Statement: Mayor Parker’s ‘One Philly’ Budget is Another Positive Step Forward for the City

Elevate 215 Executive Director Dr. Stacy Holland issued the following statement after the Philadelphia City Council approved Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s first city budget:

“I believe that Mayor Cherelle Parker’s unified “One Philly” vision for our schools is inspiring and achievable. Since taking office, she has consistently brought together a diverse set of educators, business, and community leaders to build solutions that will move Philadelphia’s schools forward and prepare our children to become productive citizens.

“We must remember that our job is to improve schools for the children. As a city we have to be laser focused on building an educational system that works for every child. That is why I applaud Mayor Cherelle Parker and the City Council for a budget that boosts education funding and supports progress toward increasing the quality of our schools; modernizing facilities and student-learning environments; and creating a diverse and effective teacher workforce. Mayor Parker is creating the platform for us to work together to give our children what they deserve.

“This is another positive step forward for our city. But, Mayor Parker has humbly acknowledged she can’t do it alone. Education leaders need to continue to collaborate on ways to deploy research-based teaching and learning practices into schools and explore innovative approaches that have shown to accelerate academic outcomes for students.”