School District of Philadelphia's Dr. Tony Watlington gives 1st State of Public Education address
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington joined Mayor Cherelle Parker and other community leaders to deliver his first-ever State of Public Education address on Tuesday morning.
The event, which lasted a little more than an hour, took place at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts.
Dr. Watlington shared the district's successes.
"We are accelerating in terms of the number of students who are passing state tests… We are accelerating in terms of student and teacher attendance increasing," Dr. Watlington said. He added there's also a higher graduation rate and lower dropout rate, year-over-year.
Now, Dr. Watlington said the district's biggest focus has turned to safety.
"Safety for students and staff is our number one priority," he said.
Chanice Smith's daughter isn't old enough yet to attend school, but she has several nieces and nephews she looks after who attend schools within the district. She feels added security is necessary.
"I've seen videos from my own children where you have a lot of students being attacked," Smith said. "I've had a large concern for safety within our schools, and I think a lot of intervention and reforms need to be done."
Dr. Watlington said the district is working to update all security cameras in 150 schools and strengthen their relationship with the Philadelphia Police Department. Smith says that is just as important for the educators as it is for the students.
"The people who we charge to take care of our youth need to feel protected as well," Smith said.
The district is also launching a new platform for concerned parents to reach them.
"A two-way communication initiative called 'Let's Talk' where we give parents and [the] community an opportunity to make sure we get back to them within 24 to 48 hours," Dr. Watlington said.
The new platform is currently piloting that in the district office and plan to expand it to other buildings.
Dr. Watlington also spoke about an urgent need to increase public school funding, forecasting a massive budget shortfall by the next school year.
"We will be looking at a 400 million dollar deficit if we don't get the funding that our kids desperately deserve," Dr. Watlington said. "We know that absent additional funding, $1.2 billion dollars will leave our budget in September of this year."
The reason for the loss is the lack of ARPA Federal Funding related to the pandemic that will soon expire.
Dr. Watlington has proposed a budget to cover an extra $7,000 per student and hopes to get the state on board.
Addressing the crowd, Parker said it is up to every community leader, parent, family member, and educator to play a part in drumming up more money for next year's budget.
"They're given crumbles, crumbles, crumbles of funding when they really do deserve a whole loaf," Parker said.
