WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), today announced the first round of selectees for the Renew America’s Schools grant program, a competitive award that will support the implementation of energy improvements in K–12 schools across the country. There are 24 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in 22 states that will share in approximately $178 million of funding, enabling them to pursue diverse projects to lower energy costs, lower emissions, and create healthier, safer, and more supportive learning environments in their schools. This historic investment will directly benefit about 74,000 students and 5,000 teachers in 97 school buildings across America. DOE’s focus on public schools, which make up the second-largest sector of American infrastructure after transportation, supports President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda by promoting STEM education and workforce development, while creating well-paying jobs that stimulate local economies. The announcement comes on the heels on President Biden delivering a major economic address on “Bidenomics” – his vision for growing the economy from the middle-out and bottom-up, including by investing in American infrastructure. 

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — The Rockford Public School Board has approved a plan to install multiple solar panel farms at more than a dozen schools throughout the city, in an effort to reduce its operating costs.

RPS Chief Operations Officer Michael Phillips says the project began with the school district’s desire to purchase low-cost energy that is generated on-site, but now the community itself will be able to take advantage of the same opportunity.

“It’s a great opportunity for us, to find some additional ways to generate power in a sustainable manner,” Phillips said.

Last night, the board approved a five-year lease option with Forefront Energy to install 13 solar farms at schools, and a 14th in a field near Lathrop Elementary School for community use. The project will consist of 9 rooftop installations and 5 ground-mount locations.

“This is power that’s generated and going directly to the ComEd grid, and then we will purchase the renewable energy credits. The community will also have an opportunity, and neighbors, to purchase these same renewable energy credits,” Phillips said.

A building collapse at an English school resulting in death or injury is “very likely” following years of national underfunding, a public spending watchdog warned in a damning report published on Wednesday.

Around 700,000 children in England are attending schools in need of major repairs, as “years of underinvestment” by the government have led to an overall decline in the condition of buildings, said the National Audit Office (NAO).

It added that despite the “critical” risks posed to the safety of pupils and staff, the government lacks enough information about the nation’s stock of school buildings to manage the issue.

NAO head Gareth Davies said that, despite assessing the possibility of building collapse or failure causing death or injury as “critical and very likely” in 2021, “the Department for Education has not been able to reduce this risk”.

A number of buildings have collapsed at London schools in recent years.

In 2021, 12 children and one adult were taken to hospital after a ceiling collapsed in a Year 3 classroom at Rosemead Preparatory School in Dulwich. A further 16 people were treated at the scene by paramedics.

The small Steelton-Highspire School District, a few miles south of Harrisburg along the Susquehanna River, consists of just three buildings — an elementary school, a high school and an administrative office.

They sit on just over 50 acres and serve some 1,400 students, according to superintendent Mick Iskric. They’re unassuming, and at first glance, obfuscate a large structure from view: Tucked behind one building, between the elementary students’ playground and the high school students’ football field, sit a few dozen rows of solar panels that, for a little more than a year, have generated enough power to meet all of this modest district’s energy needs.

Iskric has a laundry list of projects in view for Steelton-Highspire — many of which, including the solar array, are born out of necessity. A low-income district, it’s been operating at an annual deficit for 14 years, he says. It’s located in a legacy steel town, where the crash of the industry and the 2008 recession both depressed the property tax base, leaving its schools without sufficient funds for educational programming, teacher salaries and much-needed infrastructure upgrades.

So, the district sought out new revenue sources — and, in 2019, turned to solar energy. It crafted a purchase-power agreement with a local solar developer, located acreage on top of an old landfill, and installed enough solar panels to generate 1.7 megawatts of electricity — “roughly 3,500 panels,” Iskric says. That’s enough power for both schools and then some — the district will save an estimated $1.6 million over the course of its 20-year agreement with the developer, at variable rates per month depending on the surplus energy the panels generate and feed back to the grid, he says.

LEXINGTON, KY — At a pivotal school board meeting on Monday, FCPS School Board members reached a consensus regarding the implementation of a crucial phase in their District Facility Plan. A $244 million investment in education was discussed, with particular attention given to the construction of a new building for Henry Clay High School, a facility for the Rise STEM Academy for Girls, and an elementary school in the Masterson Station area, the Herald-Leader’s Valarie Honeycutt Spears reports.

The proposal was showcased as a historic step towards enhancing the educational opportunities for students and families within the district. Board member Tyler Murphy shared the news through a Facebook post, lauding the community’s dedication to investing in public schools.

“During tonight’s Board meeting, the board discussed the latest proposals for proceeding with school projects listed in the District Facility Plan — presenting the board with a phased construction and renovation timeline,” Murphy posted. “This proposal represents a key phase in our ongoing and historic work to expand opportunities and access for our students and our families, made possible by a community committed to meaningful investments in our public schools.”

This decision comes in light of the pressing need to address the deteriorating conditions at Henry Clay High School, which has been beleaguered with environmental complaints. The school, which shifted to its present Fontaine Road facility in 1970, has not undergone significant renovation since 2006. Reports of vermin, including a snake and mouse falling from the ceilings, have raised safety concerns among parents and students. Documents revealed that the school was also plagued with additional infestation issues involving ants, flying birds, and a raccoon.

After years of controversy in Holyoke, Massachusetts, construction of a new middle school is expected to start later this year.

The recent decision by the Massachusetts School Building Authority to reimburse Holyoke for over half the estimated $85.5 million price tag to build a new middle school means the final steps can now be taken locally to bring the project to reality.

“This means that it is time for Holyoke,” said Mayor Joshua Garcia, who thanked the directors of the authority and said the city’s financial team and the City Council worked together to agree on a plan for paying for the city’s share of the project.

“It’s been a long time coming. I want to say ten years or so that this community has been trying to understand the best path forward to meet the needs of our middle school-aged population,” he said.

In 2019, the city’s voters rejected a property tax increase to pay to build two new middle schools. Officials then began pursuing alternatives and settled on a plan for a single new school building.

The city will not have to go back to the voters because its $40 million share of the project can be covered through long-term borrowing, said City Treasurer Rory Casey.

After more than five decades, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation will be getting a new school.

On Tuesday, June 13, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed a bill that makes an appropriation of $64.5 million to the Elko County School District to replace the Owyhee Combined School.

In a ceremonial signing in Carson City, Lombardo spoke of the significance of the funding for members of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation.

“This opened the eyes to the rest of the government that the people in Owyhee, even though you may have never heard of the city, or the town or the tribe, they’re as important as everybody else,” Lombardo said.

Owyhee Combined School is located near the Nevada-Idaho border and serves around 300 students.

The decades-old building has deteriorated due to a lack of attention from the school district and its remote location. A boiler room, proximity to State Route 225 and bats living on the roof are all issues that school officials said are dangerous for students.

Tribal Chairman Brian Mason was fundamental in advocating for the legislation.

“With so many things challenging them on the reservation, everything is stacked against them, this is going to help. They'll have a reason to get up and go to school and succeed. Because it’ll be an adequate school and will have adequate teachers. It's just a big win,” Mason said.

LITTLE ROCK -- The Little Rock School Board on Thursday approved the expenditure of more than $80 million in construction costs, including $60 million for the construction of a three-story science building and a two-story field house at Central High.

The board approved a guaranteed maximum price of $60,627,694 for the additions on the south side of the historic campus, plus $10.96 million for the full renovation of Rockefeller Early Childhood Center and $10.5 million to do early site work for the building of a new west Little Rock high school on Ranch Boulevard adjacent to Pinnacle View Middle School.

The construction plans and costs were presented at a meeting in which the capital city's nine-member school board also:

Approved a $6.4 million expenditure for an online tutoring program in reading for some 2,500 elementary school pupils

Supported proposals to contract with Imagine Learning of Scottsdale, Ariz., to provide instruction for a virtual academy for sixth-through-12th graders

Voted to contract with the Power School Group of Folsom, Calif., to develop three to four interim tests to track student achievement through the school year

Authorized the sale of the now vacant David O. Dodd Elementary to what is expected to be the operator of an open-enrollment charter school

Wesley Walls, principal with the Polk Stanley Wilcox architecture firm, which has designed the Central additions, told the board that the significance of Central's history and its architecture "is not lost on us."

Dare County Schools has announced that three schools in the district will receive NC GreenPower’s grant award for the Solar+ Schools program.  Cape Hatteras Secondary School, First Flight Elementary School and Manteo Middle School will receive a solar educational package that includes a 20-kilowatt (kW) solar array, STEM curricula, teacher training and more.  New for 2023, the program awardees will receive a grant to pay for all of the project’s construction costs, expected to be approximately $55,000-$75,000. The included weather station and data monitoring will incorporate live information from the array into classrooms. Teachers will be able to compare different weather scenarios and involve students in reading and interpreting the energy data.

One of the first lessons we’re taught in school is that there are more important things in life than money. However, that lesson doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to, well, schools.

Arp Elementary School was designated for demolition by LCSD1. Among the many reasons for this decision were age (the school was built in 1961), overcrowding (the school is currently at 165% capacity, nearly double what it is meant to hold) and condition (reports of backed-up sewers, rodent infestations, and lessons being performed in hallways and converted janitor closets). At a May 1 meeting of the Laramie County School District 1 Board of Trustees, the district determined that demolition was the appropriate option. But to move forward, they need approval from the Wyoming School Facilities Commission. Which is where things hit a snag.

The commission voted June 8 to take no action on the request for demolition, citing, “the District has not held a public hearing, as required by statute, and the Department lacks sufficient information to determine whether the demolition of Arp Elementary is in the best financial interests of the state or otherwise in the public interest.”

NEW YORK CITY — Rats and mice and filth flies, oh my! New York City's school cafeterias are a sty.
Hundreds of public and private school cafeterias had filthy conditions found by city health inspectors during the 2022-2023 year, data shows.
As the city's school year ends Tuesday, Patch decided to give students and parents more than a few creepy crawly reasons to be happy for summer break.
Before public school parents barf up their lunches, city health officials offered some reassurance.
No public school cafeterias needed to be closed during the 2022-2023 year, a health department spokesperson told Patch.
"The Health Department conducts routine inspections of NYC Public Schools, and it is rare that we observe conditions creating a health risk such that the Department will require the cafeteria to close," the spokesperson said in a statement.
Likewise, a city schools spokesperson told Patch that any pest issues discovered in cafeteria inspections are promptly addressed.
"Almost all violations are non-food related, and all violations are taken extremely seriously and immediately addressed," said Jenna Lyle, the spokesperson, in a statement.
 

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia teachers are once again calling on Pennsylvania lawmakers to do something to help fix, repair and update aging buildings in the district. Legislation is working its way through the house, but teachers say funding is needed now.
Earlier in the week, two key pieces of legislation made it out of the Pennsylvania House Education Committee aimed at investing in school improvements.
State Representative Elizabeth Fielder led a press conference Friday at South Philadelphia High School highlighting the bill.
"You can’t learn when you’re sweating to death, you can’t learn when you’re worried about eating," Philadelphia City Councilmember Mark Squilla stated.
 

Ontario School Safety (OSS) is considering legal action to force the provincial government to improve indoor air quality in schools and on school buses. They issued the threat after claiming multiple attempts to discuss this issue directly with the Ford government were ignored, the group said.
“Ontario’s provincial government has failed its general duty to provide a safe, stable, and healthy working environment for children and youth, their caregivers, the education system and all Ontario communities,” reads the statement from OSS, which advocates for safe, in-person education for all students in Ontario.
Concerns about indoor air quality at schools rose to the fore during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and were reinforced earlier this month when wildfires briefly filled Ontario skies with dangerous amounts of smoke.
Poor indoor air quality results in the spread of airborne illnesses like COVID-19, and failing to provide clean air in schools and on buses goes against provincial Occupational Health and Safety recommendations, the statement said.
Canada’s National Observer reached out to Ontario’s Ministry of Education for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
 

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio ISD Board of Trustees approved a resolution Tuesday night that calls for a “rightsizing” study that may result in the restructuring and closing of schools.
According to a news release, the study is being conducted for the purpose of supporting thriving schools, classrooms, students, teachers, and school leaders.
“Rightsizing presents a unique opportunity to elevate the standard of education in our community,” SAISD Superintendent Dr. Jaime Aquino said. “Matching our school capacity with enrollment numbers will ensure that our schools are well-resourced and equitable, providing a robust learning environment for all our students.”
Aquino said the decision to conduct the study comes due to SAISD steadily losing enrollment for more than 20 years, which has led to under-enrolled schools and academic and financial program inequities.
 

The Omaha public school district is close to finishing an 18-month-long project that plans for the future of all 108 of its buildings.
The plan, which outlines each building’s maintenance and renovation needs over the next 20 years, amounts to a projected $2.29 billion in projects. While it still needs its finishing touches, school board members were able to get the first look at the plan during a workshop earlier this month.
“The intent of our facilities assessment is to catalog, identify our needs and look at them to plan for years ahead. Much like a homeowner would plan for a kitchen remodel or a bathroom remodel,” said Charles Wakefield, chief operations officer. “Our team walked every piece of our buildings — all 108 sites — looking at everything from above the roof to mechanical closets and looking at the windows.”
Wakefield said the district’s team of architects and OPS staff took photos of each item in every building, cataloged its condition and assessed the cost of replacement or renovation for the next five to 20 years. Each school has thousands of lines of data in the facilities assessment.
 

K-12 school districts were graded on the condition of their facilities in 2021, and the results were less than flattering. 
“The 2021 infrastructure report card graded U.S. school facilities to be in D plus condition,” says Sarah Zaleski, program manager of the schools and nonprofits program at the Department of Energy (DOE).  
Federal funding for school districts is rare, but the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) changed that, directing $500 million in grant money as part of a $370 billion commitment for energy-saving projects and to fight climate change. 
Despite the influx of BIL money, state and local governments aren’t always in position to fund school districts at levels to keep their buildings running at peak efficiency, so any extra money that’s added to the coffers to help with costly upgrades for systems such as HVAC and lighting is welcomed. 

American 4-year-olds in western Japan will be able to go to school this fall as part of a new plan that could eventually benefit 6,100 children across the Department of Defense Education Activity, according to school officials.
M.C. Perry Primary School in Iwakuni is first in line to offer universal prekindergarten to U.S. military families stationed overseas, DODEA said.
All eligible “military-connected” children at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni who turn 4 on or before Sept. 1 may enroll in prekindergarten, according to a June 6 announcement posted on the school’s website.
The announcement says school begins at 7:55 a.m. Monday to Friday and students are dismissed at 1:30 p.m. every day except Thursday, when the day ends at 1:15 p.m. Education, health, nutrition, family involvement and social services comprise the program, according to the school’s website.
DODEA now is awaiting funding approval to expand its preschool offerings.
President Joe Biden’s proposed 2024 budget includes $66.4 million in universal prekindergarten funds for students in 60 military communities served by DODEA schools worldwide, agency spokesman Will Griffin said in an email earlier this month.
 

Crumbling wheelchair ramps. Closets converted into classrooms. Make-shift room dividers.
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court President Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer’s February ruling declaring the state’s education funding system unconstitutional painted a vivid picture — in words and photographs — of the challenges facing educators as they toil in a historically underfunded system.
Across its sprawling 786-pages, the Cohn Jubelirer ruling devoted nearly 10 pages to the condition of school facilities throughout the state. She also noted testimony from the plaintiffs in the case, who described leaking roofs, a lack of heating and air conditioning, and the need for mold and asbestos abatement.
“One teacher testified that “in [her] first grade classroom[,] you could see the sky. There was a hole in the ceiling . . . that you could literally look up and see the sky.”
Now policymakers have been tasked with literally filling that hole. 
“It is not enough that the facilities in which students learn are ‘generally safe’ as Legislative Respondents contend,” Cohn Jubelirer wrote in her ruling, concluding that school facilities need to be “safe and adequate.”
As state officials and lawmakers begin the herculean task of fixing the funding system for the commonwealth’s public schools, tackling how best to fund badly needed school facility maintenance, repair, and construction projects will be a major focus. 
 

The Colorado Board of Education approved $180 million in grants across the state from a prioritized list of 17 Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) school construction projects.

Board members approved the grants during their monthly meeting last week.

Lawmakers enacted the “Building Excellent Schools Today Act” or “BEST” in 2008 to address the limited capacity many Colorado schools have to replace aging facilities.

Since 2008, BEST has contributed more than $3.5 billion in grants — which are designed to improve health, safety, security and technology in Colorado’s public schools.

More than half of the grants will be funded, in part, by the Colorado State Land Board, marijuana excise tax, the Colorado Lottery and earned interest. Projects include roof replacements, fire alarms and security upgrades as well as other major renovations.

Exterior improvements are being considered at several Greensburg Salem school facilities, but district officials are just starting to come to grips with potential longer-term building needs.

Building improvements are of particular importance to a district parent and teacher, who voiced to the school board concerns about Nicely Elementary School, where she works.

Teacher Kristin Dinkel, who has three children enrolled in the district, told the board about outdated desks and floors that have begun to slope at the single-story school.

"Our kids deserve better," she said. "I want to see things happening."

"Let's look at the things we know aren't going away, and let's start to put some things in for the aesthetics and the amenities for the kids," Superintendent Ken Bissell said concerning district facilities. "Let's start with that, and in the background, we need to look at the bigger picture of longer-­term (projects)."

District officials said Greensburg Salem is moving forward with planned projects at Offutt Field, the high school and middle school while new air conditioning units and chillers needed at the high school and Nicely and Metzgar elementary schools could be a year away.