This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
Mayor Nutter has released a report that sums up his administration’s accomplishments over the last six years and lays out priorities for the remaining two.
In education, the mayor says that Philadelphia increased its contribution to city schools by $155 million since 2010 to help alleviate the District’s fiscal turmoil.
The report also notes the creation of the Great Schools Compact. It estimates that, since 2011, this coalition that brings together public and private school leaders has replaced 20,000 "low-performing" seats in city schools with "high-performing" seats — mostly by converting some District schools to charters and closing schools that were deemed failing. The Compact has a goal of converting 50,000 seats in total.
The mayor also states that one of his top priorities for the coming year is to fight for more, fair, and predictable education funding from the state. In a speech to the Chamber of Commerce last month, he asked Philadelphia’s business leaders to join him in pushing lawmakers in Harrisburg to do the same. The report does not mention any plans to increase the city’s share of school funding. The mayor and City Council, however, have advocated for potential new streams of money for schools, including proceeds from a sales-tax extension and the approval of a cigarette tax.
Read the mayor’s full report below.