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School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Difference between revisions

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|District = School District of Philadelphia
|District = School District of Philadelphia
|Place = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]
|Place = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]
|Image = School District of Philadelphia seal.jpg
|Superintendent = William R. Hite Jr.
|Superintendent = William R. Hite Jr.
|Enrollment = 143,898
|Grad rate = 55.18%<ref>[http://paayp.emetric.net/District/DataTable/c51/126515001 ''Pennsylvania Department of Education'', "PHILADELPHIA CITY SD: District/LEA AYP Data Table," accessed July 15, 2015]</ref>
|Number of schools =218
|Budget = $3.63 billion
|Website = https://www.philasd.org/
|Website = https://www.philasd.org/
|Board president = Marjorie Neff 
|Board members = 5
|Board members = 5
|Term years =
}}{{tnr}}The '''School District of Philadelphia''' is a [[Pennsylvania school districts|school district]] in [[Pennsylvania]]. In the 2012-2013 school year, the district was the [[Largest school districts in the United States by enrollment|largest school district]] in Pennsylvania and served 143,898 students.<ref name=enrollment>[http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/tableGenerator.aspx ''National Center for Education Statistics,'' "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 17, 2015]</ref>
}}{{tnr}}The '''School District of Philadelphia''' is a [[Pennsylvania school districts|school district]] in [[Pennsylvania]]. In the 2012-2013 school year, the district was the [[Largest school districts in the United States by enrollment|largest school district]] in Pennsylvania and served 143,898 students.<ref name=enrollment>[http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/tableGenerator.aspx ''National Center for Education Statistics,'' "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 17, 2015]</ref>


In December 2001, the district was put under the control of a School Reform Commission (SRC).<ref>[http://www.philasd.org/about/ ''School District of Philadelphia'', "About Us," accessed July 15, 2015]</ref> Learn more about the SRC and the debate over district governance [[#Issues|here]].  
In December 2001, the district was put under the control of a School Reform Commission (SRC).<ref>[http://www.philasd.org/about/ ''School District of Philadelphia'', "About Us," accessed July 15, 2015]</ref> Learn more about the SRC and the debate over district governance [[#Issues|here]].  
==About the district==
[[File:Map_of_Pennsylvania_highlighting_Philadelphia_County.svg|link=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|thumb|left|200px|The School District of Philadelphia is located in the consolidated county-city of the same name in Pennsylvania.]] The School District of Philadelphia is located in the consolidated city-county of [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] in southeastern [[Pennsylvania]]. In 2014, the city-county was home to an estimated 1,560,297 residents, according to the United States Census Bureau.<ref name=Census>[http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045214/42101,4260000,3651000,00 ''United States Census Bureau'', "QuickFacts Beta: Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania," accessed October 8, 2015]</ref>
===Demographics===
Philadelphia underperformed compared to Pennsylvania as a whole in terms of higher education attainment between 2009 and 2013. County-city residents had bachelor's degrees or higher at a rate of 23.9 percent compared to state residents at 34.5 percent. The median household income in the county-city was $37,192 compared to the state at $52,259. The poverty rate was <CustomToolTip linktext="26.0 percent in the city, 26.5 percent in the county and 20.3 percent in the state.">According to the United States Census Bureau, "Some estimates presented here come from sample data, and thus have sampling errors that may render some apparent differences between geographies statistically indistinguishable."</CustomToolTip><ref name=Census/>
{{col-begin|width=95%}}
{{col-break}}
{| class="wikitable collapsible" style="background:none; text-align: center;"
! colspan="4" style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;" |'' Racial Demographics, 2014<ref name=Census/>
|-
! style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;" | Race
! style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;" | Philadelphia (%)
! style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;" | Pennsylvania (%)
|-
| White||41.0||44.0
|-
| Black or African American||43.4||25.5
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native||0.5||0.7
|-
| Asian||6.3||12.7
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander||0.0||0.1
|-
| Two or More Races||2.8||4.0
|-
| Hispanic or Latino||12.3||28.6
|}
{{col-break}}
{| class="wikitable collapsible" style="background:none; text-align: center;"
! colspan="4" style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;" |'' Presidential Voting Pattern,<br>Philadelphia, Pennsylvania<ref>[http://www.philadelphiavotes.com/en/resources-a-data/ballot-box-app ''Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners'', "Prior Year Election Results," accessed October 8, 2015]</ref>
|-
! style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;" | Years: ||2012||2008||2004
|-
| style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;" | Constitution votes||-||-||387
|-
| style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;"| Democratic votes||588,806||595,980||542,205
|-
| style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;"| Green votes||2,162||-||483
|-
| style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;"| Independent votes||-||3,071||41
|-
| style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;"| Libertarian votes||2,892||1,057||895
|-
| style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;"| Republican votes||96,467||117,221||130,099
|-
| style="background-color:#00008B; color: white;"| Write-in votes||449||696||478
|}
{{col-end}}
{{School census}}


==Superintendent==
==Superintendent==
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}}
}}


==Issues==
==[[Noteworthy events]]==
===Debates over School Reform Commission===
===2015: Debates over School Reform Commission===
The School District of Philadelphia has never been run by an elected school board, a unique situation among Pennsylvania school districts. The board was selected by the [[Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas|city's common pleas judge]] from 1905 to 1965, when the [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|mayor]] was given the power to appoint members. In 2001, the mayor consented to the creation of the School Reform Commission (SRC), a five-member board with three members appointed by the [[Governor of Pennsylvania|governor]] and two members appointed by the mayor. The SRC was created in the midst of public concerns over district finances and academic performance.<ref name=pew>[http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2016/01/urban_school_governance_brief_final.pdf?la=en ''The Pew Charitable Trusts,'' "Governing Urban Schools in the Future: What's Facing Philadelphia and Pennsylvania," January 2016]</ref>
The School District of Philadelphia has never been run by an elected school board, a unique situation among Pennsylvania school districts. The board was selected by the [[Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas|city's common pleas judge]] from 1905 to 1965, when the [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|mayor]] was given the power to appoint members. In 2001, the mayor consented to the creation of the School Reform Commission (SRC), a five-member board with three members appointed by the [[Governor of Pennsylvania|governor]] and two members appointed by the mayor. The SRC was created in the midst of public concerns over district finances and academic performance.<ref name=pew>[http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2016/01/urban_school_governance_brief_final.pdf?la=en ''The Pew Charitable Trusts,'' "Governing Urban Schools in the Future: What's Facing Philadelphia and Pennsylvania," January 2016]</ref>


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==Contact information==
==Contact information==
[[File:School District of Philadelphia seal.jpg|link=http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/|200px]]<br>
[[File:School District of Philadelphia seal.jpg|link=School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|200px]]<br>
School District of Philadelphia<br>
School District of Philadelphia<br>
440 N. Broad St.<br>
440 N. Broad St.<br>
Line 639: Line 578:
==External links==
==External links==
* [https://www.philasd.org/ School District of Philadelphia]
* [https://www.philasd.org/ School District of Philadelphia]
* [http://www.phila.gov/Pages/default.aspx Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]
*[https://www.education.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx Pennsylvania Department of Education]
* [http://www.education.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx Pennsylvania Department of Education]
*[https://www.psba.org/ Pennsylvania School Boards Association]
* [https://www.psba.org/ Pennsylvania School Boards Assoication]
* [http://www.pft.org/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 Philadelphia Federation of Teachers]
* [http://www.pft.org/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 Philadelphia Federation of Teachers]


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{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
{{Pennsylvania school districts}}
{{Pennsylvania school districts}}
{{Pennsylvania schools}}
{{Pennsylvania}}
{{Pennsylvania}}



Revision as of 22:47, 19 April 2021

School District of Philadelphia
School Board badge.png
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
District details
Superintendent: William R. Hite Jr.
# of school board members: 5
Website: Link

The School District of Philadelphia is a school district in Pennsylvania. In the 2012-2013 school year, the district was the largest school district in Pennsylvania and served 143,898 students.[1]

In December 2001, the district was put under the control of a School Reform Commission (SRC).[2] Learn more about the SRC and the debate over district governance here.

Superintendent

BP-Initials-UPDATED.png
This information is updated as we become aware of changes. Please contact us with any updates.

William R. Hite Jr. is the superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. Hite was appointed superintendent in October 2012.[3]

Budget

From 1993 to 2013, the School District of Philadelphia had an average of $2,067,427,429 in revenue and $2,225,548,286 in expenditures, according to the United States Census Bureau's survey of school system finances. The district had a yearly average of $2,139,091,810 in outstanding debt. The district retired $272,307,048 of its debt and issued $430,354,238 in new debt each year on average.[4]

Revenue

The table below separates the district's revenue into the three sources identified by the agency: local, state, and federal.

Revenue by Source
Fiscal
Year
Local State Federal Revenue Total
Total % of Revenue Total % of Revenue Total % of Revenue
2010$859,639,00030.36%$1,415,203,00049.98%$556,585,00019.66%$2,831,427,000
2011$848,447,00029.29%$1,411,582,00048.73%$636,770,00021.98%$2,896,799,000
2012$936,603,00034.92%$1,292,598,00048.20%$452,562,00016.88%$2,681,763,000
2013$980,119,00035.73%$1,333,752,00048.62%$429,562,00015.66%$2,743,433,000
Avg.$725,857,28635.72%$1,043,609,23850.38%$297,960,90513.91%$2,067,427,429

Expenditures

The table below separates the district's expenditures into five categories identified by the agency:

  • Instruction: operation expenditures, state payments on behalf of the district for instruction and benefits, and retirement system transfers
  • Support Services: support services, food services, and retirement system transfers for support service staff
  • Capital Spending: capital outlay expenditures (i.e., construction, land or facilities purchases, and equipment purchases)
  • Debt & Gov. Payments: payments to state and local governments and interest on school system debt
  • Other: all other non-K-12 programs, except food services
Expenditures by Category
Fiscal
Year
Instruction Support Services Capital Spending Debt & Gov. Payments Other Budget
Total
Total % of Budget Total % of Budget Total % of Budget Total % of Budget Total % of Budget
2010$1,082,196,00036.68%$809,468,00027.43%$180,847,0006.13%$135,772,0004.60%$742,259,00025.16%$2,950,542,000
2011$1,109,832,00035.31%$824,572,00026.24%$203,291,0006.47%$147,097,0004.68%$858,187,00027.30%$3,142,979,000
2012$993,871,00035.32%$689,868,00024.52%$89,663,0003.19%$132,414,0004.71%$908,096,00032.27%$2,813,912,000
2013$1,695,669,00046.74%$688,221,00018.97%$80,438,0002.22%$150,225,0004.14%$1,012,963,00027.92%$3,627,516,000
Avg.$882,402,52440.95%$629,053,81029.04%$140,691,0955.86%$91,568,0953.85%$481,832,76220.29%$2,225,548,286

Debt

The table below shows the amount of debt retired, issued, and outstanding in the district for each year.

Debt
Fiscal
Year
Retired Issued Outstanding
2010$429,497,000$676,295,000$3,738,134,000
2011$439,412,000$425,880,000$2,980,922,000
2012$91,117,000$254,423,000$3,144,227,000
2013$114,204,000$264,995,000$3,295,018,000
Avg.$272,307,048$430,354,238$2,139,091,810

Noteworthy events

2015: Debates over School Reform Commission

The School District of Philadelphia has never been run by an elected school board, a unique situation among Pennsylvania school districts. The board was selected by the city's common pleas judge from 1905 to 1965, when the mayor was given the power to appoint members. In 2001, the mayor consented to the creation of the School Reform Commission (SRC), a five-member board with three members appointed by the governor and two members appointed by the mayor. The SRC was created in the midst of public concerns over district finances and academic performance.[5]

A push for local control gained momentum in 2015 with voter approval of a non-binding ballot question seeking the end of the SRC. Former Mayor Michael Nutter called for the end of the commission before leaving office, and successor James Kenney supports more local control once the district improves its finances.[6] The SRC was also analyzed by The Pew Charitable Trusts in a January 2016 report. The report titled "Governing Urban Schools in the Future: What's Facing Philadelphia and Pennsylvania" concluded with the following statement:

Education experts say that state takeovers of local districts have, at least in some cases, cured financial ills created through mismanagement. But there is no indication that any particular system for governing urban school districts is superior to another in improving long-term academic performance. Too many other factors, experts say, help determine what happens in the classroom, including the quality of principals and teachers, funding, and parental expectations.

There is broad agreement on at least one conclusion: Governance systems that produce uncertainty, distrust, and ambiguous accountability can impede districts’ progress on any front. [7]

—The Pew Charitable Trusts (2016), [5]

Contact information

School District of Philadelphia seal.jpg
School District of Philadelphia
440 N. Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19130
Phone: (215) 400-4000

See also

Pennsylvania School Board Elections News and Analysis
Seal of Pennsylvania.png
School Board badge.png
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External links

Footnotes