WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) today announced a funding opportunity of up to $100 million to help public school districts reduce facility operating costs, improve the reliability of essential building systems, and develop financeable improvement plans that maximize public and private investments.

TRENTON, N.J. — October 27, 2026 — The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) today announced the closeout of the Schools and Small Business Energy Efficiency Stimulus (SSB) Program, a five-year initiative that obligated $179.2 million of a federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) appropriation across 364 projects. To date, $166.2 million has been paid out, and final payments on 19 projects are under way.

“With nearly $180 million in federal funds committed, this program transitioned schools and small businesses from outdated systems to verified, code-compliant HVAC and plumbing upgrades,” said NJBPU President Ben Hertz-Shargel. “The result is better indoor air quality and lower operating costs that will persist beyond the program’s closeout.”

The Detroit district expects to have around $258.5 million in funding that may be used to fund long-sought school upgrades starting next year.

Bringing libraries back to 89 schools is among the proposals the Detroit Public Schools Community District board is considering. If the board approves the plan in the coming months, the libraries could be partially open by fall 2027, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said.

In a polarized political climate in which Democrats and Republicans often emphasize their differences, the two parties in Wythe County have found common ground on an issue that might seem unlikely to unite them: raising taxes.

Both the county’s Republican and Democratic parties have endorsed a proposed 1% sales tax increase to help pay for more than $72 million in school construction and renovation projects. Their support comes as voters across Virginia prepare to decide whether their communities should adopt the same tax to address mounting school facility needs.

More trees. More shade. Healthier schoolyards. 

October 26, 2026 – CAL FIRE officials report that nearly 2.6 million California students attend schools where trees cover 5% or less of the areas where they play and spend time outdoors (according to a new EdSource analysis).

We’re helping change that. Since 2022, California has invested more than $156 million through CAL FIRE’s Green Schoolyards program, supporting projects at more than 215 campuses and helping plant thousands of trees in communities across the state.

A proposed North Carolina constitutional amendment on property taxes has drawn pushback from local leaders across the state, though voters largely appear poised to adopt it.

The proposal would bake into the state constitution a limit to how much local governments would be allowed to raise property taxes. 

La Fortaleza, San Juan, Puerto Rico – October 24, 2026 – Governor of Puerto Rico Jenniffer González-Colón announced today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has obligated $75,565,393.46 in federal funds to advance recovery and reconstruction projects across municipalities and communities throughout Puerto Rico.

The new obligations include projects for the rehabilitation of public housing, structural improvements and seismic mitigation at schools, reconstruction and modernization of electrical infrastructure, repairs to disaster-damaged roads and municipal streets, coastal and slope stabilization, as well as improvements to recreational, cultural, educational, and government facilities.

MESA — Leaky ceilings and failing AC units are among the building problems some Arizona school districts have been waiting years to fix, as a backlog of state repair grants leaves hundreds of projects unfunded.

PRINCETON — The Mercer County Board of Education is embarking upon a feasibility study that could ultimately recommend school closures.

The school board voted earlier this month to conduct the feasibility study and impact statement, which was recommended by School Superintendent Edward Toman in response to continued student enrollment losses.

The two schools that Toman recommended be included in the study are Sun Valley Elementary in Lerona and the Mercer County Early Learning Center in Princeton, which is also known as the Silver Springs Early Learning Center.

East Providence, R.I. — The East Providence City Council on Tuesday night approved by voice vote a resolution asking the city's public works department to assess a vacant, city-owned former school building, according to the East Providence City Council's published meeting recording.

The resolution does not settle the building's future. It asks public works staff to examine the building's condition. Councilman Rick Lawson, who introduced it, said he wants an honest, up-to-date list of what the building needs, starting with mold.

The vote is the latest step in a long dispute over whether the property should be redeveloped for housing or kept for public use.

With our agency partners including the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the Department of Education, the School Construction Authority, the New York City Housing Authority, and the not-for-profit Trust for Public Land, DEP has been implementing green infrastructure retrofits since 2011 on publicly-owned properties.

State clean-energy investments help schools manage energy costs, bring cleaner transportation to students, create hands-on learning opportunities

ST. PAUL — Minnesota is on track to reach two major clean-energy milestones in the next few months: The state's 400th solar-powered school is scheduled to go online, and the Minnesota Department of Commerce expects to award its 200th Solar for Schools grant.

Commerce highlighted that progress Thursday at Justice Alan Page Elementary School in Maplewood, where school officials and students showed firsthand how state investments are bringing clean-energy technology into schools and onto school buses.

There are three big numbers looming over the school closure debate in Portland.Two are 14 and 11, as in the numbers of buildings that have been proposed for closure in each of two scenarios floated by Portland Public Schools.

When the Atlanta Public Schools announced last year that it would close 16 schools with declining enrollment, district buildings weren’t the only ones on the list. The plans to “repurpose” facilities swept up two KIPP charters, Soul Primary and Soul Academy, which shared a campus in a predominantly Black community on the west side. 

Affected district families have until the end of this school year to say their goodbyes and make plans for the fall of 2027. But for the two KIPP sites, the end came quickly. The schools closed in June.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) - Some students and parents in Oregon’s largest school district staged a sit-out Tuesday morning, protesting a Portland Public Schools plan that would close several schools and scale back others.

The protest took place at Sunnyside Environmental School in southeast Portland.

“I don’t want to say goodbye to this school,” a student said. “They make me feel happy even, like, on my worst days.”

Portland Public Schools, as part of its rightsizing initiative, is proposing closing 11 to 14 schools.

Newport News' school system hopes to reduce, or maybe even eliminate, its use of portable classrooms. Portsmouth is eyeing the construction of a new K-8 school. Norfolk wants to heighten security in school buildings across the district. York County schools' aging infrastructure will need to be addressed one way or another.

Superintendents of these four districts said if their divisions had more funds and the discretion to wield the money, such ideas could become a reality — or at least a real possibility.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A group of parents and community leaders gathered at Third Baptist Church of San Francisco to oppose the San Francisco Unified School District's decision to move away from its lottery-based school assignment system and adopt a neighborhood-based model.

The change marks the first time in more than a decade that the district is changing how elementary school students are assigned to schools. Under the new system, a student's address will determine where they attend school.

For decades, school design has followed a familiar formula: self-contained classrooms lined along corridors. While educational practices have evolved dramatically, many school buildings continue to reflect this decades-old model.

Architecture, planning and engineering firm SHP set out to challenge that convention with Peck Expeditionary Learning School in Greensboro, N.C. The project, completed for Guilford County Schools, was designed specifically to support the Expeditionary Learning (EL) educational model, requiring SHP to rethink nearly every assumption about how a school should function.

Montgomery County Public Schools says aging buildings and sharply rising construction costs are creating increasingly difficult decisions about how the school system invests in its facilities.
The challenges were outlined as the Montgomery County Board of Education received an informational report on the proposed Fiscal Year 2028 Capital Budget and amendments to the FY 2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) on Thursday, Oct. 15.
 

Coconino County Superintendent of Schools Cheryl Mango-Paget visited school facilities throughout the county to better understand the conditions facing rural schools and the effect of those conditions on students and educators.