Philadelphia’s schools are committing many of the same mistakes they made 13 years ago when the district implemented a wave of closures, according to a recent report.
“Ongoing facilities master planning that focuses on capital investments and integrates community ideas into the future of existing buildings can minimize disruptions and build trust with communities affected,” writes Julia McWilliams, co-director of the urban studies program at the University of Pennsylvania, for The Conversation. “Yet despite the success of these alternatives in other cities, the current school closure process in Philadelphia continues to rely on much of the flawed logic of 2013.”
McWilliams, who is co-writing a book, Schools for Sale, exploring the history of those closures, cited a study from that year estimating $28 million in savings, which “did not materialize” in later analyses.
Ultimately, this projection “underestimated costs associated with students moving to new schools, the ongoing expenses of maintaining vacant properties and the relatively modest scale of the projected $28 million savings in the context of a roughly $300 million annual deficit,” she wrote.
“After the 30 schools closed, there was not a long-term facilities planning process to meaningfully invest in the school buildings that remained open. This lack of planning exacerbated many of the very conditions the current plan now seeks to address, a reflection of both lack of funds to maintain schools but also a lack of process by district facilities managers to meaningfully address building conditions after the 2013 closures.”
