Part 9 of 9 in The Office That Tripled

The School District of Philadelphia publishes its full position roster every quarter, by school and by org, and the eight pieces above are built on it. It is genuinely good open data. The nine-piece series that ends here turned up three things that could be done with it, and none of them require a new dollar.

1. Add a data field showing whether a position is filled vs not.

The 2025-26 roster lists 26,433 positions. That is positions, not actual people. The file has no field showing whether a post is filled, so a budgeted counselor who isn't actually hired and a real human doing real work look the same in the database. Just add a field that says filled vs not.

2. Add statutory staffing levels for all critical roles, teachers included.

Staffing levels are up around 60% per student over the last decade, partially driven by federal and state requirements around services for students with disabilities, and partially by catch-up needs in building maintenance. Certain roles should have mandatory staffing levels (e.g., teachers, councillors) per student so that discretionary hiring doesn't take away from critical roles.

3. Commission a study of the per-diem staffing growth.

Not because of money or cost, but because it’s a big enough growth number to warrant a proper study. We've done a lot of hiring bit by bit, but the total is worth a strategic assessment to understand whether its right to have so many school employees technically as daily workers instead of full time employees.

Notes, Sources, and Methodology

Staffing figures come from the School District’s quarterly position roster on OpenDataPhilly. The 26,433 figure is the 2025-26 snapshot.

Federal and state law require that a student with an IEP or a Section 504 plan gets the services on it, including counselors and classroom assistants.