Past Planning Efforts

  • Imagine 2014 Facilities Master Plan (FMP)

    A draft Long Range Facilities Plan was created in released in November 2011 (Note: This plan is no longer publicly available)

    Aligned with the City of Philadelphia’s 18 planning districts.

    4 focus areas “to allow the District to continuously review its current real property portfolio, to determine necessary rightsizing adjustments, and assist in the development of a comprehensive long range capital plan.”

    More here

  • Comprehensive School Planning Review (CSPR)

    Established in the Fall of 2019, but currently on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of information from contractor (FLO Analytics)

    3 study areas, 3 cycles

    A comprehensive planning process “to understand how our District is changing”

    Facilities are addressed, but not emphasized

    More here

  • Environmental Advisory Council

    Established January of 2021 by the Office of Environmental Management Services (OEMS) and chartered by the Environment Safety Improvement Plan

    “The purpose of the EAC is to engage representatives from across our city in the conversation about our progress and plans to address environmental conditions such as asbestos and lead in our schools.”

    No clear metrics for evaluation and measurement

    More here

The School District of Philadelphia’s FY21-22 Budget released in April of 2021 clearly demonstrates the current gap between funding needs versus allocations.

Using figures from the 21st Century School Fund (adjusted for inflation to 2021 dollars), the aggregate amount of funds needed to fully modernize Philadelphia schools is staggering.

The School District of Philadelphia has historically under-prioritized routine maintenance and safety repairs. The allocations for completed capital programs projects from 2007 to 2013 demonstrate the discrepancies between spending on mold remediation versus new school construction.

School District of Philadelphia FY21-22 Budget

A map of the upcoming capital improvements budget by council district (FY-22 & -23) totaling $709,924,541 shows the inequitable distribution of funding allocations geographically. This budget will decrease between FY22 ($380M) and FY23 ($329M).

The Fair Funding Fight

In William Penn School District v. Pennsylvania Department of Education, 6 school districts are currently pursuing increased allocations for schools from the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

The 2016 Fair Funding Formula (FFF) was passed to create a more equitable distribution of state funds. However, the policymakers prescribed to a Hold Harmless doctrine, meaning that existing budget allocations would not be subject to the new formula. 

According to PA’s Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC), “Had the entire $5.5 billion basic education funding appropriation been distributed using the new, fair formula, 320 school districts would have lost a combined $1 billion in state support with the remaining 180 districts realizing that new funding.”

As of June 2021, the formula was only used to allot 11% of basic education and 13.6% of special education funding. In other words, though the education funding pie has gotten bigger, the FFF is only applied to budgetary increases. If the lawsuit is successful in requiring the entire state budget to be allocated using the FFF, the gains for the School District of Philadelphia will be small.

It should also be noted that the state uses PlanCon for major school construction projects. More here

American Rescue Plan (ARP)

Estimates of budget allocations for the receipt of $1.2B in ARP relief funds, according to SDP’s Chief Financial Officer, Uri Monson.