WAPELLO — A proposed solar project received an informal nod of acceptance by the Wapello School Board during a special meeting on Wednesday.

The informal agreement with Red Lion Renewables, Norwalk, is expected to be formally approved by the school board at its Feb. 8 regular meeting.

According to the proposal presented by Red Lion Renewables CEO Terry Dvorak, a solar panel array system will be installed on a proposed canopy at the elementary school bus entry site.

Roof arrays will also be installed at the bus barn, administration building and the high school building complex.

The equipment will remain the property of Red Lion Renewables, unless the district decides to purchase the arrays after the sixth year of operation.

More solar panels could be coming to newly built public schools throughout New Mexico, after a bill to require the power source was advanced by lawmakers last week and awaits another hearing on its way to becoming law.
Senate Bill 60, sponsored by Sen. William Soules (D-37) would require public schools be outfitted with photovoltaic solar panel systems capable of providing energy needed by the school if constructed and receiving state funds after July 1, 2023.
The bill was passed by the Senate Education Committee Jan. 27 on a 4-2 vote and was sent to the Senate Finance Committee for a subsequent hearing and further action.
If passed, SB 60 would amend New Mexico’s Public School Capital Outlay Act to include solar systems as eligible for state funding and require any school receiving grant assistance from the Public School Capital Outlay Fund include such a system capable of meeting the school’s energy needs.
Soules, who serves as chair of the Senate Education Committee, said during the hearing that the bill would help the state make progress toward its goals to limiting higher-carbon forms of energy like natural gas.
 

ALBANY — Students frequently experience uncomfortable temperature and humidity at school, which could be detrimental to their health and education, according to a recent study by University at Albany School of Public Health researchers.
The study, which focused on the Capital Region, tracked primary school and university students’ exposure to indoor temperature and relative humidity levels using personal air monitors across seasons.
“In the northeastern U.S., cold winters mean we have to turn up the heat — making indoor conditions in many places overly hot and dry,” said Shao Lin, senior co-author on the study and professor of Environmental Health Sciences at UAlbany’s School of Public Health. “For students, hot classrooms can make it difficult to concentrate while low humidity harms airways, making it easier for respiratory viruses to take hold. Dry air can also cause eye irritation and disrupt sleep.
“When we look to the warmer months, few schools in the Capital Region are equipped to adequately cool classrooms, especially as climate change is causing unusually hot days in the fall and spring. Our findings highlight the need to improve thermal conditions in classrooms to facilitate student success.”
 

As state funding for education has changed over the last 20 years, this report will take a deep dive into school facilities and capital funding. While school capital facilities have typically relied on local funding, Arizona has a School Facilities Oversight Board (SFB) to ensure each school district meets minimum building standards. Despite the creation of this board in 1998, local property taxes have continued to provide the majority of district school capital funding. In fact, property taxes have constituted around 75% of total district school capital funding since 2006. This local funding is over and above the primary funding source for maintaining state facility standards.

Over the past two decades, $6.1 billion in General Fund money has gone towards district school facilities through the School Facilities Oversight Board. At the same time, districts have raised and spent at least another $13.6 billion in local funds above the state funding they received to maintain facilities. While public district schools do have the most students out of all school options in Arizona, other public school options do not receive capital funding from SFOB. For example, in 2000, when this funding began, charter school enrollment only made up about 5% of total public-school enrollment in Arizona. In the last 20 years, charter school enrollment increased to almost 20% of total public-school enrollment. The State does not directly provide dedicated capital support to Charter Schools, and Charter operators additionally cannot access a local property tax for bond support.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKEF) -- Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced on Thursday that the latest round of Ohio's K-12 School Safety Grant Program will provide state funding support for physical safety and security upgrades to over 900 additional Ohio schools.
Governor DeWine made the announcement on Thursday morning while visiting Lakewood High School in Cuyahoga County, which is one of 945 schools receiving grants totaling $68 million as part of the program's fourth round.
In the coming weeks, a fifth round of funding will be announced.
The Ohio General Assembly allocated $112 million for the fourth and fifth rounds of the grant program as part of House Bill 45, which was signed by Governor DeWine last month.
The investment more than doubles the program's initial allotment of $105 million from Ohio's operating budget and the American Rescue Plan Act.
"When we created the K-12 School Safety Grant Program, we expected that the need for funding would far exceed the amount of money available, but I vowed to go back to the legislature and ask for more," said Governor DeWine. "Now, with the generous support of the Ohio General Assembly, I'm proud to announce that every single qualifying school that applied for a grant will receive funding."
So far, $173 million has been awarded to 2,374 Ohio K-12 schools to assist with physical security expenses such as new security cameras, public address systems, automatic door locks, visitor badging systems, and exterior lighting.
Eligible schools may receive up to $100,000 per building.
 

As Delaware officials retest all water consumption points in K-12 schools for the presence of lead after a botched previous effort, a consensus view has emerged for the best solution to keep kids safe.

That remedy is the installation and maintenance of filtering systems, a fix that’s already in use in many homes, businesses, community centers, and some schools.

Education Secretary Mark Holodick told a Senate Health and Social Service Committee hearing last week that “filter first’’ should be the mantra going forward.

“You really want to think about investing your time and energy into filtration systems and replacing those fixtures rather than just testing over and over and over again,’’ Holodick told lawmakers, echoing the advice he’s received from health experts. “That’s where you want to get to.”

In the U.S., accountability and funding for school curriculum, buildings, and grounds primarily comes from state and local agencies. For this reason, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has limited authorities in the areas of school infrastructure, sustainability, environmental justice, and climate. Nevertheless, ED continues to think creatively about how it can spur action and build leadership capacity to make all schools healthy, sustainable 21st century environments that offer environmental sustainability learning. One way ED can grow these efforts is by inspiring school partner organizations and developing shared messaging across the nation for what makes a healthy and sustainable school.

Today, we are thrilled to invite national, regional, and local non-profits, foundations, businesses, and community-based organizations to share bold commitment(s) to advance school sustainability, encompassing infrastructure, health, environmental sustainability education, climate, and environmental justice in America. By May 31, we ask organizations and entities to complete an online form to share how they will advance at least one of these infrastructure and sustainability priorities:

Measuring the effects of extreme weather requires extreme numbers.

Climate change racked up an eye-popping $165 billion damages tab in the U.S. last year, as tallied by a recent federal report. And back in September, around 82 percent of Florida school districts closed for at least one day — keeping roughly 2.5 million students out of school.

With experts predicting more extreme weather in 2023, that undoubtedly means schools will suffer more disruptions in a K-12 education era already defined by pandemic-related learning setbacks. This puts physical classrooms in harm’s way, and also threatens students’ academics and mental health, too.

Climate Change’s Education Cost
Climate change impacts on K-12 education are a problem worldwide. Damage from disasters like flooding, cyclones and wildfires can shutter schools for long periods, a Brookings Institute report says, or cause students to miss school due to illness or damage to their homes. The report authors were particularly concerned about repercussions for girls.

“These risks are particularly acute for adolescent girls, who have a short window of opportunity to get back to school before they are forced to take a different path — including marriage or migration for work,” researchers write.

In the U.S., physical threats to schools from weather vary from region to region. They include hurricanes, wildfires and winter storms.

El Dorado School District (ESD) School Board and faculty members gathered to celebrate the district’s newly constructed 1.75-MWAC solar array. The project will offset 88% of the district’s energy usage and expenses, saving ESD over $128,000 annually in energy costs.

ESD entered into a Solar Services Agreement (SSA) with Entegrity, an energy efficiency and solar company headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. With an SSA, the district creates savings by purchasing renewable energy from Entegrity at a fixed price lower than their current electricity rate.

GENTRY -- While most parents and students take the wearing of clean clothes for granted, the opportunity to wash clothes for wear to school is not available to all. And now, the Gentry School District is stepping up to help those without access to washroom facilities access by equipping a room with a washer and dryer and making that facility available to homeless students and their families.

On Thursday, the school district opened Pioneer Partnership L, a laundry room equipped with a washer, dryer, detergent, folding tables, and WiFi, just east of the intermediate school. The facility is now available to homeless students and their families by simply speaking to a child's school counselor and obtaining a key. Once card readers, which are back-ordered, are received, access will be granted via the use of student IDs.

The location -- away from the high school and away from the classroom areas -- makes it possible for students to use the facility away from other students and classmates and without any embarrassment that could cause.

The facility was paid for with American Rescue Plan/Elementary Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to meet the needs of students classified as homeless by the school district. The district supplied additional funding and work to prepare the laundry room and install the necessary electrical supply, plumbing and appliances.

Connecticut’s largest teachers union isn’t taking anything for granted. A new survey found that voters overwhelmingly support improving air ventilation in schools. 

In 2022, the state allocated $150 million to help upgrade heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in Connecticut public schools to improve air filtration, but the Connecticut Education Association said hundreds of school buildings are still in dire need of improvement. 

According to the survey of 800 voters, a whopping 91% say they support establishing temperature and humidity standards to eliminate poor air quality that results in mold and contributes to respiratory health problems for students and staff. Fifty-seven percent strongly support this proposal.

“This isn’t a new problem,” CEA President Kate Dias said. “Too many Connecticut classrooms have heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that are aging, in disrepair, or in urgent need of replacement. The need for new and updated HVAC systems is about ensuring we have safe, healthy school communities where teachers can teach and students can learn.”

The survey also found that 88% of voters support requiring districts to show they are meeting school indoor air quality standards. More than half, 54%, strongly support this proposal.

The 88th Texas Legislature is dealing with an unprecedented budget surplus, and the number of people fighting for a piece of the $12.5 billion approved spending budget is quickly increasing.

However, billions of dollars worth of that surplus is money from within the Foundation School Program that was appropriated but never spent. We believe that money, which was designated for education, should stay in education. And some simple budgetary changes within the FSP could have lasting benefits for Texas school children.

The program is the primary source of state funding for schools and includes two programs to fund school facilities: the instructional facilities allotment (IFA) and the existing debt allotment (EDA). Unlike the basic allotment, which funds maintenance and operations for school districts, the instructional facilities and debt allotments provide state support toward voter-approved bonds, which primarily go towards funding facilities. Increasing the per-student amounts under those two allotments could help solve many ongoing issues that Texas public schools are struggling with.

GEORGETOWN, Texas — On a bright, sunny day, classroom lessons headed outside for these elementary school students. Teacher Nicole Jones leads them in maintaining the garden at James Mitchell Elementary School in Georgetown, Texas.

"It's just something that we look forward to doing now,” she said. "It's just that excitement of them watching things grow."

Kids tend to their favorites there.

"I like to eat carrots, cucumbers, salad, watermelon," said student Carlos Saldana.

Four-year-old Story McAuliff has her own list.

"Tomatoes and carrots and broccoli," she said.

Camryn Monte, 5, has her favorites as well.

"Carrots, tomatoes and lettuce," she listed off.

Flowers can be found there, too.

"Sometimes, I'll plant bluebonnet,” said student Nila Alvarez, “tomatoes, squash and peas."

Kids also have other reasons they like the garden.

"Well, I like getting dirty, very dirty,” said Nick Wilson. “I sometimes roll around in the mud."

What's happening around the garden may look like fun, but it's also potentially life changing.

In the coming months, Tayla McCray, a fifth-grade student who attends Furley Elementary School in Baltimore City, will watch her soon-to-be old school transform into a new place. But McCray said she wants to remember the ‘great times’, like when she and her dad dressed up for the father-daughter dance.

She’s excited for her peers because she’s already continuing her educational journey by attending middle school next year.

“I hope all of the future Furley Foxes [the school’s mascot], have the same rich experience,” she said.

Baltimore City officials, public school leaders, and community members gathered in the Frankford neighborhood to celebrate the start of the construction of Furley Elementary School on Monday morning.

The Town Council, the School Committee, the School Building Committee and a robust retinue of consultants met to drive toward a decision about funding the future of Middletown’s public schools in the wake of a failed attempt at regionalization with Newport.

Middletown’s latest proposal calls for the issuance of $190 million in bonds to construct a combined middle-high school on the multi-use fields adjacent to Gaudet Middle School, of which the town estimates about $83 million would ultimately be reimbursed by the state.

Operating on a very tight timeline due to the impending expiration of some elevated RIDE reimbursement rates – which are still far lower than the 82% reimbursement RIDE was offering for the construction of a regionalized high school – the Town Council after hearing a presentation on both the preliminary design and the financials of the project instructed the consulting team and the School Building Committee to stay the course and continue developing the proposal.

Trees shaded the small lane, casting shadows on the dust and gravel I was traversing. Miles from anywhere and traveling on a four-wheeler, I came to a fork in the road bisected in the middle by a solitary building; the old deserted Mount Salem School. Built in 1909 to replace an older school, the building is representative of the many older educational facilities that now stand abandoned across the state. Once surrounded by a vibrant community of farmers, the one-room school served as a church, a community meeting place and the local school. For most of its existence as a school, it had one teacher for all grades and was primarily supported by the people of the community.

In 1900, education was on the back burner for a rustic, backward state with an economy centered on agriculture. The state of Arkansas saw little reason to invest in education, primarily leaving that up to the churches and to the families. Wealthy families would place their children in academies and then send their children out of state if they desired extensive education or finishing. Poorer and middle-class families scrambled to provide the basic three Rs of an education that often terminated at the middle school level.

According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, in 1920 only two-thirds of the state's students were enrolled in school, and less than 25% attended regularly. In rural areas, students attended a split term, coming during the winter months and during July and August when the crops were "laid by." Seventeen counties did not have a high school, and in no county were high schools available to all students.

Tennessee needs to invest more than $9 billion in its K-12 education infrastructure over five years, an increase of nearly 9% from an assessment done a year earlier, a new state report says.

Of that amount, about $5.4 billion is needed for renovations and technology improvements, while nearly $3.6 billion is needed to build additions and new schools, according to the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.

The report, approved Thursday by the commission, comes as local and state officials grapple with how to cover the soaring costs of school construction, which have doubled in the past decade due to rising material and labor costs.

Meanwhile, years of research show that fixing school buildings can improve student learning, health and behavior. One study in Tennessee shows a direct connection between student achievement and the condition of school buildings. Another study from New York found that poor building conditions can lead to higher rates of chronic absenteeism.

In Tennessee, cities and counties pay for most of their school facility needs with property and sales tax revenues. But some state lawmakers are looking for ways to ease that burden.

Students and families at several West Hawaiʻi Island schools can now access on-campus health centers.

The Hawaiʻi Island Community Health Center opened the school-based centers at Hōnaunau Elementary, and Kealakehe Elementary and Intermediate schools.

Students at those schools can get exams, dental services and behavioral health care with a signed consent form.

"What we really hope for kids to get from school-based health care is, first and foremost the care that they need, meeting their needs, making sure that when they're in school, they have everything they need to learn," said Cecilia Royale with the Hawaiʻi Island Community Center.

"Because as a whole person, it's not just about coming to school, you have to make sure all the needs are met to make sure that they can learn and the second is to help them become advocates for their own health, and learn how to navigate the health system," she added.

Do states provide adequate funding to ensure all students can access a high-quality education? Do local taxpayers shoulder an unfair burden to provide money to schools? Are schools able to maintain operations as the cost of goods and services inevitably rises with inflation?
These are among the key questions driving ongoing lawsuits that could reshape how schools are funded in the states where they’re playing out, and reverberate elsewhere.
Far removed from the annual budgeting process, these funding lawsuits challenge the underlying mechanisms that provide districts with those dollars.
They have proved an essential tool for public school advocates—including education lawyers, teachers unions, district leaders, and even parents—aiming to hold states accountable to their constitutional obligations to provide an adequate education for all. Courts that rule in the plaintiffs’ favor can pressure lawmakers to allocate resources they might otherwise fail to supply.
These cases often take years to resolve and play out behind the scenes of day-to-day school operations. But the litigation often represents a key turning point in the political fight for more equitable education funding, said David Sciarra, who’s set to retire this month after 26 years as executive director of the nonprofit Education Law Center. He’s been at the center of numerous school funding lawsuits, including the landmark Abbott rulings in New Jersey that set the stage for sweeping change across the state in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
 

A 51 page closing brief for Wahkiakum School District’s suit against the State of Washington has been submitted to the Supreme Court in preparation for their court date before the Washington State Supreme Court on March 14.

The school district, which is represented by Thomas Ahearne, the winning litigator in the landmark McCleary case, first filed the lawsuit in Wahkiakum Superior Court in December of 2021, after the community voted against a 22 year $28.75 million bond in 2020 for renovations. The suit was dismissed with prejudice by Superior Court Judge Donald Richter on June 24, 2022, and the district quickly appealed, requesting a direct review from the state supreme court, which was eventually granted.

HVAC issues continue to plague the district, as does a leaky roof, and an outdated electrical system. There is no sprinkler system in the event of a fire, and a host of issues in the science classroom has students taking their experiments outside for safety sake, which isn’t convenient in a Northwest climate.