(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.

LOGAN COUNTY, Ky. — Logan County voters will decide in November whether to approve a proposed 5.9-cent “nickel tax” to help fund school construction, repairs, renovations and maintenance.

The Logan County Board of Education approved the ballot language for the proposed levy during a special called meeting in August.

The measure would levy 5.9 cents for every $100 of assessed value of real and personal property.

A new state law allowing localities to raise revenue for school construction has opened opportunities but also raised questions, with some local leaders and lawmakers asking if it could create funding shortfalls for localities that approve the measure.

Right before the July 1 deadline, Virginia passed a budget that included language allowing localities, pending voter support, to raise a 1% sales tax primarily to cover school construction due to unprecedented costs. 

A series of severe weather events this year brought more than $212 million in damage to public infrastructure across the state, according to preliminary figures from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

That figure doesn’t include state Department of Education estimates of an additional $174.5 million in storm-related school repair, maintenance and recovery needs.

The Yakima school district went 16 years without asking voters to pass a construction bond. This spring, it finally did, and the measure passed by a hair, just over Washington state’s 60 percent supermajority threshold for approving bonds.

“We live in a community that’s very high-poverty,” Superintendent Trevor Greene said, “and for a community to tax itself is a lot to ask.”

Now, the work the bond is paying for is visible: Crews have repaved parking lots and begun upgrading playgrounds, and the district of more than 15,000 students is choosing a contractor to replace two aging elementary schools, which will be the district’s first new elementary school buildings in a generation.

Salina Intermediate and Elementary schools in Dearborn unveiled two new playgrounds on Sept. 16 as part of the Green Schoolyard initiative. These schools now have open outdoor spaces with trees, natural play structures, a pavilion, and a rain garden to help offset noise and pollution from a nearby steel factory near the Dearborn Works and the Ford Rouge Complex, which sit about 800 feet from the 100-year-old schools.

"If you look at Salina Elementary and Intermediate School, it's less than 800 ft away from a steel factory, and so this is a prime example of how, how you want to utilize green infrastructure to help improve the air quality so our children can learn and our teachers can do what they do best," said Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, according to WXYZ.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, alongside Senators Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), introduced the Protecting Our Students in Schools Act, legislation to federally prohibit corporal punishment in any school that receives federal funding.

“No child should ever face physical abuse, including at school,” said Senator Kaine. “It's time to end the outdated and harmful practice of corporal punishment in every school across the country. Instead of relying on fear, our schools should provide safe, supportive learning environments that students need to thrive and be healthy.”