What is next for Pittsburgh Public Schools after board votes against closures?
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board voted against a plan to close buildings and reconfigure others.
The board voted 6-3 on Tuesday against the district's Future-Ready Facilities Plan, which had been years in the making and would have reorganized the district.
Now, questions are swirling about what is next for Pittsburgh Public Schools, after school board president Gene Walker said, "We're in a worse place today than when we started."
Next steps for Pittsburgh Public Schools
With new members of the board set to be sworn in next week, Walker said he hopes the board won't have to start from scratch. Walker is hopeful that the board is not as far apart as it seemed on Tuesday.
"I think we are really close. I think we are almost there with the work we have done so far," Walker said on Wednesday.
Superintendent Wayne Walters said if there is no change, the district's budget will run a bigger deficit. He said in a statement that this plan had more than $100 million in cost avoidance and a plan to stabilize the deficit for PPS.
There's already been a proposed 4% tax increase, and according to Walters, a big challenge would continue to be the equity of education across the district.
"It will still have a system of haves and have-nots in certain spaces, but we will continue to work and serve our students and families as best as we can," he told reporters Tuesday.
When making plans going forward, Walker says school board members must stop moving the goalposts on Walters. According to Walker, there have been multiple times when the superintendent got the information members wanted, only to have more requested.
"It feels like Dr. Walters is Charlie Brown and we are Lucy with a football, and we keep telling him we're not going to move it and every time he goes to kick it, we move it," Walker said.
Concerns of transparency have been a focal point for parents. Walker said some answers, like transportation or class size, can't be answered until a plan is put in place.