Philadelphia Plans New Wave Of Public School Closures

The Philadelphia School Board voted successful May 2026 to adjacent 17 of its 218 schools. Seven are simple schools, 5 are mediate schools and 5 are precocious schools. Additionally, 3 different precocious schools will move into existing schools and stock buildings.

I americium an acquisition anthropologist and co-author of “Schools for Sale,” a forthcoming book that examines what happened during Philly’s past activity of wide schoolhouse closures, erstwhile nan territory closed 30 of its 249 nationalist schools betwixt June 2012 and June 2013.

My co-authors and I are often asked by citizens, academics and stakeholders whether nan School District of Philadelphia’s stated goals for closures – costs savings and reinvestment successful existing schools – are achievable. People besides want to cognize whether nan existent planned closures are akin to aliases different from 2013.

Shot of ample beige building successful foreground pinch solid skyscrapers successful background

The Philadelphia School District plans to adjacent 17 schools complete nan adjacent twelvemonth to thief reside its $300 cardinal fund shortfall. Local schools and communities opportunity they’ve been near retired of nan readying process. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Why schools closed successful 2013

The activity of public school closures 13 years agone successful Philadelphia besides swept different awesome American cities, including Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. These cities, for illustration Philadelphia, decided to adjacent accepted vicinity schools successful bid to consolidate underused buildings arsenic nan number of students enrolled successful their districts dwindled.

In 2013, Philadelphia’s nationalist schools were grappling pinch astir 70,000 quiet seats, successful a territory designed for 195,000 students.

This was nan cumulative consequence of a decade of national and authorities policies, including No Child Left Behind, passed successful 2001, and Race to nan Top, successful 2009. Both policies tied schoolhouse backing to standardized trial performance, meaning that schools that grounded to meet testing benchmarks were recommended for closure and charter conversion. These policies fueled accelerated charter schoolhouse description successful Philadelphia and nationally.

Between 1999 and 2014, astir 80 charter schools opened successful nan city. The stock of Philadelphia students enrolled successful charters leaped from 2% to 36%, and backing to support them followed nan aforesaid path.

At nan aforesaid time, nan territory faced mounting financial pressures aft national stimulus costs that nan metropolis received pursuing nan 2008 recession expired. Meanwhile, nan costs of maintaining a parallel charter assemblage continued to grow.

A authorities rule passed successful 1997 requires each Pennsylvania districts to remit 70% of per-pupil backing to nan charter each kid attends alternatively of a nationalist school. This drove up payments to charter schools by much than 3,000% from 1999 to 2014 and diverted costs distant from territory schools that still needed to support fixed costs, specified arsenic utilities, staffing and building improvements.

By early 2012, nan territory faced a US$300 cardinal fund deficit. The territory laid disconnected much than 300 teachers and support unit nan pursuing year.

The territory hired ample consulting firms from retired of authorities successful 2010 and again successful 2012 to measure which schools would meet nan criteria for closure. The consultants considered building quality, building usage and world performance.

They moreover created a measurement to measurement schoolhouse information based connected suspensions and convulsive incidents. One point they didn’t do was sojourn nan schools aliases communities. Ultimately, they listed 60 imaginable schools for closure.

This number narrowed to 30 aft rounds of organization meetings and a ballot by nan School Reform Commission, which astatine nan clip was a partially state-appointed, partially mayoral-appointed board.

Six nationalist schools shuttered successful June 2012 and different 24 successful June 2013. The closures displaced astir 10,000 students. Many went connected to a caller nationalist schoolhouse assigned to them; others went to charters aliases near nan territory altogether.

Why schools are closing successful 2026

Now, Philadelphia – on pinch different cities, including Baltimore, St. Louis, Houston and Atlanta – is readying a caller activity of schoolhouse closures.

As successful 2013, officials mention underutilized abstraction and nan extremity of redirecting savings from closures into long-deferred superior improvements for nan district’s aging facilities. The mean schoolhouse building successful Philadelphia is 75 years old.

Declining enrollment – location are astir 20,000 less students successful district-run schools than a decade agone – drives these vacancies, but nan underlying dynamics of enrollment person besides shifted.

Enrollment astatine in-person charter schools remains stable, having accrued conscionable 3% betwixt 2017 and 2022. However, enrollment astatine cyber charter schools, wherever students be classes virtually, much than doubled complete nan aforesaid period, acknowledgment successful portion to nan pandemic. Cyber charters now service astir 13,400 students districtwide.

A diminution successful enrollment astatine Philadelphia nationalist schools reflects broader nationalist trends. These see smaller kindergarten cohorts, declining commencement rates, much group moving retired of cities post-pandemic and caller national migration restrictions that person reduced nan number of migrant children enrolling successful nationalist schools nationwide.

Overstated savings, still-vacant buildings

In 2013, The School District of Philadelphia projected $28 cardinal successful costs savings from its closure plan. However, a study released later that twelvemonth from nan metropolis controller predicted that nan projected savings were overstated successful nan 2012 accommodation scheme and, successful practice, did not materialize.

The study pointed to underestimated costs associated pinch students moving to caller schools, nan ongoing expenses of maintaining vacant properties and nan comparatively humble standard of nan projected $28 cardinal savings successful nan discourse of a astir $300 cardinal yearly deficit.

Attendance rates and world capacity dropped some for students who transitioned from closed schools arsenic good arsenic for students astatine nan receiving schools.

After nan 30 schools closed, location was not a semipermanent accommodation readying process to meaningfully put successful nan schoolhouse buildings that remained open. This deficiency of readying exacerbated galore of nan very conditions nan existent scheme now seeks to address, a reflection of some deficiency of costs to support schools but besides a deficiency of process by territory facilities’ managers to meaningfully reside building conditions aft nan 2013 closures.

My colleagues and I wished that astir 30% of nan Philadelphia schools that closed successful 2013 person remained vacant aliases unsold successful nan 13 years since. Only 28% were repurposed for nationalist acquisition use. The remainder were converted into charter schools, demolished for assemblage improvement aliases redeveloped arsenic market-rate housing.

Meanwhile, cyber charters accrued their gross by $425 cardinal and reserves to screen unexpected expenses by 144% betwixt 2020 and 2023, pinch support from schoolhouse prime advocates specified arsenic cyber charter leaders and defense organizations.

A capacity audit by nan Pennsylvania auditor wide successful February 2025 raised concerns astir cyber charter administrators’ imaginable misuse of these funds, including spending connected bonuses for unit and leadership, gift cards for donors, and existent property investments that did not pertain to acquisition purposes.

Clarity and accountability build organization trust

We deliberation that outsourcing closure readying to consultants – arsenic happened successful Philadelphia successful 2013 and is happening again successful 2026 – while offering constricted opportunities for meaningful engagement beyond “community updates” that did not merge nationalist feedback, undermines parents’ and communities’ spot successful nan nationalist acquisition system.

In 2013 location was a deficiency of clarity from territory officials astir nan intended outcomes of nan schoolhouse closures. The ample transportation of nationalist costs to much privatized schooling options specified arsenic charters occurred contempt constricted grounds of improved capacity by charters, selective enrollment policies and ongoing concerns astir their usage of nationalist funds.

This shows that anemic oversight allows problems specified arsenic quiet seats and mediocre building conditions to persist. At nan aforesaid time, students are being moved into a abstracted charter strategy that nan territory pays for, while vicinity schools person little backing and go much apt to close.

Today, much investigation supports replacement approaches to closing and trading schools. These see repurposing closed schools for organization and acquisition purposes while retaining nationalist ownership of nan buildings. A reckoning pinch nan description of some in-person and cyber charters has besides been called for precocious by The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board.

Ongoing accommodation maestro readying that focuses connected superior investments and integrates organization ideas into nan early of existing buildings tin minimize disruptions and build spot pinch communities affected. Yet contempt nan occurrence of these alternatives successful different cities, nan existent schoolhouse closure process successful Philadelphia continues to trust connected overmuch of nan flawed logic of 2013.