Philadelphia School District has ‘tough choices’ to make, superintendent says 

The facilities master plan proposed for the Philadelphia School District will “require some sacrifice,” the district’s superintendent said.

“The school district of Philadelphia and the city have some tough choices to make,” superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington said in an interview with NBC10.

The interview with Watlington is in a new episode of Battleground Politics with Lauren Mayk and will be featured on NBC10 @Issue this Sunday, March 8 at 11:30 am.

Watlington submitted a revised plan to the school board last month that included modernizing 159 schools and closing 18 schools – down from 20 closures in the original plan.

It also invests in career and technical education programming, pre-K and provides algebra across the district. 

“I think that while there is some short term sacrifice – and I don’t want to hide from it, I want to be very clear, I recognize it, we care about our families – I think this plan will give our children and families more,” Watlington said.

Some parents, council members and the teachers union have advocated against parts of the plan but Watlington said he’s not planning to suggest any additional changes.

“This is my final recommendation to the board of education,” Watlington said, labeling the plan good but not perfect.

Still, the head of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers said he is urging the school district to pause the process.

“What we are requesting of the district is, since next year is a planning year anyway, hit the pause button and provide data so all the stakeholders can understand why it was determined that their school would be closed as say opposed to another one,” PFT president Arthur Steinberg said in an interview.

Asked whether all students who move schools would end up going to a school in better shape than the one they left, Watlington said “the lion’s share will.”

A spokesperson later followed up with a statement saying the plan would “ensure that 100% of impacted students are reassigned to schools with comparable or better academic outcomes and/or building conditions.”

The plan is slated to cost $2.8 billion with $1 billion coming from the district and the remaining $1.8 billion from the government and philanthropic funds.

Asked what the deadline would be to secure that additional $1.8 billion, Watlington didn’t offer a specific date when money had to be committed but said that the district would move forward “as early as fiscal year 2027-2028 with a list of prioritized projects given the resources we can commit from the district.”

Subscribe to Battleground Politics anywhere you get your podcasts: Spotify | Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | RSS | Watch on YouTube