An Act designating a portion of State Route 611, also known as Broad Street, from Spring Garden Street to Callowhill Street in the City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, as Dr. Constance E. Clayton Way.

PRINTER'S NO. 1463
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 1191
Session of
2026
INTRODUCED BY STREET, SAVAL, A. WILLIAMS, TARTAGLIONE, HAYWOOD,
HUGHES, PICOZZI AND VOGEL, FEBRUARY 27, 2026
REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION, FEBRUARY 27, 2026
AN ACT
Designating a portion of Pennsylvania Route 611, also known as
Broad Street, from Spring Garden Street to Callowhill Street
in the City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, as Dr.
Constance E. Clayton Way.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Dr. Constance E. Clayton Way.
(a) Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as
follows:
(1) Constance Elaine Clayton was born October 23, 1933,
in Philadelphia, the only child of Willabell Harris Clayton
and Levi Clayton. She was raised by her mother and maternal
grandmother, Sarah Harris.
(2) Surrounded by a loving, tight-knit family that
sought to give her a well-rounded education and development,
Dr. Clayton was engaged in the arts, local and national
government and her community. She learned the cello and the
piano, was an active member of North Philadelphia's St.
Paul's Baptist Church and, at eight years of age, was
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selected to deliver a welcome address on behalf of Eleanor
Roosevelt during the first lady's visit to Philadelphia.
(3) Dr. Clayton attended Dunbar Elementary School and
graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls. She
attended Temple University and, in 1955, received a bachelor
of arts degree and a master of arts degree, specializing in
elementary school administration. She entered the ranks of
teaching at the former William Henry Harrison School in North
Philadelphia, where she taught fourth grade classes for nine
years.
(4) During this time, Dr. Clayton played a critical role
in developing academic curricula for the School District of
Philadelphia, leading to her becoming a collaborator in the
school district's social studies department. She spent five
years designing social studies curricula for elementary
grades and then became project director of the school
district's African and Afro-American studies program in 1969.
(5) Dr. Clayton briefly left the School District of
Philadelphia in 1971 to serve as regional director of the
United States Department of Labor's Women's Bureau,
addressing pay inequity and supporting women's employment in
the Mid-Atlantic region.
(6) Dr. Clayton returned to the School District of
Philadelphia as director and then associate superintendent of
the school district's early childhood education program from
1973 to 1983, during which time she also earned her doctor of
philosophy degree from The Pennsylvania State University and
her doctor of education degree in educational administration
at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of
Education, where she was a Rockefeller Foundation fellow.
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Under her direction, the early childhood education program
grew to become a national model.
(7) In 1983, Dr. Clayton defeated 83 other candidates to
become superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia,
the first African American and first woman to do so. She
inherited a school district marred by budget setbacks, low
test scores, declining enrollment and persistently high
student poverty rates. Nonetheless, she won plaudits for her
visionary and innovative leadership, enhancing mathematics
and science instruction, achieving fiscal stability,
implementing a long overdue capital improvements plan and
effectively navigating tense labor relations. Under her
leadership, the school district attracted significant
private-sector support.
(8) Dr. Clayton excelled at financial management,
balancing the budget and leaving the School District of
Philadelphia with a surplus by the end of her tenure. She
standardized the curriculum and authored the school
district's first curriculum guide for African-American
studies, conducting regular teacher training in African-
American studies to ensure well-informed staff and educators.
She also provided significant support to district students,
launching the homeless student initiative, a broader sexual
education program and America 2000, a national plan for urban
schools to improve student achievement by the year 2000.
(9) Dr. Clayton's leadership led to her appointment to
numerous boards, including the Public Broadcasting Service,
the Private Industry Council and the National Board of
Medical Examiners. She was named a trustee of Drexel
University, Widener University and Bryn Mawr College and was
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a member of the American Association of School
Administrators, the Committee to Support Philadelphia Public
Schools and the Children's Defense Fund.
(10) In 1992, Dr. Clayton became the first African-
American woman to have a professorship named for her at an
Ivy League institution when the University of Pennsylvania
established the Constance E. Clayton Professorship in Urban
Education.
(11) Dr. Clayton retired from her role in 1993, leaving
a legacy of fiscal discipline and successful programming that
boosted student achievement and inspired a generation of
pupils during an era of tumult and upheaval in the City of
Philadelphia.
(12) In 1993, Dr. Clayton was the honoree at the annual
benefit of the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum
of Philadelphia, where she received recognition from the
United States Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, for her
pioneering work on behalf of Philadelphia's schoolchildren,
work that earned her the reputation as the "preeminent
educator in the country."
(13) Dr. Clayton's post-school-district career included
service in academia as a faculty member of the School of
Public Health and the Medical College of Philadelphia and as
interim dean of the School of Public Health at Hahnemann
University.
(14) A lifelong patron of the arts, Dr. Clayton served
on the board of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she
founded and chaired the African American Collections
Committee, which worked to build the collection of African-
American art at the museum. An art collector herself, she
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made historic gifts of art to both the Pennsylvania Academy
of the Fine Arts and the Schomburg Center for Research in
Black Culture at the New York Public Library and established
the Clayton Fellowship to support building pipelines of
African-American art curators by connecting them with
professional art curator organizations.
(15) Dr. Clayton peacefully passed away Monday,
September 18, 2023, leaving behind a legacy of service to the
City of Philadelphia that saw her receive numerous awards and
17 honorary doctorates, as well as constant recognition from
the General Assembly. It is fitting and proper that the
General Assembly acknowledge a towering figure in
Philadelphia who devoted her life to improving educational
opportunities for children.
(b) Designation.--The portion of Pennsylvania Route 611,
also known as Broad Street, from Spring Garden Street to
Callowhill Street in the City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia
County, is designated as the Dr. Constance E. Clayton Way.
(c) Signs.--The Department of Transportation shall erect and
maintain appropriate signs displaying the name of the highway to
traffic in both directions on the highway.
Section 2. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 30 days.
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