Philly Students Don’t Need “Influencers”—They Need Choice

Why would a school district, with so many low-achieving schools, prioritize paying parents to be “influencers” on social media?

Despite claims of underfunding, the School District of Philadelphia has more expendable income than it would like to admit. The district has budgeted $4.6 billion for the 2026–27 school year, with an average spend of  $32,122 per student, $9,000 more than the state average.

Yet, only one in three Philly students is proficient in reading, and only one in five is proficient in math.

It’s not clear what this influencer program entails or how much the district will spend on it. But the district somehow believes kids will do their homework because an influencer told them to do so while they were scrolling TikTok.

These kids don’t need cheap gimmicks; they need better choices. Too often, students are limited to only their neighborhood schools because of their ZIP code. So, what are they to do when these schools are chronically underperforming?

Advancing educational choice—whether by expanding Pennsylvania’s tax-credit scholarship programs or opting the commonwealth into the new federal scholarship program—would benefit far more students than a wasteful influencer campaign.