In a rare show of unity, Philly School District and PFT jointly pressure Harrisburg to pass billions for public schools and limit cyber charter funding

HARRISBURG — The Philadelphia School District and its biggest union made an unprecedented show of alliance at the state Capitol on Wednesday to advocate for increased school funding and cyber charter school reform.

“It’s the first time we ever have come up here jointly, so we hope this is the harbinger of things to come,” said Arthur G. Steinberg, the president of Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT).

Steinberg rallied in Harrisburg with Tony B. Watlington Sr., the superintendent for the School District of Philadelphia; Reginald Streater, the president of the Philadelphia Board of Education; as well as teachers, students, and Democratic lawmakers from Philadelphia.

They called for the state legislature to approve Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed education funding increase and the passage of a bill that would limit money that goes toward cyber charter schools and increase oversight.

“The thought just entered my head one day … we want the same thing, so we should go up and present a united front,” Steinberg said in an interview.

Steinberg’s collaboration with district leaders comes at an odd time, as his union is in the midst of contract negotiations with the district. PFT members just authorized a strike, the first such vote in decades.

But it seems that vote was a precaution, a way to give negotiators options if they need them during a long summer when teachers aren’t working. By all accounts, talks thus far have been cordial enough, if slow. There’s no indication that a strike will actually be called.

Steinberg lauded Shapiro’s “historic” education funding proposal, which steers billions to public schools, including $526 million to be distributed statewide through a formula developed last year that boosts poorer districts. But he also said it should be the floor, not the ceiling, for pre K-12 school funding.

Watlington said Shapiro’s proposal would represent a $202 million increase in the district’s year-over-year budget.

Streater said equitable funding for Philadelphia schools is a “moral imperative.”

Philadelphia‘s school board recently passed a $4.7 billion 2024-25 budget that requires the school system — the only one in Pennsylvania that’s not permitted to raise its own revenue — to use $300 million of its reserves to avoid classroom cuts and layoffs. The district budget does not factor in any costs for the union contracts now being negotiated. Multiple unions, including the 14,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, have pacts that expire Aug. 31.

District leaders have made it clear that pulling from the reserves is a one-time fix. If more city or state funding doesn’t come through, they’ll have to make cuts.

The district projects a structural deficit of $774 million by 2030 — because of fixed costs in salary, benefits, and payments to charter schools that make up the bulk of the spending plan.

Steinberg said he has concerns about whether the Republican majority in the state Senate will be onboard with the school funding proposal and argued that the state has enough money in its rainy day fund to do it.

“If we don’t get the funding, they’re not going to be able to pay adequate salaries, and we’re going to have trouble keeping people, and we’ll have great difficulty getting to a settlement,” he said.

Watlington said that “it’s no secret” that Philadelphia schools have “suffered for years for historic underfunding,” but that the district is “accelerating” and “getting better,” touting student enrollment increases, lower dropout rates, certain improved test scores, and increased four-year graduation rates.

The district has also shared improved attendance and modest academic achievement, and has the strongest credit rating it has had in decades.

Still, legislators and advocates expressed concern over the condition of Philadelphia schools, especially compared to schools in other areas that have access to greater resources. They cited a 2023 court ruling that found the city’s schools to be unconstitutionally underfunded by the state.

They argued that the district brings results when the government invests in it. But that isn’t the case for cyber charter schools, argued State Rep. Mary Isaacson (D., Philadelphia), the primary sponsor of the cyber charter school bill championed at the rally.

“We have invested in cyber charter schools and gotten nothing in return for our investment, except children that are not being educated and children that are falling behind, and they’re all doing it on the money coming from the school district that’s coming out of your brick and mortar charter schools,” Isaacson said.

Philadelphia currently pays for 15,000 students to attend cyber charters. It must hand over $12,709.40 per student, or $33,278.17 for students who receive special education services.

Isaacson’s bill would create a standard $8,000 from the state for each student’s tuition for cyber charter schools for non-special education students. The bill also aims to bring greater oversight to these schools, including monthly checks to ensure cyber students still live in their school district. It passed the Democratic-controlled Pennsylvania House earlier this month 104-98 and is under consideration in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Many Republicans are sympathetic to the charter school movement, but Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said in a statement that “certain aspects” of the bill “could be beneficial.”

”Discussions are ongoing, however with any potential changes there would also need to be recognition that any new dollars saved equate to an increase in support for school districts, and understanding of the reality that reforms saving school districts money continue to address the commonwealth court ruling on education funding," he added.

Isaacson said after the rally that Shapiro incorporated the proposed savings from her bill into his school funding proposal, but she’s heard from Senate Republicans that they think $8,000 tuition “is too low.”

Advocates at the rally cited "alarming reports of wasteful spending" and enrollments of out-of-state students for cyber charter schools. Pennsylvania Auditor General Tim DeFoor, a Republican, released a report in February that found that five cyber charter schools increased revenues by $425 million and reserves by 144% from 2020 to 2023.

“I am now the third auditor general to look at this issue and the third to come to the same conclusion: The cyber charter funding formula needs to change to reflect what is actually being spent to educate students and set reasonable limits to the amount of money these schools can keep in reserve,” he said at the time.