Mayor Jim Kenney of Philadelphia has taken steps to regain control of the city’s struggling public school system after 16 years of state oversight.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a fellow Democrat, supports local control. So the commission that now governs the nation’s eighth-largest school system is expected to be dissolved by the end of the school year and be replaced by a mayor-appointed school board.
Philadelphia schools face a $100 million deficit in the next fiscal year and project a $1 billion deficit by fiscal year 2022. More than a third of the district’s students have been siphoned off by charter schools. Kenney wants the city to cover the deficit as well as some capital improvements.
