A massive overhaul of Cheyenne schools is moving forward now that it's been approved by the state's School Facilities Commission.

The school board in Cheyenne plans to close eight elementaries and build, replace or alter 12 other schools over the next decade to address aging facilities and a projected decline in enrollment.

Some parents, like Samantha Van Riper, said the overhaul will provide students in the district's south triad with more equitable facilities.

"We do feel like we have been overlooked for quite some time, and we are so very, very thankful," Van Riper told the commission. "I believe that your choice today is giving our children the educational benefits in the future that other kids in this district have been receiving up until this point."

The West Ada School District needs $1.1 billion over the next 10 years to upgrade and maintain its buildings, according to a long-range facilities assessment presented at Monday’s school board meeting. 

West Ada is the latest district to complete an assessment that’s required under House Bill 521. The state spending package — which the Idaho Legislature and Gov. Brad Little adopted earlier this year — will give Idaho’s 115 school districts $1 billion to finance new construction and major upgrades along with ongoing aid for locally-supported bonds and levies. 

The state’s largest school district, West Ada will receive the biggest share of the funds — about $140 million. District staff and trustees expressed gratitude for the state assistance Monday but acknowledged that it won’t be enough. More than seven times as much is necessary to address all of West Ada’s long-term construction and maintenance needs, the assessment showed.

“We’ll apply this money to those things the bill covers,” David Reinhart, West Ada’s chief operations officer, told the school board. And district staff “will find creative ways to maintain our buildings and continue to make them the great places they are.”

About 80 students in the Independence School District had transferred away from their neighborhood schools due to lack of space. The district hopes to relieve that pressure by repurposing an elementary auditorium into six new classrooms.
Fairmount Elementary School in Independence tore the shelves out of a storage closet, installed a smart television and a whiteboard — and started using the space for teaching.

With enrollment booming, every room counts.

“There is literally not a single space that is not being utilized,” Principal Nicholas Younts said.

The school can’t squeeze an entire class into a former closet, but it is using the space — and other office-sized rooms — for things that happen in smaller groups like speech therapy and support learning English.

Meanwhile, every classroom is occupied and some are so full they can’t accept more students.

That’s why 20 fourth graders have been sent to Mill Creek and Ott elementary schools as of Nov. 1. Some ride the bus to Fairmount, then switch to a second bus to complete their journey.

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - La Salle High School is set to benefit from three anonymous donations totaling $1.6 million, aimed at enhancing the educational environment and facilities for its students.

The first donation, amounting to $100,000, will support the school's master facilities plan. A second gift of $500,000 has been pledged to bolster the school's endowment fund.

The largest contribution, a $1 million donation, is earmarked for several key improvements. These include enhancing school safety, air conditioning the gym, renovating art spaces, providing additional resources for the admissions office, and installing new turf on the baseball infield.

The Henrico School Board is seeking to increase its annual school maintenance funding by several million from last year to help tackle a list of $56-million worth of HVAC projects.

Each year, the Henrico Board of Supervisors provides funding for the school board’s Capital Improvement Plan, which designates funds for building maintenance at Henrico Schools facilities. Last year, the school board received $19 million of the $21 million it requested to fund the CIP – a big boost from years before – and the board has proposed an even bigger ask this year of $26.5 million.

A significant amount of the CIP funding would be used to address a list of 70 prioritized HVAC projects totaling $56 million at different Henrico schools. For school board members, HVAC concerns are top of mind, especially with several school closures due to broken AC units this fall and last school year.

State education officials told lawmakers that $258 million is needed to complete the many upgrades that local school system leaders believe are necessary for safety.

“When you look at that total request for state funds, that’s a pretty large number obviously,” said Jonah Adkins, director of the Office of Safety & Tiered Support Systems. “But we would love to work with Homeland Security and a team of your choosing to kind of take a deeper look and further prioritize these needs because we know we would never be able to meet all of this at once, but if we could chip away a little bit each year I believe we could make some good headway.”

He told lawmakers that local school systems spent $23 million to address security needs, “so our school districts are working with the resources that they have available to them to address those needs as they arise. But obviously there is a greater need. It’s the unfortunate reality of our society that we live in that we have people targeting our children and targeting our schools to do bad things.”

A Sydney public school has been crowned the World Building of the Year, beating competition from towering skyscrapers, museums and major transport hubs to claim the title.

Darlington public school in Chippendale won the major building design prize at the 2024 World Architectural festival in Singapore, triumphing over more than 200 shortlisted entrants.

It was a second big coup for the Australian architectural firm FJC Studioafter its design for Liverpool council’s new library, Yellamundie, in south-west Sydney, was named one of the world’s four most beautiful new libraries.

The Darlington school, which fully reopened in July 2023 after the upgrades, celebrates strong connections to Indigenous culture, weaving designs into the building’s identity and facades.

Aboriginal artworks are displayed around the school and in the cladding and students can learn about Indigenous food and culture while tending a community garden that grows native plants.

As schools and parks across the United States rip up playgrounds, a D.C. councilmember said he wants to save a childhood fixture that has become dangerously hot using solar panels. 
The Solar Shade Expansion Amendment Act, introduced by Ward 6 Councilman Charles Allen, would place solar panels and solar shade canopies in 20 locations across D.C. 
"The goal is to provide shade, reduce heat exposure and provide clean energy to our power grid all at once," Councilman Allen's office said Thursday.
These playground heat issues can be worse in Northeast D.C. neighborhoods like Kingman Park, which Councilman Allen represents, where there are fewer trees and fewer green spaces, according to a report from The Washington Post. In these neighborhoods, known as "heat islands," playgrounds often absorb heat instead of reflecting it, leading to advocacy groups pushing for shady solutions. 
In essence, the solar panel project would use this technology as a substitute for the lack of trees and green spaces in these neighborhoods. 
Already, the Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School in Northeast has implemented this type of solution, installing 234 kilowatts of solar panels on the school roof and a new playground canopy as part of the District's Solar for All initiative. Allen's bill would expand this effort.  
 

Instead of soaring on swings, racing down slides, and climbing on monkey bars, students at four Santa Maria elementary schools are playing on concrete slabs. 

The Santa Maria-Bonita School District allocated federal COVID-19 relief dollars to improve the playgrounds at Fairlawn, Tunnell, Alvin, and Ontiveros elementary schools. Over the summer, the district removed the outdated equipment, purchased new equipment, and installed concrete slabs with the goal of completing construction before school started. 

Elementary school leaders and staff picked color schemes and preferred structures. But contracts for construction tripped over federal red tape and tumbled any building plans. 

“We are more than 10 weeks into the school year, and there [are] no bids accepted to build the playground,” Fairlawn Elementary physical education teacher Michael Clair told the school board during its Oct. 23 meeting. “Without a playground, they have many limited options during recess time. Many students are apathetic about going to recess, and a lack of opportunities is contributing to social and behavioral issues throughout the [day].” 

EAST PALESTINE — Engineering on a new in-school health clinic and renovations on existing ones are expected to get underway in the next few weeks, East Palestine Superintendent James Rook said at the district’s school board meeting on Monday.
East Palestine received a boost from the Appalachian Community Grant Program in March to expand and enhance healthcare access for students in partnership with Akron Children’s Hospital. East Palestine and Crestview shared in $488,196 of the allocated $7.5 million for the development and expansion of school-based health centers across Ohio. The funding came from the new Appalachian Children’s Health Initiative.
East Palestine had already announced it had designated space in the elementary and high school to house an in-school clinic. In addition, the grant money will be used to fund a health primary care provider.
While the in-school services are not meant to replace a student’s general practitioner, it is meant to support healthcare systems already in place and ensure equitable health services. According to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, in-school services can include preventive care, including annual physicals and immunizations, acute illness, mental health and behavioral health services and supports, oral health and vision services and chronic disease management.
Rook said the clinic will offer telehealth services to East Palestine students.
 

MADISON, Wis. (Civic Media) – The top of the ballot on Tuesday took many of the headlines and plenty of the attention during this fall’s election, but down ballot, voters in over a quarter of Wisconsin’s school districts were being asked a very important question.
Would they be willing to pay more in local taxes to fund their school district’s operations or facility projects?
For the vast majority of school districts, the answer was “yes” as 92 of the state’s 120 districts with a question on the ballot had their ballot measures approved.
All told, 108 of 138 referendum questions were approved for a total of just over $3.4 billion in additional local property taxes for areas where the measures were passed.
Why are local taxpayers being asked for more money to pay for schools?
Wisconsin Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement that the referendums were proof of under-investment by the state Legislature.
“Too many communities were forced to vote Tuesday whether to increase property taxes just so their local schools can pay staff, heat and cool their buildings, and provide a quality education,” Underly said. “Wisconsin families value public education and understand our schools need sustainable funding to keep the lights on and provide a high-quality education to our kids. At the same time, they understand this responsibility should not disproportionately fall on local taxpayers.”
 

Californians on Tuesday decisively passed a $10 billion initiative to support construction projects by TK-12 schools and community colleges. The victory of Proposition 2 will authorize the first state bond for school construction since 2016 and replenish state funding that had run dry.

With initial results from all precincts, 56.8% of voters backed the bond measure, and 43.2% opposed it. Still to be counted are mail-in ballots not yet received and provisional ballots. Support for the bond broke 60% in Los Angeles, Alpine, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Mendocino, Alameda, Yolo, Marin and San Mateo counties. Only counties in the state’s far north opposed it.

Proposition 2 was one of two $10 billion state bonds on the ballot; the other was Proposition 4 for funding efforts to abate the impact of climate change. Proposition 2 supporters had worried that voters might choose one over the other, but both passed easily.

Colorado voters on Tuesday greenlit billions of dollars in spending by school districts, with major bond proposals in metro Denver winning significant support.
Denver Public Schools, Aurora Public Schools and the Cherry Creek School District each put bond measures on the ballot that approached or reached $1 billion. All three had tallied a majority of voters’ support as of 11 a.m. Wednesday.
A smaller $490 million bond measure by the Douglas County School District passed with 58.97% support. That measure will be used to build schools and for maintenance projects. It was the district’s third attempt in three years to get a bond measure passed.
“I am so grateful for our entire community for shouting loud and clear that they support our schools, our kids, our teachers,” Douglas County Superintendent Erin Kane said in a statement.
Voters also passed Denver Public Schools’ $975 million bond Tuesday, with returns showing 73.94% in favor of Ballot Issue 4A.
 

Voters across Oregon were asked to approve taxes to help local schools at a time when districts throughout the region are facing substantial budget shortfalls.
According to initial returns from last night’s election, Oregonians, in many cases, said “no,” particularly when it came to funding new and improved buildings.
A dozen school districts and community colleges were pushing for funding through either a levy or bond.
An easy way to remember the difference between the two types of funding measures, experts often say, is that “bonds are for buildings, and levies are for learning.” In other words, bond money has to be used to build, repair or renovate physical structures, while levies are used to pay for staffing and other ongoing operations.
Voters throughout the Willamette Valley, as well as pockets in Central, Southern and Eastern Oregon, voted on these measures on their November ballots. The majority rejected added taxes.
Six school funding ballot measures appear to have failed, and four have passed, according to initial returns. Two are still too close to call.
 

Frisco ISD voters rejected more than $1 billion in school bonds Tuesday as the district seeks to make campus upgrades and purchase new equipment.

The largest bond in the package was $986 million Proposition B, which would have gone toward new buses, safety and security upgrades, and renovations on 20 aging schools. After years of rapid expansion, the district has in recent years seen a slowdown in growth.

Prop B failed with 52% of voters against it, according to unofficial results. It was one of three bond proposals in a package totaling almost $1.1 billion. Voters rejected all items.

The district’s Proposition C, for $88 million, would have funded new computers and upgrade online infrastructure. More than 52% of voters rejected it.

Prop D failed with 73.1% of voters against it. It would have paid for a new $11.2 million tennis center.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — “We are in school for 180 days. 180 days of mice, mold, moldy ceilings, and underfunding if you are a Magruder student,” Magruder High School junior Justin Tom told members of the Montgomery County Public Schools (MPCS)Board of Education on Nov. 4.
Tom was one of several who came to the hearing to testify about school maintenance problems and delayed construction projects.
“We are concerned that the recommended CIP [Capital Improvement Program] moves 3 million to other projects and delays construction funds,” Rockville Mayor Monique Ashton told the board.
The testimony came after 7News reported on October 22 that Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor acknowledged MCPS will not receive $39.3 million in expected state aid due to “an error in the MCPS submission for aid in the Charles W. Woodward Project,"
 

Over the last two months, there have been numerous reports of school threats in Arizona, whether credible or false. However, an ABC15 investigation found there are few laws at the state level regarding safety and security for schools and their buildings.

Arizona schools and districts do have security protocols such as perimeter fencing for certain grades and emergency protocol plans where a required number of drills are laid out. In those plans are specific needs with emergency operations plans in conjunction with emergency response staff, but since Arizona is a local-control state with schools, physical safety measures can vary from district to district and even from school to school within the same district.

Measures like visitor single point of entry, cameras and perimeter fencing are seen at schools but it’s not a requirement. According to guidelines from the Arizona Department of Administration, the School Facilities Oversight Board, under the department, “a school site provides adequate security if there is a fenced or walled outdoor, play or physical education area for preschool children with disabilities and students in kindergarten through grade six.”

TAUNTON — The price tag for the new B-P high school building that voters approved in 2022 could end up dropping by as much as 25%, according to new projections from the school administration and project management team.
That would bring the cost of the project down from $180 million to about $135 million — after factoring in state matching funds.
B-P Superintendent Alexander Magalhaes, along with the project management firm PMA Consultants, met with Taunton City Council’s Committee as a Whole on Oct. 1 to give an update on the construction of the new school building, about a year after the groundbreaking in October 2023.  
Which cities and towns are in B-P school district?
Originally built in 1972 and located in Taunton, B-P serves Taunton, Raynham, Middleboro, Berkeley, Bridgewater, Dighton and Rehoboth.
 

As the fastest-growing school district in North Texas, Northwest ISD is preparing for further expansion. 

The district currently enrolls nearly 33,000 students. By 2033, it’s expecting 18,000 more.

As bonds in 2021 and 2023 funneled more than $2.7 billion to the district for construction projects and technology updates, the district is experiencing a boom in construction. 

The district’s construction department currently oversees nine projects funded by those voter-approved bonds. Tommy Osborne, the district’s construction director, presented the projects to school board members during September and October meetings. Here’s an update on how the district is managing all of them: 

Of the 13 schools that could be closed in Milwaukee Public Schools, six are in one ZIP code: 53206.

The remaining seven are just miles down the street in ZIP codes 53205, 53210 and 53212. They form a square in the northwest-central part of Milwaukee's most segregated, primarily Black neighborhoods that have been subjected to poverty-driving inequities for decades.

Of the 13 schools that could expand, 10 are in the southern half of the city.

MPS' consulting firm that made the recommendations, Perkins Eastman, has advised changes like those would give all Milwaukee kids a better education. In an interview, consultants also said they are well aware of Milwaukee's past and present racial segregation.

"We understand that these are difficult conversations, and that we're not dealing with just today. We're dealing with histories of disinvestment in communities," consultant Patrick Davis said in an Oct. 31 interview. "We need to be able to understand that."

The firm argues that decades of change in Milwaukee's population mean that today, many northwest-central schools have more space than needed to enroll every eligible child living nearby. That's the case even as many families choose to bus their students to schools that are farther away in search of better academics, often filling seats in already-crowded southside schools.