Philadelphia House Delegation announces school facilities improvement grants to clean up toxic schools
Rep. Morgan B. Cephas September 9, 2024 | 1:15 PM
HARRISBURG, Sept. 9 – The Philadelphia House Delegation today announced that nearly $8 million has been awarded to schools in the city for environmental repairs.
The awards were secured through the PA Department of Education’s Environmental Repairs Grants program funding provided in the previous year’s state budget (2023-24). The grants are to be used for improvements to air conditioning or heating, removal of lead and asbestos, repairs to roofs or other environmental hazards.
Delegation Chairwoman Rep. Morgan Cephas, D-Phila. said the grants are long overdue to remediate Philadelphia’s aging school building infrastructure.
“Toxic schools have been a crisis in our city for more than a generation. Our delegation has fought to make these funds available as part of our efforts to improve the education experience for our public school students, so we are very excited to finally see it come to fruition, thanks to the Shapiro administration and the advocacy of House Democrats,” Cephas said. “The School District of Philadelphia has some of the oldest school buildings in the state, many of which are over 100 years old and absent of modern services, materials, and resources. This is a down payment on providing an up-to-date, healthy and clean environment for all students, teachers and staff in our schools.”
The awards for Philadelphia schools were announced as follows:
- The School District of Philadelphia, $7,831,350
- Laboratory Charter School, $97,892
- West Oak Lane Charter School, $15,663
In recent weeks, several schools in the city were forced to close for the day or send students home early due to a lack of adequate air conditioning on dangerously hot days. The Philadelphia House Delegation is committed to delivering better schools and safer communities through improved infrastructure and equitable funding for public schools.
