Gov. Phil Murphy announced Jan. 26 a $350 million pot of money will soon be available for high-priority school construction projects throughout the Garden State.

The funding comes from Senate Bill 2944, which was signed during the budget process last summer and allocated $5.2 billion in surplus money for the newly created New Jersey Debt Defeasance and Prevention Fund. The legislation calls for $350 million of that tranche to be appropriated for school facilities projects, emergent needs and capital maintenance in Regular Operating Districts (ROD).

Beginning Jan. 30, according to a statement from Murphy’s office, more than 550 RODs will be eligible to apply for grants. School districts will be eligible to receive at least 40% of eligible project costs.

“From day one, my administration has made it a priority to support and improve our public school system – and helping our schools implement critical facility projects is an important component of those efforts,” said Murphy. “This funding demonstrates our commitment to strengthening our schools and cementing our legacy as a state that is dedicated providing every student with a high-quality learning environment.”

In 2023, the District of Columbia will review address-based student assignments – known as boundary assignments – to determine which District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) students are entitled by-right to attend based on their residential address.
This report examines where students are more likely to attend their by-right school, which by-right schools are most representative of all public school students, and how enrollment compares to capacity at by-right school facilities. It also highlights the areas of the city where changes to student assignment policies could impact the largest number of students.
1. Introduction
In 2023, the District of Columbia will review address-based student assignments – known as boundary assignments – to determine which District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) schools are students entitled to attend by-right, based on their residential address. This is only the second time since 1968 that the city will undertake such a review. (The other was in 2014.)
The 2023 student assignment and boundary review will:
Examine student assignments to schools by-right based on DCPS boundaries and feeder patterns,
Evaluate if there is adequate capacity in by-right DCPS facilities, including at each  grade band, and
Look for opportunities to create equitable access to high-quality DCPS schools.
D.C. has much racial and economic residential segregation, and much public school choice. Citywide, just 28 percent of students attend their by-right school — but the share of students attending their by-right school varies greatly across different parts of the city. Students in more affluent areas are more likely to opt into their by-right school. These factors make D.C.’s review of student assignments a unique process and require a robust fact base.
 

The Jeff Davis Parish School Board will spend more than $5 million to repair and replace aging, leaky and damaged roofs at various school sites this year.  The first phase of a three phase plan to address aging and leaky roofs is currently moving forward at Welsh High School, Lake Arthur High School, Lake Arthur Elementary School and Fenton Elementary School. The projects are expected to be completed by the summer.  “About 15 years ago, the School Board found roofs were so expensive for schools to repair using their own maintenance money, so the School Board took over the projects to ease the burden of the (individual) school maintenance funds,” Superintendent John Hall said.
The School Board agreed to fund the projects with revenue from the general fund, insurance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) based on a priority plan with the worst roofs being addressed first, he said.  “The architect and roof contractor aged the roofs and rated which ones go first in priority for the first stage,” Hall said.  Many of the priorities have changed due to cost and unforeseen problems, including finding other roofs in worse condition.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —
An ambitious plan to rebuild or renovate more than a dozen Jefferson County Public School buildings is taking another step forward.
The Kentucky Department of Education signed off on the first draft of the four-year plan that district leaders say is long overdue. The district's facilities committee voted Wednesday to send the amended plan to the full school board.
The current estimated cost of facility needs across JCPS is more than $1.3 billion, according to the district's current District Facilities Plan.
"If you look at the facility condition indices, there's a deficit there that has just kind of grown exponentially because of deferred maintenance over the last several decades," said JCPS Chief Operations Officer Chris Perkins.
Perkins says the district is now able to do something about that thanks to a 2020 tax rate hike.
 

WESTERLY — The cleanup of asbestos found in an old boiler room at the former Bradford Elementary School has added about four to six weeks and $108,000 to the cost of the building’s demolition.
Part of the demolition as originally planned last fall included asbestos removal from glue underneath the floor tiles in the building, Town Manager Shawn Lacey said. No other asbestos was found in the building, he said.
“We didn’t anticipate any, because the majority of the main structure was rebuilt in 1987-88, when all the asbestos would have been removed,” he said.
The cost of the remediation was $98,646 in addition to the town’s $220,950 demolition contract with contractor Billray.
However Lacey said about three weeks ago, contractors doing excavation at the site found a boiler room that was not remediated during the 1980s project.
“Basically it was just capped off with concrete,” Lacey said.
Three boilers, a water tank, duct work and about three feet of asbestos on the floor, according to the town manager.
“That was basically pulled off of pipes and everything else, and they must have just piled it in this room and just capped it off,” he said. “That was not supposed to be part of the remediation plan back in 87-88. It was supposed to be completely filled in.”
The state Department of Health visited the site and issued a cease and desist order so that a remediation plan
could be developed, Lacey said. The state approved the plan Jan. 20 and work was expected to start this week.
 

For the first time in 30 years, Durham Public Schools is undergoing district-wide changes to the school boundary lines that determine where students will go to school.

School board members and district leaders say this is part of a strategic effort to give students more equitable access to education programs and to ensure school and classroom sizes will be more sustainable as the population continues to grow in parts of the county.

Last week, the Durham School Board approved plans for elementary school assignments. Later, the school board will turn its attention to middle and high school boundaries, to propose and vote on those changes later this spring.

All changes will take effect in Fall 2024.

Will the elementary school designated for my home change in 2024?
You can search the elementary school designated to your home address for the 2024-2025 school year here.

If you don’t know your current 2023 elementary school assignment – maybe you have a toddler or you recently moved – you can find that here.

Because of a delay in repairs to a library ceiling that collapsed in August, students at Cummings K-8 Optional School will finish out the school year at nearby LaRose Elementary School in South Memphis.

While the repairs could still be done as early as this spring, Memphis-Shelby County Schools said in a news release, officials decided the Cummings students should remain at LaRose to avoid any disruptions during Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program testing.

The 40-year-old drop ceiling collapsed on Aug. 15, just a week after the school year started. No students were in the library at the time, but three staffers were injured, The Commercial Appeal reported. The collapse prompted MSCS to order reviews of buildings older than 70 years with drop ceilings, and called new attention to the issue of deferred maintenance in the schools. 

Over 33 of MSCS’ schools were built before 1950, meaning they are more than 70 years old. A study done eight years ago found that the district’s older buildings and equipment were deteriorating rapidly, Fox 13 News reported in August.

Dive Brief:
As COVID-19 raised concerns around the airborne spread of viruses in schools, proposed legislation in New Mexico would require all school districts to test their ventilation systems at least every five years.
Each report must be completed by a certified technician or mechanical engineer and would include appropriate recommendations for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning infrastructure. Such measures may consider installing filters and carbon dioxide sensors, upgrading equipment, and making necessary replacements.
Districts would be required to follow through on these recommendations, the legislation states. Other possible actions that schools might have to complete after these ventilation tests are general maintenance, reading and adjustment of ventilation rates, and filter replacements to meet a minimum efficiency reporting.

State officials released a highly anticipated audit into Connecticut’s school construction office late last week, but it is unlikely to alleviate all of the concerns about the multibillion-dollar construction program, which became the focus of a federal investigation last year.
The 23-page report that was produced by Marcum LLP, an independent auditing firm, included an analysis of more than 111 school construction projects that were undertaken in Connecticut between 2018 and 2021.
But some lawmakers are more concerned about what is missing from the audit: namely, a review of interactions between local school officials and the state Office of School Construction Grants & Review.
“This audit is a start but it is by no means a conclusion,” said Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford. “The concern certainly of the federal investigation has always been on the purported influence on municipalities, and that wasn’t even looked at here at all.’
State officials hired Marcum last March in an effort to restore public trust in the school construction program, which was directed for more than six years by Konstantinos Diamantis.
Diamantis, who stepped down from that position in late 2021, was named in several grand jury subpoenas that were issued to the state and several municipalities.
 

RICHMOND, VA – Today, the Senate of Virginia passed Sen. Jennifer McClellan’s (D-Richmond) bill (SB 1408) with Sen. Jeremy McPike (D-Prince William) to allow any Virginia locality to fund school construction and renovation through an up to 1% increase in sales tax passed in a local referendum. The bill passed on a 26-10 vote with bipartisan support.

The bill is a recommendation of the bipartisan Commission on School Construction and Modernization, which McClellan chairs. Del. Jeffrey Bourne (D-Richmond) is the chief patron of companion House legislation (HB 2316).

Under current Virginia law, only 9 localities have the ability to propose referenda for local sales and use taxes for school construction: Charlotte, Gloucester, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Patrick, and Pittsylvania Counties and the City of Danville. McClellan’s bill would enable any locality to propose a local sales tax referendum for the sole purpose of school construction. A similar bill (SB 1287) from Senator Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville) adding the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County to the list also passed the Senate on a 27-10 vote.

“SB 1408 will provide a critical tool for localities to fund school construction and modernization,” McClellan said. “We must provide new funding options for local school divisions to address Virginia’s crisis of crumbling schools. I’m pleased to see this bill pass the Senate with strong bipartisan support, and I urge House leaders to allow a full House vote on this bill from the bipartisan School Construction and Modernization Commission.”

More than 1,000 schools — more than half of K-12 school buildings in Virginia — are more than 50 years old, according to the Commission on School Construction and Modernization. The Commission estimates that the amount of funding needed to replace these buildings is $24.8 billion. Many localities face significant challenges in raising sufficient funds to undertake these projects.

The Philadelphia School District on Friday filed a lawsuit against the city over legislation officials said could jeopardize the opening of some school buildings this fall.

The unprecedented move comes months after City Council passed a law designed to strengthen environmental conditions in the district by forming a public oversight board to determine standards and judge whether school buildings can safely house staff and students.

It also creates a public fissure between the school board and the city officials who established the board just five years ago after 17 years of state oversight. School board members are selected by the mayor and confirmed by City Council.

School board president Reginald Streater, who said he believed the litigation is the “culmination of decades of chronic underfunding,” noted that the district alone is authorized by state law to determine whether schools open or close, and that children struggle academically and socially when unable to access face-to-face learning.

The Forsyth County Board of Education recognized facilities and maintenance staff members at its latest meeting for their response to water damage at schools over the winter break.
Mostly occurring over the Dec. 24-25 weekend, Chief Facilities Officer Matt Wark said, 15 of the school district’s 42 schools were affected by water damage due to record-breaking temperatures.
Although many staff members were on Christmas vacation at the time, Wark said his team stepped up.
“To give you a scope of how many hours many of these individuals put in, they spent 36 hours on just Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in schools,” Wark said. “And these individuals and myself, these guys were on vacation. We did not see the families …. But these individuals never said no.”
Wark and his team spent the next week fixing damage so schools ready when teachers returned on Jan. 3.
“This type of dedication, I’m glad to have community members see,” Wark said. “These are the people who take care of your buildings every day for your kids.”
Superintendent Jeff Bearden thanked Wark and the team for their efforts.
"Because of this team, all of our children could return to school after winter break," Bearden said. “Thank you is not nearly sufficient, but I hope you know how much you are all appreciated, respected and valued."
 

A dead snake on a classroom floor, a dead pigeon on a piano, bird and rodent droppings, signs of cockroach and termite infestations and black mold on the ceiling were among the findings in a Department of Public Health and Social Services sanitation inspection at Southern High School.

The inspection was prompted by a complaint that stated: “Most classrooms at (Southern High School) have black mold on the ceilings and are missing ceiling tiles. The air conditioning units work inconsistently and not all rooms have functioning units. The students are only allowed to use one bathroom on campus, and that bathroom is often overflowing with backed-up sewage waste.”

Chula Vista Elementary School District is taking the lead in teaching students how to compost and conserve through gardening.
The district has 37 gardens on campuses across the South Bay, maintained by students, parents, and teachers who volunteer their time. The climate crisis and state laws targeting composting and conservation make school site soil a fertile learning ground.
"They like getting their hands dirty and they like being outside," said Christopher Turner, a sixth-grade teacher at the Myrtle S. Finney School in Chula Vista. "There’s nothing more amazing than seeing their eyes when they bite into something that they themselves have planted and watched grow."
Chula Vista Elementary School District is the largest elementary district in the state with 49 campuses, and It promotes sustainability through gardening.
Students learn hands-on while developing social and emotional skills, such as teamwork, communication, and problem-solving.
The Finney Elementary garden plot was an eyesore five years ago.
“There were broken-down benches and just a lot of debris. It was actually a hazard for kids to be out here," Michelle Posada told KPBS News.
Posada had her three children attend Finney Elementary, and continues to lead the school's garden. She started the push for environmental education and action in 2018.
 

SALMON—A cracked foundation. Collapsing sewer lines. Outdoor food storage.
These are just a few of the problems at Salmon’s Pioneer Elementary School, which was built about 70 years ago.
“It is quite atrocious,” said Troy Easterday, the superintendent of Salmon School District.
Renovating the school could cost as much as $2 million, Easterday estimated. But in a community that has an extraordinary 0-12 record of failed bond measures since 2006, ballot measures cannot be counted on for major upgrades or a new elementary.
Salmon is one of many Idaho school districts that has struggled to get voter approval to sell bonds to pay for school improvements. Nearly half of all bond proposals have failed in the past 23 years. As the Legislature gears up and education committees plan to address school facilities needs, school districts are hoping politicians will come to their aid with a new infrastructure bill and surplus funds earmarked for public school buildings.
 

Jonah Doeller says he's loved sharing the joys of physical education with students over the past two decades at Union Chapel School in Robeson County. On any given weekday, giggles and thumps can be heard bouncing off of the modest cinder block walls inside the school's gymnasium, a space that recently received a much-needed facelift.

Union Chapel was one of 60 schools that recently received new high-efficiency LED lights. A green upgrade that Doeller says makes a big difference.

"It's like night and day," Doeller said. "The kids noticed right away too. It's brighter and clearer and the gym looks twice as big now.

The lights are motion-sensored and the kids have fun in the mornings racing to see who can be the first to turn on all the lights. More efficient bulbs that stay on for less time translates to a notable reduction in the cost to the school and to the environment.

NEWPORT, Tenn. (WATE) — Five students are healing from cuts and scrapes they received when part of the roof came off of Newport Grammar School during last week’s severe storms. Guttering on the roof shattered the window of a 4th grade classroom, the shards of which injured students nearby.
Newport City Schools Director Sandra Burchette said the students were scratched and scraped, but “are OK.”
The school building was damaged by high winds in the storm that spawned 3 tornadoes in East Tennessee. In addition to the roof and broken window, Burchette said there is extensive water damage that’s requiring carpet replacement.
The school has been closed since the storm passed through on Jan. 12, but Burchette said they are reopening Thursday, a week after the storm.
Three tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service in Morristown, but they were not near the Newport school.
“It came so quickly,” Burchette said. “Our principal called for us to get sheltered in place, and the teachers and students had practiced the drill many times so they quickly got into place, and the storm passed.”
 

Even though New Mexico requires public schools to upgrade their heating and air conditioning systems to clean indoor air well enough to remove coronavirus and other harms, people can’t just look up whether their local school district actually meets those standards.

A legislative proposal — with backing from unions representing New Mexico teachers and sheet metal workers — seeks to change that.

COVID is highlighting the need for action on ventilation systems, said Rep. Christine Chandler. She and Rep. Joy Garratt, a former educator, are sponsoring House Bill 30, which would create the Public School Ventilation Act.

“Having good airflow and good systems in place will affect staff health and student health in a way that’s very important,” Chandler said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 95% of all children in the U.S. have been infected at least once.

States have been slow to act on ventilation, she said, even though the Environmental Protection Agency has been raising it as an issue and not getting much traction, either.

“We don’t have the staff or capacity at PED to go out there and go verify every single building in doing that,” said Antonio Ortiz, finance and operations director of the New Mexico Public Education Department in an interview last year.

The state of Vermont hasn’t put up money for school construction projects for almost 15 years.

And since then, local taxpayers have had to fully fund more than $200 million in school upgrades.

The Agency of Education says there’s a growing inequity between districts that can get their projects passed by voters, and those that can't.

And the agency also says there’s now a backlog of projects that’s potentially causing health and safety issues at the schools with the highest needs.

At Green Mountain Union High School in Chester, voters recently rejected a $20 million bond proposal to upgrade the school’s aging infrastructure.

And Todd Parah, who’s head of facilities at Green Mountain, says the district has to figure out a way to upgrade the equipment.

“Here in our school district, along with a majority of them in the state of Vermont, we’re not at a want-basis, we’re going to be at a need-basis,” Parah said. “The systems are at their end-of-use life, and nobody knows where the money’s gonna come from.”

A lot of the equipment at the school was installed back in the early 1970s, when Green Mountain first opened.

The recent winter rain offers potential drought relief, but the severity of the storms had detrimental impacts throughout the state, including power outages that disrupted learning. Locally, several schools experienced closures due to storm related power outages.

Schools have faced several years of ongoing disruption to learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfires, poor air quality, extreme heat and severe weather. Extreme weather has already impacted schools across the country. Many of California’s school buildings are not equipped to address the challenges caused by climate change. Some of our communities face disproportionate climate change impacts.

In a typical year, children attend at least 180 days of school. Whether or not they are protected from impacts of climate change is often determined by conditions on campus.

Climate change, exposure to pollutants and food insecurity harm children’s health and disrupt learning.

Now is the time to invest in our school campus infrastructure to ensure continuity of learning and maintain school operations during periods of extreme heat, power outages and when outside air quality drops to unhealthy levels.