Congratulations to our new Mayor-elect, Jim Kenney, who ran on a great platform of supporting public, community schools, PreK and supporting principals and teachers! We congratulate all the new members of City Council, including our endorsed candidates Helen Gym, Derek Green and Blondell Reynolds-Brown!

“Education voters” turned out in force, helping to make sure education was a key issue in the public debate about priorities and in elections. You also helped to elect new faces to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, which we hope holds promise for the claim to a Constitutionally protected right to a “thorough and efficient” education.Click here to read a news story about what the new Supreme Court could mean for education. All this winning offers hope to our schools!

Looking ahead, Education Voters is now asking City Council to create a new “Citizens’ Commission for Education” and you can read our position on this in the Public School Notebook here.

With a new Mayor and new faces joining City Council next year, it is truly time to bring new approaches to governing the School District of Philadelphia and we don’t need to wait until changes are made to the SRC. Simply, we need a better mechanism now for authentic public participation in the governance of the state-controlled School District of Philadelphia. We need to support the new Mayor and the new City Council in their efforts to support our schools.

Will you join other Philadelphians and sign the petition today to support the establishment of a Citizens’ Commission on Education!?

City Council is uniquely positioned to directly engage the School Reform Commission and administration of the School District of Philadelphia. It can solicit information and expect a response. Therefore it is uniquely positioned to provide a mechanism to create meaningful and robust public participation.

Building on the recent and historic intergovernmental cooperation agreement between the district and City Council to expand transparency and access to information, we are calling for Council to convene a formal representative body, such as a Citizens’ commission, comprised of a broad array of stakeholders, who can advise and assist City Council in exercising review and oversight over the School District of Philadelphia.

Please sign the petition today to support the establishment of a Citizens’ Commission on Education!