PHILADELPHIA (June 12, 2025) – Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) President Arthur G. Steinberg on Thursday urged the Board of Education to exercise its authority to support the School District of Philadelphia's efforts to control costs and win increases in state funding necessary to avoid a projected structural deficit in 2027. Following are President Steinberg's remarks as prepared for delivery at Thursday's Board meeting:
"My name is Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, which represents 14,000 unionized educators who work in the School District of Philadelphia.
"I am here to express my profound disappointment in this board’s decision – with just one dissent – to open the School District’s doors to new charter school payment obligations. I am urging you to weigh carefully the facts before you as you decide whether to renew existing charters with documented records of poor performance or irresponsible leadership.
"As members of this School District administration, the City Council, and our Pennsylvania House and Senate delegations know all too well: The city’s ability to exercise authority over poor-performing or irresponsibly operated charter schools is severely limited.
"With little advanced notice of the agenda or time change, I was not able to attend the last Board meeting. The federation’s chief of staff, LeShawna Coleman, spoke on my behalf. Unlike administrators, our members cannot leave their classrooms and attend your mid-day meetings. So I was grateful to see that school administrators who are organized under CASA also vocally expressed their opposition to reopening the barn door to new charters, to paraphrase an old saying.
"At a time when the School District of Philadelphia continues to beg for adequate funding, as well as badly overdue state legislative reforms for cyber and charter schools, the May 29th vote was a betrayal of the majority of Philadelphia students who attend district schools.
"Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington reminded this Board himself, in person, that the No. 2 driver of costs to the District is publicly unaccountable charter schools. His administration is forced to spend approximately one-third of their entire budget – which amounts to $1.5 billion, that’s billion with a B – on charter schools despite having almost no influence on how those funds are spent. He reminded this Board that the District was forced to dig deep into its reserves in order to stave off programming and staff cuts next school year, and that even so the District is facing a multi-million-dollar structural deficit by Fiscal Year 2027.
"In less than two weeks, on June 25th, Dr. Watlington and his team along with members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers will be in the state Capitol, as a team, advocating for lawmakers to pass a budget that gets this District closer to funding adequacy and reforms the charter payment system.
"As stewards of Philadelphia public education, we should be speaking as one team for the resources and support our kids need and deserve. But now, Dr. Watlington and I will be in the Capitol hat in hand, begging Senate Republicans in particular to do right by our kids, knowing that this Board effectively handed them another talking point about the District being responsible for its own desperate need for funding.
"Let me be clear: my objection is not about the concept of alternatives in public education. My objection is about the financial and political reality that this District lives in. At a time when so many charter operators have made big promises, fallen short, gone to federal prison in a few cases, and left our students and taxpayers on the hook for their mistakes, we should be laser focused on 1) restoring state reimbursement for charter costs to school districts and reforming the charter payment system generally, and 2) securing as much state and local funding as possible to shield our students from vicious federal funding cuts – to Medicaid and SNAP in particular.
"Tomorrow will be a day of deep emotions, as our members say goodbye to graduating and rising students, into whom they’ve poured their hearts and labor all school year. Meanwhile, this District still struggles mightily to fill vacancies that make our members’ jobs harder than is fair or reasonable.
"It is my deep fear that the infamy of this Board’s decision to reopen the door to new charters and renew the charters of documented bad actors will have consequences for Philadelphia public education for years to come."
