For the first time in 10 years, Philly school enrollment is rising

PHILADELPHIA — After years of declining enrollment, the Philadelphia School District has grown.

Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said the school system's official student count for 2024-25 is 117,956 — 1,841 students more than in 2023-24, an increase of a little under 2%.

The student population rose in 10 out of 15 geographic networks, in the city's opportunity network of alternative schools, in neighborhood high schools and magnet schools.

"We sure are excited about that," Watlington told the school board Thursday night. "We are absolutely thrilled that more families are choosing to enroll their children in the School District of Philadelphia."

Officials said the enrollment gain was due to students transferring from charter schools and from elsewhere outside the district. Of those students, many are English-language learners, a booming population in the city, particularly in the Northeast.

Officials said the English-learner population has doubled in the last 10 years — now, 25,350 district students make up this category, about 22% of total district enrollment. In the 2013-14 school year, English learners were about 10% of the district's total population.

Still, Philadelphia is a much smaller district than it once was. Twenty years ago, in the 2004-05 school year, the district enrolled 187,547 students. The district's student count began to slip significantly after Pennsylvania, in 1997, authorized charter schools, which are publicly funded and authorized by local school boards but managed by independent boards. Today, 64,119 students attend Philadelphia charter schools.

On Thursday night, Watlington and Reginald Streater, the school board president, touted the recent enrollment increase — and the district's increased graduation rate. The four-year graduation rate for the Class of 2024 was 77.5%, up from 74.1% the prior year.

The superintendent credited teachers, principals, and school support staff with the gains. Streater said the improvement and the increased enrollment show what's possible.

"Together, we're steering our efforts towards a future that values both academic excellence and educating the whole child," said Streater.

What's coming down the pike

While enrollment is up in the district as a whole, district and state officials have said the school system must rethink its building footprint. There are 64,000 empty seats in district schools.

Officials are now taking public feedback on a coming facilities master plan, due next fall. They have said school closings, colocations, and construction are all likely.

Some schools have hundreds of unused seats, but others have too little space to deal with their burgeoning populations.