The Philadelphia School District is thousands of students under its enrollment projections this school year — and with an important funding deadline looming, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. is sending officials knocking on doors to drum up business.
Central office staff and school workers have been asked to fast-track “Enrollment Acceleration,” a new, district-specific program directly engaging families that have left the Philadelphia school system, The Inquirer has learned.
District staff — up to and including chiefs and assistant superintendents — are fanning out across the city, pounding the pavement to try to connect with reluctant families face-to-face. The door knocking began in the last two weeks.
The effort is driven by a shrinking student body in district schools and an Oct. 1 deadline to report enrollment — which drives district funding — to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
District schools were 4,236 students under their projected enrollment as of Sept. 17, according to internal documents obtained by The Inquirer. District-run alternative programs had 1,051 fewer students than planned.
The school system had projected 116,898 in district schools by Sept. 17, and 2,757 in alternative schools. Instead, its enrollment was 112,662 in district schools and 1,706 in alternative schools.
Asked to comment on the enrollment decline, a district spokesperson said it was too early to estimate annual enrollment because the state’s verification process does not conclude until Oct. 30. But, Monique Braxton said, it’s part of a nationwide trend of dwindling public school enrollment.
“The district’s goal is to get district operated schools as close as possible to that of last year’s number of approximately 116,898 students, such that we can grow our enrollment next school year,” Braxton said in a statement.
Enrollment is down virtually everywhere in the city.
Just two of 15 networks did not lose students, according to the Sept. 17 figures — Learning Network 9, a geographic network of elementary and middle schools in Kensington, Bridesburg, Port Richmond, and Frankford, and Learning Network 15, a network of magnet schools across the city.
Voting with their feet
Once the 2026-27 school year began Aug. 24, it became quickly clear that there were fewer district students in seats than expected.
Many factors likely play into the enrollment decline.
Though academics have generally been improving in the school system — Philadelphia was tops in the nation in its learning rate post-pandemic, according to research out of Harvard and Stanford — the district still struggles, with most students unable to read (33%) or do math (25%) at grade level.
(Philadelphia charter schools’ performance is slightly worse in reading, 31%, and slightly worse in math, 20%.)
Also a likely factor is the effect of the school board voting recently to close 17 schools in the next several years. Officials have said they are doing so to improve academic outcomes for all students, amid 70,000 empty seats citywide, a stock of aging buildings and decades of underfunding, and emphasized that in addition to the closings, they plan to spend billions on renovating 169 of the buildings they’re keeping open — though most of that plan is unfunded.
There are other reasons, too: Some staff say the current political climate has fears of ICE keeping some students out of school. And cyber charter enrollment is growing, with some Philadelphia families choosing the virtual option because of safety fears for their children as the city grapples with a gun violence epidemic.
“The district is a hard sell for some families,” said one central-office employee who was not authorized to speak about the enrollment decline. “You have a lot of families who have just unfortunately lost faith in a lot of the offerings that we have, and they’re voting with their feet.”
A full-court press
Since the surprise decline became apparent when school started, “we’ve been working hard to close the gap,” the employee said.
At first, schools were directed to reach out themselves via calls and emails to students they expected to enroll but who never showed up. Soon, almost-daily briefings on closing the enrollment gap began, and have continued.
Next, the administration moved to canvassing events, asking central office employees and school staff to volunteer to go out in pairs into neighborhoods to reach families. Canvassing also includes trips to neighborhood barbershops, laundromats, and corner stores “trying to convince students to return back to the district, rather than remain in whatever other option they decided on.”
About 75 employees volunteered for the effort, the employee said. It is still ongoing.
Some schools and departments pushed back against the call to directly appeal to students, with officials they didn’t feel comfortable sending staff into neighborhoods. Others are going out, the employee said.
The campaign is an extraordinary step, said the employee.
“I’ve never known an assistant superintendent or anyone going so far as this, being part of canvassing,” said the employee source.
Much is at stake.
“Our funding is based on numbers,” the employee said. (Both state and federal funding are tied to enrollment.)
And the district has generally been shrinking for decades.
In 1999, just after the first charter schools opened in Pennsylvania, the district enrolled 205,199 students in its schools. By 2025, that number was 113,735. (An additional 64,469 students were enrolled in charters.)
The district’s enrollment rose once in the last decade: in 2024-25, jumping by 1,841 students to 117,956. Watlington said he believed the next year’s drop happened because of large-scale SEPTA bus route changes at the start of the school year.
‘Warm conversations’
A second employee involved in the recent recruitment efforts said the call to canvass came with surprising urgency.
“They said, ‘It needs to be done in the next two weeks, because our numbers have to go to the state Oct. 1,’” said the employee, who also asked to not be identified because they were not authorized to speak about the enrollment push.
The second employee was paired with another volunteer. They received a several-page handout with instructions about how to conduct the visits, and a suggested script.
“We’re reaching out because we want to make sure your child has a clear plan for school and see how we can support you,” the second employee said.
Canvassers were told to ask if the family planned to return their children to the district, to begin a “warm conversation” and to help families with information about how to register for district schools. They were told to help address any barriers to registration.
Teams were told their safety is paramount, asked to not enter homes, and reminded to end a visit if either team member feels unsafe.
“Remember,” one handout said, “you are there to understand, inform, support and connect — not to convince.”
The second employee wasn’t especially enthusiastic about canvassing, but felt pressure to do so.
“What can I say on somebody’s doorstep to get them registered in the school district? Nothing,” the employee said.
The first employee said they were not having success with families.
“The houses I’ve been to haven’t been very responsive,” the employee said. “But I’ve been having very cool conversations with neighbors.”
Many families aren’t home or don’t answer the door, and the employee doesn’t blame them. They could be mistrustful of authorities or people they don’t know or worry about their safety.
Four people involved in the “come-back-to-the-district” effort said they were skeptical it would help the school system reach its projections.
“It’s going to yield something, but it’s not going to yield enough to cover up the fact that we’re several thousand away from meeting our projection of 116,000,” the employee said.
