Philadelphia repeating ‘flawed logic’ from 2013 in closing schools today, analyst warns  

Philadelphia’s schools are committing many of the same mistakes they made 13 years ago when the district implemented a wave of closures, according to a recent report.

“Ongoing facilities master planning that focuses on capital investments and integrates community ideas into the future of existing buildings can minimize disruptions and build trust with communities affected,” writes Julia McWilliams, co-director of the urban studies program at the University of Pennsylvania, for The Conversation. “Yet despite the success of these alternatives in other cities, the current school closure process in Philadelphia continues to rely on much of the flawed logic of 2013.”

McWilliams, who is co-writing a book, Schools for Sale, exploring the history of those closures, cited a study from that year estimating $28 million in savings, which “did not materialize” in later analyses.

Ultimately, this projection “underestimated costs associated with students moving to new schools, the ongoing expenses of maintaining vacant properties and the relatively modest scale of the projected $28 million savings in the context of a roughly $300 million annual deficit,” she wrote.

“After the 30 schools closed, there was not a long-term facilities planning process to meaningfully invest in the school buildings that remained open. This lack of planning exacerbated many of the very conditions the current plan now seeks to address, a reflection of both lack of funds to maintain schools but also a lack of process by district facilities managers to meaningfully address building conditions after the 2013 closures.”

‘Limited opportunities for meaningful engagement’ 

Last month, the Philadelphia School Board voted to close 17 of its 218 schools – five high schools, five middle schools and seven elementary schools – and merge three other high schools, McWilliams noted.

“As in 2013, officials cite underutilized space and the goal of redirecting savings from closures into long-deferred capital improvements for the district’s aging facilities. The average school building in Philadelphia is 75 years old.”

However, many problems associated with maintaining vacant and deteriorating facilities continued even after the school closures, according to McWilliams.

“My colleagues and I determined that nearly 30% of the Philadelphia schools that closed in 2013 have remained vacant or unsold in the 13 years since. Only 28% were repurposed for public educational use. The rest were converted into charter schools, demolished for university development or redeveloped as market-rate housing.”

Meanwhile, students who had to transition from the closed schools, along with students in the schools receiving them, experienced lower academic outcomes and attendance rates, McWilliams observed.

“We think that outsourcing closure planning to consultants – as happened in Philadelphia in 2013 and is happening again in 2026 – while offering limited opportunities for meaningful engagement beyond ‘community updates’ that did not integrate public feedback, undermines parents’ and communities’ trust in the public education system.”

(Image credit: Screenshot/Philadelphia School District)