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Mayor Cherelle Parker said Monday that the city’s current reassessment of property values will generate about $115 million in additional revenue for Philadelphia schools over the next five years.
“That’s not why we did it,” Parker said, “but that’s something we can all be happy about.”
The city last did a reassessment in 2022. At Monday’s press conference, Parker and city Director of Finance Rob Dubow both said that the city needs to keep its assessments up to date in order to make them “fair, equitable, and accurate.”
In the past, the city sometimes went years between reassessments, making them skewed and uneven as some areas gentrified and the city’s demographics shifted. The city has also historically failed to collect delinquent taxes, which penalized the district, since more than half of property tax revenue goes to the district.
The Board of Education, which is appointed by the mayor, has no taxing authority of its own. The district is completely dependent on Philadelphia city government and the state for its revenue.
Parker called a press conference to announce that the reassessment will increase taxes for the average homeowner by about $330 next year, while reminding them of the homestead exemption and other programs targeted to those living on low or fixed incomes.
That increase comes on top of a $125 million boost in city funding for the district as a result of Parker’s earlier decision to increase its share of city property taxes from 55% to 56% in the 2025 budget.
The total annual district budget is $4.5 billion, of which about 41% is provided by the city. Most of that amount comes from property tax revenue. The state contributes 46%, with the rest coming from federal sources.
At the press conference, Superintendent Tony Watlington promised that “we will provide a return on investment for every one of these dollars.”
He said the additional revenue Parker announced will help pay for extended-year programs in up to 20 pilot schools, and a relaunch of Parent University.
Watlington also reiterated his oft-made points that since he took over the district in 2022, key statistics have been trending in positive directions: dropout rates have declined, student and teacher attendance has increased, and test scores and the four-year graduation rate have risen.
Dale Mezzacappa is a senior writer for Chalkbeat Philadelphia, where she covers K-12 schools and early childhood education in Philadelphia. Contact Dale at dmezzacappa@chalkbeat.org.
