The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of public-private partnerships in construction of public school facilities. A review of recent public-private partnerships, by various government bodies, for construction of public school facilities leads to a case study of the Toronto District School Board's (TDSB) hybrid public-private partnership to redevelop the urban North Toronto Collegiate Institute (NTCI). The TDSB NTCI project represents the evolution of a hybrid public-private partnership by the TDSB to modernize school facilities in the face of numerous funding challenges. A review of the P3 experiences in other geographical regions and by other government bodies found that the entire P3 methodology of relying on a private partner to procure, design, build, finance, operate, maintain and decommission or sell or other end of lifecycle activities for the building does not suit construction of public schools, particularly in urban areas. A description of the unique management structure for the project, a result of involving a private partner combined with a mandate to maintain accountability, transparency, control and flexibility, leads to the discussion of some of the design, tendering and construction challenges arising from this hybrid public-private partnership. A project timeline for the NTCI project is compared to a traditional TDSB green-field suburban public school development and compared to the timeline of another previous TDSB urban school redevelopment. Comparison of project timelines illustrates four major impacts upon the progress of the NTCI project following from the decision to proceed with the re-development of NTCI as a public-private partnership.