Board of Education Action Meeting: August 21, 2025
by Lisa Haver
In his remarks at the August action meeting, Superintendent Tony Watlington warned of the impending SEPTA service cuts that are scheduled to go into effect on Monday, the first day of school for students. He promised that schools would not mark students late, at least for the first week or so. Yet Watlington presented no plan for getting to school the 52,000 district students who use SEPTA if the transit system goes through with eliminating over thirty of the city’s bus routes; no member of the board asked Watlington for any plan. He encouraged parents to carpool and to make use of the district’s $300.00 allotment for driving their children to school, but he provided no details on that program. Nor did he provide any guidance for parents and guardians who do not own cars. Many parents will walk their children to bus stops at which they will see a notice that no bus will be coming–that day or ever. Is the administration coordinating in any way with SEPTA to direct students and parents to a working bus route? Is the district planning to email parents and guardians–many of whom may not be aware of the service cuts? What’s the plan? Where is the leadership?
Ilene Poses contributed to this report.
Board Hears Only One Side on KOZ Abatements
In June, City Council voted to enact significant cuts in the Business and Receipts Tax (BIRT), enacting one of the most comprehensive tax reforms in recent memory. Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) abatements provide additional tax breaks to developers; they must be approved by both City Council and the Board of Education. The board’s vote is required because the district loses money when developers pay a lower tax rate. The presentation made at this meeting by four representatives from Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Commerce Department, however, did not include the terms “abatement” or “tax break”; their presentation implied that giving tax breaks to developers could only benefit district families and communities. Their power-point showed the district’s share of the PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) paid by developers but not the larger amount that the district would receive if the developers were paying the full tax rate. The six agenda items and the accompanying presentation were posted just two days before the meeting. They did not include pertinent information such as the owners of the properties or even the properties’ zip codes. APPS members stood after the city’s representatives finished and asked the board to hear our rebuttal, a comprehensive analysis by Philly Power Research, which includes comparative costs with and without the KOZ abatement. The board denied us. Many of the board members, however, were not satisfied with the city’s presentation and their failure to answer questions on the success of the KOZ program in the twenty years of its existence. Board Member Crystal Cubbage and others asked for data on how the KOZ program has benefitted the city’s students. Board Member Joyce Wilkerson asked why a KOZ would be paid for one building whose tenant had already vacated. When the representatives failed to answer those questions and many others, board members expressed reluctance to pass the items. In a rare show of independence, the board voted 7-1 to postpone the vote until September; President Reginald Streater was the lone No vote. (Board Member Chou-Wing Lam was absent.) APPS will attempt once again to present the other side of this issue.
Charter Information Missing from District Website
The board voted unanimously to approve Item 29: Approval of Release and Settlement Agreement with West Philadelphia Achievement Charter Elementary School (“WPACES”), Including Establishment of Enrollment Limits for Payment of Per-Pupil Payments by the School District; Payment of Funds by WPACES to Settle Withholding Requests to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (“PDE”); Withdrawal by WPACES of Appeals to Commonwealth Court; and Withdrawal by the School District of Section 1725-A Administrative Proceedings Before PDE. The 5-page item outlined the terms of the settlement with WPACES that concludes legal proceedings going back to 2011. APPS members looking for WPACES’ most recent renewal evaluation and the annual ACE (Annual Charter Evaluation) reports found no information after 2019 on the district’s website. How can the public understand the ramifications of this settlement when the school’s academic, organizational, and financial data are missing? When we raised that question as part of our Sunshine Act objection, the board gave no response. The board also granted an enrollment expansion to Green Woods charter school; the item included no projected costs. The board voted to begin non-renewal proceedings for People for People Charter and KIPP North Philadelphia charters; Board Member Whitney Jones abstained on the first item and voted No on the second. Those items summarized the years of substandard performance by both schools in academics and other areas. People for People has not met academic standards for at least the past ten years. CASA President Robin Cooper testified about the exorbitant salaries paid to charter CEOs, with many making more than Superintendent Tony Watlington, who oversees a 207-school district. APPS member Lynda Rubin reminded the board that charters are businesses that provide profit for legal firms, contractors and real estate moguls.
District Facilities Plan Marred by Misinformation and Secrecy
The board, by unanimous vote and without deliberation, ratified a $404,626 contract extension with Aramark, Inc. for “Facilities Assessment for Phase III”. Aramark is one of several companies the Watlington administration has hired to consult the district on the ongoing facilities plan that will result in the closure of an as yet indeterminate number of neighborhood public schools. According to agenda attachments: “The facilities planning data warehouse has been completed and is currently hosted by Aramark.” Watlington promised more community “conversations” on the facilities plan. APPS members who attended the recent round of community meetings described the sessions not as conversations but as tightly packaged presentations from the district with questions coming from district staff, not the participants. Chalkbeat reporters who attended several of the sessions quoted principals, teachers and parents who had serious concerns about the misinformation being disseminated at the meetings, including data on capacity and programs offered at each school: “Ultimately, some principals worry their schools could be targeted for closure or colocations based on data that does not accurately reflect their schools. And some community members said that failing to holistically review their schools’ strengths and challenges could result in decisions that harm children and neighborhoods.”
APPS members again asked why none of the ten facilities committees appointed by the district are not open to the public. APPS members also asked the board when the report with the list of schools to be closed would be released. The board gave no answers.
Voting
The board voted, without deliberation, to approve 29 items representing spending totaling $23,051,259. That figure does not include the additional cost of expanding Green Woods Charter nor the projected cost of the 5-year renewal of Independence Charter School.
The meeting adjourned at 7:10 PM.
Upcoming Board Meetings
The board passed a resolution changing the dates of several meetings on its calendar. All meetings are held at 440 North Broad Street at 4 PM. New dates:
Action Meetings
September 25, 2025
[October 23, 2025: Cancelled]
November 30, 2025
December 4, 2025
Policy Committee
October 16, 2025
Goals and Guardrails
August 7, 2025
September 11, 2025
October 9, 2025
[November 13, 2025 Cancelled]
Public Hearings
November 6, 2025
November 13, 2025
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 