Columbus City Schools could potentially build 19 new schools by 2042.
The district’s Facilities Master Planning Committee recommends that the district build six new high schools, six new middle schools and seven elementary schools, Jim Negron, chair of the Facilities Master Plan Committee, said during Tuesday’s Columbus City Schools Board of Education Meeting.
Each new high school would have over 1,200 students, each new middle school would have over 800 students and each new elementary school would have over 600 students, according to a presentation during the board meeting. 
The location and size of these potential schools were not discussed and no board action was taken. Instead, the Facilities Master Plan Committee presented its recommendations to the board after conducting a six-step master plan from March 2021 to January. 
“This has been an extensive process,” said Dennis Paben, a senior architect with Legat Architects. 
The committee also determined that the district has too many schools for the current student population. Schools that would potentially close or be consolidated were also not discussed at Tuesday’s board meeting. 
 

Across Virginia, more than 50% of schools—1,040 out of 2,005 that districts reported—are at least 50 years old. That’s according to the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) 2021 School Building Inventory. If every school older than 50 on the list required a replacement, the estimate would exceed $24 billion. 
Sen. Jeremy McPike, a Democrat who serves Manassas, Manassas Park, and part of Prince William County, sponsored a bill aimed toward regulating and monitoring school building maintenance. The legislation was recommended by the Commission on School Construction and Modernization, which in part determines school construction and modernization funding needs.
Senate Bill (SB) 238 would require local school boards to report the age of each school building in their district—and the estimated cost to renovate them—to the VDOE. The bill notes that districts would need to complete the task “in a timely fashion,” but gives no deadline indications at the present time. 
 

Few would argue there are higher priorities than protecting children from harm. We agree with the need to provide protection for children, and want to see that protection extended to those who work with children in the places where they spend vast amounts of time: schools.

Our work to identify and eliminate toxic chemicals in schools has been ongoing for decades, but a big push in recent years has been targeting polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs. While the government banned the manufacture of PCBs in the U.S. in 1979, the chemicals remain in buildings that were constructed or renovated before or around that date.

PCBs are a group of human-made compounds that contaminate air, water, land, and sediments. They last for decades in the environment, building up in the food chain, causing toxic effects to the immune, reproductive, nervous, and endocrine systems in people and animals. PCBs also cause cancer in animals and are believed to cause cancer in people.

The Plan
In 2014, the Washington Legislature passed a law requiring state agencies to purchase PCB-free products whenever possible. In 2015, we culminated years of research and data with the release of a chemical action plan addressing PCBs. The report made a number of strong recommendations to reduce PCBs in the state, including:

A new report estimates Idaho’s public K-12 school maintenance backlog to be at least $874 million while the state isn’t enforcing a law requiring districts to report their buildings’ needs.

A 2005 Idaho Supreme Court decision found the state legislature failed to meet its constitutional duty to sufficiently fund school buildings.

Lawmakers at the time boosted some funding and required districts to regularly submit 10-year maintenance plans, which most schools don’t follow.

The report from the Idaho Office of Performance Evaluations released Monday estimates the backlog for school repairs to be at least $874 million to bring them up to a “good” condition.

Casey Petti, the analyst who wrote the report, said that figure is likely lower than the real deficit because of the lack of data available.

Rep. Steve Berch (D-Boise) said that number is eye-popping, considering lawmakers are on the cusp of passing a historic $600 million tax cut. State economists are forecasting a $1.9 billion surplus this year.

The state is launching a 17-member panel to study how to fortify public school buildings against hurricanes and devise best practices for schools when storms strike, officials said Tuesday.
"Over the last two years Louisiana has been catastrophically impacted by six hurricanes – two of which were among the strongest in our state's history," state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said in a statement.
"Many coastal public schools have been devastated from the repeated barrage of high winds, torrential rain and flash floods, resulting in billions of dollars in damages, roofs torn off, hallways flooded, walls collapsed," Brumley said.
The study, the first of its kind, will be done by The Protect Louisiana Schools: Hurricane Preparedness Commission.
Brumley said in an interview state officials have tried to support school systems when storms strike.
But he said he was struck by the lack of any playbook to offer assistance.
"How can we be prepared for storms and how can systems respond quickly and appropriately in the aftermath of a storm," Brumley said. "There really was not a source of information."
The state has about 1,700 public schools.
 

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is proposing three Memphis schools relocate due to the possibility of flooding, a school building change not currently part of a new facilities plan Memphis-Shelby County Schools unveiled last spring and started in earnest in a recent set of board votes on school closures, mergers, school building additions and HVAC improvements.

Inspired by the story of a school in Waverly, Tenn., the $200 million Tennessee initiative includes 14 schools across the state in urban, rural and suburban districts. The schools were identified through a study by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency as high risk for flooding damage, said Penny Schwinn, state commissioner of education. 

In Memphis, that includes Lowrance K-8, in southeast Shelby County and American Way Middle School in Parkway Village, both MSCS schools. It also includes relocating another Parkway Village school, Wooddale Middle School; the school is currently part of the state-run Achievement School District under charter operator Green Dot Public Schools, but the building is owned by MSCS. 

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona laid out four key priorities for U.S. public education in a major address last week, as many schools still struggle to keep teaching and learning on track during the pandemic.

Here’s how the Education Department listed Cardona’s priority areas:

“Support students through pandemic response and recovery. — Engaging families as core partners to educators — Addressing missed instruction through intensive tutoring, extended learning time, and other evidence-based practices — Increasing access to social, emotional, and mental health supports for all students — Encouraging every student to participate in at least one extracurricular activity.
“Boldly address opportunity and achievement gaps. — Increasing funding for Title I schools and for IDEA in order to close gaps in access to educational opportunity — Providing every family the opportunity to start on a level playing field through free, universal pre-K and affordable high-quality child care — Investing in, recruiting, and supporting the professional development of a diverse educator workforce, including special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and bilingual educators so education jobs are ones that people from all backgrounds want to pursue — Challenging states and districts to fix broken systems that may perpetuate inequities in our schools.
“Make higher education more inclusive and affordable. — Providing targeted loan relief to student borrowers — Holding colleges and universities accountable for taking advantage of borrowers — Ensuring borrowers have loan payment options that reflect their economic circumstances — Making long term improvements to programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness and creating a strong Gainful Employment Rule so career programs aren’t leaving students with mountains of debt and without good job opportunities.
“Ensure pathways through higher education lead to successful careers. — Reimagining the connection between p-12, higher education, and workforce — Collaborating with the Department of Labor and Department of Commerce to invest in career preparation programs that meet the needs of today’s economy — Prioritizing grant programs that allow students to return to higher education or pursue career and technical education programs at any point in their lives and careers — Investing in colleges and universities that serve underrepresented groups and increase access to and funding for programs like Pell Grants.”
There are several important issues on that list, but there’s one the secretary didn’t mention: the sorry state of many of America’s school buildings.

More than half of U.S. public schools need to update or replace multiple systems or features in more than half their buildings, and failure to address them could pose health and safety problems for children and adults, according to a 2020 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

American schools have a lot of money to spend right now. They received $122 billion dollars last spring from the American Rescue Plan, the largest ever one-time investment of money by the federal government in public education. The money can go towards buying COVID-19 tests, hiring counselors, repairing air filtration systems, or anything else that could get students through the pandemic. Schools have until September 2024 to spend the money.

But, according to a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona from a coalition of school associations, networks and campaign groups, they need more time.

One of the schools that would like an extension is Claremont School, in New York’s Hudson River Valley. It’s in Ossining school district, which received $10 million from the American Rescue Plan.

“There was a wow factor, and a sincere gratitude,” said Ray Sanchez, the Ossining school district superintendent, about receiving the money. “Then there’s a heavy responsibility associated with it.”

Sanchez wants to use some of the funds to replace unit ventilators in the schools. They’re used for air flow, and to heat the classrooms. The one in fourth-grade teacher Stephanie Altobelli’s classroom has been in place since the school was built more than 60 years ago, and looks its age. Altobelli said it sometimes blows out really cold air.

An effort in the Virginia House of Delegates to give all localities the ability — via a voter referendum — to increase the local sales tax in order to pay for school construction projects was stopped in a subcommittee meeting Friday morning.
The subcommittee voted 5-3 all three times to lay on the table all three bills relating to the issue. A similar bill carried by Del. Dave LaRock, R-Loudon County, was struck from the agenda at the start of the meeting.
Similar legislation cleared the Virginia Senate earlier this week, meaning the overall push isn’t dead, yet.
Del. Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, sponsored a Charlottesville-specific bill as well as one that would’ve given all the localities the authorization to ask voters for approval.
“We’ll have another chance when the Senate bills come over to the House,” Hudson said after the meeting. “That means Virginians whose Delegates’ blocked this bill need to make their voices heard if they want the vote to change.”
 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — To retrofit California’s crumbling classrooms, a new state audit released Thursday predicts voters will have to approve over $7.4 billion in bonds to pay for overdue safety and technological upgrades at K-12 schools.

The state auditor foresees a continued flood of funding requests over the next five years from the state’s over 10,500 schools. To meet the growing need, the report says lawmakers will have to rely on voters to clear the backlog and keep the state’s decades-old modernization program solvent.

Created in 1998, the School Facilities Program is tasked with getting out program funds to schools looking to do things like fix plumbing, improve air conditioning systems or finish technological updates. Bond funding can only be used on classrooms or other school structures older than 20 years and applicants must front at least 40% of the cost.

Schools have turned to the program with increasing regularity in recent years and the state began receiving requests it couldn’t fulfill in 2019. In less than three years, auditors claim the backlog has grown to $1.7 billion.

Last April, Miami Dade County Public Schools adopted a resolution calling for the use of 100% clean energy by 2030. Seven months later, monopoly utilities began pushing for state legislation that would destroy opportunities for rooftop solar. State lawmakers are debating this issue right now — and our schools’ precious resources hang in the balance.
Florida schools spend over a half billion dollars each year on electricity. Energy costs are their second-biggest expense. In Miami-Dade, the school district is one of the top five energy consumers.
Schools can no longer afford to ignore the energy-producing potential of their spacious rooftops. Fully transitioning to rooftop solar by 2030, combined with simple energy-efficiency strategies, could save Miami-Dade schools $100 million every year, as one example.
The bill, SB 1024/HB 741, filed by Sen. Jennifer Bradley and Rep. Lawrence McClure, would destroy the immense benefits that rooftop solar offers all Floridians. That’s because it would effectively eliminate net metering — a vital policy to rooftop solar that exists in almost every state.
 

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland Unified School District is considering as many as 13 schools to close permanently at the end of this school year, although the list, and decision to close any schools, is still tentative, according to the Oakland Unified School District. 
On the potential chopping block are predominantly elementary schools, according to a preliminary list provided to KTVU by OUSD school board director Mike Hutchinson. More schools could close or merge the year after.
A spokesperson for OUSD noted that the final list, which may be trimmed down, won't be public until the end of the week. 
Additionally, the reason for drawing up a list of schools to consider closing or merging came from a Jan. 12 Board of Education decision, which tasked the OUSD superintendent and staff with creating a consolidation plan. All of it is tentative for now.
The Board of Education will hear a presentation on Monday with full details on the proposal to eliminate certain schools. The board will vote on the proposal in a special meeting Feb. 8. 
Hutchinson is asking why these decisions are being made so quickly.
"There's a real question about why these schools, why now, and how is this proper during a pandemic with no community engagement at all?"
 

BOISE, Idaho — Some education leaders and lobbyists are advocating for a new way to fund school construction costs.
It's an issue that's been a conversation topic among education leaders and lawmakers since the '90s. Through this funding method, a fee would be collected from new development and given to public school districts to fund new school buildings.
Education advocates say this would mean growth pays for growth.
Population Growth Impacts Public School Enrollment
Before the pandemic slowed in-person enrollment at many public schools, the West Ada School District was adding an average of 655 students per year.
fund school construction costs


Idaho State Capitol
By: Anna AzallionPosted at 1:59 PM, Jan 26, 2022 and last updated 8:06 AM, Jan 31, 2022
BOISE, Idaho — Some education leaders and lobbyists are advocating for a new way to fund school construction costs.
It's an issue that's been a conversation topic among education leaders and lawmakers since the '90s. Through this funding method, a fee would be collected from new development and given to public school districts to fund new school buildings.
Education advocates say this would mean growth pays for growth.
Population Growth Impacts Public School Enrollment
Before the pandemic slowed in-person enrollment at many public schools, the West Ada School District was adding an average of 655 students per year.
Recent Stories from kivitv.com
“We’re growing in Star, we’re growing in south Meridian and we have some spots in Eagle that are definitely growing,” said Marci Horner, the planning and development administrator for the West Ada School District.
This growth impacts every area of life, including public school enrollment.
 

GREENWICH — Parents across town put up a united front when it comes to proposed spending on capital school projects: They want funding for work at Old Greenwich School, Julian Curtiss School and Central Middle School without any delays.
Speakers who support the Board of Education’s $30.3 million capital budget request dominated a public hearing before the Board of Estimate & Taxation’s Budget Committee on Tuesday night.
“The issues surrounding the school buildings are not being ignored — they’re being acknowledged and then dismissed,” said Bob Chaney, who has children at Central and Julian Curtiss.
“This indifference to what is happening to the students at our public schools in unacceptable and, quite frankly, embarrassing,” he said. “There should be a sense of pride in our public schools and a desire to want the schools to be the best Greenwich can offer.”
The proposed capital budget includes long-sought design funds for Old Greenwich and Julian Curtiss. The work had initially been budgeted at $1.8 million per school, but Board of Education Chair Kathleen Stowe said the requests were revised down to $1.5 million each.
The school board is also seeking $250,000 for a study to evaluate the structural integrity of Central. Concerns about the building have grown over the past year; meters have been installed to detect any problems with the building.
 

The Baltimore City school board voted Tuesday night to close three public schools during summer 2023, citing low enrollment numbers and deteriorating buildings, despite calls from community members to keep them open.
The vote means the school system will close Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary on Eutaw Place in West Baltimore, Steuart Hill Academic Academy in Union Square in the Central Southwest area of the city and New Era Academy, a high school in South Baltimore, after the 2022-23 academic year. The only board member to oppose all three closures was Durryle Brooks.
The school board voted unanimously to develop a strategic plan that will look at long-term enrollment and school closures.
A fourth school that was being considered for closure, Dr. Bernard Harris Elementary School in East Baltimore’s Oliver neighborhood, will remain open, city schools CEO Sonja Santelises said.
 

Newly dubbed Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the district has started to make good on its proposed Reimagine 901 plan's facilities changes unveiled last spring, with the first major facility changes receiving required board vote Tuesday. 

Shady Grove and Alton Elementary Schools will both close at the end of the school year, impacting about 600 students and their families and teachers. Other schools will relocate to new buildings. 

Board members voted unanimously to change the name of the district and close and merge its schools as part of a consent agenda with more than 30 items. There was no board discussion during the business meeting. 

The district's plan, unveiled last April, includes the school facilities plan as well as an academic plan, both impacted by the district's infusion of hundreds of millions of federal funding in the three rounds of COVID-19 stimulus. 

NEW JERSEY - Hoboken voters overwhelmingly rejected a costly high school project on Tuesday.  There were about twice as many no votes as yes votes for the new school.
Heated meetings, social media brawls, a flood of op-eds, and more have seemingly dominated the city over the weeks leading up to the vote.
The school board proposed erecting a new high school where the current school’s football field sits and building a new field on its rooftop. It would come with other sports facilities like an ice rink and a swimming pool.  As well as new classrooms, science labs, art studios, an auditorium, a black box theater, and more.
"We’re seeing this huge wave come, we need to address enrollment at all levels," said BOE President Sharon Angley.
But the project would have cost $241-million-dollars which becomes $331-million when you include interest payments paid for by the taxpayers of Hoboken.
The plan was to raise property taxes by about 6% to pay for the project.
 

As the president, federal lawmakers, and critical media coverage ramp up pressure on schools to quickly spend the $195 billion in federal pandemic aid they received in 2020 and 2021, school administrators are pushing back with an unexpected message: We need more time.

A coalition of nearly three dozen school, health, and environmental advocacy groups, led by AASA, the School Superintendents’ Association, last week sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona asking the department to consider extending the deadline for spending COVID relief funds on construction and capital improvements projects.

The current deadline for spending all of the COVID relief funds is September 2024—more than four years after the pandemic began taking a toll on school operations and causing all manner of disruption for students and staff alike. Congress approved the aid in three waves in March 2020, December 2020, and March 2021.

CRESSKILL — Since a flood ravaged the middle and high school building, causing over $20 million in damage, parents and students have fought for two things: swift repairs and a return to in-person instruction.

The fate of both is on the line Tuesday. That's when residents will vote on a $21 million spending proposal for repairs  — 75% of which will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And Tuesday night, the Northvale zoning board will determine if students can return to classrooms. 

Since September about 1,000 middle and high school students have been learning remotely the majority of the week. Two grades attend in person once every four days on a rotating schedule at the St. Thérèse of Lisieux Church school in Cresskill.

The remnants of Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on the Cresskill middle and high school building, which sits in a flood zone on Lincoln Drive. Several feet of water rose above the auditorium stage, destroying it and the gymnasium, the media center, desks and chairs.

A school’s local planning committee (LPC) is responsible for the development of a school system’s district facilities plan (DFP). A committee is created every four years to do so in accordance to Kentucky Revised Statues.
The LPC isn’t discussed much until it is asked to consider something like a significant building or renovation project within a school. Two local planning committees have been brought in beyond the regular assessment and approval of the DFP. Ashland Independent gathered it’s LPC to discuss a new technical center, which was approved by both the LPC and the local board of education.
Carter County is in the process of discussing renovations and grant money dedicated to East Carter High School along with renovation needs at the district technical center or a new single campus high school that would consolidate both high schools and provide access to a new technical center all on the same property.
The LPC is one of three primary boards or committees that have a say in the process of capital construction. The local planning committee, the local board of education and the Kentucky Department of Education all have a role in the process.
“(The LPC) are charged with reviewing the properties, the facilities of the district, their condition, whether or not they are satisfying the needs of the students in the community,” said Ashland Director of Student Achievement Richard Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer explained the committee considers if builds have enough space, too much space and the cost of operating those buildings. The LPC also considers the district’s financial status and enrollment trends and “long range forecasts for population changes,” he said.
Oppenheimer said information is gathered from architects, financial advisors and more to determine building goals and feasibility in the district.