What’s lost in school budget cuts| Morning Newsletter
And the Flyers may have a future.
The Morning Newsletter
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Good morning, Philly. Hopefully you didn’t put away your winter jackets yet, because you’ll need ‘em today.
Olney High teachers say the school has made great progress in recent years. Now potential budget cuts threaten that success.
Danny Brière has deftly rebuilt the Flyers into a playoff team in three years. Are even better days ahead?
Plus, the city is helping Kensington residents to revitalize their struggling block, and more news of the day.
— Tommy Rowan (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Olney High stands to lose more than a dozen staffers next school year because of budget cuts as the Philadelphia School District faces a $300 million deficit.
And looming budget cuts represent just the latest upheaval for the school. Olney has been through significant turmoil in the past.
Still, the neighborhood high school’s star has been on the rise lately, with a strong staff, career and technical education, traditional academic programs, a growing roster of extracurricular opportunities, and a burgeoning sense of community.
But it’s now one of many schools poised to face major hits as the district addresses its deficit.
Reporter Kristen A. Graham has the full story.
In other news:
📚 This Thursday, the school board is scheduled to vote on Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s sweeping facilities plan.
📚 And more than 75 students walked out of the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts on Monday, protesting dress code enforcement last week that they said had objectified girls.
Danny Brière preaches patience.
“Patience, patience again,” Brière told The Inquirer in September.
It’s a word he has used often in the three years since taking the general manager job, first as an interim in March 2023, and then officially that May, because there was a lot of work to be done to reestablish the Flyers as a perennial Stanley Cup contender.
Although they’re not there yet, the Flyers find themselves in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in six seasons, largely due to the patience shown in letting younger players grow and develop their games.
As the Flyers-Penguins series heads to Philadelphia this week, reporter Jackie Spiegel looks toward the future.
What you should know today
This Kensington block was home to a “tyrannical drug trade.” The city is now helping residents with household needs so they can rebuild.
Pennsylvania’s ban on public funding for abortion is unconstitutional, a divided court ruled. It’ll likely set up a clash at the state Supreme Court.
A Temple University student was chased into the lobby of the school’s Morgan Hall student dormitory and attacked by a group of juveniles on Sunday morning, police said.
The Pennsylvania arm of the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit to obtain information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the agency’s efforts to unmask anonymous social media critics.
Two Montgomery County women, in times of personal turmoil, turned to two self-proclaimed psychics in Jenkintown for comfort and guidance. Now, the two “psychics” will face a county judge in a $600,000 theft case.
Would the Philly Democrats running for Congress back Hakeem Jeffries for speaker of the House?
The number of reports of abandoned cars to 311 has risen significantly over the past decade in Philadelphia. Getting that number down is a challenge.
Quote of the day
Libraries remain one of the institutions that help make the American Experiment possible: open, free, and committed to the belief that knowledge belongs to everyone, writes Kelly Richards, president and director of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Read her full op/ed, which emphasis why libraries really matter right now.
🧠 Trivia time
This Philadelphia beer company is making a national play by buying the shuttered 21st Amendment brand.
A) Victory
B) Evil Genius
C) Cartesian
D) Punch Buggy
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
🍝 Excited to try. Restaurant critic Craig LaBan reviewed Emilia, Greg Vernick’s new Italian restaurant in Fishtown, and now we’re super hungry.
🚇 Cheering about. While some U.S. host cities are raising public transportation fares for the 2026 World Cup, fans in Philadelphia will enjoy free subway rides home on match days.
🚗 Agreeing with. For Rachel Lefkowitz, who works for a nonprofit in Center City, ride-share isn’t a luxury. In this op/ed she argues that a $1 tax would make it one.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: This historic golf course reached another milestone in its restoration plans.
BECK ERB COS
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Sherry Kiser, who solved Mondays anagram: Warwick Hotel. This Rittenhouse hotel almost canceled a family’s July 4 reservation last minute.
Photo of the day
And she’ll need it again today.
👋 Thanks for starting your day with The Inquirer. Back at it tomorrow.
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