Philadelphia To Scrap 'Cluster' Plan In Bid To Save Money

By Mark Stricherz

Six years after a high-profile reorganization of Philadelphia's schools into 22 clusters, the district's new leader announced last week that the plan would be scrapped in an attempt to cut a huge deficit.

"Dollars drive decisions around here, no question about it," said Alexis Moore, the spokeswoman for the 210,000-student district.

District leaders estimate that eliminating the layers of bureaucracy that oversee the clusters would save $60 million over five years, though they could not say how they arrived at that figure. Ms. Moore said the district plans to send cluster staff members "back to the classroom"...