Mayoral candidates’ education platforms | Morning Newsletter
Sixers are out
The Morning Newsletter
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It should be a sunny day with a high of 76.
I know you’re probably still mourning last night’s game. The Sixers were eliminated from the playoffs in a brutal Game 7 loss to the Celtics. Trust me, we’ll discuss later on in the newsletter but we have to talk about the mayor’s race first.
Tomorrow is the big day. It’s the city’s Democratic mayoral primary. All of the candidates say education is a top priority. Ahead of election day, our main story explores what a mayor can and can’t do.
If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.
— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Philadelphia’s mayor doesn’t control schools. The school district’s superintendent is in charge of day-to-day operations but the mayor does select every school board member and plays a role in proposing half of the district’s budget.
What have the candidates proposed?
Jeff Brown: His main education priority is expanding career and technical education, but he does not specify whether he would dedicate city money to such an expansion.
Allan Domb: Domb’s top education priority is is rightsizing the district. “We need an overall plan, and as part of that plan, we need to identify schools that can be used while others are being rehabbed,” he said in response to an Inquirer questionnaire. “Then shutter or sell off unused properties.”
Helen Gym: She proposes a 10-year, $10 billion plan to modernize every school in the district, using existing funding, new state money, and city capital funds. She also has the endorsement of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
Cherelle Parker: Her education plan includes year-round school, and keeping all school buildings open longer hours in order to provide robust extracurricular opportunities.
Rebecca Rhynhart: She vowed a stronger Mayor’s Office of Education — the office historically leads city education initiatives like the community schools effort.
Keep reading for the candidates’ full education plans.
The Sixers are officially done this season with last night’s loss to the Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden in Boston.
It’s especially rough when the 76ers kept telling us this team was different, even when they underachieved and showed some weaknesses.
In his own words: “But in reality, while they might be better, they just were not good enough to get out of the second round,” Inquirer columnist Keith Pompey wrote, calling the performances of superstars James Harden and Joel Embiid “horrible.”
Keep reading to learn what went wrong last night.
What you should know today
Democratic incumbent Thaddeus Kirkland has a huge fundraising advantage over his opponents in bankrupt Chester’s mayoral primary.
A Philly-area mom went viral for printing out 80 pages of Taylor Swift lyrics so she would never miss a beat during the concert.
An environmentalist advocates for clean water from his home, a sailboat on the Delaware River.
A second clerk accused Register of Wills Tracey Gordon of firing him for not donating to her campaign.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin stopped the music and lectured the audience — again — after a cell phone rang during a Philadelphia Orchestra concert.
A Broad Street mansion associated with Father Divine was sold at auction.
Remember to use our guide to Philly’s 2023 Democratic primary for mayor, City Council, and more.
I have your “in case you missed it” story.
Suzy Kop was shocked to find a grapefruit-size rock on her father’s bedroom floor in New Jersey last week.
She was baffled to learn it was warm. Then she looked up to see another surprise, two holes in the ceiling.
Scientists at the College of New Jersey confirmed it was a meteorite, likely fallen from the belt of asteroids between Jupiter and Mars. The two holes likely came from the the rock falling from the sky at such great speed that it tore through the roof of the house in Hopewell Township before bouncing off the hardwood floor and hitting the ceiling before landing on the floor again.
Fun fact: The rock is likely more than 4.5 billion years old.
Keep reading to learn how the team plans to conduct an analysis of the rock’s chemical makeup.
🧠 Trivia time 🧠
Barclay Prime sells the most expensive cheesesteak in Philly. It also comes with champagne.
How much is it?
A) $160
B) $150
C) $140
D) $300
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
📱Explaining: What we know about Linda Yaccarino, the Penn State grad and former NBC advertising executive who will be Twitter’s new CEO.
🎨Sharing: The essential guide to Philadelphia’s museums. We have 22 museums that range from the lesser-known gems to the city’s greatest hits.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩
Hint: This bakery is known for its pound cake
COSTK’S
We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Email us if you know the answer. Cheers to Charlene Wiltshire, who correctly guessed Sunday’s answer: Mütter Museum.
Photo of the day
You’re all set to start your week. Let’s make it a good one. 👋🏽