What becomes of shuttered schools? 

As Philadelphia school officials consider closing 37 more school buildings, our latest report examines what becomes of properties after they are shuttered. The report looks at the experience of Philadelphia and 11 other urban districts. We find that it is far from easy to bring new lives to former schools. The buildings tend to be large, decaying structures in residential neighborhoods often suffering from depopulation and decline. These buildings are hard to market, but if left standing vacant they can become sources of blight, vandalism or worse. When they are sold or leased, the most frequent new uses are charter schools and other educational purposes, nonprofit/governmental facilities, and housing. Even though charters are well-positioned to buy and make use of empty schools, these purchases can also accelerate the decline in student enrollment that leads to school closings in the first place. (Read our earlier report on the school-closing process.)  Successful transactions often rely on tax-advantaged financing and realistic expectations about the value of the buildings. These and other factors are important to keep in mind during a process often fraught with emotion and disruption, documented in our short video about two Philadelphia schools that were recently closed:

AVI and nonprofits

This week the Nutter administration says it will be mailing reassessments to owners of 579,000 city properties, as part of its Actual Value Initiative (AVI) to reform the property tax system. (See also our recent report on AVI). While residential and commercial properties have been the focus of attention, nonprofit organizations with property may also be affected. Philadelphia Finance Director Rob Dubow told a group of Democratic state legislators earlier this month that those tax-exempt properties, which until now were estimated at 31 percent of the city's total property value, now will constitute between 25 percent and 28 percent after AVI. He also said the city has been "auditing" nonprofits and cited a 2012 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling affirming a locality's right to challenge an entity's exemption from local taxes. Reaction to the ruling has included proposals to require more local taxes from nonprofit organizations, including payments in lieu of taxes, known as PILOTs, which in turn has caused concern among nonprofits. One new bill in Philadelphia would let officials go after some nonprofits. Just where all this will lead for Philadelphia nonprofits is unclear. 

Philadelphia lags the patent boom

A report by the Brookings Institution puts some new perspective on the Philadelphia region as a place for inventors and patent holders. Once an industrial powerhouse, the region since 1980 has lagged the national trend in the number of new patent applications. By 2011, the region was ranked 12th out of 358 regions studied by Brookings with 2,307 applications by companies and individuals that year. It was 77th out of 358 in its ratio of patents to workers. According to Brookings, patenting has increased in this region since the end of the recession but not nearly as much as elsewhere.   

Next phase in workforce development

Philadelphia Works Inc., the quasi-public agency responsible for millions of dollars in workforce-development funds, says it will reach out to a "broader array of stakeholders," such as business leaders and service providers to review its reorganization plans. The stakeholder meetings will run through April 2013. They are part of the restructuring process launched in 2012 after years of below-average results in connecting jobseekers with employers, as documented in our 2012 report. Among the changes, PWI has outsourced operations and focused more attention on employers, not just jobseekers. PWI's latest board report indicates that its record is still mixed. But so is the regional economy. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia says business recovery in the region has been modest. The state's fiscal watchdog PICA and the city controller say that slightly-rising tax collections may indicate "modest earnings growth" for residents. The Milken Institute's latest 200 Best-Performing Cities List shows Philadelphia dropping from 49th to 90th place, although others dropped far more, enabling Philly to escape Milken's "Biggest Decliners" list. 

Mar. 6: Board meeting of Philadelphia Regional Port Authority. More info.

Mar. 6: Board meeting of Delaware River Port Authority. More info.

Mar. 7: School Reform Commission votes on school-closing plan. More info.

Mar. 18: School Reform Commission monthly policy-strategy meeting. More info.

Mar. 20: Quarterly meeting of Philadelphia Works Inc. board. More info.