Philadelphia’s City Council is set to host a hearing to discuss the state of the city’s school facilities on Tuesday after, last month, the School District of Philadelphia delivered a master plan that called for 20 district owned properties to be closed.

Set to start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, City Council’s Committee of the Whole will hold a hearing to, as detailed in a resolution that called for the hearing, “discuss the current state of Philadelphia school facilities, how the School District evaluates those facilities and what the educational facilities need are for the school district today and in the future.”

The district released an $2.8 billion extensive master plan on Jan. 22, 2026, that called for 20 district owned properties across the city to be closed or repurposed.

This proposed plan was immediately met with concern from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers as president of the union, Arthur Steinberg claimed a lack of transparency in the district’s decision to close properties, noting some of the moves suggested in the proposal “made no sense.”

“Today, the District delivered a set of proposals without the transparency they promised. A number of proposed school closures and mergers make no sense based on the data we have, and equally as important, based on the experiences of our members in those buildings. That’s unacceptable. We will keep up our demands that the District explain its scoring methodologies,” read a statement from Steinberg, released shortly after the district unveiled the plan. “Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington, Sr.’s administration has repeatedly acknowledged the deep trauma still felt by communities that were lied to and railroaded during the mass closure of public schools more than a decade ago. They have repeatedly promised to do better. What we have today might be better than last time – we are no longer dealing with the [School Reform Commission], most obviously – but our students and communities deserve the best.”

City Council’s Committee of the Whole is set to host a hearing on the district’s master plan at 10 a.m. in City Hall. After the hearing, councilmembers are expected to consider what actions might be done concerning the master plan.

The hearing and meeting of City Council’s Committee of the Whole are both open to the public.