Facing Deficits, School District Of Philadelphia May Close Or Consolidate Schools
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The School District of Philadelphia is facing budget deficits in the hundreds of millions of dollars. To cut costs, the district announced Thursday its plans for closing and consolidating a number of the district's school buildings.
The plan will be implemented over the course of three years and involves the closing or consolidation of underutilized schools, renovations and putting buildings up for sale.
"We've got to move from a network of schools, of buildings that have significant variation in educational quality and equity and in cost effectiveness and get to a point in Philadelphia where we have a system of quality schools," said Dr. Leroy Nunery, Deputy Superintendent.
However, School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman says the resulting savings won't do much to help the deficit.
"If we were to sell of all of our buildings and do everything that we wanted to do, it would not begin to address a $639 million budget deficit," Ackerman said.
School officials would not say how many schools will be closed, but at least 50 are potentially on the chopping block.
"And if there are buildings that we are going to sell, and we are going to sell some, we are going to engage the neighborhoods and the communities," Ackerman said.
The district will hold a series of meetings over the next couple of months where community members can learn more about the proposed changes for next school year.
Reported by Cheri Gregg, KYW Newsradio
