SB 1191 — 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
 1   Designating a portion of Pennsylvania Route 611, also known as
 2      Broad Street, from Spring Garden Street to Callowhill Street
 3      in the City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, as Dr.
 4      Constance E. Clayton Way.
 5      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 6   hereby enacts as follows:
 7   Section 1.     Dr. Constance E. Clayton Way.
 8      (a)     Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as
 9   follows:
10            (1)   Constance Elaine Clayton was born October 23, 1933,
11      in Philadelphia, the only child of Willabell Harris Clayton
12      and Levi Clayton. She was raised by her mother and maternal
13      grandmother, Sarah Harris.
14            (2)   Surrounded by a loving, tight-knit family that
15      sought to give her a well-rounded education and development,
16      Dr. Clayton was engaged in the arts, local and national
17      government and her community. She learned the cello and the
18      piano, was an active member of North Philadelphia's St.
19      Paul's Baptist Church and, at eight years of age, was
 1    selected to deliver a welcome address on behalf of Eleanor
 2    Roosevelt during the first lady's visit to Philadelphia.
 3        (3)   Dr. Clayton attended Dunbar Elementary School and
 4    graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls. She
 5    attended Temple University and, in 1955, received a bachelor
 6    of arts degree and a master of arts degree, specializing in
 7    elementary school administration. She entered the ranks of
 8    teaching at the former William Henry Harrison School in North
 9    Philadelphia, where she taught fourth grade classes for nine
10    years.
11        (4)   During this time, Dr. Clayton played a critical role
12    in developing academic curricula for the School District of
13    Philadelphia, leading to her becoming a collaborator in the
14    school district's social studies department. She spent five
15    years designing social studies curricula for elementary
16    grades and then became project director of the school
17    district's African and Afro-American studies program in 1969.
18        (5)   Dr. Clayton briefly left the School District of
19    Philadelphia in 1971 to serve as regional director of the
20    United States Department of Labor's Women's Bureau,
21    addressing pay inequity and supporting women's employment in
22    the Mid-Atlantic region.
23        (6)   Dr. Clayton returned to the School District of
24    Philadelphia as director and then associate superintendent of
25    the school district's early childhood education program from
26    1973 to 1983, during which time she also earned her doctor of
27    philosophy degree from The Pennsylvania State University and
28    her doctor of education degree in educational administration
29    at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of
30    Education, where she was a Rockefeller Foundation fellow.

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 1    Under her direction, the early childhood education program
 2    grew to become a national model.
 3        (7)   In 1983, Dr. Clayton defeated 83 other candidates to
 4    become superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia,
 5    the first African American and first woman to do so. She
 6    inherited a school district marred by budget setbacks, low
 7    test scores, declining enrollment and persistently high
 8    student poverty rates. Nonetheless, she won plaudits for her
 9    visionary and innovative leadership, enhancing mathematics
10    and science instruction, achieving fiscal stability,
11    implementing a long overdue capital improvements plan and
12    effectively navigating tense labor relations. Under her
13    leadership, the school district attracted significant
14    private-sector support.
15        (8)   Dr. Clayton excelled at financial management,
16    balancing the budget and leaving the School District of
17    Philadelphia with a surplus by the end of her tenure. She
18    standardized the curriculum and authored the school
19    district's first curriculum guide for African-American
20    studies, conducting regular teacher training in African-
21    American studies to ensure well-informed staff and educators.
22    She also provided significant support to district students,
23    launching the homeless student initiative, a broader sexual
24    education program and America 2000, a national plan for urban
25    schools to improve student achievement by the year 2000.
26        (9)   Dr. Clayton's leadership led to her appointment to
27    numerous boards, including the Public Broadcasting Service,
28    the Private Industry Council and the National Board of
29    Medical Examiners. She was named a trustee of Drexel
30    University, Widener University and Bryn Mawr College and was

20260SB1191PN1463                - 3 -
 1    a member of the American Association of School
 2    Administrators, the Committee to Support Philadelphia Public
 3    Schools and the Children's Defense Fund.
 4        (10)     In 1992, Dr. Clayton became the first African-
 5    American woman to have a professorship named for her at an
 6    Ivy League institution when the University of Pennsylvania
 7    established the Constance E. Clayton Professorship in Urban
 8    Education.
 9        (11)     Dr. Clayton retired from her role in 1993, leaving
10    a legacy of fiscal discipline and successful programming that
11    boosted student achievement and inspired a generation of
12    pupils during an era of tumult and upheaval in the City of
13    Philadelphia.
14        (12)     In 1993, Dr. Clayton was the honoree at the annual
15    benefit of the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum
16    of Philadelphia, where she received recognition from the
17    United States Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, for her
18    pioneering work on behalf of Philadelphia's schoolchildren,
19    work that earned her the reputation as the "preeminent
20    educator in the country."
21        (13)     Dr. Clayton's post-school-district career included
22    service in academia as a faculty member of the School of
23    Public Health and the Medical College of Philadelphia and as
24    interim dean of the School of Public Health at Hahnemann
25    University.
26        (14)     A lifelong patron of the arts, Dr. Clayton served
27    on the board of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she
28    founded and chaired the African American Collections
29    Committee, which worked to build the collection of African-
30    American art at the museum. An art collector herself, she

20260SB1191PN1463                  - 4 -
 1      made historic gifts of art to both the Pennsylvania Academy
 2      of the Fine Arts and the Schomburg Center for Research in
 3      Black Culture at the New York Public Library and established
 4      the Clayton Fellowship to support building pipelines of
 5      African-American art curators by connecting them with
 6      professional art curator organizations.
 7            (15)    Dr. Clayton peacefully passed away Monday,
 8      September 18, 2023, leaving behind a legacy of service to the
 9      City of Philadelphia that saw her receive numerous awards and
10      17 honorary doctorates, as well as constant recognition from
11      the General Assembly. It is fitting and proper that the
12      General Assembly acknowledge a towering figure in
13      Philadelphia who devoted her life to improving educational
14      opportunities for children.
15      (b)   Designation.--The portion of Pennsylvania Route 611,
16   also known as Broad Street, from Spring Garden Street to
17   Callowhill Street in the City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia
18   County, is designated as the Dr. Constance E. Clayton Way.
19      (c)   Signs.--The Department of Transportation shall erect and
20   maintain appropriate signs displaying the name of the highway to
21   traffic in both directions on the highway.
22   Section 2.      Effective date.
23      This act shall take effect in 30 days.




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