Philadelphia and its 146,100-student school district will move aggressively on a pledge to eliminate 50,000 seats in the lowest-performing city schools, Mayor Michael Nutter promised last week.
Mr. Nutter and members of the School Reform Commission were scheduled to travel to Denver this week to examine how schools work there. Denver has decentralized many of its school operations and was one of the first cities in the United States to sign a compact promoting cooperation between its school district and charter schools.
Philadelphia recently adopted its own Great Schools Compact, winning $100,000 and the chance at millions more from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. One of the key tenets of the compact is transforming 50,000 seats in failing public schools through school closings and charter conversions.
“Reform, restructure, replace. That’s where we are. That’s where we’re going in public education in Philadelphia,” Mr. Nutter said at a news conference.
