Authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings to discuss problems and systemic biases in oversight that create inequalities between Black and white led schools, resulting in less support for Black founded and led institutions that are highlighted in the recently released report to the Philadelphia School Board.

WHEREAS, For over 20 years, Black founded and led schools have provided quality, culturally specific educational programs that celebrates student’s heritage and ethnicity; and

WHEREAS, Black led and founded institutions have been held to standards that are inconsistent and changed regularly, causing a lack of transparency in the School District’s process of reviewing, managing, and closing non-district led schools; and

WHEREAS, The recently released report highlights the School Board and School District has been aware of the disparate impact of its standards and processes since at least 2017 and have made little if any meaningful changes to reduce these racially charged differential results; and

WHEREAS, For several decades Black led schools have added to the vibrancy and uplift of a

community which in Philadelphia has often been left literally standing outside the wall. These same schools have also suffered through the process of just existing and being recognized as an important part of the educational landscape here in Philadelphia; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, This hearing will identify and examine potential systemic biases in oversight that create inequalities between City of Philadelphia Black and white led schools, resulting in fewer resources or support for Black founded and led institutions.

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