From the calendar to parent-paid transportation, what you need to know for the Philadelphia school year

A week ahead of welcoming back 113,000 students for a new term, Philadelphia Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said the school system is on track for its Sept. 5 opening.

Flanked by Watlington, Mayor Jim Kenney, students, and the Phillie Phanatic, school board member Sarah-Ashley Andrews stood at Citizens Bank Park on Monday and said officials are “really looking forward to the new school year, which is full of promise and possibility for all students to learn, thrive, and achieve academic success.”

Here are some facts about the 2023-24 school year, by the numbers:

181: The number of instructional days in the school year, with 169 full days and 12 half-days — fewer than in the past.

The district returns to a post-Labor Day start this year. Parents and staff said they prefer beginning the school year in September, in part because of the school system’s many buildings without air-conditioning.

» READ MORE: Philly schools make changes for the 2023-24 calendar

There are some additional calendar tweaks this year, also. For decades, the district gave students and staff off for the October holiday long celebrated as Columbus Day, then shifted to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Now, classes will be held on what is now Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Learning — Oct. 9, this year.

Veterans Day also used to be a day off but will be an in-school day this year.

Students had Diwali off last year, but this year it’s back to being a day of classes. Instead, the district will give students off for Lunar New Year, which is celebrated by a larger number of students.

25: The number of schools that received air-conditioning this summer. Still, more than half the district’s schools are not fully air-conditioned. Officials have said all Philadelphia schools won’t be air-conditioned until 2027.

$3,000: The dollar amount the district is offering to pay parents of students eligible for transportation to drive their children instead of relying on yellow buses. This is the third year the school system is going this route; amid a shortage of bus drivers, it’s a way to require fewer bus routes. Parents receive $300 monthly, and the stipend is available only to those who are entitled to bus, cab, or van service, not those who are eligible for a SEPTA fare card.

700: The number of new teachers and counselors hired so far across the district’s 216 schools.

» READ MORE: Philly schools start Sept. 5. Here’s what Superintendent Watlington wants you to know

95.1: The percentage of district teaching jobs that have been filled. The exact count of open jobs in the system, which typically employs about 9,000 teachers, was not available, but totals in the hundreds.

Philadelphia, like districts across the country, has been hit hard by an educator shortage, and there’s no way every opening will be filled by the first day of school, Watlington said.

“We won’t reach 100% by Sept. 5, but we will make sure that every classroom is covered with a teacher or a person who’s expected to be in that classroom,” said the superintendent.