Title
Authorizing the Philadelphia City Council Committee of the Whole to hold hearings to discuss the current state of Philadelphia school facilities, how the School District evaluates those facilities and what the educational facilities needs are for the school district today and in the future.
Body
WHEREAS; The School District of Philadelphia has a 300 building system spread over 140 square miles with an average building age of 73 years, and,
WHEREAS; Due to unconstitutionally inadequate funding as determined recently in a landmark ruling the School Distirct has had to make impossible choices between staffing classrooms and ensuring that the classrooms themselves were in working order, and,
WHEREAS; As local control of the School District has been returned and City Council and the Mayor are leading the various agencies and legal bodies responsible for the school district, and,
WHEREAS; The City must work to find ways to overhaul the School district’s facilities in order to avoid losing the progress that has been made in recent years in graduation rates and academics, and,
WHEREAS; The School District of Philadelphia has been diligently developing the first comprehensive facilities plan in more than a decade, and,
WHEREAS; The pandemic, changes in neighborhood demographics and numbers of children in different neighborhoods have been changing rapidly, and,
WHEREAS; City Council must ensure that city dollars are spent prudently and that neighbors and community groups have a full chance to understand where we’re at and ensure that their voices are heard and their concerns are considered, THEREFOR, be it,
RESOLVED, That the Philadelphia City Council Committee of the Whole be authorized to hold hearings to discuss the current state of Philadelphia school facilities, how the School District evaluates those facilities and what the educational facilities needs are for the school district today and in the future.
End