For Philadelphia Schools, Do The Math

From beginning to end, public schools belong to the public.

That is why it is imperative that Philadelphia’s citizens be involved in planning how to downsize its public-school system. While it is the School District’s job and duty to carry out this task, it must be a collaborative effort with its end users. Top-down approaches don’t work in this town.

Bottom-up approaches take time, though. And it is not clear the School District has time. Its budget is severely constrained and it cannot hope for easy jolts of bail-out aid from Harrisburg or Washington.

A strong movement is building to push for a one-year moratorium on school closures. This would be a good thing, if the School District can afford it. But if it cannot, those who want a moratorium need to craft an alternative funding plan to keep up the spending for surplus space.