AMHERST — A challenge against the low bidder for the $97.5 million elementary school project, filed with the state attorney general’s Fair Labor Division, is prompting town officials to hold off on executing a contract with that company.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman told the Town Council on Monday that the $73.48 million bid from CTA Construction Managers of Waltham, the lowest of three bids and $4.8 million below the funding agreement between the town and the state, has been awarded, but the protest filed by the Foundation for Fair Contracting of Massachusetts and the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters is holding up signing the contract.

“The execution of the contract has been put on hold pending resolution of bid protests filed by two construction industry organizations and one of the other bidders,” Bockelman said.

When Lois Brink’s kids were in elementary school, she remembers being struck by how uninviting their schoolyard was. She described it as “scorched earth” — little more than a dirt field coated in “I don’t know how many decades of weed retardant” and some aging play equipment. But Brink, a landscape architect and professor at the University of Colorado Denver, didn’t just see a problem. She saw fertile ground for a solution. Over the next dozen years, she helped lead a transformation of nearly 100 elementary school grounds across Denver into more vibrant, greener spaces, dubbed “Learning Landscapes.”
Public schools alone cover about 2 million acres of land in the U.S. Although comprehensive data is hard to come by, the “scorched earth” that Brink witnessed is the norm in many places — according to the Trust for Public Land, around 36 percent of the nation’s public school students attend school in what would be considered a heat island. And as with green spaces writ large, a dearth of schoolyard trees and other vegetation tends to be most common in lower-income areas and Black and brown neighborhoods.
 

Harrisburg, PA – Today, Governor Josh Shapiro announced that the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) has approved 208 investments in Pennsylvania school facilities, totaling $175 million, under the new Public School Facility Improvement Grant Program(opens in a new tab) that was created by the 2023-24 bipartisan budget. This program, proposed by Governor Shapiro in his first budget address and secured in his first budget, provides grants of up to $5 million to public school districts and career and technical schools for critical safety and environmental repair projects — ensuring facilities are modern, safe, healthy, and conducive to learning.

Last month, Governor Shapiro also announced(opens in a new tab) $75 million of new investments in 109 Pennsylvania school districts, career and technical education centers, and charter schools through the Department of Education’s new Environmental Repair Grant Program to eliminate lead, mold, asbestos, and other environmental hazards. Altogether, this brings the total investment in environmental repairs and upgrades for Pennsylvania schools to $250 million since Governor Shapiro took office, creating facilities that are safe and healthy for students and teachers alike.

The Governor and bipartisan group of legislators built on that progress by including another $25 million for Solar for Schools, in the 2024-25 budget(opens in a new tab).

Enrollment at the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has dropped by tens of thousands of students in recent decades, creating a problem: Dozens of buildings are not fully occupied and thousands of seats don't have students in them.

Collinwood High School on Cleveland’s Northeast Side has one of the lowest occupancy rates in the district, with just 13% of its 2000 seats full, according to district building capacity data.

Teacher Marcella Hall has watched the decline of students at that school over her 30-year tenure. She’s also watched as programming and support for the facility has also declined.

"Collinwood was the beacon of the neighborhood when I joined," she said, standing outside the century-old building. "We had tons of staff. We had tons of programs. We had everything. We're barely making it. We're struggling now."

Hall said that several decades ago it seemed like every “room and closet” was used. Now, the building’s third floor is vacant. Its Olympic-sized swimming pool sits unused. And she said its career tech program — situated in a once-bustling industrial hub of Cleveland that's lost many of those businesses — is nonexistent.

Collinwood High School is a good example of the challenges facing CMSD and urban districts across the country. As enrollment has dropped with families leaving Cleveland for the suburbs, many districts have been put in a lose-lose situation: maintain buildings that aren’t being utilized fully, or close buildings and risk the ire of residents, among other potential negative consequences.

The Alabama State Department of Education is seeking a major increase in school security funding in their Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget request for fiscal year 2026.

The requested amount is nearly $53 million, around $51.4 million more than what was allocated last year.

The State Board of Education approved the request last week. It will go to Gov. Kay Ivey’s office, which will make the budget proposal to the Legislature at the start of the 2025 regular session in February. Legislators will make the final determinations on budget allocations. 

The Department’s K-12 budget request was around $6.4 billion. The current ETF is around $9.349 billion.

The board has spoken about the increased request for school security before. The funding would cover a bill sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, to increase school security.

Orr’s legislation requires the State Board of Education to set criteria for school safety inspections; allows the board to award grants to local school boards to bring security features in compliance; requires local school board to hire district safety coordinators, and directs the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to work with local school boards to map schools. 

The Anchorage School District is considering redrawing some middle school boundaries as part of its plan to close or consolidate schools in response to a shrinking student population.

At an Anchorage School Board work session on Oct. 15, Deputy Chief of Schools Kersten Johnson-Struempler noted that declining birth rates in Anchorage have led to fewer students in many of the district’s elementary schools. Middle schools are more varied, and only two schools hold fewer than 60% of the students they were built for.

“What that tells us about the boundaries is we need less elementary schools to house our students, and we need to take a really good look at our middle school boundaries so that we get more equitable distribution of students across the district and balance that load a little bit,” Johnson-Struempler said.

In an email sent out to parents Friday, ASD Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said the plan for closing schools and redrawing boundaries will be released on Nov. 1, with a work session to discuss the list on Nov. 4 and a board vote planned for Dec. 17. The district has scheduled five separate community conversations in mid-November to gather additional feedback about the plan.

Benavidez Elementary Principal Rania Khalil says it isn’t normal for students as young as 9 to learn in decades-old portable classrooms — or at least it shouldn’t be.

However, about half of the students at her school, including all third and fourth graders, attend class in portables located just outside the school’s main building, she said. More than 40% of students at Benavidez are recent immigrants, and every student is considered economically disadvantaged, according to HISD demographic data.

“Our kids are mostly newcomers, and when they come to the campus, if this is the only experience we provide them, that's the only experience they see,” Khalil said. “They don't know any better about the schools in the U.S., so they think this is normal.”

If HISD’s $4.4 billion school bond passes in November, Benavidez would receive more than $29.3 million, which would largely go toward a partial renovation of the campus, including the removal of 13 portables containing 24 classrooms. The Gulfton school is one of 31 HISD campuses where portable classrooms would be removed if the bond passes. 

There is a long road of cleanup ahead for East Tennessee communities ravaged by Hurricane Helene. In some places, even if schools are safe, broken roads and power outages mean kids still can't get back to classes.

Many schools have reopened after serving as temporary shelters or distribution hubs in the days immediately after the storm. Carter and Unicoi schools are still closed, though they hope to welcome students back Oct. 28.

Between now and then, they have a lot of work to do on the logistics of bringing students to schools where roads have washed away and power hasn't been restored.

In Carter County, teachers are visiting affected families and supervisors are working on adjusting curriculum to make sure learning loss is minimal when students are back in school, Carter County Board of Education member Terry Hubbard said.

WEST PARIS (WGME) - Voters in RSU 21 will soon go to the polls to decide the fate of a deteriorating school in West Paris.
In February, a report from Agnes Gray Elementary School showed safety violations including a failing roof, dangerous fire escapes, and eroding plumbing.
According to the superintendent, tight budgets pushed off maintenance.
The board of directors will now vote to either raise six million dollars to fix the school building or vote to close the school permanently.
Officials say they could also replace the school for twenty-five million dollars.
 

A severe budget crisis at the San Francisco Unified School District means that regardless of what happens with the superintendent, a wave of school closures and mergers is likely coming. While reducing costs shores up one side of the balance sheet, generating cash is critical for the other.

As a nonprofit public agency, the district is limited in its ability to raise money outside of government funds (which are tied directly to enrollment) and local taxes and fees (which are sporadic). But one asset the district does have at its disposal is real estate. 

In total, SFUSD owns 9.9 million square feet across 155 properties, making it the third largest holder of city-owned property, according to the district’s most recent facilities master plan. Of that portfolio, SFUSD recently identified 13 schools for closure or merger.

In the private sector, companies are incentivized to either sell distressed assets or walk away from underwater loans. Business logic would have the school district do the same, since it claims it can no longer afford to operate or maintain those properties. But in reality, public schools are reluctant to let go of real estate, especially in San Francisco, where the scarce commodity would be difficult to acquire again by a district with limited resources.

Transitional kindergarten for all 4-year-olds has been touted as a way to boost declining enrollment and offer universal preschool. One major roadblock: Some districts just don’t have the space.

Some do not have room to accommodate additional transitional kindergarten, or TK, classes at all schools. Others, especially those in less affluent areas, lack the resources to add toilets and playground equipment made for 4-year-olds. A lack of state funding makes the problem worse.

“We’re going to see inequitable outcomes as a result of the inequitable access to appropriate facilities for transitional kindergarten,” said Jessica Sawko, education director at Children Now, an advocacy organization. “The state needs to continue to invest in the facilities that it has asked school districts to create.”

Some districts, such as Oakland Unified, are losing potential TK students because they don’t have space at all schools. Some elementary schools in Oakland don’t have any TK classrooms, and many have only one. As a result, some children end up on waitlists for their preferred school, and families are opting to wait until kindergarten to enroll their children.

Oakland district spokesperson John Sasaki acknowledged in an email that “there is a general capacity issue as we build out TK-appropriate classroom spaces,” noting that demand also varies between schools.

“School A may have 100 applications for 24 seats and school B may have 15 applications for 24 seats. Those families for school A may not go to school B because it’s far away, etc. and so it’s less that we weren’t able to accommodate, and more about family choice and preference,” Sasaki wrote.

Emily Privot McNamara applied for her 4-year-old son to attend transitional kindergarten in Oakland as soon as the district opened enrollment in 2023.

CHEYENNE — In the face of projected revenue shortfalls, some Wyoming lawmakers are hesitant to change the state’s major maintenance formula that would increase funding for school facilities projects.

Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, voted against a bill draft Wednesday, during the Legislature’s Select Committee on School Facilities meeting in Cheyenne, that changes how the state calculates its major maintenance funding for schools.

The bill, as written, increases the allowable square footage in the formula from 115% to 135%, which would make 18 out of 48 school districts eligible for total coverage. However, this still leaves 1.9 million square feet unfunded, according to Legislative Service Office senior school finance analyst Matthew Willmarth. To fund all 48 school districts, the percentage needs to be raised to 235%, he said.

The bill also increases the replacement cost value multiplier from 2% to 2.5% and comes with a $43.6 million appropriation from the Public School Foundation Program (SFP) account.

The SFP is largely funded through Wyoming’s federal mineral royalties (FMRs). A Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) report in January projected a decline in FMR distributions to the SFP over the next two bienniums.

BOISE, Idaho — Fifteen Boise School District facilities are setting the standard for energy management, earning national recognition from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Energy efficiency is becoming a cornerstone in the Boise School District with its greater goal to be environmentally responsible and resource efficient.
The fifteen facilities achieved the DOE’s 2024 designation as “50001 Ready”.
The DOE describes this designation as “a clear indicator that your organization is a leader in energy management.”
BSD is committed to maintaining clean energy by reducing energy consumption and lessening its carbon footprint.
The facilities achieved this milestone by collaborating with Idaho Power and Strategic Energy Group (SEG), which helped BSD create recycling programs and power-down challenges while tracking electricity, gas, and water usage.
Boise School District Sustainability Supervisor Ali Ward said, "It’s actually a 25-step plan and process for each site that you attest to."
"We also are doing that with public dollars, and so it's important for us to be as efficient as possible," she told KTVB Wednesday.
 

Tens of thousands of students in the Southeast are dealing with school disruptions after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc so severe — on homes, campuses and municipal power and water systems — that some districts have no idea when they will reopen.

While virtual learning helped during the COVID-19 school closures, that has not been an option for this crisis because internet and cellphone service has remained spotty since the storm struck in late September. In hard-hit western North Carolina, some districts warn students will miss up to a month of school, and others say they can’t yet determine a timeline for returning to classrooms.

“I feel like a month is a lot, but it’s not something that can’t be overcome,” said Marissa Coleman, who has sent her four children to stay with grandparents in Texas because their home in North Carolina’s Buncombe County has no running water. “But if we get further into Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s like, how are they actually going to make this up?”

Despite fierce resistance from parents, Pittsburgh Public Schools remains poised for multiple school closures if the school board approves the final proposal for reconfiguring the district's footprint.

Representatives of Education Resource Strategies (ERS), the Boston-based firm hired to lead a months-long effort to overhaul the district, presented their latest proposal to PPS school board members Tuesday night. The plan would reduce the total number of traditional schools from 54 to 39, along with the closure of three buildings currently serving alternative or special education programs.

“This is about supporting and ensuring equity and ensuring that students have the academic foundations that they need, and having a whole bunch of tiny middle schools is not going to get you there,” said Angela King Smith, a partner at ERS.

Jonathan Travers, president of ERS, and King Smith said these new recommendations reflected feedback the pair received on their initial recommendations presented in August, which proposed grade configurations and 16 school closures.

The final proposal keeps some of ERS’ initial suggestions — including the phasing out of most of the district’s selective magnet elementary schools and restructuring of school grade levels.

The School Construction Committee meeting last Thursday made one thing very clear: $150 million is very unlikely to buy the two new elementary schools and fixes at Meadowbrook and the high school that have long been outlined. Rather, to accomplish everything as currently envisioned would cost $175 million.

So, what decisions need to be made now? 

Town Manager Andy Nota recommended putting aside the cost estimates for the time being, arguing that there are options going forward, including ways to cut costs and, potentially, adding some unspent bond dollars that were approved by voters for earlier school projects. But there is one decision that does need to be made this month, according to project manager Chris Spiegel of LeftField: whether to build new at Hanaford for an estimated $67.6 million or go with an addition-and-renovation for an estimated $63.9 million. 

That’s because the architects need to get to work on final designs that can then be put out to bid for more accurate cost estimates. 

Spiegel spoke somewhat wistfully Thursday night of how this same process works in Massachusetts – where towns don’t put a bond referendum before voters until they have actual construction contracts in hand. In Rhode Island, as per the state, communities must vote on a hoped-for construction dollar amount before any designs are finalized.

More than 800 million children around the world lack access to basic hygiene services, including water and soap, at their schools, according to the United Nations.

The staggering figure, shared ahead of Global Hand washing Day, underscores the urgent need to improve hygiene infrastructure to protect children’s health and well-being.
Marking Global Hand washing Day on Tuesday, UNICEF reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring every child has access to hand washing facilities.
The lack of basic hygiene in schools leaves children vulnerable to a range of preventable diseases, including diarrhoea illnesses and respiratory infections, which can impact school attendance and learning outcomes.

UNICEF’s ongoing efforts focus on expanding access to clean water and soap in schools across the world, especially in low-income regions.
 

The Milton School Committee began a discussion on Sept. 18 about whether to reduce the size of its new building plans by eliminating a planned pre-kindergarten building and just going ahead with the construction of a new upper middle school.

Many in town responded with sticker shock at the cost estimate of  $173 million that was put forward this summer that called for two buildings to ease the overcrowding in Milton Public Schools.

The School Committee discussion on Sept. 18 was described as preliminary and no vote was taken. The committee is expected to continue the discussion on Oct. 9.

Mark Loring, who serves on the School Committee and the School Building Committee, said any decision to drop the pre-k building will depend on whether the district is still “able to meet the needs of the staff and the students with the reduced space.” 

Eliminating the smaller two-story preschool building would drop project costs by roughly $18.4 million. It would leave a $155.2 million request for the larger four-story upper middle school building that includes an auditorium, gymnasium and cafeteria.

The Select Board, which is the body responsible for putting the measure out to vote, in a mixed vote this summer turned down the SBC’s request to put the Proposition 2½  override on a town-wide ballot in November. The debt exclusion override would also require approval from two-thirds of Town Meeting members to pass. The possible impact on the average property tax bill would be an estimated $1,100 a year. 

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WJAR) — Rhode Island is working to build better schools following decades of crumbling infrastructure, old technology, and high rates of student absenteeism.
In the past five years across the state, more than $5 billion has been used to build better schools.
Just this year, $1.3 billion has been allocated to nearly 60 projects in 11 districts.
That money comes from taxpayers. The state claims it will impact more than 30,000 students.
"Well, this was something that we talked about for a long time because it's not just about new buildings, it's also about renovating, upgrading schools that are already in existence because our kids can't learn 21st century skills if they're not in 21st century buildings," Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said. "That is a fact."
A fact that the state Department of Education will no longer ignore.
 

As Maine residents face challenges getting in at the doctor’s office, some school districts are bringing providers into schools, making it easier and faster for students to access care. The Bangor School Department is expanding clinics to its middle schools, and offering care to students of all ages.

At the James F. Doughty School recently, students move between classes, stopping at their lockers and rushing past the unassuming entrance to the school’s nearly complete health clinic.

It’s one of two new clinics at the district’s two middle schools, built with the help of the city after the success of a clinic at the high school.

“We have to really start rethinking what it is that we’re doing and how we are supporting not only the whole child, but also families,” said Marie Robinson, superintendent of the Bangor School Department.