Philadelphia school leaders reduce number of closures in update to plan

The School District of Philadelphia has implemented significant changes to its original Facilities Master Plan.

During a press conference on Monday, April 20, 2026, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington, Sr., along with other school officials, presented their final recommendations. These included raising the estimated cost of the master plan from $2.8 billion to $3 billion, increasing the number of school modernizations from 159 to 169 campuses, maintaining six school co-locations and reducing the number of school closures from 20 to 17 programs.

Here is a full list of proposed changes:

1. Remove Conwell Magnet Middle School from closure recommendation and make Elkin Elementary feed into Conwell, beginning in SY 2027-28 to increase enrollment.

2. Remove Motivation High School from closure recommendation and merge Robeson High School into the Motivation site beginning in SY 2027-28 to increase enrollment.

3. Close Robeson High School and merge with Motivation High School for SY 2027-28, rather than with Sayre High School.

4. Close Lankenau High School and merge with Saul High School for SY 2027-28, rather than Roxborough High School.

5. Remove James R. Ludlow School from closure.

6. Transition Moffett Elementary School to a K-4 school, with middle grades attending Ludlow.

7. Expand Hackett School to a K-8 school.

8. Retain ownership of the Lankenau High School property as an environmental education center for use by all District students, given the access to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.

9. Retain ownership of the Robeson property and plan for its future use in partnership with the community, given its close proximity to one the nation’s premier science and innovation hubs.

10. Increase the planned investments in Council District 3 from $205 million to $331 million, which will fund modernizations at Anderson Elementary School, Bryant Elementary School, Mitchell Elementary School and a pool renovation at Motivation High School.

11. Increase the planned investments in Council District 5 from $299 million to $330 million, which will fund infrastructure for the North Philadelphia Promise Zone.

12. Withdraw the recommendation to convey closed schools in this plan, which has already been reduced from 10 to 7, to the city at this time in order to provide the Board with more time to consider legal and policy considerations.

Jane Roh, spokesperson for Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, shared the following statement regarding the District’s adjustments to the facilities master plan:

“The PFT is not satisfied with these minor adjustments to a process that will be hugely disruptive to school communities, will absolutely drive families and staff out of the District, and is counterproductive to efforts to secure additional funding via the rideshare tax.”

Officials said the next board meeting is Thursday, April 23.