PHILADELPHIA — The School District of Philadelphia is getting 10 years of funding aid from the University of Pennsylvania.
Penn announced Tuesday will contribute $100 million to the School District of Philadelphia over 10 years.
Each year over the next 10 years, the district will get $10 million from Penn.
The funds will be used to remediate environmental hazards, including asbestos and lead, in our public school buildings
This marks the largest private contribution to the district in its history.
Mayor Jim Kenney, District Superintendent William Hite, and the Board of Education started aggressive environmental remediation efforts in School District buildings.
The district has an estimated $4.5 billion in unmet capital needs.
Since 2018, the district has fully stabilized lead paint in 54 elementary schools, completed work to certify an additional 25 schools as Lead Safe, and invested more than $23 million to complete asbestos-related projects.
The district announced in November 2019 an Environmental Safety Improvement Plan that outlined new safety and inspection measures. In January 2020, the district approved $41 million for asbestos testing, abatement, project management, and other remediation resources.
“Nothing is more important than the health and welfare of our children, and few things are more crucial to a community than the safety and quality of its public schools,” University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann said. “When Philadelphia’s schools and schoolchildren succeed, all Philadelphia succeeds. We are proud to be able to partner with our City and School District to significantly improve the learning environment for Philadelphia’s schoolchildren in a way that will have a long-lasting impact on the health, safety, and wellbeing of our entire City. This historic commitment by the University and Penn Medicine will help support the most critical and immediate need that will benefit generations of Philadelphia students, their teachers, and school staff.”