Philadelphia officials debate $2.8 billion school facilities plan as parents, students plead to save neighborhood campuses

Philadelphia City Council on Feb. 20 pressed School District officials for details on a draft $2.8 billion, 10-year Facilities Master Plan that the district says would modernize 159 campuses, maintain 122 others, create six co-locations and recommend an initial slate of school closures and repurposings.

The Committee of the Whole hearing, convened by Council President Kenyatta Johnson and chaired on facilities questions by Council Member Isaiah Thomas, drew the school board president, the superintendent and senior district staff for several hours of testimony followed by more than two hours of public comment. Board President Reginald Streeter and Superintendent Tony Watlington described a planning process that combined on-site condition reviews, a neighborhood vulnerability index, utilization analysis and nearly 14,000 survey responses from residents.

The district told council it plans to finance roughly $1 billion through district borrowing, contingent on board approval, and to seek the remaining roughly $1.8 billion from state and philanthropic sources. Watlington said the school districthas its best investment-grade credit rating historically and anticipates debt-service within typical municipal standards; the district said it would submit detailed debt-service and third-party cost studies for the record.

But council members…