Falling birth rates suggest that Illinois’ declining public school enrollment will continue, a reality that should inform decisions of education policymakers.

The National Center for Education Statistics projected in early 2024 that Illinois public school enrollment would fall to 1.8 million students by 2030, but the number had already dropped to almost that low for the 2024-25 school year, according to state data.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a major factor in the decline in, but enrollment had already been falling for years. Year-over-year enrollment in Illinois increased only two times over the past 15 school years.

Through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP), the Shapiro Administration is investing in major economic development, public safety, infrastructure, workforce development, and community revitalization projects that will strengthen communities, create jobs, and drive long-term growth across Pennsylvania.

In addition to Southeast Pennsylvania, Governor Shapiro announced nearly $445 million in total Commonwealth-wide investments supporting 356 projects through RACP.

Governor Shapiro is laser-focused on making our economy more competitive – and as a result, Pennsylvania has the only growing economy in the Northeast and ranks third in the nation for job growth.

Public schools in North Carolina are facing billions of dollars in unfunded school construction projects, and a lottery-supported grant program is only able to address a fraction of the requests it receives.

As one of the state’s poorest school districts, Halifax County hasn’t had enough funding to make needed repairs and renovations to its oldest schools. Hollister Elementary School was built in 1960 to serve the small rural community about 70 miles northeast of Raleigh (home to the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe), and the building looks much as it did when it first opened.

DENVER – The Colorado State Board of Land Commissioners (State Land Board) announced a major milestone for advancing renewable energy with the approval of a solar production lease for the Mirasol Energy Center in Pueblo County.  

The lease authorizes Mirasol Energy Center to construct and operate solar facilities on approximately 1,140 acres of state trust land. The initiative is expected to generate 120 megawatts, enough to power 36,000 homes, on trust land and is projected to generate more than $26.3 million for Colorado's Public School Trust over the life of the lease. With this approval, the State Land Board has permitted approximately 806 megawatts, exceeding the Governor's goal of 800 megawatts, of renewable energy capacity on state trust lands by June 30, 2027. 

DENVER — With 90 degree days here to stay, many Denver kids may just be feeling relieved that they're not learning in the heat.

Denver Public Schools has been working throughout the years to install AC in schools but there's still more than 20 currently without it. So the district is using the summer months to get the cool air in for more children.

The General Assembly approved amendments to Sections 58.1-605.1 and 58.1-606.1 to allow all Virginia cities and counties to put forth a referendum to their voters to give the locality the power to impose an additional 1% sales and use tax in the locality, provided the revenues from the additional tax may only be used for school capital projects.  In order to appear on the November 3 ballot, Virginia localities must petition and have an order from the local circuit court on the referendum question by August 14.

The Middleton School District has not followed its own policy on charging businesses for using its outdoor facilities, but leadership has recognized the lapse and plans to find a remedy. 

Superintendent Marc Gee said if he could go back in time, he would have handled things differently over the past year since new soccer fields were built at the high school. He presented the school board with a new policy proposal Monday, to consistently charge everyone who rents out district facilities in order to cover the costs of administration, power, maintenance and custodial services.

The 2025–26 school year was the first year of universal transitional kindergarten (TK), with all California four-year-olds eligible to attend. The gradual expansion of TK over the past several years has partially offset enrollment declines in all other grades. TK enrollment increased sharply—by nearly 36,000 students (or 20%) this past year—while access was expanding, but now that the program is universal, future growth will depend on increased take-up among families with four-year-olds.

Since 2020–21, statewide enrollment has fallen by roughly 271,000 students. Without the gradual expansion of TK eligibility—from 25% to 100% of the state’s four-year-olds—the overall decline would have been about 416,000. The state projects a decline of nearly 583,000 students over the coming decade, or nearly 614,000 students in all grades except TK.

Preparations and budget discussions are already underway for the 2028 Executive Branch Biennial Budget. Every budget passed by the House Majority reflects our priority to positively impact Kentuckians and the commonwealth. The July meeting agenda of the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue highlighted one of Kentucky's most important investments: ensuring students have safe, modern schools while protecting taxpayers from unnecessary costs.

School construction is one of the largest long-term commitments the Commonwealth makes. Lawmakers heard from the Kentucky Department of Education and the School Facilities Construction Commission, the process of planning and financing new schools involves careful coordination between state and local partners. Facility needs are evaluated, funding formulas are applied and projects are prioritized to make sure resources go where they are needed most.

K-12 school security and safety are growing concerns nationwide as facilities teams and administrators face increasing pressure to protect students, staff and visitors while maintaining smooth daily operations.  

Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

There’s the old saying that a failure to plan is a plan to fail. It’s a perspective we know well in the A/E/C industry, clients included. We can’t successfully design building solutions if we don’t define and understand the needs these solutions aim to address, which is why master planning is such a vital task in the overall process of managing facilities.

In California’s Central Valley, the Porterville Unified School District (PUSD) is launching a zero-emission transportation infrastructure project and microgrid that will reshape the way it handles energy, transportation and resilience over the next three decades.

The 1,171-kW microgrid will integrate solar, energy storage and electric vehicle chargers to support both the district’s operations and the broader grid.

ForeFront Power, a San Francisco-based commercial and industrial-scale renewable energy solutions provider, will integrate a 408-kW / 1632-kWh battery energy storage system with a 763 kW solar array on existing shade structures at two of the district’s parking lots.

A North Texas school district will ask voters to approve a nearly $1 billion bond package to improve aging school facilities.

On Monday, the Irving Independent School District Board of Trustees approved a $952 million bond package, which will go to voters in November to help fund replacement campuses, updates to technology, safety, student programs, facilities, and district infrastructure.

Top Takeaways

Low-wealth districts argue that the state’s formula for distributing funds to upgrade and repair facilities unfairly favors districts with higher property values per student.
Districts’ matching money from the state comes from $4 billion of a state construction bond that voters passed in 2024.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Patrick McKinney said that students and parents have “some reasonable probability” that they would win at trial.

AUGUSTA (WGME) -- Maine's next governor will inherit one of the state's biggest infrastructure challenges: how to address an estimated $11 billion in school construction needs over the next two decades.

Last month, the CBS13 I-Team reported that lawmakers failed to fund legislation that would have helped implement recommendations from the Governor's Commission on School Construction, effectively delaying significant action until the next administration takes office and a new legislature convenes.

A dozen Alaska schools closed their doors in May, the most closures in a single year in the last two decades, according to the state education department.

Clusters of school closures in urban areas of the state had been uncommon until recently, but are part of a larger trend as public school enrollment declines nationwide. School district officials have framed closures as a means to bridge multimillion-dollar deficits, but some research suggests districts don’t realize meaningful savings. Closures can also have negative impacts on students and families.

Over the past few months, San Diego Unified officials have been ironing out the details of a new construction bond measure, set to go before voters in November. Construction bonds, if passed, raise property taxes to fund school construction and renovation.  

At a board meeting late last month, staff gave the public its first real look at the new $3.5 billion bond ask.  

When the school year wrapped up, it also marked the end of the line for several Columbus City Schools buildings.

The district plans to shut down eight buildings over the next few years to plug a massive budget deficit.

Trenton, NJ - The New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) today joined the Trenton School District, along with local officials and students, at a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate construction of the new Betty V. Coles Elementary School and the Miguel A. Hernandez Intermediate School.