Title
Urging Congress to vote in favor of H.R. 922, the Rehabilitation of Historic Schools Act of 2017, which amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow rehabilitation expenditures for public school buildings to qualify for rehabilitation credit, which would help the School District of Philadelphia with addressing its nearly 12,000 outstanding repairs that total almost $5 billion.
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WHEREAS, According to a recent report by Parsons Environment and Infrastructure Group, Inc., because of deferred maintenance, almost three-quarters of City schools are in poor repair, and a third of all schools are in such bad shape that engineers recommend that some of them be replaced or closed in the coming years; and
WHEREAS, The average age of the School District's 308 schools is about 70 years old. The total costs of the almost 12,000 repairs needed at these schools is roughly $5 billion, with at least $3 billion needing to be spent in the next 10 years to address urgent problems; and
WHEREAS, This problem is of such a massive scale that an intergovernmental solution is required, with solutions needed at the City, state, and federal level; and
WHEREAS, On February 6, 2017, Congressman Dwight Evans (PA - 2nd District) introduced H.R. 922, otherwise known at the Rehabilitation of Historic Schools Act of 2017, which amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow rehabilitation expenditures for a qualified public educational facility (defined as a school facility which is part of a public elementary or secondary school and is owned by a private, for-profit corporation pursuant to a public-private agreement) to qualify for the rehabilitation tax credit; and
WHEREAS, Existing bipartisan legislation gives federal rehabilitation tax credits to private investors that are equal to upwards of 20 percent of the modernizing costs for aged structures deemed "historic" under federal law; and
WHEREAS, Currently, the historic tax credit program requires reuse of a build...
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