This post is part of Philly Power Research's “Beyond Policing” series. This series is continuing work that was previously led by Movement Alliance Project (MAP) over the past two years exploring how Philadelphia can invest in our communities to improve public safety instead of investing in policing. MAP's "Safety We Can Feel" campaign included a survey of 1300 Philadelphia residents and dozens of interviews on how to build strong, healthy, and safe communities.

In 2021, 36% of shooting victims in Philadelphia were aged 10 to 24—amounting to 835 shootings of youth and young adults. This large amount of violence affecting young people highlights the importance of investing in schools and youth programs. Youth who are actively involved in schools and afterschool programs are less likely to become victims of violence. Educational success can help set young people on a path toward jobs or further education that will reduce the likelihood that they get involved in dangerous activities.

Unfortunately, Philly’s public school system suffers from decades of disinvestment. As a result, many neighborhood schools offer subpar educational opportunities, and in some cases contend with dangerous environments within the schools themselves. The deterioration of Philly school infrastructure has been well-documented: many schools deal with serious health hazards like  airborne asbestos, mold- and pest-infested classrooms, and lead contamination in drinking water and flaking paint.

Our schools have also experienced numerous instances of violence near or on school property or affecting students as they travel to and from school this year. Remote learning during parts of the last two years, while important for combating the pandemic, eroded the social fabric in many schools and disrupted routines. Schools across the country have struggled to get attendance rates to return to pre-pandemic levels. Many students have experienced heightened stress and trauma resulting from COVID-19 and the gun violence epidemic.

On top of this, staffing shortages in Philly public schools, which already were dealing with inadequate numbers of counselors, nurses, and climate staff, have only gotten worse. Between 12/1/21 and 2/15/22, 169 teachers left the Philly school system, up substantially from 57 during the same period in 2020-2021, 93 in 2019-2020, and 122 in 2018-2019.

The proposed FY23 school budgets will only make matters worse. According to a Commonwealth Association of School Administrators town hall presentation in March, 73% of schools may be forced to cut Climate Managers, 67% of schools may need to cut School-Based Literacy and Math Leaders, and 73% of schools may not be able to maintain a Special Education Compliance Manager.

Extensive research has shown that small class sizes are a key to effective education. Under-staffing and high teacher turnover result in larger class sizes, inadequate non-instructional supports, and more unstable school communities.

These issues could be addressed by increasing funding for public school districts like Philadelphia’s. However, Pennsylvania has one of the most unequal distributions of state education funding in the nation. Combining inadequate funding from the state government with large differences in property values and local tax revenue between school districts, we end up with a status quo of vast inequalities in resources and educational experiences between districts.

Lower Merion School District, in the wealthy Main Line suburbs, spends $12,000 more per student than the School District of Philadelphia. In Lower Merion, the average class size is approximately 21 students. In Philadelphia, the average class size was between 30 and 40 students in 2014, according to a fact-finding report released by State Senator Vincent Hughes’ office.

While we are hopeful that the PA school funding lawsuit will bring some meaningful change, we shouldn’t wait for Harrisburg to take action when there are more immediate ways we can address the urgent needs of Philly students.

The proposed FY23 City budget has the City contributing about $270 million toward the School District of Philadelphia, up $14 million from the previous year. While this might seem like a large number, it pales in comparison to the needs of the District, which has an operating budget of over $4 billion. A 2017 report showed that school buildings needed $5 billion in repairs.

The City could dramatically increase funding for the School District if it took steps to reduce tax handouts for developers and corporations. Property tax abatements reduce revenue that would otherwise go to the School District and City by at least $150 million dollars per year, according to 2020 estimates. While the City is effectively cutting the value of the abatement nearly in half this year, it is still losing tens of millions of dollars. Businesses also frequently dodge taxes by applying for programs like Keystone Opportunity Zones, which are managed by the Philly Department of Commerce and approved by City Council.

Ongoing expansion of charter schools has also eaten away at funding for public schools. In Pennsylvania, while charter school enrollment increased by 10.4% from 2014-2015 to 2019-2020, school district tuition payments toward charter schools increased by 47.6% during this same period. Many states recognize the enormous costs imposed on public schools as the charter sector expands, and reimburse those costs. Pennsylvania had such a reimbursement program but abolished it after the 2010-2011 school year, immediately costing the District over $100 million per year. Charter school special education funding is particularly in need of reform and is partially to blame for the increasingly disproportionate share of funding that gets directed to charter schools.

The School District could also redirect some of the resources that it spends on school safety officers toward hiring more counselors and behavioral health specialists. Research has shown that schools that employ more school-based mental health providers see better school outcomes, fewer disciplinary incidents, and improved school safety. Studies of increased police presence in schools, on the other hand, have not conclusively shown that increased policing is correlated with reduced crime. Increased policing is however correlated with greater youth involvement in the criminal justice system and greater school use of exclusionary discipline like suspensions.

Having police and security officers inside schools has clear and intense consequences and is a primary contributing factor to the school to prison pipeline. School police take on the role of disciplinarians and arrest students for infractions that would often otherwise be handled by counselors, psychologists, or social workers. School police also arrest students of color at much higher rates than white students: in Pennsylvania, Black girls were five times more likely to be arrested than white girls in school, according to 2015-2016 data.

Additionally, the City continues to underfund the Community College of Philadelphia. The state law which established community colleges in 1963 called for Philadelphia to cover one-third of the Community College operating budget. However, as of 2021-2022, the City was providing only 24.2% of operating revenues to support the Community College. Therefore, students have to pay higher tuition rates.

In interviews with Movement Alliance Project, community members identified a number of ways in which the City could redirect police funding to improve our schools and other youth programs.

What We Should Fund Instead of Policing:

• Increased funding for the School District of Philadelphia to ensure adequate (non-police) staffing at all schools, including teachers, counselors, nurses, support staff, Climate Managers, School-Based Literacy and Math Leaders, Special Education Compliance Managers, etc.

• Violence prevention curricula and programs to promote understanding of other cultural backgrounds

• Afterschool, workforce development, and adult education programs (and work to make sure they are more widely promoted and accessible than they currently are)

• Incentive programs for employers to hire teens

• Green New Deal for schools: invest in school building infrastructure and technology

• Community college fully funded by public dollars and free for all students