Dive Brief:
- The School District of Philadelphia’s board of education in a 6-3 vote on Thursday approved a $3 billion facilities plan that includes the closure of 17 schools beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
- The finalized 10-year facilities plan aims to align the district’s buildings with student enrollment, academic programs and budgets, the district said in a Thursday statement. Additionally, 169 school campuses will be modernized, and six other schools will be co-located.
- However, the board’s final vote did not come without pushback from the broader school community. On Thursday, the board members suddenly pivoted the meeting from in-person to virtual prior to a final vote on the facility plan as protesters began chanting over the board as members discussed their final decision.
Dive Insight:
Superintendent Tony Watlington reiterated in a Thursday statement that the purpose of Philadelphia’s school facilities plan has been to address “the challenges of aging, underutilized, and overcrowded school buildings,” while also expanding equitable access to high-quality academics and extracurricular activities.
Though the district’s overall enrollment slightly increased by 106 to a total 198,405 students between the 2024-25 to 2025-26 school years, those figures vary by the type of school, including traditional, charter, alternative, and cyber charter schools.
Last year, the district noted a 12% enrollment decline — amounting to a loss of 15,546 students — between the 2014-15 and 2024-25 school years. That dip comes as the School District of Philadelphia’s alternative school enrollment rose by 3.1%, its charter school enrollment decreased by 0.5%, and its cyber charter school enrollment jumped over 2,500%, with 13,705 more students in the same 10-year period.
“This plan is designed to ensure that every student — regardless of zip code — has access to the programs, resources, and learning environments they deserve,” Watlington said. “While these decisions are not easy, they are informed by robust community engagement and a steadfast commitment to improving outcomes for all Philadelphia public school students.”
The district’s 10-year facilities plan shifted a bit since its introduction in January, as it increased total investment in the effort from $2.8 billion to $3 billion and decreased the number of closed schools from 20 to 17. To pay for the multi-billion dollar plan, the district said it will commit $1.1 billion of its own resources and seek the remaining $1.9 billion from public and philanthropic funds.
Philadelphia’s 17 school closures are part of a broader trend nationwide as public school districts continue to face enrollment declines, forcing boards to make sometimes tense decisions to shutter school buildings.
In Philadelphia, the history of school closures cuts deep for some community members.
Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said in a Thursday statement that the board’s latest closure plan calls back to a 2013 decision made by the state-appointed School Reform Commission, which closed dozens of Philadelphia public schools.
“The events that followed these actions spurred a mass exodus of students and staff out of this District, and a downward spiral of achievement and learning,” Steinberg said. “It is my gravest fear that today's vote by the Board will spur a similar spiral — after years of hard-fought gains — for the School District of Philadelphia.”
While resistance to school closures from the public can at times cause boards to pivot or delay their final decisions, education finance experts have said these moves are often necessary for a district’s financial wellbeing.
Thomas Dee, a professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, told K-12 Dive in December that delaying those decisions can lead to fewer resources for students or state takeovers.
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