Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Wayne N. Walters introduces the Implementation Plan for school consolidation at the Oct. 30, 2025 PPS board meeting in North Oakland. (Photo by Alexis Wary/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)
An implementation report delivered by Superintendent Wayne Walters lays out spending and saving forecasts, staffing changes and timelines for closing 12 Pittsburgh schools.
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The cuts were laid out in a superintendent’s report on Oct. 30 alongside other details for implementing a multi-year plan to close and consolidate schools, update facilities and restructure curricula for its 17,956 students.
“Equity is the center of this plan, the lens through which decisions are made for too long, student experiences and outcomes in Pittsburgh have been shaped by uneven access to resources, programs and facilities,” said Superintendent Wayne Walters. “This plan intentionally closes that gap.”
Leaders say these changes will improve student learning outcomes, advance equity and lower expenses. But even then, the cash-strapped district will be saddled with a $25 million operating deficit by 2028, according to Walters’ report.
PPS began developing a plan for modernizing and rightsizing its facilities in early 2024, and district leadership is keen to have a final version approved before the calendar year closes. Many community members, on the other hand, have asked for more transparency and have said the process is rushed without incorporating meaningful public input.
Walters said the administration has been “listening, learning, adjusting and responding” at every step. “This is not rushed,” he added. “This is responsible, rigorous and long overdue.”
Some members of the board, though, expressed reservations after Walters’ presentation.
Board member Devon Taliaferro said the process felt incomplete, and she indicated she would oppose the plan when it comes to a vote.
“It’s totally not clear to me, like, how is this going to benefit us in the long run, if we still are not going to be great with money?” she said.
Following an updated feasibility report released in May, the school board asked the administration to develop an implementation plan outlining eight priorities: the timeline, staff support, protocols for Individualized Education Plans, plans for English Language Learners, community engagement, financial analysis, attendance zones and transportation.
Key recommendations of the latest plan include changing the current school grade configurations to a traditional model of K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grades, and closing 12 schools and nine buildings.
The plan is to be implemented over three phases, beginning in 2026 and concluding in 2028.
$25 million deficit by 2028
District administrators estimate the plan requires capital investment totaling $453.4 million through 2032 to upgrade HVAC, technology and safety systems, and renovate school facilities to support STEM, art, music and other specialized programs.
The proposed seven-year capital investment plan is projected to increase the district’s debt service by $12.2 million by 2033.
By closing nine school buildings, the district expects to cut approximately $102.8 million in costs over the next seven years. This would bring the district’s operating deficit down to $25.2 million, requiring $64.1 million in reserve funds to comply with its minimum fund balance policy by the end of 2028.
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Walters’ report does not state how the district intends to bridge the remaining funding gap.
The plan could save PPS money overall, though. According to the district’s current financial forecast, PPS would end up with an operating deficit of $40.5 million by the end of 2027. If the plan is executed, the district’s operating deficit would shrink to $13.8 million, before widening again through 2028.
“This plan … represents a critical step forward toward achieving fiscal sustainability, reinvesting our resources and construction, staffing and student supports,” said Chief Financial Officer Ron Joseph. “In short, the plan helps us to slow our use of our financial reserves.”
Joseph said targeted investments in instructional and Teaching Learning Centers would be partially offset by current savings from building closures, transportation cuts, custodial reductions and delivery model changes.
150 teacher and staff positions cut
Walters’ report forecasts 152 total job cuts starting next fall as part of the reconfiguration, which accounts for enrollment changes and financial projections. Of these cuts, 55 would affect teachers and 48 would hit food service staff. Eleven of 57 principal positions are also slated for cuts.
The district isn’t simply cutting, though. Furloughs in math and English departments would be balanced by added positions in related arts, which would include art, music, physical education, world language, career exploration and high school electives in math, English and career and technical education.
Chief Human Resources Officer Margaret Rudolph said while there are a number of furloughs forecast in 2026-27, these positions are not staffed currently at 100%. The board has approved several interim principals this year to reduce the number of staff that could be displaced.
She added the HR team has regularly met with the teacher’s union, AFSCME and building trade councils to ensure that transfers or displacements comply with contract language.
Attendance zones and feeder patterns
Following the feasibility report, the district’s Data, Research, Evaluation and Assessment team worked on redesigning attendance zones and feeder patterns.
Find your updated feeder patterns through the proposed PPS Find a School tool.
The report suggests that realigning attendance zones and feeder patterns would simplify transportation routes while addressing challenges facing under-utilized and under-enrolled schools in PPS.
District spokesperson Ebony Pugh said changes to attendance zones and feeder patterns were made to:
- Address enrollment imbalances
- Ensure a 75-85% utilization rate in each building
- Make refinements to address geographic challenges
- Avoid student assignments to cross major geographic barriers
- And correct legacy misalignments such as magnet school enrollment.
Pugh said community feedback drove some of the changes made to feeder patterns such as sending students from Lincoln to Sterrett instead of the original plan to send them to Arsenal.
Halving bus trips saves $5.6 million annually
The report calculates that the plan would reduce the number of daily trips made by PPS vehicles from 986 to 462, without disrupting service for families. It would also lower average ride times by nearly 20 minutes.
These changes — aided by reconfigurations to middle school and high school grade levels and changes to Gifted Center and magnet programs — will save the district an estimated $5.6 million in annual transportation costs, according to the report.
Pugh said transportation services would be maintained for students with wheelchairs and other specialized needs.
STEAM, arts offerings could expand
The district plans to revise instruction and curriculum based on Universal Design for Learning Principles. To support a new emphasis on arts and language the district plans to halve high school English and math teachers while adding more than 120 arts teachers in areas such as art, music and world languages district wide. Key changes include:
- Expanding access to algebra for all eighth-grade students
- Expanding access to STEAM education for all students integrated in grades three through eight
- Expanding visual and performing arts in K-8
- Expanding world languages starting in third grade
- A structured curriculum based on state academic standards for career education and National Career Clusters for middle-grade students
- New teaching and learning centers for professional development for all teachers
- Personalized transition plan for students to receive credit recovery support after the closure of Student Achievement Center
- Expansion of programs for students with exceptionalities to access services in neighborhood schools
- Expansion of ELD centers to nine schools.
Some board members unconvinced
Like Taliaferro, board member Emma Yourd expressed hesitation about supporting the plan, saying there was a lack of a clear timeline on how to implement the changes. Instead of full-year blocks, she said, the board should have presented a clearer sequence of actions over quarterly timelines.
Walters said the administration would develop and share details about specific timelines and milestones once the board votes on the plan. He added that the administration team has developed accountability metrics and milestones for the next two years in each department.
Board President Gene Walker suggested the board conduct monthly meetings to monitor the progress of the implementation plan, as they are currently doing for developing the superintendent’s goals.
Board member Jamie Piotrowski said the plan lacks transparency and details that could impact the plan’s execution. She also questioned the district’s lack of plans for buildings facing closures.
“We cannot talk about equity throughout this plan and talk about how good it is to be for everybody when we’re also leaving some blight in communities, whether it’s for a year or longer,” she said.
Walker appreciated the administration’s plan, saying, “I believe in Pittsburgh Public Schools, I believe in what it has been, I believe in what it can be, and I don’t believe that we can sit by even for another day, knowing that change is possible, and choosing not to make that change because we’re not comfortable with every little piece.”
The board will hold several community listening sessions over the next couple of weeks to get feedback on the plan before they vote.
Lajja Mistry is the K-12 education reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at lajja@publicsource.org.
This article first appeared on Pittsburgh’s Public Source and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.