Authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings on exploring possible alternatives to Philadelphia's current School Board governance model.

Authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings on exploring possible alternatives to Philadelphia’s current School Board governance model. WHEREAS; In cities like Washington D.C. and Chicago partial or fully elected School Boards have been adopted, and in a range of other Cities boards appointments are shared with appointments made by both the Mayor and City Council; and WHEREAS; These alternative models can be more closely representative of constituents, students, and residents, leading to a more trusted, representative, and effective school administration; and WHEREAS; A volunteer board responsible for a 4.5 billion dollar budget, procurement contracts and a potential facilities overhaul is not a sustainable model for the wide ranging, diverse, deep dive reviews and fulsome public participation that school governance deserves; and WHEREAS; This hearing will focus on weighing the positives and negatives for alternative ways in which our Board of Education can be selected, so as to best facilitate quality education and management for all our students, especially those who have been historically underserved; and RESOLVED, That the Council of the City of Philadelphia does hereby authorize the Committee on Education to hold hearings to investigate alternatives to the current School Board appointment process and research their impacts on bettering education in the City of Philadelphia.