The Los Angeles school district will set aside $2.2 billion to repair or rebuild three fire-damaged schools and to make all campuses more “natural disaster resilient.”
L.A. schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on Tuesday also announced that new health and safety evaluations are being undertaken at two smoke-damaged campuses near the burn scar of last month’s Pacific Palisades fire. Parents at Canyon Charter Elementary and Revere Charter Middle School had expressed concerns over whether these recently reopened campuses were safe.
Attendance at both schools has been below normal, especially at Canyon, where some parents have left the school or said they intend to.
In a related development, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued an emergency directive that could help the already distressed child-care sector in the wake of the recent fires. Displaced day cares would be allowed to reopen anywhere in the city and operate at higher capacity.
Anticipating Future Disasters
It didn’t take long for the Los Angeles Unified School District to plan for drawing down a huge chunk of $9 billion in school construction and modernization bonds that voters approved in November.
 

As Portland Public Schools tries to curb its sky-high school modernization costs, district officials asked School Board members where they’d be willing to make cuts for upcoming projects at Cleveland, Ida B. Wells and Jefferson high schools.

Those three high schools are on the docket for modernizations from the district’s upcoming $1.83 billion schools bond in the May 2025 election. They were also slated to be some of the nation’s most expensive new schools before the board asked planning committees to look for cost-saving measures in December.

On Tuesday, the School Board was finally presented with a long-awaited report from Cornerstone Management Group, whose findings were first reported in The Oregonian. The report compared five Portland rebuilds with nearby Beaverton, finding Portland spent much more than the neighboring district.

At a School Board meeting on Tuesday night, a district staff memo grouped cost-saving recommendations from the report into three broad categories: reducing building sizes and costly spaces, adjusting sustainability standards, and adjusting equity in contracting goals.

Reducing building size is the top priority for district Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong. While Beaverton High School is being built at about 300,000 square feet, all three upcoming projects are slated for 320,000 square feet. “My recommendation is that we pursue a 300,000-square-foot-size high school that would save $24 million across three projects,” Armstrong said Tuesday.

“The hope was to be able to save upwards of $70 million or $80 million through this report and [with] all of these features that’s just not going to happen. So what are some small wins that we can get out of this?” she asked board members.

The board overseeing charter schools in West Virginia expressed hope that the state will get bang for its buck through dollars available for construction or improvements.
The West Virginia Professional Charter School Board is preparing for a recently-passed policy allowing charter schools to benefit from funding through the state School Building Authority. House Bill 227 passed during special session last year.
It added a line to state code to say: “A public charter school may, in its name and its sole discretion, submit application to the School Building Authority for funding for the purchase of a building to be used for public charter school purposes and for the cost of the project.”
Now charter schools have been applying for that funding.
“To my knowledge, all of West Virginia’s brick-and-mortar charter schools have submitted their applications for this grant opportunity,” said James Paul, executive director of the charter schools board, adding that representatives of the state School Building Authority have been making site visits to applicants.
Charter schools receive financial support from the state’s public education system and are given greater operational latitude in exchange for the possibility of losing their right to operate if they fail.
 

In an era where safety concerns have become an unavoidable reality, schools must prioritize robust and comprehensive emergency response plans. From natural disasters to security threats, these blueprints outline how schools and school districts will prevent and address situations that threaten school safety, such as violence, natural disasters, and medical emergencies.

Students and educators deserve clear protocols that safeguard their well-being in times of crisis. While about 90% of districts have an emergency response plan, too many schools remain underprepared, relying on outdated procedures or insufficient training that leave communities vulnerable.

It’s time for districts to reassess, invest in modern solutions, and implement proactive strategies that build resilience and confidence.

Tens of millions of dollars allocated to replace a dilapidated, 70-year-old campus serving students who live on a reservation near the Nevada-Idaho border was considered one of the biggest triumphs for tribal communities in the 2023 legislative session. 

But the building cost estimate quickly exceeded the original number — the Owyhee Combined School’s remote location makes the project more difficult than building in an urban area — and no companies placed bids for the project last August.

Despite facing a legal challenge over the school construction funding mechanism and a ticking clock to use the millions of dollars in state funds, district officials are trying again — and are optimistic that they’ll get back on track with a more scaled-back version of the project.  

On Thursday, the district received one bid from a Utah-based contractor, MGM Construction, that came in under the nearly $65 million that lawmakers appropriated to the Elko County School District through a 2023 bill, AB519, for the construction of the new Owyhee school. The school board is expected to vote on the bid at its Feb. 4 meeting. 

"It's exhausting," said tribal Chairman Brian Mason during a Friday phone interview. "I guess the easy part was actually getting a bill sponsored, voted on, passed and signed by the governor." 

The State Board of Education has amended Rule 160-5-4-.15 to ensure collaboration between local school systems and public safety experts during the design phase of new school facilities, a significant step to enhance the safety and security of public school facilities across the state, announced State School Superintendent Richard Woods.

Under the updated rule, local boards of education are required to consult with their municipal or county law enforcement or emergency management agencies when designing new facilities or structures intended to house or serve public school children. This proactive measure underscores the Georgia Department of Education’s commitment to creating safe, secure environments for Georgia’s students and educators.

“The safety of our students is our highest priority,” Superintendent Woods said. “By setting the expectation that all local school systems collaborate with law enforcement and emergency management professionals, we are taking an essential step toward ensuring that our schools are designed with safety in mind from the ground up.”

As he stood in the old Dean Street School building earlier this week, memories came flooding back for 88-year-old Bill Worthy.
“I started right here in this room in first grade,” he told a group of Wofford College students who were getting a tour of the building – the oldest public school structure in the city of Spartanburg and, before desegregation, one of several all-Black schools in the city.
Thanks to a $452,000 earmark approved by the state legislature, the building, now owned by the local chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, will undergo a major renovation.
As chapter president Bernard Wheeler explained to the Wofford students, “We envision this as a center for the community. We want to promote youth programming.”
The opportunity to "secure the building" and solidify its future as a place for young people “is an honor,” Wheeler said. “We have the space, and we’re very fortunate. It’s something that we’re obligated to do.”
 

WESTLEY — For the first time in over 70 years, an elementary school in Central California could have consumable water. 
Grayson Elementary School in Stanislaus County was built in 1952. The school has never had suitable drinking water. 
In November 2024, the district noticed corroded pipes after a pipe break inside the school. 
"Back in the fall, we set out to sort of solve this drinking water problem at Grayson Elementary," said Dave Smith of the Patterson Joint Unified School District's administrative services.
That plan involved replacing all pipes inside the school that, up until that point, the district believed to be the original pipes. 
However, a recent discovery showed many of the pipes were replaced in 2013. 
"So our construction manager, while working with the utility company, found the drawings and then we were able to confirm that they had actually been installed," Smith said. 
The pipes are underground and have not been looked at yet. 
According to Smith, the water quality has been another issue for the school. The well water from the local housing authority was deemed undrinkable, but the housing authority has since announced it will create a second well with a filtration system. 
 

WASHINGTON — Parents, students and staff inside Lorraine H. Whitlock Elementary School say the newly renovated school has had issues with its heat for week.
Since then, temperatures outside have frequently dropped to the single digits. Parents tell WUSA9 the temperature inside the building some days has dropped to the 50s.  
"I think it's ridiculous. It's hard for them to concentrate. You have children sitting there with coats and hats and gloves. How are you supposed to operate like that," said Valerie Jackson, Whitlock Elementary School PTO President. 
Jackson says she reached out to DCPS when she first noticed the issue, but never got a response. 
This is the same school that just underwent a $45 million renovation and reopened to students in August 2024. Just a few months into the school year, students are having to bundle up inside the building. 
"Everything looks beautiful, but there's no heat and that's a problem. Why wasn't this resolved yet?" Jackson said. 
The Department of General Services (DGS) is responsible for all work orders and maintenance requests for DCPS buildings. According to their website, a work order to address heating issues for the entire school has been open since Jan. 8. 
WUSA9 reached out to DCPS early Wednesday morning. A spokesperson shared a letter that went out to Whitlock families that afternoon, after our inquiry. The letter states contractors have been out to the school and repairs are underway. According to the letter, heaters will also be distributed to make sure students are comfortable. 
 

Many of Philadelphia’s schools are in terrible shape. The average public school building in the city is over 70 years old, and some are over 120 years old.

The state of disrepair, including a lack of air conditioning and incidents of untreated asbestos, mold, crumbling ceilings and flooded hallways, is well documented. In 2017, an assessment found that these buildings had US$4.5 billion in deferred maintenance needs. More recently, Superintendent Tony Watlington estimated that Philly’s school buildings need $7 billion to $9 billion for repairs and upgrades.

I am a scholar of school finance, with an emphasis on infrastructure. My colleague Camika Royal, who’s an expert on urban education and Philadelphia schools, and I wanted to figure out why the city’s school buildings are like this.

Using U.S. Census Bureau data from the National Center for Education Statistics on primary and secondary education finance – specifically data on total interest payments – we found that one key figure helps explain the dire state of the city’s school buildings:

From 1993 to 2021, when adjusted for year-over-year inflation, the School District of Philadelphia had to pay $3.6 billion in interest and fees to get the money it needed for its buildings and other purposes.

In a joint October 2020 memo, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of General Services (DGS) and District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) announced that schools would receive robust ventilation, filtration and air quality monitoring support. Officials understood rightly that such measures were critical to safeguarding the health of students, school staff and the public at-large.

The State Board has heard concerns from constituents lately – from parents, students and educators – that school facilities’ air quality has been inadequate and uncomfortable. One parent, who wrote to city leaders late last year, relayed that her child’s school had gone without heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) for some time, and that filter usage in the school has been sporadic at best. Another shared that their 7-month-old contracted RSV (a serious respiratory virus to infants) via their daughter, who they suspect was exposed at school.

These accounts don’t necessarily evidence a District-wide, systemic issue with air quality in schools. But, they do raise questions the State Board is interested in answering: Do District schools have an air quality problem, and if they do, how can our city help them improve?

K-12 schools in major metropolitan areas continue struggling to find enough funds to inspect, repair and maintain their facilities in ways that keep them safe and reliable. But while these struggles require major funding and garner big headlines, big-city districts are hardly unique in facing these challenges. 
The nation’s rural K-12 districts also face uphill battles finding the financing to maintain facilities properly. Consider the case of one rural Nevada district. 
Nye County School District covers a sprawling 18,000-square-mile area. Its smallest schools are in far corners of the county as much as a four-hour drive from the Pahrump base, according to the Las Vegas Sun News. 
 

The Conewago Valley School District (CVSD) Board approved key measures for the proposed renovations and additions to Conewago Township Elementary School (CTE) during its recent meeting, setting maximum costs for the $37.6 million project while addressing longstanding infrastructure and accessibility issues.

The board approved the Act 34 booklet for the project and passed a resolution establishing a maximum project cost of $37,639,253, with an Act 34 maximum building construction cost of $16,118,207. This step satisfied a requirement under Act 34 of 1973, a Pennsylvania law governing school construction projects exceeding 20% of an existing building’s size, but does not authorize construction to begin. Act 34 is applicable when a project becomes substantial enough in scope to require public meetings and further cost calculations, including maximum building construction costs, school building capacity, and aggregate building expenditures, according to the act.

Funding for clean energy technologies through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is starting to reach K-12 school districts across the country, according to a news release from the National Association for Energy Service Companies (NAESCO). 
The Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is part of the IRA that was primarily targeted for solar energy projects but can also apply to renewable energy systems like wind, geothermal and fuel cells. The tax credit can allow schools to deduct a significant percentage of the cost of renewable energy systems from their federal taxes. 
NAESCO spotlighted four districts that recently received funding for their projects. 
 

Kids lose so much when a disaster strikes. Too many have lost family members to the wildfires that have raged across Los Angeles in recent days. They’ve lost homes. They’ve lost the sense of security and predictability that so many kids depend on. And, to add insult to injury, many of them have lost their schools.

At least nine schools in the Los Angeles area have been destroyed or severely damaged by the fires. Video posted by the principal of Odyssey Charter School’s south campus in Altadena shows flames still smoldering in the buildings as smoke rises from the playground, blotting out the sky. Marquez Charter Elementary School in Pacific Palisades “is dust,” one parent told The Cut. Meanwhile, thousands more schools were closed last week as communities faced evacuation warnings, power outages, and smoke-filled air, leaving more than 600,000 students out of school.

Unfortunately, these disruptions are part of a new normal for kids as climate disasters become more frequent. Last year, Americans experienced 27 weather-related disasters costing $1 billion or more in damage, the second-highest number ever — meanwhile, the number of days American schools are closed for extreme heat has doubled in recent years.

LOS ANGELES —
Days after losing her home in the same fire that destroyed her Los Angeles elementary school, third-grader Gabriela Chevez-Muñoz resumed classes this week at another campus temporarily hosting children from her school. She arrived wearing a t-shirt that read “Pali” — the nickname for her Pacific Palisades neighborhood — as signs and balloons of dolphins, her school’s mascot, welcomed hundreds of displaced students.
“It feels kind of like the first day of school,” Gabriela said. She said she had been scared by the fires but that she was excited to reunite with her best friend and give her hamburger-themed friendship bracelets.
Gabriela is among thousands of students whose schooling was turned upside down by wildfires that ravaged the city, destroying several schools and leaving many others in off-limits evacuation zones.
Educators across the city are scrambling to find new locations for their students, develop ways to keep up learning, and return a sense of normalcy as the city grieves at least 27 deaths and thousands of destroyed homes from blazes that scorched 63 square miles of land.
 

Wyoming has underfunded school facilities maintenance for about a decade, as the state’s formula for calculating routine and major maintenance has been pushed lower and lower, according to testimony Friday in a state Senate committee.
To address crumbling school buildings, the Senate Education Committee voted unanimously in favor of Senate File 34, “School finance-routine and major maintenance calculations,” which would increase the formula for paying for school building repairs.
Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, listens during the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee meeting in the Historic Supreme Court Chamber in the state Capitol on Sept. 19, 2024.
“Frankly, we have not been taking care of our buildings out there,” Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, told the committee. “We have over 25 million square feet of school facilities buildings across our state, and we need to maintain them. … You either pay now, or you are going to pay a lot later.”
 

The Cedar Rapids Community School Board has unanimously approved $7.5 million to purchase 50 acres of land in northeast Cedar Rapids for a new middle school to replace Harding Middle School.

While district officials argue the move addresses long-term growth and educational needs, some community members are concerned about the timing and financial prudence, while raising questions about the board's priorities and transparency.

Sticker shock hit the Community School District (CSD) Board of Trustees Jan. 8. Estimates for prioritized repairs to both schools came in around $1 million higher than expected, mostly for a new dry sprinkler system at the elementary school. 

“It was a surprise,” Chair Troy Lewis told the Register.  

In October, the board requested estimates to update old prices for a potential bond to repair what they defined as critical issues. The district said it prioritized repairs to systems that could cause significant disruptions to learning and cost significantly more if they fail.  

Wednesday, Alternative Organizational Structure 98 Superintendent Robert Kahler and Director of Facilities Dave Benner updated the trustees: After further research and several bids from contractors, the total estimate had increased from around $1.66 million to around $2.7 million.  

Repair issues at the high school include the roof, a fuel tank, two entrances and the heating and ventilation control system. At the elementary school, projects include the roof and parapets, and another fuel tank. Kahler reported estimates totaling $734,564 at the high school and $1,923,150 at the elementary school. 

DANVERS — Danvers Electric announced Wednesday that the newly installed solar arrays on Smith Elementary, Highlands Elementary and Danvers High School are now live.

The panels installed on these school rooftops are now generating clean, renewable energy directly integrated into towns public power supply.

Danvers Electric partnered with Solect Energy to complete the project that installed enough solar panels to generate 1.2 megawatts of power into Danvers homes each year.

“We are thrilled to bring these three systems online, delivering carbon-free, in-town electricity to our customers,” Electric Utility Director Clint Allen said.

“By leveraging this clean energy, we can reduce reliance on natural gas power plants and offset 950 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year, equivalent to removing over 200 gasoline-powered vehicles from the road.”