Philadelphia school board votes not to renew a Black-led charter, renewing allegations of bias

The Philadelphia school board voted last week not to renew Southwest Leadership Academy Charter School, setting the charter up for eventual closure.

The decision, passed by a 7-2 vote at the board’s meeting Thursday, followed findings that the charter in Southwest Philadelphia had underperformed other schools academically, violated numerous legal requirements, and had significant financial issues.

But it also generated renewed accusations of bias against the district, which has faced complaints from Black charter leaders who say their schools are being disproportionately shut down or denied permission to open. A board-commissioned investigation into the allegations is ongoing.

“We are disappointed by this decision and believe that it is unjust,” Southwest Leadership Academy CEO Leigh Purnell and board chair William D. Moore Sr. said in a statement.

Southwest Leadership Academy, which enrolled 620 students last year, will appeal to Pennsylvania’s Charter Appeals Board and remain open for the coming school year, the charter leaders said.

The African American Charter School Coalition, which represents Black-led Philadelphia charters, and Philadelphia Charters for Excellence, a charter advocacy group, said the board had used “an inequitable process that continues to cause further harm to Black and brown children and families, eliminating a viable educational option and forcing these children back into a public education system that has already failed them.”

About 65,000, or one-third, of Philadelphia public school students attend charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently managed. The School District is charged with authorizing new charters, and evaluating whether charter agreements should be renewed or terminated.

Evidence from nine days of hearings held earlier this year “established that children are likely to get a better education somewhere else,” said Rudy Garcia, the hearings officer who reviewed the district’s case against Southwest Leadership Academy and the school’s defense.

Garcia noted that the charter’s math and English language arts proficiency scores were lower than a group of schools with similar demographics, as well as the rest of the charter sector and the School District at large. (The charter’s leaders said it outperformed district-run elementary and middle schools in its area.)

He also said the school had violated 20 legal requirements, including related to enrollment practices and employee background checks, and that its financial viability is in jeopardy. Charters receive funding from districts based on how many students they enroll; Southwest Leadership Academy spent $10 million on a larger building as part of a planned expansion, but the enrollment growth it had counted on didn’t materialize, Garcia said.

He added that during the school’s nonrenewal hearings, six public comments were submitted, and none were from students, parents, or teachers.

School board member Lisa Salley, who previously accused the district of bias in failing to recommend the approval of a high school for the Black-led Global Leadership Academy Charter, made similar statements Thursday.

“Everything I hear feels very biased,” Salley said, saying it wasn’t clear what the primary reason for not renewing Southwest Leadership Academy was. (During his presentation to the board, Garcia said any of the cited deficiencies — academic, legal, or financial — would be grounds to end the charter agreement under Pennsylvania’s charter school law.)

School board president Reginald Streater pressed Salley to articulate what she meant by bias; Salley questioned whether a different evaluator would reach the same conclusion.

Streater said school board members could make their own decisions based on Garcia’s report. “Your vote speaks for what you do with that information,” he said.