Philly’s school board will consider transferring vacant buildings to the city at a special meeting this week
The resolution would cover about 20 buildings that are already vacant — not any that might be closed in the future. Mayor Cherelle Parker has said she wants to use vacant schools to develop housing.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has made no secret of her desire to acquire vacant school buildings to fuel her administration’s goals of building or preserving 30,000 units of housing in her first term.
The Philadelphia school board on Monday signaled its intentions to play ball: Later this week, it will hold a special action meeting to vote on a resolution authorizing Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. and his team to consider handing over a portfolio of unused school buildings to the city.
Watlington, the resolution states, “recommends that, in the best interests of the district and its students, the district explore and pursue negotiations with the city to potentially convey certain vacant and surplus district property.”
The resolution would cover the district’s current stock of about 20 vacant buildings, including Ada Lewis Middle School in East Germantown — not any schools that might be closed in the coming facilities master planning process.
Parker, in a statement, said the process was about “public health and public safety” and the school buildings can be used to improve residents’ quality of life.
Officials “cannot let blighted buildings in the middle of residential neighborhoods lie vacant — many of which have been vacant for many years — from two years to over 30," Parker said. “It’s unconscionable to me that we are in the middle of a housing crisis and we have government buildings sitting vacant for years or even decades. That cannot continue.”
School board president Reginald Streater said that no decisions are final and that public deliberation will still happen at the special meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday. But, he said, the move makes sense with “the board moving toward being much more willing to be intergovernmental partners” with the city.
“Many of these properties have not been used in the last decade or more, and they require a significant amount of upkeep and maintenance,” Streater said. “These properties are unused, for the most part, and unnecessary for K-12 education.”
The district is in the business of running schools, Streater said.
“I do believe that the city possesses considerably more expertise and capacity than the district does regarding property development,” Streater said. “We are an education institution. To build the capacity to do such things is out of our wheelhouse, and economic development would take us out of our lane.”
According to the language of the resolution, the district is urging Watlington to consider all angles — bond obligations, property conditions, financial protection of the district, any legal processes that would need to happen, and more.
The action comes as something of a surprise, happening just a week after what was to be the final voting meeting of the year. Streater said he did not want to add it as a walk-on resolution to the December school board meeting, but wanted to give members of the public time to understand it and provide testimony, if desired.
Giving unused school buildings to the city could further academic outcomes, the school board president said.
“It’s possible,” Streater said, “that conveying these vacant and surplus properties to the city for redevelopment and revitalization could help stabilize and grow the city and district’s tax base ... and consequently positively impact future revenues to the district and educational experiences for students.”
The resolution represents a significant shift from the board’s position of several years ago. In 2023, the board appointed by former Mayor Jim Kenney sued the city over legislation that would have given the city ultimate say in whether school buildings with environmental issues could safely house students and staff.
That suit has been settled.
Which buildings will be considered for transfer?
Asked for a list of the unused buildings the resolution would cover, school board officials said more internal evaluation is needed before such a list is released.
One likely to be on the list is Ada Lewis, which closed in 2012. That building drew attention this fall as the site where 23-year-old Kada Scott’s body was found buried — a discovery that reignited debate over the fate of the district’s unused properties.
The possible transfer of district properties to the city comes as officials debate the specifics of one of Parker’s signature initiatives.
The mayor wants to spend $800 million on her housing initiative, Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E. In a rare sign of division, Council last week allotted more housing funds to the city’s poorest residents over the Parker administration’s objections.
Because of Council’s move, more legislation is now needed to advance H.O.M.E. It will not come until January at the earliest.
City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who has generally been critical of the district’s handling of facilities issues, called the resolution “a head scratcher.”
Thomas, chair of Council’s education committee, has long been pushing for a school facilities plan.
“It’s unclear to say what this step forward means, but I want to understand how it fits into a larger plan for Philly’s educational institutions,” Thomas said in a statement.
“Without getting into hypotheticals, and due to a lack of communications with City Council, there are a lot of moving pieces and still many questions about what this means and what is the overall plan for the future of our school buildings,” Thomas said.