Title
Authorizing the Philadelphia City Council Education Committee to hold hearings investigating concerns around Board of Education governance model, decision making processes and, exploring options for an elected or hybrid School Board.
Body
WHEREAS, The partnership between the School District, the Board of Education and City Council is crucial to ensuring our students, educators and schools get the funding they need, with City Council providing 44 percent of the district’s total operating budget in last school year; and
WHEREAS, The School District introduced its final facilities plan and the Board originally signified its intention to vote within 72 hours of its release, with City Councilmembers and the public unsure of key elements of the proposal and few questions answered; and
WHEREAS, While Council has long called for a facilities plan and fully understands the need to close certain buildings and reconceptualize how buildings are used, the Board has been unwilling to discuss how the facilities plan would integrate into a range of other City and Council district needs; and
WHEREAS, These actions and the context of these decisions should remind Philadelphians that the governance model of the Philadelphia Board of Education is unique among municipalities in Pennsylvania, and that considering a more traditional elected or hybrid model of governance may compel the Board to be more responsive to students and families' concerns than the Board has proven to be; and
WHEREAS, It is the job of City Council to consider from time to time the most responsive and effective way to ensure that Philadelphia responds to residents’ concerns and provide for the ideal systems and structures to do so, now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,Hereby authorizes the Committee on Education to hold hearings investigating concerns around School Board governance, decision making processes and exploring the options for an elected or hybrid School Board.
End