Board member Wanda Novalés isn’t thrilled about borrowing money. “Every week of the delay puts more pressure on our budget, and every dollar spent on interest is a dollar not spent on our kids,” Novalés said.

Several members of the board lambasted the state legislators for not passing a budget. Whitney Jones called for the people at the meeting and those part of the district to “first, visit paschoolswork.org/budget … Second, call your state senator.”

Board member Crystal Cubbage highlighted the significant dollar amount that the district needs to borrow.

“We all need to lobby the state to get these funds in our coffer,” she said.

“The only people who haven’t been able to stir their stumps are the state legislators,” said Joan Stern, pointing out the governor, mayor and school board had all approved their budgets on time.

Lisa Haver, a retired city teacher and one of the co-founders of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, questioned the board about budget choices during the open discussion period.

She mentioned the payments to charter schools and their CEOs. Some of those executives’ salaries can go up to “$500,000,” she said.

Despite the voting yes on the resolution, Streater mentioned his disdain for having to take TRAN loans at all.

“The fact we have to do a TRAN every year is annoying to me in some ways,” he said. In 20 years, “I hope the board doesn’t have to TRAN borrowing, ever again.”

Goals and Guardrails

The board ended their meeting by reviewing data around the goal of “Guardrail One.”

This guardrail wants every school to be a “safe, welcoming and healthy place where our students, staff and community want to be and learn each day,” said Tanya Wolford, chief of the school district’s Office of Evaluation, Research, and Accountability.

The presentation and data centered on work order completion and teacher certifications.

“The data we will see tonight are two topics linked to the guardrail,” Wolford said.
The school board for the School District of Philadelphia listens to a plan to offset the lack of a state budget. (Nate Harrington/WHYY)

The analysis on work orders focused on restrooms and water fountains because students cited restroom conditions as a factor for feeling safe in school.

These identifiers of progress on work orders were set by the school board around two years ago, according to Oz Hill, deputy superintendent of operations for the district.

The time to complete work orders in those areas has dropped, according to Wolford. For restrooms, work orders were completed after 50 days on average in 2022-2023, which is down to 34 in 2024-2025 — this, in spite of an increase of work orders over the same time frame.

Teacher certifications are important for student success too, said Wolford.

“The No. 1 factor in accelerating academic achievement is a highly qualified, well-supported, stable teacher over time,” Wolford said.