PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A bill up for final passage in Philadelphia City Council Thursday would explore establishing a separate board to oversee repairs and construction in city schools.
The measure, sponsored by Education Committee Chair Maria Quiñones-Sánchez, would form a workgroup to investigate the creation of a school building authority that would manage construction at school facilities.
“What we’re looking to do is establish a formal workgroup that will report back to the mayor, the school board, and to City Council by June with some framework recommendations for what the authority should look like,” Quiñones-Sánchez told KYW Newsradio.
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Having a separate school building authority would free the superintendent to focus on student achievement, Quiñones-Sánchez said.
Such an arrangement has been used in cities including New York City.
Any authority established in Philadelphia would have a full plate, with the district’s aging buildings needing an estimated $5 billion worth of building repairs.
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A building authority, Quiñones-Sánchez said, might be able to more quickly and efficiently spend new federal infrastructure funding.
“This is really about building capacity and doing this quicker than our current capacity,” she said.
“At our current capacity, we couldn’t spend the money that we have on the table, let alone any additional new money that we would get from the federal government or from the state at this point.”
