Pittsburgh Public Schools to examine use of buildings amid ‘budget crisis,' staffing issues

Pittsburgh Public Schools is facing a “budget crisis” and staffing issues, which prompted board President Gene Walker to advocate for developing and presenting recommendations on a facilities utilization plan — a resolution that passed despite criticism.

A preliminary plan will give an in-depth understanding of how the district’s buildings are being used, including what’s working, what’s not working, which buildings aren’t serving students, and which buildings should be modernized, Walker said. The plan could include closures and consolidations, and must be submitted to the school board by March 15.

Community input will be sought, he said, and the district’s human resources and finance departments will provide input, too.

“Right now, based off of the way we’re going, we’re going to be out of money in two years,” Walker said.

Pittsburgh Public Schools is currently running at 52% utilization of its buildings, according to Walker. Some schools are running above capacity, such as Taylor Allderdice High School at 114%, while others are running at around 27% capacity, he said.

“We have staffing problems mostly because we’re spread so thin,” Walker said. “There is a minimum number of staff that you have to have in a building.”

Walker presented the plan with Superintendent Wayne Walters and the district’s administration.

It passed 6-3 Wednesday night.

Along with Walker, Directors Sala Udin, Dwayne Barker, Tracey Reed, Yael Silk and Sylvia Wilson voted yes. Directors Jamie Piotrowski, Devon Taliaferro and Emma Yourd voted no.

However, before the vote took place, Piotrowski wanted to hold off the vote until the next board meeting in February — a move that didn’t pass following discussion.

The board didn’t follow its own board governance policy, she said, which states that a resolution must appear on the agenda twice.

Piotrowski said part of the issue was that the person who usually updates the board’s online documents was on vacation, so this resolution didn’t appear on documents for the agenda review meeting Jan. 17.

What was concerning to Taliaferro was, even though the board had discussion regarding the plan prior to the new members coming on board in December, she still felt she lacked necessary information.

“This resolution was given to the board a couple of days prior to it appearing on the agenda, with very little to no information,” she said.

Piotrowski said in addition to the procedural issues, the board has heard concerns through the public hearing and several emails, which is why she advocated for holding off the vote.

When conversation regarding facilities utilization has come up in the past, Taliaferro said it always sparks the concern in the community because of how much residents value schools.

“When we are not transparent about how we go about doing that, it causes mistrust in the community,” she said. “I’m not afraid to have the conversation about how we modernize our footprint. But I will not have that conversation without the voice of the community.”

In 2021, the district proposed closing six school buildings: Miller PreK-5 in the Hill District, Fulton PreK-5 in Highland Park, Woolslair PreK-5 and Arsenal 6-8 in Lawrenceville and Manchester PreK-8 in Manchester, Allegheny 6-8 in the North Side and Sterrett 6-8 in Point Breeze.

School board members indefinitely tabled that discussion.