May 28, 2019
Dear President Wilkerson and Members of the Board,
We are writing to you about the impending sale of a District owned building to the operators of Belmont Charter School.
The first public disclosure of the proposed sale of 4030 Brown Street came at the May 16 Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting. Apparently the District had already entered into negotiations with Michael Karp and the other members of the Board of Belmont Charter. Belmont has made an offer of $2.8 million, of which the District would net about $1 million.
Belmont’s operators have told the District that it will be creating a non-profit that would buy the property and lease it to Belmont. Should the sale be approved, the Board of Education would be assisting this charter in creating yet another circular lease agreement, common in the charter sector, by which the charter’s financial partners can further insulate themselves from District oversight.
What we did not hear was any reason why the District should sell this public property.
Is it only because that is what Belmont’s operators want?
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Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 