Board of Education Action Meeting: March 27, 2025
by Lisa Haver
Ilene Poses testifies at March Board of Education Meeting (Photo: Lisa Haver)
As far as the Board of Education is concerned, there is no “good trouble”. In fact, anything that makes them… uncomfortable…seems to be bad trouble. Just standing in the aisle to show solidarity with public speakers–as people have done at board meetings for years–is verboten. Board President Reginald Streater repeated his erroneous statement that people standing in the aisle violate the fire code. Actually, it is the board’s making the aisle narrower, and its blocking one of the two fire exits, that compromise the safety of the people in the auditorium. APPS members distributed flyers reminding people of their first amendment rights: you don’t have to wear a badge to enter a public meeting and you can stand with signs. We showed people that when we fight we win: APPS members stood in the aisle in solidarity with students, educators, parents and community members who came to defend public education. We will stand at every board meeting.
RiSE Up to Repression
The board’s political direction and encroachment on the civil liberties of its constituents manifests itself in many ways. Teacher and APPS member Kristin Luebbert testified that this board has done more to “enact and uphold white supremacist values” than any other board in recent memory. In addition to their systematic defunding of schools in underserved areas of the city, Luebbert said, they have allowed “a white outside group to direct the politically motivated removal of an award-winning Black and Muslim teacher using false allegations.” In her Hall Monitor commentary, Lisa Haver compared the district’s removal of that teacher after her students’ presentation on Palestine with that of the Trump administration’s abduction and intended deportation of a Palestinian student and activist at Columbia University. Haver wrote that the board’s secret process to close more neighborhood schools, while catering to the demands of charter operators and lobbyists through its secretive Project RiSE, mirrors the Trump administration’s following the Project 2025 blueprint to eliminate public schools. Haver wrote: “Public education is facing an existential crisis, on both a national and local level. Instead of capitulating to the forces of privatization, the Board of Education should be using its power as the district’s governing body to strengthen the city’s public schools.”
Board Passes Lump Sum Budget
District Chief Financial Officer Mike Herbstman presented the proposed lump sum budget for the 2025/26 fiscal year. The presentation was displayed on screen, but was not available on the district website before or during the meeting, either online or in hard copy. Days later, it remains unpublished. Item 22 anticipates receipts and other financing sources totaling $4.372 billion and expenditures of $4.747 billion. Some board members asked Herbstman and Superintendent Tony Watlington about the budget; others only offered their opinions. BM Chou-Wing Lam asked the most substantial questions, even following up after evasive answers, but still didn’t get substantial answers. BM Crystal Cubbage asked whether the administration had ideas for “other sources” of income. Watlington responded that there were some philanthropic grants. In reality, donations represent a very small part of the district’s $4 billion budget. What Streater characterized as a “robust discussion” was neither. There was no exchange of ideas and no challenge to the administration’s priorities. Notable by its absence was any discussion of reining in excessive charter expenses, particularly the exorbitant salary and compensation packages paid to charter CEOs and administrators.
Don’t Call Us, Call Your Congressman
APPS member Ilene Poses called out the board after they again urged people to write or call their elected officials to stop cuts to education funding. “You are the leaders”, Poses reminded them. Poses urged them to speak at community meetings, many of which are held in neighborhood schools. The board could also display and distribute the names and phone numbers of senators, congresspeople, state legislators and City Council members. They could put all of the information on a QR code on the website. They could lead campaigns to City Hall and Harrisburg to defend public education. Time for the board to step up and be true leaders.
Cone of Silence Descends Before Voting
Have board members, maybe in some executive session, taken a vow to be silent during voting on its “consent agenda”? It has been months since we heard a single question or comment from even one board member before voting–almost always unanimously– to approve items totalling hundreds of millions of dollars. After Streater’s instructions, voting proceeded without interruption (Cheryl Harper, for the second month in a row, was not present and not seen on screen; her voice was heard during the roll-call vote). Maybe it’s naive to expect that a board chosen in secrecy would conduct its business in an open and transparent manner. In just under two minutes, the board voted to approve grants and contracts totaling $214, 812, 592.
The meeting adjourned at 8:06 PM.
Next Board of Education action meeting: Thursday, April 24, 4 PM at 440 N. Broad Street.
Next Board Policy Meeting: Thursday, April 3, 4 PM at 440 N. Broad Street.
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 