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District profile / Pennsylvania

School District of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Superintendent: Tony Watlington · #1 of 382 Pennsylvania districts by enrollment

Compare with peers
120,057
Students
2024-25 school year
220
Schools
2024-25 school year
$14,484
Spending per student
FY2020-21 · 8% below the Pennsylvania median
15.0
Students per teacher
2024-25 · Pennsylvania median 13.4

School District of Philadelphia is a public school district based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serving 120,057 students in 220 schools. By enrollment it ranks #1 of the 382 Pennsylvania districts with 1,000 or more students, making it the largest in the state. Its schools average 546 students each, about the same as the Pennsylvania median of 560. Its superintendent is Tony Watlington. It spends about $14,484 per student on day-to-day operations, 8% less than the Pennsylvania median. It has roughly 15.0 students per teacher. We've matched 56 news stories to the district.

How School District of Philadelphia compares

School District of PhiladelphiaPennsylvania median, districts with 1,000+ students
Spending per student$14,484
Pennsylvania median $15,764 · 8% below · FY2020-21
Instruction spending per student$8,115
Pennsylvania median $10,126 · 20% below · FY2020-21
Students per school546
Pennsylvania median 560 · about the same · 2024-25
Students per teacher15.0
Pennsylvania median 13.4 · 12% above · 2024-25
Students per counselor337
Pennsylvania median 328 · about the same · 2024-25

Spending and staffing

Where the money comes from$3.81 billion in revenue · FY2020-21
Federal 12%State 45%Local 42%
MeasureSchool District of PhiladelphiaPennsylvania medianYear
Current spending per student$14,484$15,764FY2020-21
Instruction spending per student$8,115$10,126FY2020-21
Total spending$3.90 billionn/aFY2020-21
Total revenue$3.81 billionn/aFY2020-21
Teachers (full-time equivalent)8,000n/a2024-25
Total staff (full-time equivalent)19,713n/a2024-25
Students per teacher15.013.42024-25
Students per counselor3373282024-25

Spending: NCES school district finance survey (F-33), FY2020-21. Staffing and enrollment: NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-25. Via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal. The Pennsylvania median compares districts with 1,000 or more students.

Leadership

Moves tracker →

Tony Watlington

Superintendent, School District of Philadelphia

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Education, EdNA, checked 2026-11-09. Report a change

In the news

56 stories matched

Peer districts in Pennsylvania

Compare side by side →
DistrictStudentsSchoolsSpending per studentStudents per teacherRank
School District of PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia · this district120,057220$14,48415.0#1
Pittsburgh School DistrictPittsburgh19,57156$21,48811.8#2
Central Bucks School DistrictDoylestown16,94123$17,14913.3#3
Allentown City School DistrictAllentown16,76923$14,76815.9#4
Reading School DistrictReading16,66419$12,29115.2#5

Similar-size districts nationally

DistrictStudentsSpending per studentStudents per teacher
Duval County Public SchoolsJacksonville, FL130,054$10,09719.1
Cypress-Fairbanks ISDCypress, TX117,927$10,08115.4
Polk County Public SchoolsBartow, FL111,372$10,58719.3
Memphis-Shelby County SchoolsMemphis, TN111,124$10,862n/a

Peers are the districts closest in enrollment, so they can still differ in many other ways. Enrollment, school counts and phone numbers are from the NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-25.

Printed from Superintendent's Corner: https://superintendentscorner.com/district-pa-school-district-of-philadelphia