The Orphan Society was formed by a committee of wealthy Philadelphia women, notably Sarah Ralston and Rebecca Gratz, who each took the role of social reformer very seriously.

Gratz, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant, also formed the Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstances, the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society, and the Hebrew Sunday School. Gratz College in Elkins Park is named after her.

“She never married,” Barnes said. “She did things like put her money and her time toward doing that kind of public service.”

Ralston, the daughter of onetime Philadelphia mayor Matthew Clarkson, also formed the Indigent Widows and Single Women’s Society, which ultimately became the Sarah Ralston Foundation supporting elder care in Philadelphia. The historic mansion she built to house indigent widows still stands on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, which is now its chief occupant.

Women like Ralston and Gratz were part of the 19th-century Reform Movement that sought to undo some of the inhumane conditions brought about by the rapid industrialization of cities. Huge numbers of people from rural America and foreign countries came into urban cities for factory work, and many fell into poverty, alcoholism, and prostitution.

“These are not new problems, but on a much larger scale than they ever were,” Barnes said. “It was just kind of in the zeitgeist in the mid- and later-1800s to say, ‘We’ve got to address all these problems.”

The reform organizations could be highly selective and impose a heavy dose of 19th-century moralism. The Indigent Widows and Single Women’s Society, for example, only selected white women from upper-class backgrounds whose fortunes had turned, rejecting women who were in poor health, “fiery-tempered,” or in one case, simply “ordinary.”

Pennsylvania Education Secretary Khalid Mumin will resign from his position in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s cabinet next month, the governor’s office announced Friday afternoon.

Mumin was confirmed in June 2023 about six months after Shapiro took office and has presided over some of the administration’s early successes such as increasing funding for K-12 public schools by $1.5 billion over the last two budgets and providing free breakfast for 1.7 million public school students.

Mumin will resign Dec. 6 and Executive Deputy Secretary of Education Angela Fitterer will take over as interim secretary. A statement from Shapiro’s office did not say why Mumin is stepping down.

Shapiro said in a statement that Mumin has dedicated his life and career to ensuring that Pennsylvania children have a quality education that sets them up for success. 

“He has led the Pennsylvania Department of Education with passion and integrity. I am grateful for his service to Pennsylvania’s students and educators and wish him great success in his future endeavors,” Shapiro said.

Mumin said it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as education secretary. 

“I began my career as a teacher in a classroom, and those early experiences watching students get excited about learning inspired me to become a principal, a superintendent, and ultimately Secretary of Education, so I could continue to fight for those students to get more support and more opportunities,” Mumin said. “I’m so grateful to Governor Shapiro for this opportunity to lead the Pennsylvania Department of Education and help build a bright future for Pennsylvania’s students and educators.” 

State Sen. David Argall (R-Schuylkill), chairman of the Legislature’s education committee, said he wished Mumin the best and added, “I look forward to working with Acting Secretary Fitterer and the governor’s nominee to improve our education system, from Pre-K to graduate school.”

State Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford), the ranking Republican member of the House Education Committee, said that from his point of view in the legislature “there were some definite bumps” during Mumin’s tenure as he presided over transformational change in the department.

“It’s important to understand that running a bureaucracy of that size … is different than being a great superintendent in a school district, big or small,” Topper said. “I think there are times when those coming from the academic world find it a little jolting what they’re going to encounter in the realm of government. I think he found it challenging, as all of these roles are.”

Before Shapiro tapped Mumin for his cabinet, he served as superintendent of the Lower Merion school district in Montgomery County. Mumin, who began his career as a classroom teacher in the Franklin County community of Scotland in 1997, also has served as superintendent of the Reading public schools.

Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, senior attorney at the Public Interest Law Center, said Mumin’s background gave him a useful perspective on Pennsylvania’s schools. Lower Merion is among the state’s wealthiest communities, while Reading is one of the least.

“He came to office with the experience of seeing everything that Pennsylvania public schools can offer and the kind of disparity that underfunding public schools creates,” Urevick-Acklesberg said, adding that an important part of Mumin’s legacy will be the first steps the commonwealth took toward bringing its public schools into constitutional compliance. 

Mumin’s tenure coincided with the resolution of a decade of litigation over the state’s public education funding formula, which a group of school districts, parents and advocates argued put students in less wealthy areas at a disadvantage because of its reliance on property taxes. 

A Commonwealth Court judge ordered Shapiro and the General Assembly in February 2023 to correct the inequities and a interbranch commission found the state needed to invest $5.4 billion in underfunded schools to bring them up to par with the state’s most successful school districts.

This year’s budget includes about $526 million toward that goal, but lawmakers were unable to reach a compromise that would guarantee future installments to close the gap.

Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-Allegheny), who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Education Committee, said she was grateful for Mumin’s service and experience as an educator, which helped the administration and lawmakers achieve shared goals such as  strengthening career and technical education programs, investing in student mental health, repairs for schools and providing free menstrual products for students. 

The governor’s office also credited Mumin with bringing together higher education leaders together to rethink higher education in Pennsylvania, establishing a state Board of Higher Education to provide more support for public universities and make college education more affordable.

Topper said the Education Department’s communications with the General Assembly were often found lacking by some members. Topper pointed to the higher education reform initiative, which the Shapiro administration billed as “a blueprint for higher education,” that many Republicans criticized for lacking detail or a clear proposal for how it would be funded.

Williams noted that the next four years will bring profound challenges for public education, as President-elect Donald Trump appears poised to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. This week he appointed professional wrestling executive Linda McMahon to head the agency.

“Given the President-elect’s nominee to head the federal Department of Education, any successor to Secretary Mumin must be prepared to defend Pennsylvania students’ constitutional right to a high-quality inclusive public education,” Williams said.

Fitterer, who will serve in Mumin’s place until Shapiro’s nominee is confirmed in the Senate, has a 25-year career in state government, serving in former Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration, as legislative director for the education department and in crafting public policy in the House and Senate.

(This article was updated about 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, to include additional comments.)