At its January 26th Action Meeting, the Board of Education held an end-of-year update on the Goals & Guardrails progress monitoring sessions held in 2022. Last year, the Board monitored progress for all five academic Goals and all four Guardrails. As a reminder, Goals & Guardrails is the Board’s five-year strategic plan to raise student…
As the governing body for the School District of Philadelphia, the Board of Education’s main role is to oversee all policies and budgetary decisions for the District. But the Board has two other important duties. One is to appoint and evaluate the Superintendent. The other is to serve as the authorizer of all brick-and-mortar charter…
Working to promote integrity within the School District of Philadelphia is a little known department: the Office of the Inspector General. In 2019, the Board reestablished the OIG as an independent entity charged with investigating and reporting on fraud, waste and abuse within the School District. While most employees are honest, hard-working people dedicated to…
The Board of Education publicly thanked Governor Wolf and the state legislature for passing a budget that includes a historic $525 million increase in basic education funding. This is the largest increase in Pennsylvania’s main subsidy for public schools. The School District of Philadelphia is set to receive approximately $200 million more than last year….
The Board has been monitoring the progress of Goals & Guardrails, our plan to raise student achievement, for nearly two years. This monitoring has helped the Board identify our students’ needs and then invest in targeted strategies and resources. In the first 20 months of monitoring progress toward achieving our Goals & Guardrails, the Board…
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has launched a Transition Team as part of a three-phase effort to lay a strong foundation for student growth and achievement in the School District of Philadelphia. In Phase 1, Dr. Watlington held dozens of Listening and Learning Sessions with school communities, advocacy groups, community leaders and city officials. Insights…
At its May 26th Action Meeting, the Board of Education approved the operating budget for the 2022-2023 school year. This operating budget increased by more than $175 million, reaching the highest level of investment in our schools and students since fiscal year 2011. A one-time infusion of federal funding from the American Recovery Plan Act…
At the Board’s Action Meeting on May 26th, Board Member Mallory Fix-Lopez asked our school communities to support Governor Wolf’s proposed education budget for K-12 schools. The proposal includes significant funding increases for Basic Education, Special Education, and the Level Up initiative as well as charter school funding reforms to align payments with costs. This…
In an effort to connect with students on important issues, Student Board Representative Armando Ortez participated in a recent panel discussion on the impact of gun violence on students across the city. More than 100 people attended this virtual meeting, including students, educators and former Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., Ed.D. This panel was organized…
On June 16th, Tony B. Watlington, Sr., Ed.D., was sworn in as the new Superintendent for the School District of Philadelphia. The swearing-in ceremony took place at the School District Administration Building and was followed by a reception for employees to meet the new Superintendent. Dr. Watlington will soon be sharing his vision for the…