As K–12 school systems contend with aging HVAC infrastructure and limited capital budgets, improving indoor air quality (IAQ) does not always require major equipment upgrades. Lori Arzaga, director of environmental health and safety service at Clark County School District, whose research examined CO2 levels and ventilation across school classrooms, says facility managers can start by making ventilation conditions visible through real-time CO2 monitoring.  

From identifying problem spaces to making low-cost operational adjustments, Olson-Arzaga's session “Improving Air Quality in K–12 Schools for Compliance and Performance” will cover this and more at NFMT West in Las Vegas from November 3 to 4. 

For Tampa Bay, the 2024 hurricane season changed the meaning of “business as usual.”

Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton arrived within weeks of each other, damaging tens of thousands of homes, closing schools and disrupting businesses. Buildings designed for ordinary operations became evacuation shelters, recovery centers and anchors of stability.

Civil Beat recently published an article, “Hawaiʻi Spent Millions On More Preschool Seats. Now There Are Fewer,” that examines the state’s investment in preschool expansion and raises important questions about the future of our early childhood system. We should pay attention when programs close, providers struggle to recruit and retain educators and families are unable to find care that is affordable, accessible and meets their needs.

Comparing the total number of preschool seats today with the number that existed six years ago does not tell the whole story of Hawaiʻi’s progress.

Over the past several years, Hawaiʻi has made significant progress in strengthening support for ʻohana. Thousands of Hawaiʻi families now have greater access to affordable early learning opportunities.

Burncoat High School in Worcester has long been due for serious work, and the possible price tags are coming into focus.

Preliminary estimates in front of city councilors range from $150 million to $710 million, depending on how much work the city takes on.

Here's what to know

Several paths are under review, The Worcester Guardian reported. The lowest-cost option is basic work on the building, with an estimate of $150 million to $165 million.

Chapter 310 of the Laws of 2026 amended Education Law § 3602(6)(i)(5)(i)(C) to extend the maximum term for guaranteed recovery of Energy Performance Contract (EPC) costs from 18 years to 25 years. The amendment was signed into law on September 28, 2026, and took effect immediately. The amended provision states “C. The energy performance contractor shall guarantee recovery of contract costs from energy savings realized by the school district during the term of the energy performance contract, which shall not exceed twenty-five years.”

Students, teachers and administrators decried neglected conditions in New Haven schools in front of a crowd of over 60 people in City Hall Tuesday night.

Speakers called for increased school funding and transparency and slammed the city’s Board of Education, which they said has not addressed dangerous conditions, including broken HVAC systems, poor air quality and mold. Alders at the meeting floated the possibility of shutting down schools while maintenance work was done. The city’s schools have long faced a deferred maintenance crisis.

“We’ve reached a breaking point,” Leslie Blatteau ’97 GRD ’07, the president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, said in a speech to the board.

(TNS) — As moldy classrooms, leaks, aging infrastructure and extreme temperatures remain an issue in schools statewide, education leaders warn that many Connecticut schools are falling short when it comes to addressing poor indoor air quality and meeting annual inspection requirements.

State legislators, public health experts and education advocates called on Connecticut schools to prioritize clean air and stay on top of their heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems during a Monday press conference at the Capitol.

In June 2025, Portland Public Schools officials entered into a relatively small, $149,500 services contract with a Texas-based construction firm called Procedeo, at the time a newcomer to Portland. The firm was there to find ways to make the planned $466 million modernization of Jefferson High School cheaper and faster, and the school district initially waved Procedeo through with a contract just under the threshold that would have required approval by the Portland School Board.

Procedeo would soon have its moment in the spotlight. By December 2025, the School Board, on a 5–2 vote, extended both the scope and size of the construction firm’s work for the district dramatically.

Imagine your school district approves a $20 million classroom addition. The project is completed on time and on budget, the ribbon is cut, and the community celebrates what appears to be another successful investment. Five years later, enrollment begins to shift. New educational programs require different types of learning environments. Security standards evolve, technology advances and another school in the district suddenly has available capacity while the expanded school has less demand than anticipated. Infrastructure improvements that once seemed sufficient are no longer enough to support the district’s next phase of growth.

None of those decisions were necessarily mistakes. The problem was that each project addressed a specific need without considering how it would affect the district’s broader strategy. That is increasingly the challenge facing school districts across New Jersey as they balance aging facilities, changing educational priorities, advancing technology and significant capital investments.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WTRF) — A Lincoln County student has filed a petition with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals arguing that the state’s public school funding system violates the West Virginia Constitution.

The petition, filed with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, asks the court to order state lawmakers to correct the school funding formula. It follows a notice of intent to sue that ACLU-WV sent to state officials on Aug. 17.

The case follows a decades-long legal battle over school funding in West Virginia. In 1975, Lincoln County families brought Pauley v. Kelly, which led to the state Supreme Court establishing that a “thorough and efficient” education is a fundamental constitutional right.

LANSING – Thirty-one school districts in Michigan will get financial help to address failing roofs, heating and cooling systems, and other essential repairs. 

But the vast majority of public school infrastructure remains underfunded, leaving many districts to shoulder the cost of repairs on their own. 

The Michigan Department of Education announced $224 million in competitive infrastructure grants across the state this year. 

According to the department, districts submitted nearly $1.8 billion in grant requests while available funding paid for less than a fifth of that amount.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District received the largest grant at nearly $32.8 million for heating, ventilation and air conditioning and roof projects at 17 schools. 

Europeans spend up to 90% of their lives indoors, according to official estimates. Yet while outdoor air pollution has become a familiar public concern, the air inside our homes, schools and workplaces has largely gone unnoticed.

That is changing. Researchers across Europe are investigating what is really in indoor air, how it affects our health and what can be done about it.

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have heard more about indoor air quality because people have become aware that aerosols could transport viruses,” said Jose Fermoso, a chemical engineer at Spanish research centre CARTIF and coordinator of K-HEALTHinAIR, one of seven EU-funded projects working together to investigate indoor air quality.

School districts spent about $214 billion, or about 22% of their budget, on operations and maintenance, capital improvements and bond interest expenses in the 2024-25 school year, according to GAO, which based the funding estimates on U.S. Census Bureau data. 

Officials in more than half of the districts say their budget is insufficient to meet their schools’ maintenance and repair needs, and although using bond proceeds is a way to narrow the funding gap, it’s hard to secure money that way, especially if the area doesn’t have a high enough tax base to support it, the report said. “A low local tax base hindered efforts to fund school facility needs in about half of districts (an estimated 55 percent), with the highest rate among rural districts,” the report said. 

BOISE, Idaho — Student enrollment is dropping across the Gem State as birth rates decline – a shift that forces some Idaho school districts to consider closing facilities to avoid financial downfalls. 

The Boise School District (BSD) is in the process of putting together its 10-year facilities master plan, a roadmap to how the district wants to use its buildings in the future. 

Wake County voters will decide on a $680 million school bond this November, about $49 million of which will go toward heating, ventilation and air conditioning replacements at 21 schools.

The loan would increase property taxes by $4.10 for every $100,000 in property value. The county often borrows money via bonds that aren’t approved by voters, but it gets lower interest rates when voters approve of tax increases that back that borrowing.

Sustainability is no longer a standalone initiative for education institutions. It shapes governance, capital planning, risk management and long-term campus strategy. As expectations around environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities, operational efficiency and reporting grow, schools need a clearer view of how their campuses are performing. That starts with data.

That was one of the clearest messages from our recent webinar with experts across education, sustainability, building performance and connected technologies: schools cannot manage what they cannot see. Whether the goal is reducing energy consumption, improving asset performance, enhancing occupant comfort or preparing for future reporting requirements, better decisions depend on reliable data.

THOUSANDS of students will have their schools shut down as families protest the change.The change will be in effect for the 2027-28 school year.The Boulder Valley School District, which encompasses the area of Boulder, Colorado, is set to overhaul several middle and high schools due to declining enrollment.

BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — The Boise School District held a virtual meeting on Wednesday to discuss future plans for school facilities across the district.

The main driver of this discussion is concern over declining enrollment within the district. Tracy Richter, the Boise School District's facilities planning consultant, says that the decline has reached into the thousands.

"In the last five years alone, the district has a thousand less elementary kids," Richter said. "Right now, the district has about 9,000 surplus seats in the district and about 5,000 of those with the elementary grade level. That's a lot of space to maintain with no students in it."

Research shows that the physical conditions of school buildings affect student learning, which is why Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner are pushing to bring new life — and federal funding — to aging schools across the Commonwealth and the country.

Their School Infrastructure Modernization Act would expand federal historic tax credits, helping school districts partner with private developers to renovate aging and historic buildings — while keeping them open as schools.

More than 200 Commissioners from over 40 countries, including many of the world’s most distinguished scientists, public health luminaries, technical experts, building practitioners, business leaders and advocates working to advance healthy indoor air, collaborated over the past year to develop the Global Framework for Action.

The far-reaching roadmap sets out nine interconnected levers of market transformation, 40 strategic focus areas and nearly 180 recommendations to drive systemic change and deliver healthier indoor air at scale.