Wm. Penn Foundation gives $1.5m for Philly SD turnaround
The William Penn Foundation is donating $1.5 million to help restructure the Philadelphia School District, officials announced today.
Wm. Penn Foundation gives $1.5m for Philly SD turnaround
Kristen Graham
The William Penn Foundation is donating $1.5 million to help restructure the Philadelphia School District, officials announced today.
Foundation president Jeremy Nowak said the money would go directly to pay for a contract with Boston Consulting Group.
Nowak also said that William Penn will help the School Reform Commission identify other private funders to help turn the district around.
“Frankly, [SRC Chairman Pedro Ramos] and I are going on a fundraising tour to see if we can be helpful,” Nowak said in an interview. “I think this is a defining moment for the city of Philadelphia.”
Beyond William Penn’s own contribution, the move is significant because Philadelphia’s philanthropic community has traditionally been loath to donate on a large scale to the district, which was viewed by many as a bad risk, with management and finance problems and a lack of transparency in operations.
Before extending its offer to the SRC, William Penn “waited to see whether they were going to make moves that we thought were smart,” Nowak said. “We see that they are making moves that are smart, and so we’re going to take that risk. This new SRC has showed us that they’re serious about the future.”
The district is in dire straits — officials admit it is teetering on the brink of financial insolvency, with a $38.8 million budget shortfall to bridge by June and a more than $269 million gap already for fiscal 2013. But they say they can right the system, and want to use this opportunity to restructure how schools are run, with more autonomy for principals and less bureaucracy.
William Penn liked the SRC’s hiring of Thomas Knudsen, the former PGW head, who was brought in as “chief recovery officer” on a short-term basis. They also liked the Boston move, Nowak said - the group is a national firm with extensive experience working with troubled school systems.
The SRC last week approved the one-month Boston contract, which will pay for “professional managerial and financial consulting services and expenses.” William Penn and the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania will work together with the SRC to “structure and manage” the Boston contract and work.
Nowak said that William Penn - and other potential funders - will have some say over the turnaround.
“I’d like to have input, but I’m not mandating they go in this direction or that direction,” he said. “I’ve got a loud voice; I’ll say things. But we’re not trying to dictate. We wouldn’t have come in if we didn’t think they were moving in a direction that we think makes sense.”
The SRC has been clear that it means to "decentralize" its operations, ripping up a bureaucracy that's been in place for decades and giving schools much more say-so over how they run.
And it's also said that it wants a new superintendent comfortable with managing a "portfolio" of schools - both traditional district schools and a network of charter schools.
School leaders have committed to continue to explore non-district school options with their participation in the "Great Schools Compact," which promises that Philadelphia will move to eliminate 50,000 seats in low-performing schools in five years.
Nowak has firsthand experience with charters. For seven years, he was president of Mastery Charter Schools' board of trustees. He was particularly impressed, he said with Mastery's turnarounds - taking tough existing district schools and keeping their students but hiring new staffs and putting new policies in place.
"What came out of that for me was a belief that it was possible to close the achievement gap and bring violence levels down in a few years in some of these schools," he said.
Nowak said he also supports expanding district schools that work.
Even with what he believes is a strong SRC in place, William Penn is still taking a risk, Nowak acknowledged.
“The biggest risk is will they will be able to come out with a plan, and will they be able to implement the plan that gets us to where we want to get to? And will they be able to implement it, given the complexity of the politics of education?” Nowak said.
But it’s necessary work, he said.
“I know the word turnaround is a loaded thing, but I think we’re at a place where we can all agree we’ve hit rock bottom in terms of information, financial capacity, and to some extent, faith in the future,” Nowak said.
Mayor Nutter, in a statement, praised William Penn's involvement.
"The William Penn Foundation has always been here for the city of Philadelphia and its children; there is no stronger advocate for reform and transparency. Their leadership and partnership tells me that as a city we are ready to take on the hard collective work of increasing high-performing options for our students and ensuring the school district is the most effective organization it can be," the mayor said.
Ramos, in the statement, agreed.
"We know the difficulties in front of us, and we are hopeful that with help from the private sector, philanthropy and civil society, we can begin to see real progress."
Comments (29)
a drop in the bucket— foreclosure11- Ba-woooooosh. The sound of $1.5 million being flushed away...— fredgwynne
- Yes the return on investment in the school system can be measured by the percentage of students who will attend college or trade school but in Philly it is measured by how many students do not drop out. The dropout rate should be 1-2% not 50%. This is beyound understanding. Why would anyone donate or invest in this system.— Jack73
Let's see now, this whole consulting thing started with Edison Schools Group - they did absolutely nothing and are no longer around. We have been through turnaround Superintendents Vallas and Ackerman and all they did was create a larger financial hole and make themselves wealthier. A slew of consultants have been thru the revolving door at 440 - taken their checks and left the schools with very little value added assistance. But now, a new group from Boston is going to come in and take care of everything for a mere $1.5 Million - which had to be donated, because the district has run out of money to give to vendors. So, who exactly is making these decisions? and why do we have full-time leadership being paid to run the district, when they clearly have not been able to do the job? Bureaucracy and Patronage are the causes of the district's problems, and just like a City Council that has benefitted from a DROP program, which they did not deserve, these obstacles will not be going away.— slugo
Comment removed.- Regardless of the BCG recommendations, the recommendations the PSD will hear are smaller class sizes, increased fund, and raise more revenue. Sorry, I get cynical when my real estate taxes go up eery single year.— misterpond
- Just flush it down the toilet!— Joe Pyne
- Nice. We can pay off Ackerman.— pnolan
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Ask the people who teach - the teachers - what the schools need. It won't cost a penny.— Boru
- Consultants..AGAIN? How many fletching times do we go through the same stupidity. There are School systems in the USA that work well. Talk to them and learn. You don't need to hire a pack of overpaid clowns to give you advice when it's staring you in the face. Cut the "elite" overpaid staff out. Find vendors who'll work with honesty and integrity. Fire Masch and the rest of that dumb crew of thieves and liars who've been suckling at the SDP teat for years. Stop giving millions to law firms. We're in the 21st century, not the 18th. You can garner data about school district success stories from all over the country in short order--if you take the time to look. What a gaggle of idiots....— oblekr
- Witness the revolving door of education: former head of Mastery Charters funding the expansion of charters. Cheney and Haliburton redux.
brinsley (TM)— brinsley - Why do people who don't teach and never did, think they can tell teachers who are in the classroom everyday how to?— Dian2350
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About this blog
Inquirer reporter Kristen Graham writes the Philly School Files blog, where she covers education in Philadelphia, both in and out of the classroom.
Kristen Graham
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
You can also follow Kristen on Twitter here.
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