(Bloomberg) -- Voters in Idaho are poised to reject most school bond proposals that were up for election Tuesday, sending officials back to the drawing board on how to handle overcrowding amid surging population growth.

Three of the four general-obligation school bond measures on ballots Tuesday were failing, according to unofficial results as of Wednesday morning. Together with supplemental levies, which often help cover school operating costs, more than $280 million was up for a vote. Many of the levies are on track to pass, though they only require a simple majority, unlike bonds which need super-majorities to pass in Idaho.
The state, as well as its neighbor Utah, is in the midst of a population boom driven by West Coast transplants. That trend accelerated when the pandemic untethered workers from their offices, and the influx of residents has some school districts bursting at the seams.
 

DETROIT – The Detroit Public Schools Community District intends to spend $700 million to rebuild and repair schools throughout the district. Also in the district’s 20-year master plan is a proposed list of school closures.
The proposed closures are being met with resistance from the community. Concerned parents came out to a school board meeting on Monday (March 7) night and spoke out about the closures despite being told the topic wasn’t up for discussion at that meeting.
Residents and teachers want answers from the district. They want to know how students from the schools up for closure fit into the district’s master plan. The people Local 4 spoke with said they feel there’s been a lot of secrecy and not enough clarity.
“It hasn’t been very positive, it’s been kinda bleak. You know, they’re talking about phasing it out,” Sheila Allen-Frazier said. “It’s heartbreaking to see a school close because when a school closes the community dies.”
Allen-Frazier works at Sampson Webber school, one of the schools on the list for closure.
Velma and Tony Rucker sent their kids and grandkids to the schools across the street. They’ve been looking at the old shuttered Biddle school building for years.
“And even if they tear it down, it’s still like a big gaping hole that doesn’t add anything to the community,” Velma Rucker said.
Nicole Conaway is a teacher at Communication and Media Arts High School.
“A lot of this is about the property and land grabs and we’re not taking it,” Conaway said.
Conaway has organized against closures in the district before and she said she is prepared to do it again.
A spokesperson for the district said the plan is not final and that they are conducting community engagement sessions to get feedback. The next community session is set for March 14.
 

If the public school system were to now fix all the maintenance problems that had been delayed over years because the government didn’t have enough money to fix them before, it would cost about $107.2 million, according to reports presented to Guam Education Board members on Tuesday.

And, if the government were to go one step further and improve and modernize all schools, updating them to 21st century learning environments, it would cost $142.5 million.

That's nearly $250 million, which is roughly one year's budget for the Guam Department of Education. 

The massive cost figures were disclosed during a sneak peak of the Master Facilities Plan provided to education officials during the GEB’s Safe and Healthy Schools Committee work session on Tuesday. The presentation was provided by contractor HHF Planners, a Honolulu-based planning firm that operates throughout the Pacific Rim.

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) announced the launch of the Decarbonizing Public Schools Pilot Program to expand the capacity of local education agencies (LEA) for managing energy data, reducing operating costs, and for inserting energy performance criteria into capital improvement planning.
The Decarbonizing Public Schools Pilot Program was developed by MEA and the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) to “foster LEAs’ long-term capacities for energy management and net zero energy (NZE) school design and construction, where the total amount of energy used is equal to or less than the amount of renewable energy created.”
Notably, the program provides $2 million in state funding from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund to help local school systems develop and expand their capacity to address ongoing energy challenges and opportunities for controlling costs through data management, as well as adopting cost-effective net zero energy design considerations for public school portfolio planning.
“MEA has been helping make Net Zero Energy schools a reality, having recently supported three projects, including the Holabird and Graceland Park/O’Donnell Heights schools in Baltimore City and Wilde Lake Middle School in Howard County,” said Dr. Mary Beth Tung, Director of MEA. “Early lessons from these projects indicate lifecycle operating costs can be greatly reduced when sound energy management and design principles are incorporated early in project identification and design.”
A total of $2,000,000 is anticipated to be available for distribution to grant participants between AOI.1 and AOI.2. The amount awarded may vary depending on the quantity and quality of applications received.
 

DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) - The Dubuque Community School District will be installing more than 200 solar panels on the roof of a local elementary school in an attempt to reduce energy costs. District leaders say the project will eventually pay for itself, and then save money overall with reduced energy costs.

The district has been looking into the idea of saving energy costs through solar panels for years. In fact, district leaders started a pilot program back in the 2019-2020 school year in one of the district’s buildings.

Kevin Kelleher, the district’s chief financial officer, said, through installing solar panels and LED lights on a district building, the district were able to save around $900 a month on energy. He said, for that reason, they decided to expand the project to school buildings.

They will start with elementary schools, specifically Sageville Elementary, because they are smaller buildings.

Five local schools will receive grant money after Governor Mike DeWine announced over $25 million dollars toward School-Based Health Centers around Ohio.

Liberty, Salem, Sebring, East Palestine, and Warren City School Districts have partnered with local clinics to bring healthcare clinics inside schools.

Liberty and Salem Schools have partnered with QUICKmed Urgent Care. Sebring, East Palestine, and Warren City Schools collaborate with Akron Children's Hospital.

The grant will create 29 new School-Based Health Centers, and expand services in 107 existing clinics to help provide primary care services and preventative care for students. Expanded clinics will also offer vision, dental, and behavior health care.

Having the clinics inside schools aims to eliminate barriers that students and parents might face when it comes to obtaining care, such as transportation, parents missing time at work, and lack of access to medical providers.

“Studies have shown that health and wellness are interconnected,” said Governor DeWine. “A student who is not healthy or who is chronically absent is not able to achieve their full potential. These partnerships between healthcare providers and schools supports the whole child and ensures that every child may realize their full potential.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Irving Middle School and Belmont Elementary may be the two Lincoln Public School buildings with an Energy Star certification sticker on the front door, but they couldn’t have done that without a district-wide effort.

“We are a large organization in the Lincoln community. We have a lot of facilities, we consume a lot of resources”, says Sustainability Coordinator Brittney Albin. “We want to operate efficiently and sustainably, just like any other organization.”

LPS was able to boost its efficiency quite a bit, partially due to upgrades brought about by the 2014 bond issue. A key component of that expenditure was a pivot to geothermal energy being used in the HVAC systems at Irving and Belmont.

“The initial investment is usually the higher one, but the paybacks are very quick”, says LPS Director of Operations Scott Wieskamp. “We spent a lot of time studying that system 25 years ago, and we’ve really implemented it across the district. We only have two buildings that are not geothermal at this point in time.”

Atlanta Public Schools’ consultants offered two ideas Wednesday to address overcrowding concerns at east-side campuses.

The suggestions are part of the development of a facilities master plan that will guide decisions about how best to use school buildings over the next decade. Although APS enrollment is predicted to increase by only a few hundred students over the next 10 years, several schools in and around Midtown face capacity issues.

To ease that problem, consultants from the Sizemore Group offered two scenarios to repurpose the former Inman Middle School in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood.

They advised opening a new kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school at the site or moving third, fourth and fifth graders from the nearby Springdale Park Elementary School into the building.

Both proposals would require attendance zone lines to be redrawn in the Midtown cluster of schools, shifting some students from one elementary school to another.

About half of Montana schools that had tested their water by mid-February under a new state rule had high levels of lead, according to state data. But the full picture isn’t clear because less than half of the state’s school buildings had provided water samples six weeks after the deadline.
For many schools with high lead levels, finding the money to fix the problem will be a challenge. The options aren’t great. They can compete for a dwindling pool of state money, seek federal aid passed last year, or add the repairs to their long lists of capital improvement projects and pay for the work themselves.
“We prioritized emergency needs and then will follow up with the next-most-serious thing,” said Brian Patrick, Great Falls Public Schools’ director of business services and operations. “Obviously, this is something we want to get addressed right away. We want safe water for our kids.”
Lead, a toxic metal long known to cause lasting organ and nervous system damage, can make its way into drinking water through pipes and fixtures. Children are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can slow development and cause learning, speech and behavioral problems. Although federal rules require that community water sources be tested for lead, schools have largely been free from that oversight and can decline to be tested.
 

COVINGTON COUNTY, Miss. (WHLT) – The Covington County School District (CCSD) approved the use of the Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) program to create efficiency upgrades.
The school district will also use allocations from the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund to create improvements to schools.
CCSD is partnering with Entegrity to complete the upgrades. In December 2021, the School Board approved the decision to replace 95% of the district’s HVAC systems, to install LED lighting and to implement 439 ionization units to reduce the spread of COVID. CCSD leaders said the upgrades will create a guaranteed $135,000 in savings each year.
Additionally, five of the district’s unconditioned gyms will receive new HVAC systems, window upgrades and ionization units.
 

New roofs, windows, doors among the projects proposed at several schools
Officials in Springfield, Massachusetts will seek state funding next month for major repair projects at several school buildings.

Applications will be sent to the Massachusetts School Building Authority requesting state funds to pay for improvements to 10 Springfield schools – work that includes new roofs, replacement windows and doors, additional classroom space, and HVAC system upgrades.

The city is also looking for funds to study replacing three elementary schools with new buildings.

Over the last decade or so, Springfield has received about $700 million from the MSBA to upgrade or replace dozens of school buildings – some that were constructed in the 19th Century, said Pat Sullivan, the city’s director of buildings.

“It’s really remarkable what we have gotten done with this program,” he said.

Three brand new schools have been built. Construction is underway on a new elementary school in the Mason Square neighborhood.

The school building improvements have coincided with a leap in academic performance by Springfield Public School students. In a city with a high rate of childhood asthma it is important to have schools that are clean with good air quality, said Sullivan.

“It means kids are in the classroom longer, they’re not leaving because of an asthma attack,” he said. “If you maintain your buildings, it is going to have a ripple effect for a good outcome for the kids’ education and I think that is what we are achieving with this program.”

There is no dollar amount attached to the proposals submitted to the MSBA. Each project is evaluated on its merits and if approved then a budget for it is worked out.

Springfield has been successful in getting 3-4 projects per year greenlighted by the MSBA, said Pete Garvey, the city’s director of Capital Asset Management and Construction.

“There (were) 74 selected out of over 200 submissions (statewide for funding) in the last round, so we are doing pretty good in terms of getting our fair share,” Garvey said.

He said the state funds typically cover between 60-80 percent of the total cost of a school repair or replacement project and the city borrows to cover the rest.

A House of Delegates subcommittee rejected pleas on Friday from local government officials, parents and a 4th-grade student from rural Prince Edward County to let them help themselves by allowing voters to impose a 1% sales tax to pay for badly needed school repairs and construction.
The same House Finance subcommittee already had killed bills delegates proposed to expand an option that nine local school divisions had received in past years to impose a local sales tax for school modernization. Prince Edward was among the localities denied the option in late January.
It was the Senate's turn on Friday to watch many of the same proposals die - for Isle of Wight County, Charlottesville and other localities across the state looking for an alternative to huge hikes in their real estate taxes or loans they say they can't afford to repay.
"All we are asking for is a fair chance to improve our school," said Eliza Pope, a fourth-grade student at Prince Edward Elementary School near Farmville.
The three bills died on identical 4-3, party-line votes, as the House and Senate prepare to negotiate a potential budget solution that won't obligate the state to pay for billions of dollars in local school construction or raise taxes in a year when Gov. Glenn Youngkin has made tax cuts a top priority.
"We're trying to return extra tax dollars to people at a time that it's really needed," said Del. Kathy Byron, R-Bedford, the subcommittee chair. "It seems counter-productive to turn around and ask for more."

DUBLIN, CA — After more than two years debate punctuated by several revisions, Dublin school board members Tuesday night delayed final approval of the district's Master Facilities Plan, an aggressive program for rehabilitating and expanding deteriorating school buildings and constructing new ones that will ultimately cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.

In a narrow 3-2 vote, the board sent the plan back for additional revisions. When it's ultimately approved the document will map the direction of modernization and expansion of existing facilities and construction of both a new high school and a future K-8 school to accommodate what is projected to be continuing growth in district enrollment through the end of the decade.

Overall, the master plan includes scores of district-wide improvement projects impacting every school – ranging from addition of new classrooms and expansion of athletic facilities to a number of heating, ventilation and air conditioning system upgrades. Some of those projects are already underway.

For the 2022-23 fiscal year, Montrose County School District applied for two BEST grants: one to complete the phased rollout of improved security features and the other to upgrade the ventilation systems at multiple schools.

The Building Excellent Schools Tomorrow program was established in 2008 and has helped to fund billions in important capital improvement projects around the state. The revenue for the program comes from a large chunk of proceeds from state lands, as well as marijuana excise taxes and lottery profits.

The grants do not cover the entire cost of the capital projects, but the matching percentages can vary by district and year. The proportion of grant funding to local funding is determined by a formula that takes a multitude of factors into account, such as the district’s median household income and any current mill levies, according to the Colorado Department of Education website.

With the increasing cost of energy, focusing on energy efficiency remains a priority for the North Branch Area School District.

During the North Branch Area School Board meeting Feb. 10, Superintendent Sara Paul described how the district continues to commit resources to district priorities.

“We have to constantly be looking at what’s happening behind the scenes in terms of how we’re maintaining and continuing to look at the needs of our facilities,” Paul said.

Director of Buildings and Grounds Art Tobin, described how it takes a team effort to maintain school facilities.

“It starts here. And it starts with the school board, it starts with my co-workers, we discuss and haggle back and forth,” Tobin said. “It starts with the workers, boots on the ground when we’re doing this, and it also starts with contractors. It’s not them against us; it’s a team that we’re looking at.”

Worthington Schools officials met Feb. 14 to begin determining financial considerations for phase 2 of the district’s master facilities plan.
The meeting was the first step toward implementing the proposed second phase, which will be focused on Thomas Worthington and Worthington Kilbourne high schools.
“We went into the financials of what that might look like,” said board President Amy Lloyd. “Now it’s really a matter of going through the finances and determining what’s best for the community in terms of what dollars might be put forward.”
Lloyd said preliminary estimates have the project costing approximately $217 million, which would be financed through a bond issue.
However, that total is a working figure, and the final cost of the project still must be determined.
Additional meetings are planned for the spring, when officials will determine the exact dollar amount of the project and the district’s next operating levy request, Lloyd said.
Although the scope of work required at Thomas Worthington largely is clear, some work at Worthington Kilbourne still is to be determined, she said.
“That will really drive what the total ask would be,” Lloyd said.
Significant renovations are planned at both schools, with most of it planned for Thomas.
 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools expects to spend $114.2 million building new schools for Grace James Academy of Excellence, W.E.B. DuBois Academy and a 1,000-student middle school in west Louisville.
The three new schools were part of the district’s proposed $1.1 billion facilities plan scheduled for a public hearing 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at C.B. Young Jr. Service Center on Crittenden Drive.
Only JCPS employees attended Wednesday's hearing to receive public comments on the district's proposed facilities plan.
The new schools are among numerous projects slated to be scheduled for future construction within the 2022-23 biennium, though that is not guaranteed. The Jefferson County Board of Education approved the draft facilities plan during a Feb. 1 meeting.
JCPS Chief Operations Officer Chris Perkins said the "blueprint" gives a four-year look at its most pressing construction needs.
"It is a planning tool actually, and so the intent of it really is to identify facility needs holistically across the district to help us prioritize our planning," Perkins said after the brief hearing. "... These are our top priorities to make sure that we have not just adequate facilities but state-of-the-art, 21st century learning facilities for these schools, too."

Students and teachers are sounding off about current conditions at Park View High School in Sterling, Virginia.
They told school board members the school is in desperate need of repairs.
“Last week, there was a flood in a section of hallways which flooded some nearby classrooms,” said student Ibrahim Ahmad.
“We can’t keep painting a few walls and replacing a few tiles and acting like everything’s ok. It’s time we discuss a real renovation, one that gives our students a safe as efficient learning environment,” said teacher Sophie Fowler.
It comes at a time when the school is set to undergo a $42 million renovation.
The design phase is set to start in July with construction set to begin in July 2023.
 

On his first tour of Wilde Lake Middle School in Columbia, Christopher Rattay watched a fleet of solar cars whiz up and down the sixth-grade hallway. He would learn from the enthusiastic young operators that they were built for a class project. The new principal knew right away that Maryland’s first net zero energy school would be a wild ride, that the $34-million facility, which opened in 2017, had the potential to be something special, both as a learning laboratory and a model for school construction.
“The [building] itself is gorgeous and contributes to good health and a sense of emotional well-being,” said Rattay, who was struck by the “open spaces and natural light” in the halls, stairwells and classrooms.
“Net zero energy [means] any electricity we use is electricity that we produce, whether it’s our solar panels on the roof, or those on the grounds,” said school resource teacher Doug Spicher. He said the construction plan also called for 112 geothermal wells to heat and cool the building, a large array of light and water sensors and other conservation measures. Sunshades and coatings on the windows decrease the amount of sunlight that penetrates the building so school rooms don’t get sweltering hot or cold, Spicher said.
The new school, completed in 2017, is nearly 50% larger and uses 50% less energy than the building it replaced.
Wilde Lake can also serve 760 students, up from 500 at the previous building. Mariam Abimbola said she was “privileged” to be one of them. Now a junior, she said she made frequent stops at the energy kiosk in the front hall that streamed environmental data in real time.  “[The display] made you look at the electricity we were using, the electricity we were saving,” she said. “Before that we weren’t really conscious of our energy use, that we could really do better, and change our ways, at school and at home.”
 

A Bend-La Pine Schools committee charged with looking at facilities and the need for new schools says the district is good to go for the next decade, but after that community growth will likely send buildings beyond capacity.

“There are three elementary schools needed in the 2030’s over that decade, one middle school in 2030, 2036 and a new high school in the year 2040,” said Sites and Facilities Committee Chair Rick Hayes.

The Sites and Facilities Committee feels the district is currently set on existing facilities.

Though there is some concern over the lack of land for future projects that are needed.

“That’s because we just built a brand new high school and it takes a 50 acre site to do that,” said Mike Tiller with the  Sites and Facilities Committee. So, in our land inventory we don’t have that 50 acre site.”

With no immediate need for new schools in the next ten years the committee’s focus is on smaller district land use.

A 1-acre parcel next to Silver Rail Elementary, a nearly 2-acre parcel between Summit High and Pacific Crest Middle School and 12-acres north of High Desert Middle School, bring a few ideas to mind.