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mdpaoli t1_j4n7vpq wrote

Reply to comment by defusted in What happened to Chester, PA? What are its future prospects? by unenlightenedgoblin

Chester-Upland spends about $21,445 per pupil per year. That’s a higher per pupil spending amount than Haverford School District, Springfield School District, and several other school districts in Delaware County.

Here’s the data:

https://www.education.pa.gov/Documents/Teachers-Administrators/School%20Finances/Finances/Summary%20of%20AFR%20Data/AFR%20Data%20Summary%20Level/Finances%20AFR%20Expenditures%202020-2021.xlsx

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defusted t1_j4ngc39 wrote

Are you looking at Chester upland academy, Chester upland School of the arts, or Chester high School, because one of those isn't a private school where you got that number from. Maybe instead of trying to cherry pick one thing to point at and go "see, it's really not that bad" you should actually do some reading.

Chester was a red line area, I'm not going to get into what red lining is, you can look that up yourself. Companies loved to build industrial areas in red lining areas because they didn't care if the predominantly black population got stuck from industrial run off and fumes. When all the factories started to shut down in Chester it left the area even more impoverished. Low tax bracket areas don't get good public spending for public schools, hence lower education. Low income mixed with low educational opportunities creates high crime areas.

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unenlightenedgoblin OP t1_j4njv5u wrote

The thing that stands out about Chester compared with comparable small declining cities in the state is the fact that most of the factories in and around Chester are still operating. It doesn’t seem that Chester desperately lacks employment opportunities, but rather that those jobs aren’t going to Chester residents nor meaningfully lifting the tax base.

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mdpaoli t1_j4nlj7i wrote

Yes there are still some factories operating in Chester, but they are a fraction of what once was there. The shipyard once employed 35,000+ people. The shipyard and many other large employers left following the Industrial Revolution. When those employers left, a lot of Chester’s population left too.

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unenlightenedgoblin OP t1_j4nohsh wrote

Whoa, I had no idea. 35,000 is A LOT of people. Did they tear everything down or are there at least cool industrial ruins to check out?

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mdpaoli t1_j4nom0c wrote

The number I quoted was the average expenditure per pupil by the Chester Upland School District. The numbers came directly from the state Department of Education.

Yes, Chester Upland schools are CHRONICALLY underfunded at the local level, but the gap in funding is made-up by the state. So much so that the spending per pupil in Chester-Upland is on par with other school districts in Delaware County.

I have family from Chester and it’s tragic what has happened to the city since so much of the industrial base and jobs left.

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