Carver’s Middle School is the key to boosting the school’s budget.

The School District of Philadelphia allocates funding for schools based on the amount of enrollment a school has. Carver has experienced challenges involving school enrollment ever since Covid with enrollment dropping from 950 in the 2018-2019 school year to 904 in the 2024-2025 school year. Carver’s principle, Dr. Johnson, who handles funding sees the effects first hand.

“Our enrollment changes, so our funding changes. When our enrollment is low, the funding is definitely affected, and so we don't have as much funding to work with.” Dr. Johnson explains. 

Middle school is at the core of this enrollment drop, with Carver having only one out of the usual two 7th grade classes. 

“Since the lottery it [middle school enrollment] has been less consistent.” says Ms. Hogan, who this year led the middle school recruitment process. 

The Philadelphia School District’s lottery system, which was introduced in 2022, has made the application process for Carver’s middle schoolers much less certain. With 8th graders only being able to have an automatic spot in the highschool this year, and administrators having less control of who enters the school. 

“Now, of course, if you meet the criteria and you go to eighth grade here starting this year, you can get in just automatically. But for a few years, it was just all lottery, and there was no wiggle room for us.” Says Mr. Pomales, a former middle school teacher at Carver.

The lack of attention geared towards Carver’s middle school is apparent, as Carver’s middle school website seemingly hasn’t been updated since 2020, which aligns with the enrollment drop.

“I’m a pretty athletic person,” Says 8th grader Hadassa Alves.  “Maybe include more extracurricular sports for middle school. I know that sometimes you can't, because there's not a lot of people to be in the teams, and it may just like drain a little bit, but maybe just focus a little more on that”

It's a cycle of events. There has to be more of a spotlight on Carver’s middle school from within the school,  so the middle school can have more to offer, so the reason to go to Carver’s middle school is more persuading, so middle school enrollment can increase, so more funds can be allocated to make middle school better.

"Our recruiting is to try and not persuade people to come to our school, but to introduce people that might be a great fit, that, hey, this is a school that exists, and you might want to come here.” Explains Mrs. Hogan.

The revitalization of Carver’s middle school community starts with  the acknowledgement from the entire school that when we talk about the students of Carver, Carver’s middle school will always be a part of that conversation. With a start like that, more enrollment can flow into middle school and better the entire Carver community. 

“I encourage students to continue to advocate for funding." Says Dr. Johnson, “For me as a principal, my goal is to be as transparent as possible with you all, as well as everything that I know, making sure that you all know, to make sure that this school is not only just the best school in the city, but that we're providing the best experience for our students."