will now resume the committee of the whole. Ms. Loughead, please call the next panel.
Reginald Streater, President Philadelphia Board of Education, and Dr. Tony B. Watlington, Superintendent for the School District of Philadelphia.
Good morning. Actually, good afternoon now. Welcome back. And before you begin, just state your name officially for the record and get started.
Thank you. Council President, my name is -- I know, I was -- you know, I was told I was going to find out something yesterday, so I don't know if I should eat. Anyway, I'm joking. But my name is Reginald Streater and I'm the President of the Philadelphia Board of Education.
My name is Sarah Ashley Andrews. I'm the Vice President of the Board of Education.
Tony Watlington, Superintendent, School District of Philadelphia.
And thank you. Today I am prepared. I'm in a suit, so we get suit Reggie today. So thank you for allowing me to come back today, as well, being able to be in the room and know the temperature. So I'm going to be a little more brief than I normally am to get to City Council's questions as well. But good morning, everybody. President Johnson, to the leadership of this great esteemed house, thank you for allowing us to be in your home and we will act accordingly. Thank you for inviting the Board of Education, the School District of Philadelphia, to share some key updates on our work since the last time we were together in November. I was joined by Vice President Sarah Ashley Andrews and Board Members Joan Stern was here, and she may come back as well. We appreciate your partnership, Council President, your ongoing commitment to Philadelphia students and families. I think our mayor put it best, City Council continues to step up and take tough votes for us. And we understand that we are in a time right now where serious conversations have to be had, and we're happy to do our homework as well and do the work as well. Next slide, please.
I won't go into all of the things that we're going to discuss today, but they are on the screen. But we do have some quasi-agenda of what we would like to give updates on. Next slide, please.
Not too many for us, good brother. I think Dr. Watlington's going to also pivot as well with this presentation. So every time -- and I believe it is important to ground the conversation at this, and I believe if you can just kind of believe us that all of our work that we do is grounded in our vision and mission. I began my comments with our mission and vision. The board's vision is to prepare every student, Council President, to imagine and realize any future they desire. It speaks to the limitless potential of our young people and our responsibility to help them reach it. And as you can see in our mission, it is rooted in our belief that all sectors of public education in Philadelphia must work together to ensure every student has access to opportunities they need to achieve life outcomes. These guide our work. Next slide, please. So again, yesterday I mentioned something called goals and guardrails. And people may not believe us, but we have a board policy in our -- in our administrative procedures of our operating guidelines that directs the board to think about governing through a student outcomes lens. And we do it by way of the goals and guardrails. This framework defines clear expectations of what students should know. Board members such as Vice President Andrews, myself, Cheryl Harper, and others, once a month we engage with our superintendent and ask the question, how are the children? But we like to use data and other things to determine how they're doing in a way that supports our mission. 7 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced on the NOCTI exam in school year 2024-2025. Early literacy and math instruction are showing great improvements with a clear correlation between consistent attendance and student attendance. Students in Grades 3 through 8 who have attended school more than 90 percent of the time were more likely to be reading benchmarks. Math proficiency for students in grades through is at its highest rate in nine years. Early learners are demonstrating meaningful gains too, City Council President. Next slide, please. Leave it. One more slide. So I definitely want to discuss the Accelerating Opportunity, the school district's Facilities Master Plan. I understand there's going to be a lot of other questions on this. But I first want to acknowledge that the board fully comprehends the gravity and seriousness of this work. We have been actively listening and engaging with communities, understanding that these recommendations bring forward a range of mixed and strong emotions. We heard them here, we hear them here, we heard them in our action meetings, and we also hear them when we do school visits and individually as board members. But we know what it means to be shaped by great schools in this city. And we have lived the reality of what our schools can provide. That's why I believe for all of us, this conversation about school facilities is not just about buildings. It is about protecting a launch path for the next generation. What you have before you is the -- is a summary of the resolution of what the board will consider. And I think it is important to also communicate what actually is the board voting on, Council President. The board acts through resolution, much like City Council does as well. Our resolutions can be about an action item for a vendor, but it also could be about giving clear direction to the superintendent in a way that's transparent. So the village knows where the district and the board is headed based upon what we know now and what we think we know in the future. So I think it is important for us to understand what the resolution does and what it does not do. It adopts the recommendations that will be attached to the resolution. I know you all have your technical staffs. I would ask you all to have your staff take a look at the resolution, read it as well.
And I think you will see that there are many points in time that we will all have many more conversations about the facilities plan. And it doesn't all start and end at the day the board votes on the resolution.
-- start and end on the day that the board votes on the resolution?
Yes. The resolution is not designed to, for example, approve all capital investments, for example, right? We do that in May. What it does is it is saying, Dr. Watlington, your thinking is on point. And this is a direction that we are headed in. And it -- but it does not -- it does not displace legal obligations that also have to happen on a yearly basis publicly, that's going to require public comment, that's going to require public board deliberation and things like that. So that's what I mean by the resolution 2 itself. And I'll be brief, but I want to read three portions of the resolution just to kind of give you all exactly what I'm talking about. So there's a final whereas calls: implementation of Accelerating Opportunity will require future board actions and a sustained commitment to student achievement, financial and facilities alignment shared by the board, the district, public, and philanthropic partners and holders of the district's obligation. But these two paragraphs are very important. The board hereby adopts, if it adopts, Accelerating Opportunity, as attached to align facilities enrollment, programming, and fiscal sustainability in service to improve student outcomes. This adoption does not substitute for legally required processes or board actions related to school closures, capital project expenditures, or declarations regarding future property. Because Accelerating Opportunity represents a living plan -- a living plan based on currently available data and reasonable assumptions regarding enrollment trends, population movement, Council President, programming needs, City Council, and fiscal conditions, which will evolve based on factors over which the board and the district possess and/or lack control. The board retains the authority to require modification of sequencing, timing, scope, and prioritization of recommendations determined to be necessary after consultation with the superintendent. Just to put some meat on the bone as to what exactly is the board voting on and what that vote is designed to do. Next slide, please. So briefly, I would like to just speak about some other board updates. I think, Vice President, it is you.
Good morning again. Thank you, President Streater, and good morning to all. Next, I want to share a few updates on the board's non-voting student board representatives and our Parent and Community Advisory Council. We are excited to share that in January 2026, we appointed three new non-voting student board representatives for the 2026 term. They are Brianni Carter, an 11th Grade student at the Philadelphia High School for Girls; Ramisha Karim, an 11th Grade student at Northeast High School; and Semira Reyes, an 11th Grade student at the Creative and Performing Arts High School. These incredible young ladies have joined the board at an exciting time and have quickly engaged in our work sharing insight on the student experience, including how board policy shaped their day-to-day school experience and the perspectives of their peers. They also participate in the Superintendent's Advisory Council, ensuring that student voice is consistently present in our discussions and helping to bring student perspectives directly to the board's decision-making process. Thank you. Next slide, please. Likewise, the board's Parent and Community Advisory Council continue to actively strengthen our connection to families and neighborhoods across Philadelphia. Currently, the advisory council is composed of 5 individuals who are committed to 6 attending community meetings, 7 engaging at local events, listening 8 to residents, and evaluating 9 community voices to inform board 10 decisions and student-centered 11 decision making. We actually have 12 one of our PCAC members here today, 13 Ms. Ann Doen, if you could raise 14 your hand. Thank you. They bring feedback directly to the board, helping ensure we understand the community perspectives and incorporate -- and can incorporate that into our decision making. They have been critical in supporting us with pushing out key messages, opportunities for engagement around the facilities plan and policy review. Our advisory council serves as a vital link for the board with the community, elevating needs and ideas that guide us in making the best possible decisions for our students. Next slide, please. Throughout the year, the board has the privilege of visiting both district and charter schools across our city. These visits are among the most meaningful and exciting parts of our work, allowing us to experience firsthand the teaching, learning, and innovation happening across our schools. School visits help ground us in the work that we do and serve as a powerful -- as a powerful reminder of the important work happening every day in our classrooms. Next slide, please. As we begin our charter school update, I want to reaffirm that the Board of Education is committed to a system of public education where every public-school option in Philadelphia, district or charter, prepares students to imagine and realize any future they choose, with a continued focus on access to high-quality opportunities that help students thrive. With more than 64,000 students in our charter schools, Project RiSE reflects our shared commitment to strengthening accountability and improving outcomes -- and improving outcomes in our city. As a reminder, the Charter School Office, at the direction of the Board of Education, launched Project RiSE in 2024 to revise and reimagine the Charter School Performance Framework. Next slide, please. Okay. Through Project RiSE, we are committed to reviewing our authorizing standards and continue our commitment to transparency and accountability for all charter schools in Philadelphia. We are currently in Phase 2 of 3, where the Charter School Office, at the direction of the board, continues to work directly with school leaders, charter school board members, and colleagues throughout the city to review and update specific metrics within the framework. Importantly, the focus of RISE is no different than the Board of Education; student achievement.
In the spirit of -- in that spirit, RiSE builds on our existing framework by strengthening transparency, improving data and communication, equipping families with clearer information, all in service of improving student achievement and ensuring alignment with board goals and vision for all students across our city. I'm going to turn it back over to you, President Streater.
Next slide, please. So in closing, I had a prepared closing but I want to pivot and shift and read the room. Look, I think the Mayor said it all -- said it all. We all need each other, and I believe that we all in this room have had the ability to compromise, engage in meaningful conversations, understand the pressure points of each other, but find a pathway forward. I do want to also share something in this room as well. While some have said they believe the Mayor has been heavy-handed or maybe the hand behind the cloak of the board, one, that is not true. But what I can say is the Mayor has requested Dr. Watlington and I and the board, and strongly, you know, stated that we should do everything we can to work with Council, and understanding that the work continues post whatever vote, when that might happen. I do believe that there's enough goodwill here, evidence and moments in time and actual deliverables that show that Dr. Watlington and this board has listened. And with that being said, I understand that listening continues. So I hope that we can have a conversation today that talks about a pathway forward, but one that also honors all the hard work that we've all done. I don't think it is worth -- it is good for us to focus only on the now and not think about the past and the future. So I look forward to having a more responsive answer to questions that are going to be asked. I saw some head shakes just now, but I look forward to talking with you and continuing with this conversation. But this work is hard. And one thing I want to say which hasn't been said enough, the Board of Education empathizes with families who are right now caught in purgatory, who are waiting for us to do something. And I don't want -- I don't want that to be remiss -- to be remiss for the communities that are waiting for investments, to the communities that are like mine, who've lost schools like Germantown High School. The board is well aware of this, and I think that is what's driving us as well. So, please, I know that you all have your work to do, but we are also listening as well. So thank you.
Good afternoon, President Johnson and Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson, Chair Thomas, and members of Council. I'll be very brief, Mr. President, as I know we're late in the afternoon and you have a hearing here as well. Next slide, please. First of all, I just want to say thank you to you, Mr. President, and to all the members of Council. As Mayor Parker noted, we very much appreciate your historic role in funding the school district. And I want to give you just some very brief updates on the results and return on investment for the dollars and the support that you're providing to the School District of Philadelphia. Slide, please. I want to begin by just giving you an update on the three major district focus areas, and if we'll go to the next slide. It is no different than last year. We are consistently focused on accelerating academic achievement, improving outcomes for all of our young people, improving customer service, which has been a hallmark for the past four years. And we're laser focused also on partnering with our families, not just as engaged adults, but as equal partners as we educate all of our young people. Slide. I won't review this in detail because the Mayor talked about it at length. Only to say in one sentence that we are pleased that enrollment is up by 783 students over the past decade. Student and teacher attendance is up. Test scores are up across a number of areas, especially on the math side of the house. Graduation rates are up and the dropout rates are down. We're pleased that we're getting better, not by kicking the least of these out of school or letting the least of these just kind of drop themselves out or just disappear from our schools. On the next slide, with regard to improving customer service, we launched a two-way communication system a few years ago, Mr. President. Just wanted to note that it is working and here's the data: Between July 1 of last year and April 15th, just last week, we've received over 66,000 inquiries from our parents, families, community, and other folks in the community. 2. We will continue to focus on improving customer service in the school district. On the next slide, the third big focus area is around partnering with our families as equal partners. This year we relaunched Parent and Family University. I want to commend our Chief of Communications and Customer Service, Alex Cop, and our Deputy Chief of Parent and Family University, Ms. Jenna Monley. We are providing free programming, resources, supports to families all over the city of Philadelphia. And we know if we want to support kids, we've got to invest in their parents and their families as well, to improve student attendance, to improve civic engagement. We're also focusing through the Parent and Family University on financial literacy. Some very fantastic work going on there, and we look forward to keeping you updated as time goes forward. Very quickly, let me just say a few words about the Facilities Master Plan on the next slide. I'm just going to sum it up, Mr. President, given the need to keep this moving, because I don't want you to have to ask me how many more slides I got. I want to be able to tell you I just got three or four more and we're going to be ready to take questions. On the next slide, I'm going to sum up the Facilities Master Plan. 8 billion. 045 billion. Originally, we told you that we would maintain 116 campuses -- I mean, 124 campuses. That number has changed to 116. Originally, we told you we would modernize -- we proposed to modernize 159 campuses or parts of campuses. That number has increased to 169. We consistently are recommending to President Streater and his Board of Education, and Vice President Andrews, that we -- and the board, that we maintain six co-locations. There are 10 close -- recommendations to close and repurpose for some kind of district use.
And then there are additional seven closures that we've recommended that -- in lieu of -- instead of recommending that these properties be conveyed to the city, we've pulled back on that recommendation at this time and just recommending that those properties remain in the school district. On the slide -- next slide. The next two slides, Mr. President, just list those major changes. I 4 won't read them to you, but they 5 range from everything from removing 6 the recommendations to close Conwell 7 and Motivation High Schools. We've 8 changed the merger recommendations 9 for Robeson and Lankenau High 10 Schools, as you'll see here. 11 Number 5, we have removed 12 Ludlow School from closure. You can see items number 6 and 7 relate to both Moffett and Hackett schools. You'll see that we are now no longer recommending that the Lankenau property, which is located adjacent to the Schuylkill Environmental Center, be conveyed. We -- those properties will now stay in the School District of Philadelphia. And we're proposing to -- that become an environmental education center for use of -- for all the children across the City of Philadelphia. You'll also see that we have pulled back on the recommendation to convey the Robeson property. And now as the Mayor mentioned in partnership with Councilmember Gauthier and others in that district to retain that property and look at how we work with the community to identify a partnership opportunity given -- including perhaps University of Pennsylvania, given how significant and close that property is to one of the greatest most significant science and innovation hubs in the United States of America, which is right here in Philadelphia. And you can see the other items. I do want to note also that we've increased the investments in Council District 3 from the February 17th briefing from $205 million to $331 million; Councilmember Gauthier's District. And we've increased planned investments in Council District 5; Councilmember Young's District.
In the 5th Councilmanic District, how is that the only Philadelphia Promise Zone in North Philly?
This is part of the -- this is a part of having developed two or reconverting two, not just extended day, extended year, but year-round schools where we want these two schools to be --
5th Councilmanic District, any way we can spread --
-- to South Philly and anyway that that same initiative can go to South Philly and Southwest?
It is the -- it is the hope of the district, certainly, that these schools, two schools, will be demonstration schools where we drive faster performance and so that they can be replicated in other parts of the city.
And we are withdrawn the recommendation again at this time to convey schools to the -- currently occupied schools to the city. We originally recommended to convey schools, even though 4 that number is down to seven we are 5 recommending to the board not move 6 in that direction to provide the 7 board with more time to consider 8 policy and legal implications. 9 Very quickly, 10 Mr. President, next slide. This is the original investments by Council -- the 10 Council districts, the original list of modernization co-locations and closure recommendations. And you can see on the far right how many closures occurred in 2012. Then if you go to the next slide, you can see the updated recommendations in investments. The reason the administration changed the -- increased the recommended investments in Council District 3 and Council District 5; Councilmember Gauthier's district and Councilmember Young's district, is because you can see on the record that those two districts had the largest number of closures and -- in 2012 2013. And so again, as the Mayor said, we have made some significant adjustments to the recommendations. And as we go to the last slide, I just want to say personally -- oh, oh, I'm sorry.
I was just looking at the 9th Councilmanic District. Okay. Please proceed, sir. That is --
That is 469? Middle neighborhood. Thank you, sir.
All right. Yes, sir. Let me find -- conclude, Mr. President, by giving you a quick update on the budget as it is being developed. Really quick, there is a $300 million structural deficit. I just want to remind you, test scores are going up, graduation rates are going up, dropout rates going down. This is not about mismanagement. We have the best investment grade credit rating that we've had in 40 years in the school district. Every year for the past three years, we've had some upgrade in that rating, either by Moody's Services or Fitch Financial Services. We're being good stewards of the budget, of the dollars. We've had clean year-over-year audits with no material witnesses by our external auditors. Want to be sure to get that in the record, please, Mr. President. 8 billion that we received in COVID funding, allocated by Congress from 2021 to 2024, all those dollars are gone; they sunsetted in September of 2024; three, rising salaries. We have got to pay -- continue to pay our employees a competitive wage, and they deserve to be paid more; four, charter payments are increasing -- charter school payments are increasing. And five, in this order, we're experiencing rising healthcare costs, just like the city, just like the private sector. What are we doing about it? Next slide. This administration is committed to bring in President Streater and Vice President Andrews and the board of recommendation a plan on the table, not just to cut our deficit, but to reduce it and to eliminate it once and for all by fiscal year 2029-2030, and after 2029-'30, we are committed to the school district operating within its annually allocated budget. And we can retire structural deficits once and for all. That is our plan, barring any strange unforeseen circumstances. How are we going to cut this -- how are we proposing to cut this $300 million structural deficit and live within our means forevermore, and to continue to advocate for constitutional funding? Number one, we're reducing central office costs by some $30 million. This includes some 130 positions. Mr. President, we have those positions ready to submit for the record per your request. Number two, we are eliminating -- and by the way, this is a very lean central office. Given that we're around the eighth largest school district in the country, we have one of the smallest leanest central offices, but we're still going to make the cuts because we've got to do it. We are going to eliminate programs and contracts that show low return on investment. By that we mean if the contract doesn't have a clear through line to improving reading and math performance, increasing graduation rates, or decreasing dropout rates, we are going to take a hard look at how we can trim back. We are enhancing our budget and planning projections. We're doing things like discontinuing to rent the Pennsylvania Convention Center during all of our principal meetings and professional development, Mr. President, in the -- at Strawberry Mansion High School, which we've turned into our professional development center. We're curtailing staff travel, including the superintendent. Instead of sending forward reading teachers to a conference, we may just send one or we may send none and bring professional developers to the City of Philadelphia. And a lot of other things that CFO Herbstman can walk you through. We are making some changes to -- at the school base level, to the $256 million. As you know, there are 340 positions that we're proposing to cut and to reassign to other schools if the $52 million does not come through to us as a result of the rideshare tax and the cell phone tower opportunity. You may ask, well, why are you cutting and moving people to other places, which is very disruptive? Some of our schools are very large and over-enrolled, and we've got just the opposite; some schools that are very small and under-enrolled. And so we've got to right-size the formula for how we push resources out to the schools.
And so that is why we continue to not maintain the FTEs, the staff positions, in all the schools at present. So we've projected the vacancies that we have. I don't want the Council to be alarmed by the fact that we can fill -- we can transfer people to the tune of 340 people through vacancies in other schools. Remember, the School District of Philadelphia has 20,000 employees, and every year there is some attrition and turnover. So we factor that in. Our goal is to have everyone who is in the house to stay in the house. And we have -- so to that $225 million in budget reductions in fiscal year '26 to '27 is reflective of that. The next slide just shows you a graphic of what our financials look like over the next five years if we do nothing. If we kick the can down the road, we don't get more revenue, we don't cut anybody. And again, this is -- and reassigned to other jobs. This is totally, absolutely 100 percent separate from the facilities plan. This is just operating budget -- operating budget for the school district over the next five years. You can see the green line represents our annual surplus or deficit, and the yellow line shows our fund balance. We're at the point where we would deplete it in the next year. And that is why I no longer recommend to President Streater and Vice President Andrews and board members to dip into the fund balance. We must get more revenue or we must make significant cuts. Even with the additional revenue, we are going to make some cuts to the district office and to contracts because we could choose to carry a structural deficit for the next 10 years. It is no secret that the district has had structural deficits going back to the days of David Hornbeck, Paul Valles, Dr. Arlene Ackerman. By '29 to 30, we're proposing to the board to completely eradicate structural deficits, hopefully never to return. On the next slide, Mr. President, you'll see this is what the fund balance line and our deficit line looks like, if we take these measures. Again, this is completely and totally separate from the facilities plan process. The facilities plan process is completely separate. And if you'll give me just one second to say, the reason I can show you that it is separate is, even if the Board of Education approves a plan to close some schools, we are not laying off the teachers and principals. We are reabsorbing all of those individuals right back in the district. That is what is different between 2012 and 2011, 2013 closures and now. Those employees will be reabsorbed back into the district. And kids who need more teachers, more administrative personnel, more safety support because -- and they're underperforming, under- resourced, we're going to push more resources into those schools. And we'll do it more efficiently because we're going to right-size these really large and really small, really over-enrolled, really under- enrolled schools. Final slide, Mr. President. Timeline, as you well know, the Board of Education, President Streater, Vice President Andrews and the board members have their meeting -- budget hearing tomorrow. And then on May 29th, we'll be expecting the Board of Education, if it be that President Streater and Vice President Andrews, will to adopt their budget. And you can see that we look forward to hearing the outcome of potential additional revenue in June based on actions the City Council and the Mayor take. We are certain -- while I'm agnostic to how we get the revenue, I feel like my job is to make the case to President Streater and Vice President Andrews to Council. Here is the revenue we need; we desperately need revenue in June. If we get it in June, the 340 positions that are on the table will not be cut and reassigned to other schools. If we do not get the revenue, we absolutely will have no 17 choice but to cut and reassign 340 hardworking employees to other places in the school district. I thank you for the opportunity to present today, Mr.
President, members of Council, happy to join President Streater and Vice President Andrews in any questions. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr., the Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore-Richardson, Jamie Gauthier, Nicholas O'Rourke.
Thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank you and officially apologize for some of the angst yesterday. I brought you some candy to try to make up and to say to you that I should always lead with the things -- and I was glad that mayor did lead with positive things; test scores are up, dropout rates are down, truancy; we're working on. I mean, there are a lot of good things to the direction of the school board and the Superintendent's team. I appreciate what you've done for my, overall. I'm going to say it on the record that when alma mater you start to think about schools that lose attendance, it was one of them. The co-merger is helping to keep that facility alive. That does not go wasted on me. And so, for the record, you know, I appreciate it. However, and nevertheless, some of the things -- there is a difference between math adding up and decisions that kind of don't make sense to me. Lankenau has a 100 percent graduation rate. A lot of those kids go on, like other schools, to some of the finer institutions, are working on environmental things. I thank my colleagues, particularly Chairman Thomas, for coming up and leading our delegation of members to a -- to a room full of young people fraught with promise that look forward to their life. And to -- so the question becomes, what do you save towards that $300 deficit by closing Lamberton? And what does the -- what is the intended use of that facility if it is -- if it is a professional enrichment? You could do that at Lankenau, Lamberton in West Philly, because the high school part is closed. You can move right in and it won't affect anybody. But this school is located on about acres of bucolic space. 13 They have feral coyotes and deers, 14 and really have water temperature 15 tested. They're right near the 16 Schuylkill Environmental Center. 17 That doesn't add up to me. The second school is Overbrook Elementary, which has a similar graduation rate. And what I'm hearing is that those kids are going to be relocated so that you can do professional advancement. We could do that at 404. We could do that at Lamberton. There are spaces that we have that can accommodate those kinds of things. We'll find a way to get you a jacuzzi down there, but you don't need to take those facilities just for those purposes. I have -- and I take a little bit of offense to you, the 3rd District, you've accommodated, the 5th District, you've accommodated, and I'm not jealous, I'm not hating. But I was here for every one of those except for the liquor-by-the-drink tax that I voted for. My face was on milk cartons to improve, you know, preschool. I took those hits. I had to knock on doors and say, hey, I raised your taxes, millage rates, but you know, it is for the kids, right? And so those things that, you know, that I care about, not being accommodated because I took the tough votes, lets me know maybe, you know, should I have taken them? And I answer yes because it is for the kids. So I say to you that I hope that we are sincere about it is, you know, we're still communicating and still negotiating because I want to be with you. I want to continue my track record of being supportive of you and then public education. But it is difficult for me to knock on a door and say, oh, by the way, I'm raising your taxes. Although to find explanation of the percentage of people that are under $50,000 that do. But in my district, there are a lot of people who make over 50,000 that depend on that service that I have to knock on their doors and say, “By the way, I'm raising your taxes and I'm closing your kids' school.” Make that make sense for me.
I'll be very succinct. Thank you, Councilmember Jones. I hear you loud and clear. In a full spirit of this ethos that we really do care and don't want to be tone deaf at all. Certainly, the rationale behind Lankenau's merger with W.B. Saul is that at the high school level we see a need to increase school size, but not too big. We don't want to go back to the days of -- when schools like Overbrook High School had 4,000 or 5,000 young people in them.
Yes, sir. But our academic progress, we're growing faster in grades 3 through 8. We're making significantly faster improvement in 3rd through 8th grade reading and math than we are in the high school -- high school keystone test in biology, algebra, and english language arts. And part of the problem at our high schools is, when we have such small schools on one end and really large schools in the Northeast, the quality of their academic resources we can push in to improve academic performance are very disparate. And so, while we've tried to put on the table a way to improve high -- increase high school size, we also know that that Lankenau property and the 17 acres you referenced is really important. And so we no longer are recommending to part -- that the board part ways with that property, but to make it available certainly for Lankenau students who would be at Saul could still have field trip opportunities and utilize those resources as well as the other high schools and K-8 schools in the city. So we think that is a win-win. With the Overbrook Elementary School, it -- the building score is poor. It does require some significant investment in addition to a number of other schools. And so, but your point is well taken.
Mr. President, my final point is that when the fine institution of University City closed, they moved all of those students to Overbrook. Tell me whom, in your staff, made that decision and did not take into account historical neighborhood differences; gangs. And the quality of the education and environment changed because there was friction. So tell me who now is plotting, calculating those differences so that our babies are safe.
The team is -- has taken a look and can -- has continued to take -- is continuing to take a look at all the references you -- all the points you just referenced, Councilmember Jones. I want to assure you of that. The team is continuing to look at and planning about things like safety and recognizing that even folks like me who are not from Philadelphia originally and just been here four years, this phenomenon of city of neighborhoods and will be very thoughtful about how young people interact with each other. We're taking a hard look at everything from -- that includes transportation, how far children have to move or walk to get to school, and those kinds of things, for students who don't use public transportation. The fact that we've not been able to deliver a perfect solution on everything, it certainly doesn't suggest that we're not considering all those factors.
So my senator was a part of these negotiations and said, tell me what he has to raise at the state level to cover some of those deficits. Because no one has told me what you save by closing these endeavors. I haven't got -- I asked that question yesterday --
-- never got the answer. And he made a suggestion that, tell him where he has to go to raise the money to make the difference so that those babies aren't put at risk and --
-- deprived of education. When good kids get traumatized by doing the right thing, what are we -- what are we doing? And so I would like you to consider that. You asked me the question, were we -- were we -- whether we were still going to be friends? The answer is yes. But I'm a -- look, I'm going to side-eye you a bit if these things aren't -- last point, I have gone down to your -- you treat me good when I testify, me and Chairman Thomas. You let us testify upfront. You give me a nice little water and you not in the appropriate places and don't do nothing that we ask. And, you know, I feel kind -- I feel kind of abused. You know what I mean? They say thank you for coming, and we're going to do what we're going to do anyway. Just once.
Councilmember Jones, Mr. President, if you'll just lend me seconds. 8
In 2012/13, the lion's share of savings came from laying off employees; teachers, principals, climate managers. We're not doing that this time. So we don't -- we won't have significant savings because we're pushing those resources into other schools. We are reinvesting in under-resourced, underperforming parts of the city and the schools. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I hope -- I please go heard, because we are begging you on behalf of those students.
Thank you very much, Member Jones. Majority Leader Kathrine Gilmore- Richardson, then Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. President. And thank you to Board Chair Streater, as well as Dr. Watlington. I wanted to give kudos also to Dr. Dawson who will be departing for Baltimore. Laurel, thank you very much for all of your coordination. I saw Laurel over here somewhere, but thank you very, very much for your work, Laurel. Also, Edwin Santana, thank you very much. Ansil --
Oh, yes. Shout out to the men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated. But thank you very, very much. And to all the members of the board as well as everyone in the school district who worked on the CTE Teacher Tuition Assistance Program, that would include Michelle Armstrong, Tim McKenna, Nick Gasis, Samuel Ewen, John Fallows, Meredith Mehra, and everyone involved from the PFT side, Commerce, and PIDC to help us get that program off the ground. So thank you very, very much for all of your work. And also want to thank Melody as well. She has just been wonderful, wonderful to work with. I wanted to go back to where I started yesterday. Yesterday I talked about the contribution starting in FY21. I want to go back today to FY18 to FY26. The City of Philadelphia has increased its annual contribution to the School District of Philadelphia, and this is '18 to '26, by $686 million. This includes increasing our direct contribution from $104.3 million in fiscal year '18 to $284 million in fiscal year '26, which is an increase of $179.7 million in eight years. Local tax revenue has increased by $480 million since FY '18. And while the state has increased this contribution by $936 million over that time period, the city has contributed more money to the district overall by a figure of $359,156,246. So I wanted to make sure I got that on the record from the charts that you all have provided to us. And in that vein, I wanted to go back, and I recognize that I did make an error yesterday in the original request because of the date. I don't even know what day it is at this point. But for the record, yesterday I was asking the district to move the vote from 4/23, which is this Thursday, this week, to Thursday, May 28th. I know that we spoke about that yesterday, so I wanted to start there. In addition to that, for the record, if you could just provide us a list of all the positions that are slated to be eliminated, if you could break it down by school, without the additional funding and also with the additional funding, because I think I have some relative confusion there. Because I have received a ton of outreach from teachers from a variety of schools asking specifically about their positions. And so if you could just provide us with the list by school if you receive -- if you do not receive the additional funding. And then also, could you provide a list of where each staff person would be moved and what role they will fill after their current position is eliminated. Now, also if you could just explain to us in writing, because this will help me as well. If you received the funding, would you have to move any teachers at all? Because that is the part that I'm just a little confused about, based on the outreach that I have received. And then I also had a question relative to the structural deficit, I need to know whether or not you all use ARPA dollars to fund any positions, because I think -- and this part was a little jarring for me, is that -- and we all knew the ARPA dollars would go away. That wasn't something that we anticipated would be backfilled or filled on the back end. So did you all use -- and I had this question already prepared in advance, I just want to be real clear about that. Did you all use ARPA dollars to fund any of the positions that we're referring to? And the question is, because we all know that the ARPA dollars would expire, that it is the same situation that we are in from a city perspective. And then also, does the school district's revised five-year plan that shows closing the structural deficit by fiscal year 30 assume the facilities plan moves forward as proposed or as you all have updated and indicated here? And does it also assume that you receive the additional public and philanthropic funds that you need to fully implement the facilities plan? And if you could just also provide a list of the $225 million in savings, the district is proposing in the revised five-year plan. And I'll start there.
Thank you, Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson. Number one, relative to the 340 positions that we have proposed to cut and to reassign to other vacant positions for next school year, yes, we can give you the list today of all those positions. It is broken down by Council District as well, in addition to school. I may not be able to tell you just yet exactly where every person will go, partly because those are decisions that we make in partnership with the union presidents per the collective bargaining agreements with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, with President Steinberg; with CASA, with President Dr. Robin Cooper, et cetera. But we can get through that today and we can submit it for the record. Number two, the second question was about COVID or the ARPA funding --
I'm sorry, Dr. Watlington, for the interruption, but may I go back to that?
My question as well is, outside of the 340 positions, will we see any additional reductions in teaching positions or eliminating any additional teaching positions? And I'm only confused because --
-- I received outreach, and I don't understand if we're just talking about the 340 with the funding, and then there is additional positions as well where folks are going to be moved.
The superintendent is not recommending additional cuts. At the same time, some of the confusion may be that principals do have some autonomy about how to use their budgets. So it is not inconsistent that a principal might say, “In my school, I'm going to have one less teacher of this, I want to increase resources here based on student needs.” So that might be, but I will double check that. But the Superintendent is not recommending additional cuts from the district beyond those 340.
I see what you're saying. Because their budgets may change. Is this going back to the enrollment conversation?
Okay. Because I received outreach from several schools and I even saw a message in a forum for parents, I'll just say that, from my son's new school. And I said, well, wait a minute, outside of the 340, what else is happening here?
So that could be a school-based decision based on a budgeting --
One, principals have some discretion over their budgets. And number two, it could be because their annual projections are down. Let's say my school had 500 kids this year --
-- and the projections show that my numbers were dropped to 400, rather than monkey around with moving people the first 10, 20, 30 days of schools, we get that right-sized before school -- students come back.
Got you. Okay. So could you all also give us the information, relative to each school, how much their budget has changed year over year? And I know you may not be able to provide us with specific information relative to how that will impact what the principal has planned relative to the teaching and staffing positions, but can we also get a list of every school that is anticipated to have a decrease in enrollment, thus they would have a decrease in their budgeted amount for teaching and staff positions? Because I -- this week, I have been inundated with communication and emails from teachers who I'm trying to figure out, are they outside of this 340? You know what I mean?
The short answer is yes, Madam Majority Leader. I'll just remind Council that our annual budget book is on the district website through last year. So all that archival data is there. It is just this long. But we'll be glad to summarize, and we can give you -- I think the spirit of what you want to know is, how are projections and potential budgets changing this year?
The second question, and I'll be brief, was related to the COVID ARPA dollars. Did we put the short-term dollars into staff positions? The answer is yes. The industry standard across K-12 education is if you have short- term funding, whether it is from federal sources, grants, philanthropy, et cetera, the industry standard is generally don't put those dollars into long-term positions because boards of education are unable to sustain those positions over time. And it puts a strain on the budget, backs folks in the corner. And No. 2, when Congress appropriated those dollars, they were for purposes of addressing learning loss since all the schools across the country were closed. Congress also said these dollars can be used for air quality mitigation in case there was another pandemic or some kind of health-borne illness. The School District of Philadelphia was in a place, under the previous administration -- and I try not to Monday morning quarterback -- but was in a place where the district couldn't just take the dollars and do the extra stuff because we had so many holes in the budget already because of historical underfunding. So this district took the position that it would hire 127 assistant principals with these COVID dollars, which I absolutely don't -- can't recommend a cut from the school district, and some other much needed positions around climate, et cetera. We decided we wouldn't cut any of those positions over the past three years because we would ride the wave with the federal money. This was a once-in-lifetime opportunity with the $1.8 billion that we received in COVID dollars. And it shows that if you give a school district, an urban school district, more money with a strategic plan, and the districts focuses on the research, uses the data, and hold ourselves accountable, we can get better. And so I think the district, in hindsight, did the right thing.
Can I just say there? What was the plan to fund the positions once the ARPA money ran out? So meaning we knew that this money would run out, so we knew that this would be a hole that we would have to plug. And I -- we aren't Monday morning quarterbacking you all either, right? Because the city had to do the same thing and plug the holes. But you're saying 127 assistant principals, climate positions. We knew the ARPA money would run out.
We knew after that money was gone, that that was it. And so at that point, what was the plan for those 127 assistant principals and climate positions?
Once I came aboard in 2022, it was my thinking, the decision, that we would delay those cuts until we absolutely had to make them. Now when people were hired, I was not here. So I don't know exactly what conversations were or were not held with these individuals. But I can tell you they've been doing some fantastic work, and we sure want to keep every one of them.
No, no, I understand that. But you understand the question?
And, like, and I get where you are because it wasn't a decision that you made, and you weren't here. But what was the plan to ensure that we could fund those physicians after the money ran out? Meaning we knew we would be in this circumstance. I don't want it to be a situation where we thought that after the ARPA money ran out, that we were going to get some kind of additional federal infusion just for this circumstance. That was not -- never going to be the case, right?
I believe one of your questions were for me, but I want to piggyback off of this question, Majority Leader. The board had to make a decision, and I was here when Dr. Hite presented to the board and said, we have a choice here. And this was a nationwide coordinated effort with the Council for Great City schools. Where there was lobbying going on in D.C. and there was real guidance, factual guidance, bona fide guidance, that if we -- if we also invest in people and show that public education, even through the hell that the pandemic was for our babies, we can hold the line. They can get better. This is a strategy to compel D.C to increase reoccurring firms -- funds to the school district. So as opposed to the smidgen in our budget that it is now, it could be something that can help accelerate student achievement. We took that shot because we thought our babies at that time were worth it, and they're still worth it. And I'm also thinking about, yes, the -- those positions may not -- may not be reoccurring as it relates to funding, but I'm hoping that when I'm, you know, done with this role and I'm in the supermarket, and there is a child who went through the pandemic and they were able to still go to college, be where they wanted to be, that those dollars were for them. And that is what the board's thinking was. And I believe the strategy worked. As a byproduct, I think we also have to understand there are some who believe that it couldn't be done. We now have evidence, bona fide evidence, in Philadelphia, no 12 matter who the child is, where they are, we can accelerate student achievement. If you fund us, if we focus on why we exist, and we're strategic and how we do it. So I think that is kind of the context I want to give you. I know people might say, well, that is bad business sense, but you got to remember also, the board also built a massive fund balance because of the COVID dollars, which delayed this conversation for five years.
So it was -- it was a balanced and strategic and pragmatic approach. I'm willing to bet on our children every day, and I'm willing to bet on our great educators every day understanding that. So I just want to that on the record.
No, I received that. If you could just let us know how much, I'm thinking Class 100, but that is not the way you all budget, but how much it is for the 127 assistant principals and the climate positions? Just so we have a picture just for those positions.
We'll ask Chief Herbstman, absolutely, to gather that information together. I'm going to answer these last two questions you raised very quickly. Let me just say I'm so glad President Streater and the Board of Education took that position. I was one of the people who represented school districts and went to Washington years ago at the onset of the pandemic and lobby congressional leaders to put this money out. And I remember going from office to office and people telling -- and I knew which offices I would go to, and people would say, “Nope, don't even come here. We're not given school districts.” And I wasn't in a large urban school district, but I remember hearing, especially the big urban districts, because you give them more money and they get worse, and they come back and ask for more, we don't think more money will make a difference. I'm so pleased that here, those dollars were well --- were used well, to prove just the opposite; we can get better with the resources. Does the five-year plan assume any connections to the -- about the Facilities Master Plan being approved? No. The five-year plan, as we've presented it, is completely separate. So even if there were not a Facilities Master Plan, we would still be taking these steps to reduce our expenditures. And if and when the Facilities Master Plan and whatever fine iteration is approved by the Board of Education, it won't resort -- result in significant savings, compared to the last time that schools closed, because we're reinvesting those dollars back into the most under-resourced schools and most underperforming children as a strategy to improve academic performance. Final question --
Excuse me one second. I have a point of information from Member, Dr. Anthony Phillips.
I want to thank the majority leader for raising a very important question around the recurring dollars for COVID which raises my point of information. If that was -- President Streater, as you mentioned, if that was something that you wanted to essentially take a chance on, right? Knowing that the funds were -- would dry up at some point, and -- but you wanted to show the world that if you invest through staff and teachers, that we will be able to increase performance at our schools. Is there data that shows that that investment worked? If so, are -- can you please share that with us here today and also in writing, because that is important to know. Because if we're going to take another chance, again, we need to know that it is just -- it is going to work very, very well, and not just somewhat well.
Councilmember Dr. Phillips, one of the reasons, key drivers, not the only driver, but a big reason why test scores are up, graduation rates are up, and the dropout rate is down, it is not just because folks who work in the school district just came to work one day and said, "You know what? We're going to work harder.” They had a once in a lifetime opportunity to get funding that schools and classrooms desperately need. So the first set of data I would put out there is rising test scores, rising graduation rates, and declining dropout rates. And a good factoid is in the eighth -- in the nation's report card. Our students in Philadelphia had the best improvement in 8th grade math in the nation's report card than any big city in the country except Los Angeles. Better than New York, Chicago, Atlanta, you go on through the list. And the $1.8 billion investing in people as President Streater said, that is a testament to that. And since the Commonwealth Court ruling said that the district is underfunded by 1.8 billion, it is just ironic that the district got $1.8 billion from Congress. Fast forward to 2023, the Commonwealth Court says the district is underfunded by 1.8 billion. I think it is 1.8, Chief Herbstman. And it just shows, if we've got the constitutional finding, this proves that the district can be the fastest improving, and our kids can get better.
Thank you, Council President. I just hope that if you also, with the -- in writing, if you can show that in correlation to the staff.
And then also what you project now, with the positions remaining, the growth to be. Because that is -- it is important for us to have that return on investment as well.
Thank you. Thank you, Council President. Just to wrap up, thank you very much. I will submit my additional questions for the record, including the amount of the debt service on the $1 billion borrowing; how much that impacts your plan as well. But if we could go back to board Streater -- Board President Streater, relative to my request regarding moving the vote from April 23rd to May 28th. They give us an opportunity to fully -- more fully deliberate.
Before I answer that question, I think sometimes the board, we live with this stuff, and I think sometimes we forget that everybody doesn't live with it the way we do. So there is a sense of urgency, I think, that could be perceived as rush, rush, rush. But for us, I have been living with this since I got on the board five years ago. And, yeah, you know, sometimes I lawyer it up, and I point that we had it here. We set it here, we set it here, resolution 11 connects to this resolution, resolution X connects to that resolution. But that doesn't change the fact that your reality might be a little different as Councilmembers as well, when you have to take tough votes as well. So with that, I'll say, again, I'm still at a space to be quite honest, where I have to take this back to the board as well. And I'm at a space now where the board has to consider other things that may not be in -- that is -- that we have to live with, such as our capital budget, such as our ability to lock in rates, such as our ability for Dr. Watlington to get to okay to start moving the ship of the School District of Philadelphia in a such large, fast way. But also so that we can get back to focusing on student achievement. So with all that being said, also downloading everything that I heard today and that I heard yesterday, I'm going to continue having that conversation where I can do that for you. But as of right now, let me just take that back to the board again, and I will get back to you.
We -- no, and I thank you Council President and I need to wrap up to respect colleagues, but tomorrow is the scheduled action meeting for the district. And the next scheduled action meeting is Thursday, May 28th. And I think, you know, we have been presented with so much new information as notated by Mayor Parker, but also new information relative to this vote even being scheduled this week. We just found out this week. So we are obviously in the middle of our process, and I know you all have to be finished before we are, right? I get that because certain things need to happen. Even when you do a borrow, when you got to go to market, you got to shop around. Things have to occur on the back end in order for you to proceed with the work that you need to do. However, we are at a convergence of this facilities plan as well as being asked to fill in a budget deficit and a budget challenge that you all are asking us to deliberate. And we will need time in order to do that with all the new information that is just being presented that we have not had an opportunity to digest. And so I'm just respectfully requesting, because we have to, you know, work together and work in partnership, and we -- and we have to carry the lion's share of this in this body to ensure that you all receive the funding necessary to move forward that if you could, before tomorrow, because we would then have to make the appropriate accommodation here. And tomorrow is our stated meeting day as well. That if you all could postpone that action meeting relative to the facilities plan until Thursday, May 28th, that would be greatly appreciated based on the work that we have to do as well.
I thought you-all was going to get together last night, come up with a game plan, come back today, so --
And I'm not even starting the drama today. I'm just saying it is complex for you-all. It is complex for us. We're trying to work as a partnership and everybody got to do a little bit of give and take. That is all --
On behalf of the students and the children of the City of Philadelphia, I just wanted to put that out there.