Title
Authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings on the decrease in Black student enrollment at School District of Philadelphia special admission schools
Body
WHEREAS, The School District of Philadelphia operates twenty-one special admission or magnet high schools. These high schools are considered to be the best in the city and have their own set of admissions criteria based on academic performance, attendance, and other relevant factors; and
WHEREAS, In 2021, the School District drastically changed the admissions criteria for these and other citywide schools in the name of equity. The policy change created a citywide lottery for qualified students and those from select underrepresented zip codes were given preference at Central, Masterman, Academy at Palumbo, Carver High School of Engineering and Science, and Parkway Center City; and
WHEREAS, In 2025, the School District again changed the admissions criteria to only accept select standardized tests, adding a sibling preference, and updating the list of underrepresented zip codes and schools that give those students a preference; and
WHEREAS, Despite the changes to the admissions criteria in the name of equity and inclusion, these elite high schools have seen significant decreases in the enrollment of Black students; and
WHEREAS, According to demographic data from the School District of Philadelphia provided to City Council members on December 8, 2025, following questions asked at the biannual School District hearing in City Council held in the Committee of the Whole on November 18, 2025, fourteen of the twenty-one special admission schools have seen a decrease in Black student enrollment over the last ten years. Of those schools, seven have seen a decrease of at least ten percent and five have seen a decrease of over fifteen percent; and
WHEREAS, Academy at Palumbo and Carver High School of Engineering and Science have seen Black student enrollment drop significantly. In the 2014-2015 s...
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