by Lisa Haver, Deborah Grill, Lynda Rubin, Barbara Dowdall, Ilene Poses
At some time in the future, the Board of Education will cast their final votes on the eighteen charter schools in the 2024-25 renewal cohort. Actually, the board has already made its decision on all of the schools. The future of the schools now lies in the hands of the charter operators.
The board convened a “Special Action Meeting” June 12, 2025 for the sole purpose of reviewing the charter schools in the current cohort. The agenda included a presentation from
Charter Schools Office Chief Peng Chao summarizing their 18 renewal evaluation reports, along with public testimony. It was actually a public hearing as there were no official action items on the agenda to be voted on. By the end of the meeting, they had separated the cohort into two categories: 12 that needed no further review and 6 that did because of failure to meet academic standards. That meant that 12 would proceed to renewal, with CSO Chief Chao drawing up renewal agreements with the schools’ administrators. For all intents and purposes, the board had voted to renew 12 charter schools.
Continue reading here.
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 