(05/2026)

Testimony of Dr. Cassandra St. Vil, CEO, before the School District of Philadelphia Board of Education

ORAL TESTIMONY

President Streater and Members of the Board of Education,

My name is Dr. Cassandra St. Vil, Chief Executive Officer of Philadelphia Charters for Excellence, here on behalf of nearly 65,000 public charter school students.

I am here tonight to again call for an immediate moratorium on charter school actions until a structurally sound and conflict-free authorizing process is in place.

Philadelphia's current structure places this Board in the dual role of both charter authorizer and operator of district schools. When the same body making renewal, expansion, and closure decisions also operates schools seeking the same students and funding, the integrity of every decision is compromised, and public trust erodes with it.

A moratorium is not opposition to accountability. It is a demand for it.

Proceeding with consequential charter actions under a structurally broken process puts students and school communities at risk of decisions that were never made on a level playing field.

Before this Board moves forward, we must:

• Suspend charter renewal actions that cannot be evaluated free of competitive interest.

• Acknowledge the structural conflict documented in independent review.

• Commit to a timeline for implementing a neutral, independent authorizing framework.

• Protect students and their places of learning from decisions made under compromised conditions.

A flawed process does not produce fair outcomes. It only produces outcomes that are harder to defend and easier to challenge.

We are not asking for advantage.

Our request is straightforward:

Pause. Acknowledge the structural problem this Board has inherited. And commit to resolving it before making decisions that will shape the educational futures of tens of thousands of Philadelphia children.

If we align authorizing with fairness and objectivity, we strengthen accountability for everyone. We strengthen public trust. And most importantly, we strengthen outcomes for students.

Thank you.