Movements at the fiscal/monetary crossroads: Financing a Green New Deal for schools in Philadelphia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Philadelphia’s schools suffer from an astounding $4.5 billion infrastructure backlog, resulting in toxic school buildings that threaten the lives of predominantly low-income, nonwhite students, teachers, staff, and community members. To combat this issue amidst the ongoing climate crisis, movement groups have demanded policies that would both fix Philadelphia’s schools and reduce building emissions. During their work, a question regarding financing emerged among organizers and researchers: should green infrastructure updates to urban school buildings be financed primarily through grants or loans? In this paper, we use a critical resource theory in education framework to articulate the contours of this question using two organizing campaigns as case studies. We find that there are trade-offs between legislative logjam and the immorality of indebtedness at this impasse.