Teachers union proposes alternative to closing 17 Philly schools

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers' counterproposal now challenging the school district of Philadelphia's $3 billion Facilities Master Plan. That plan includes closing 17 schools starting next school year. Action News reporter Maggie Kent is live in Spring Garden with a closer look at the proposal that aims to save the schools. Maggie. So the teachers union isn't saying that the school district needs to find more money. They are saying they need to spend their funds differently in order to improve conditions at schools across the city and keep those schools that are slated to close open. Mayor Parker, I have a question for you. Where is your voice in these closure conversations? No school closures! Calling on the mayor, the school board, and the school district to take a second look. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers says it has a plan to save the 17 schools slated to close in the district's master facilities plan. These buildings, in our view, can be repaired, they can be cleaned, they can be stabilized, they can be improved in significant ways. For about $25 million. The teachers union says the current school district budget already has the funds to do so. It's suggesting that each school create a rapid response team to address building issues. This would require each school to have a team deployed to deal with immediate cleaning issues and also acute maintenance issues so they don't grow into big ones. You have a leak in a toilet, you fix it before you end up with a flood. And that would run in. $175,000 per school, which in a $3.6 billion budget is there. Teachers and administrators argue that closing schools would further hurt student achievement and enrollment. They're asking the school district and board to consider their proposal and for Mayor Cherelle Parker to step in before it's too late. Where is the comprehensive cost comparison? Where is the evidence that this is a better investment? And most importantly, where are the students in this calculation? We have reached out to the mayor's office, the school district and the school board, but we did not get a response today. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, that teachers union, say that is one of their concerns. They want to be heard on this before it's too late. Maggie Kent, Channel 6 Action News. Guys, persistent for sure. Maggie, thank you.