Original Research by School Decision on Franklin Towne Chs
Franklin Towne CHS is a charter high school serving grades nine through twelve in Northeast Philadelphia. The school enrolls a moderately sized cohort of students across all four high school grades, with a student body that is roughly balanced between white and Hispanic students, and includes smaller numbers of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data were not available.
State assessment results and graduation rates were not provided in the available data, so a parent cannot evaluate proficiency or completion outcomes directly from this source. This gap limits the ability to assess academic performance on the metrics most families use for comparison.
The school stands out for chronic absenteeism that places it well above the median in its county comparison set, among Philadelphia County's districts. Per-pupil spending falls in the lower range regionally. Comparison data on overall proficiency and four-year graduation rates were not available, so positioning on academic outcomes against county peers cannot be determined here.
Two major events shape the current context for families considering enrollment. In 2023, after a whistleblower investigation, the Philadelphia Board of Education moved to revoke the school's charter based on allegations that Franklin Towne had manipulated its admissions lottery for years to exclude applicants from certain ZIP codes and to screen out siblings of students with academic or behavioral challenges. The board voted to proceed with revocation hearings; however, a court order has paused those proceedings, and the case is now in appellate litigation. The school remains open, but its long-term operating charter status is unresolved, a material uncertainty for a family committing their child to a four-year high school experience.
In response to the admissions findings, Franklin Towne moved from running its own independent lottery to joining Apply Philly Charter, the centralized citywide application system for the city's charter schools. This change means prospective students now apply through a shared platform and timeline with other charter applicants, replacing the previous independent process. A parent considering enrollment should verify current admissions procedures directly with the school.
The school also recently completed a major facilities expansion on its historic Frankford Arsenal campus, adding a new gymnasium with a basketball court, mezzanine track, and weight training area. This expansion expanded the school's athletic and recreational capacity.
The combination of legal uncertainty around charter status, the admissions lottery history, unresolved academic performance data, and above-average absenteeism suggests a parent would benefit from direct conversation with the school about its current operations, stability, and academic outcomes before enrollment.
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