Mayor Cherelle Parker, a former educator, has been pushing for higher pay for teachers, saying they "deserve to earn a living wage" and proposing an addition $12 million annually to be earmarked for their salaries. But that financial commitment begins in five years and won't do much to close the gap between what some teachers are making in the suburbs.
"This is part of our ongoing commitment to our teachers as we pull on every lever, from stronger recruitment to workforce development to workforce housing, to make Philadelphia the best place in the country to work in the classroom," she said last month during her budget address.
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Classroom teachers in the School District of Philadelphia made on average $82,151 in 2023-2024, the most recent data available by the Pennsylvania Department of Education shows. While that places Philly in the top quarter of the 499 traditional public school districts in the state, there's nearly a $30,000 pay gap between the city and the top-paying district: New Hope-Solebury ($111,968).
Parker's budget proposed a slight raise to the percentage of property taxes that's designated for schools, from 56% to 56.5%, which would bring in about $12 million annually starting in fiscal 2030. That increase would equate to only about $1,260 more per educator, per year if it was spread evenly with the district's 9,500 teachers.
The School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union declined to comment specifically about the budget proposal as they work to negotiate a new deal before the union's contract expires in August.
"Our position is that teacher and staff salaries must be the top priority in District spending in order to address serious staff shortages throughout Philly public schools which are resulting in student overcrowding and in some cases compromising student and staff safety," Jane Roh, a spokesperson for PFT, said in an email.
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To address concerns with staffing shortages, Parker has put together the Philadelphia Citywide Talent Coalition – a group that includes members from district and charter schools, education preparation programs, nonprofits and city agencies. In February, the organization announced the five-year goal to add 900 teachers of color and to improve overall retention rates. Increasing pay is part of the coalition's plan to address vacancies and strengthen the city's pipeline of educators.
While Pennsylvania ranks among the top states in the country in average salary for teachers, there is a wide discrepancy around the state because each school district sets its own pay scale. That's how there was a about a $9,000 gap between average teachers' salaries in Lower Merion ($110,695) and Upper Merion ($101,719) in 2023-2024, even though those neighboring districts are in the same county and their schools are less than 10 miles apart.
As for how salaries in the School District of Philadelphia compare with what educators are making in the suburbs, the results are mixed. Philly teachers' salaries ($82,151) are comparable with averages in Chester ($82,382) and Delaware ($82,348) counties, but more than $10,000 lower than Montgomery ($93,790) and Bucks ($93,944) counties. (This data excludes charter schools – where teachers typically make substantially less than their district peers.)
The higher salaries mostly coincided with a more experienced staff, with Bucks (16.3 years) and Montgomery (16.1) counties leading the way in service years, followed by Chester (14.4) and Delaware (14.3) counties. Meanwhile, educators in Philly averaged 13.5 years of experience – one of the lowest school districts in the state.
And despite Parker's push to raise teachers' salaries, fix staffing shortages and improve retention, there's another looming problem for the Philadelphia School District: its debt.
When Superintendent Tony Watlington announced the district's $4.6 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2026 last month, he called for using 40% of the "rainy day fund" to cover a projected $306 million deficit. By the time Parker's bump would go into effect in 2030, the district's cumulative debt could be as large as $774 million, Chalkbeat reported.
