The end of a key partnership leaves Philly educators in the lurch to run their robotics teams

Across Philadelphia this school year, students interested in robotics will have less support after the end of a contract between the Philadelphia Robotics Coalition (PRC) and the School District of Philadelphia (SDP).

For the last three years, PRC provided financial support to robotics teams, which serve as an addition to STEM education, exposing students to science and technology while also promoting collaboration and creativity. Without that infusion, the programs are in jeopardy, teachers say.

“[It’s] too big of a burden for some schools to raise all this money and for their teachers to make this happen,” Trey Smith, a Philadelphia digital literacy teacher, told Technical.ly. 

Leaders at PRC intend to continue providing support through non-monetary methods, according to executive director Dia L. Jones, including training, coaching and other ways of creating access to STEM education will continue.

Under the previous contract, PRC used money from sponsors and partners — ranging from the Department of Defense to pharma giant GSK — to purchase materials and provide training for robotics teams. Then, the School District reimbursed PRC with funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which went into effect in 2021 to help communities recover from the pandemic. 

Already overworked teachers now have to find their funds

Smith, who teaches at Marian Anderson Elementary in West Philly, helped bring robotics programming to his school last year.

Oftentimes, teachers have to put in extra, unpaid time and use their own money to buy things, but PRC helped get the teams set up, providing resources and taking care of funding, said Smith. 

“As a teacher, even though I know how to get resources, I know how to raise grants, I’ve done a lot of different projects,” Smith said. “[PRC] really just lowered the bar for participation … because so many things were taken care of.” 

It usually costs between $1,800 to $7,000 to start a robotics team, per Smith, though expenses can sometimes skyrocket up to $60,000 and above. Additional resources are needed to maintain and oversee the teams, which each comprise 2 to 15 students. Fees for competition registration and other miscellaneous efforts add up quickly, he said.

Previously, PRC purchased materials and provided training for teachers in the district, teaching them how to run a robotics program and the supplies to get set up.

“I volunteered plenty of hours unpaid and spent plenty of dollars over the years,” Smith said, “but [the PRC support] lowers the threshold, lowers the bar for participation in a positive way.” 

Smith also said that teachers were previously paid to coach robotics teams. PRC denied that this contract provided that funding. The School District did not answer Technical.ly’s question to clarify how teachers were being paid, and whether they would continue to be paid for running robotics teams.

Central High School’s national championship-winning robotics team the RoboLancers started PRC in 2016 to expand after-school robotics programming. Last year, it worked with approximately 50 schools and 100 teams across the district. 

PRC also previously hosted Philadelphia qualifier competitions and workshops for teams in the city, but now lacks the funding to do so. 

RoboLancers head coach Michael Johnson said that the team is committed to finding resources for robotics teams in the district using its existing relationships. The goal is to connect with existing funders and new funders to come up with both short and long-term solutions to ensure programs can continue.

When federal funding ended, so did the partnership 

In technical terms, PRC was an “after-school enrichment partner” and vendor for the School District of Philadelphia, according to Jones, the executive director. This partnership was a three-year contract from 2021 to 2024. When the contract was signed, PRC and the school district knew it would end on Sept. 30, 2024, Jones said. 

The School District of Philadelphia received $1.1 billion in ARPA federal funding to support reopening schools after the pandemic. One focus area for these funds was to “support educational recovery and accelerate learning,” including before and after school programming. 

When ARPA funding ended, SDP decided to “sustain vendor-led opportunities with a focus on kindergarten through eighth-grade opportunities in up to 40 schools,” said Monique Braxton, deputy chief of communications for the School District of Philadelphia. 

SDP paid robotics coaches from the central office, not individual schools budgets, but that’s gone away now, Johnson said. Before the ARPA funds, the money came from other central office sources. For robotics coaches to be paid, the money now needs to come from individual schools, according to Johnson.

There haven’t been any discussions so far about continuing the programming in the future, Braxton said. All after-school vendors reimbursed through the ARPA funds finished their contracts, Jones said.

PRC also phased out its high school division for the upcoming school year and instead will be focused on programming for kindergarten through eighth grade. The org plans to continue working with its partners to provide workforce development resources for high schoolers. 

PRC plans to offer training, virtual support despite end of contract

PRC will continue to offer training and support for coaches and students. Most existing school partners are still committed to maintaining their teams, Jones from PRC said. 

“I don’t know what it’s going to look like for PRC in November, but schools and coaches are excited to start the new robotics season,” Jones said. 

PRC plans to take the next year to figure out the barriers to having robotics programming in schools. The hope is that by the 2025 to 2026 school year, PRC will be able to support more students and families in the city through robotics. 

“Our number one goal is to increase STEM equity,” Jones said. “We are strategically planning this year to determine what this looks like for the children, families, and school communities we serve.”