Scott Miller had an offer on the table.
The superintendent of Hammond City Schools had a couple of older buildings that were no longer needed for classroom instruction, Gavit and Clark high schools.
“I actually have a buyer,” said Miller.
It was the city of Hammond. Miller said the city government was interested in repurposing the structures for economic development. Not all the details were worked out, but the superintendent shared this much, “It would be in the millions. I don’t have an exact number, but it would be in the millions.”
Potentially, a pretty nice windfall for an urban school district with declining enrollment and decades of maintenance invested in both buildings.
But there would be no deal.
A state law that went into effect in July 2021 requires any local school building used for student instruction that is closed must be sold or leased to a charter school that wants it for one dollar.
Miller has kept control of the two high schools by keeping some level of activity at the buildings although student instruction has been moved to two other Hammond high schools.
“We haven’t officially said they’re worthless or unused is probably a better word. We haven’t said that officially in Hammond,” explains Miller.
What Miller did instead was successfully urge Hammond schools to join school districts from Lake Ridge and West Lafayette to challenge the state law in court claiming the dollar-for-a-school law violated both state and federal constitutions.
 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state School Building Authority approved more than $10 million in supplemental funding Monday for ongoing school construction projects in three West Virginia counties because of increasing construction costs.
The SBA has been dealing with the inflation-fueled construction cost increases for about a year and has even put on hold the funding of any new projects.
SBA Chairman Brian Abraham said Monday’s move is part of a new temporary policy that allows for supplemental funding. He said the money is only approved after the counties do some budget trimming with their project architects.
“The counties shared in the pain here,” Abraham told MetroNews. “It’s not simply providing extra money. This is after everything has been gone through and they still can’t meet their budget. The SBA is trying to keep these projects going.”
The SBA approved $2.2 million in supplemental funding for the Central Elementary School project in Hampshire County, an additional $6 million for work at Frankfort Elementary School in Mineral County and nearly $2 million more for the Alderson Elementary project in Greenbrier County.
 

Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington said the district has paused the process it’s developed to decide on upgrades to school facilities, in order to align it more closely to the district’s future five-year strategic plan. 

During a school board meeting Thursday, Watlington said the facilities planning process will be put on hold until the district adopts that strategic blueprint, but added that building work that’s already been approved will proceed. 

The district’s “facilities planning process” sets long-term priorities for building and other infrastructure upgrades. In April, Philadelphia officials unveiled an interactive map that let people learn about specific conditions at neighborhood schools. And in May, the district announced public forums where people could discuss the best way to repair and upgrade the city’s aging public schools; the average Philadelphia school building is about 75 years old. 

However, those moves occurred before Watlington took over as superintendent in mid-June. Since then, Watlington has focused much of his attention on trying to create that five-year roadmap for schools by — among other things — gathering input from the public and different groups and officials. The district aims to adopt that roadmap next year.

It's typical for school buildings to become shelter locations during a hurricane. The infrastructure is secure and the amenities are suited for hosting those who need help and refuge from a storm. But in Sarasota County, shelters had to remain open, some for more than a week, meaning they couldn't welcome students back in. Other schools were so badly damaged during the storm, they still require extensive repairs.

 The Denver Public Schools (DPS) Board rejected a proposal Thursday to close elementary and middle schools that were being considered for consolidation due to an expected budget deficit over the next several years.
The initial proposed closure list included ten schools, then that was cut down to five. But Thursday night, DPS Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero changed the recommendation again to only include two schools:
Denver Discovery School in Central Park
Math Science Leadership Academy in Athmar Park
The measures to close those schools both failed on 6 to 1 votes.
The board then voted unanimously to rescind the Small Schools Resolution. That's the resolution the board passed in 2021 to direct the superintendent to address declining enrollment, paving the way for the school closure proposal.
“I want to thank everyone who participated during this difficult process,” Superintendent Dr. Marrero said in an emailed statement after the vote Thursday night. “The budget crisis that we are facing as a District is not expected to go away. Following the vote, I asked the Board for direction to move the District forward. I look forward to engaging with the community and with the Board to develop other ways that we can address the crisis.”
 

Southwest Baltimore parent Krissy Herbet isn’t looking forward to next school year. That’s because the neighborhood elementary school where two of her children attend is slated to close in the coming months.

“My children have been at Steuart Hill since we moved to Baltimore City. That's the only school that they know,” Herbert said. “They know no other school they know no other teachers they know no other friends.”

Baltimore City Public School leaders have closed two dozen schools in the past eight years, but one community in southwest Baltimore is fighting an uphill battle to keep the doors open. In January, Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners voted 8-1 to close three schools: Steuart Hill Academic Academy, Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary School, New Era Academy.

Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelisis rescinded the recommendation for Dr. Bernard Harris Elementary School in Broadway East to shutter during the board meeting. That's because the building condition was not as severe compared to the other schools and community members asked for more time to improve enrollment numbers.

KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — For decades, East Tennessee schools have struggled to keep up with the costs of maintenance.
Parents, students and teachers have complained about leaky roofs, crowded classrooms and outdated technology. The solutions often came with million-dollar price tags that districts simply can't afford.
Then, East Tennessee schools came into a windfall — more than $500 million in COVID-19 funding. Here's how they spent it.
ALCOA CITY SCHOOLS:
Alcoa City Schools received about $3.9 million in ESSER funds, according to documents submitted to the Tennessee Department of Education.
The district said it intended to spend about $1.5 million on building upgrades at Alcoa Intermediate School, specifically on the roofing, walls and HVAC system. 
It also wanted to upgrade radios and security cameras across the district, provide additional maintenance/custodial support and purchase the necessary equipment for sanitation and HVAC maintenance.
 

Superintendent Scott Ziegler presented his recommended Fiscal Year 2024-2029 capital budget to the School Board on Tuesday night in front of a crowd of Sterling Park residents who showed up to support one element of the plan—building a replacement Park View High School. 

Several spoke during the public comment section asking the board to support the superintendent’s recommendations. Others spoke up expressing frustration over other older schools, including Banneker Elementary School in St. Louis, that are slated to be renovated instead of rebuilt. 

Included in the plan are three new elementary schools; renovations two older elementary schools, Banneker ($38.9 million) and Waterford ($20 million); a new middle school and $271 million Dulles North high school; and the $221.7 million reconstruction of Park View High School.

New Hampshire officials are seeking this week to distribute $9.8 million in federal funds to help boost school door-locking systems to mitigate threats.

In a request to the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee, Gov. Chris Sununu said the funds will be spread among 231 public schools and 18 nonpublic schools if approved. The committee will vote on whether to approve the grants on Friday.

The proposed funds are part of the state’s Security Action for Education (SAFE) program, launched this year to use federal COVID-19 relief aid toward school security upgrades. 

Under a process set up this year, schools could apply for up to $100,000 in funding for three categories of upgrades: access control, surveillance, or emergency alerting.

But all of the state’s proposed awards this week will go to access control projects, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education said Tuesday. 

“Homeland Security determined that these access control projects were the most at-risk, and were the priority,” the spokeswoman, Kimberley Houghton, said. 

On Nov. 14, the Center for Green Schools published new findings about how school districts are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically as it relates to investing federal relief funds to manage air quality and upgrade facilities.

The American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds (ARP-ESSER or ESSER III) represented an unprecedented federal investment in K–12 schools and a lifeline over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the case of school facilities. The funding offered school systems a chance to address a critical backlog of deferred maintenance, needed equipment and infrastructure repairs, as well as upgrades to outdated building systems to improve health, air quality and comfort.

The report looks at how school districts across the country plan to invest that federal aid, with a focus on planned funding for large-scale facilities related work. The analysis includes qualitative interviews with three school district facilities personnel and a quantitative analysis based on a data set of 5,004 school districts’ ESSER-III spending plans by the Burbio data service. The data set contained information from school districts from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, representing approximately 74% of public school students and roughly $83.1 billion in ESSER III funds. Access to the data set was generously supported by Carrier.

Major findings include:

With active construction underway on one full school replacement and design reveals held for three other full school replacements and one brand new school, the district is passing many milestones in its 15-year master facilities plan. These projects are funded by the half-penny sales tax approved by voters in 2020.

Besides moving forward with new school buildings, safety and security projects are in progress at 42 schools. Some safety and security projects have been delayed due to material shortages as well as the need to re-bid materials due to excessive costs. Even with these delays, all safety and security projects are on schedule to be completed in the three-year timeline as planned.

Revenue exceeds forecast but inflation offsets gains
Revenue from the half-penny funds the district’s master facilities plan. Through June 2022, the tax generated $172.44 million overall with about $149.4 million going to the district. Revenue is exceeding projections made when the tax was proposed. However, inflation of material and labor costs is offsetting the additional revenue.

State law requires that charter schools receive a portion of the funding based on enrollment. The charter school share was $23.06 million through June.

LOGAN COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — A number of serious problems recently caused the West Virginia Board of Education to take over Logan County Schools.

A Logan County Board of Education vote approving a new Chapmanville Middle School baseball field to be built at the former East Grade School property appears to be one of the last straws to break the system's back.

“That decision, in hindsight was certainly not a decision that I would have made,” interim Logan County Superintendent Jeff Huffman told Eyewitness News. “I don't think former superintendent Lucas...was in agreement either.”

Accusations of toxic teaching environments, inadequate school safety measures, the needs of special education students being ignored and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent in questionable ways triggered the state school board to take over the system.

A recallable “nickel tax” could be on the way for Cadiz and the surrounding county. One that some officials believe would benefit the school system in unique ways.

During Thursday’s Trigg County Board of Education meeting, a first reading of a “nickel tax” passed unanimously and with little fuss — in hopes, among many things, of increasing the district’s bonding potential for capital projects.
More importantly, there seems to be a unified focus to renovate a dilapidated high school that’s seen little love since its 1962 construction, and now is officially the oldest building on campus.
Board member Clara Beth Hyde called for the vote, herself noting a levy wasn’t ideal.
Superintendent Bill Thorpe noted that any increase of a school tax wouldn’t be paying for any past or current projects, but would only be propelling and preparing for the future.
Today’s current construction, which is aplenty, is already budgeted and accounted for — either through grants, current bonding potential, or school capital.
Furthermore, officials feel like this as opportune a time as any to implement such an effort. With increasing property value assessments, Trigg’s BoE can issue the nickel at four cents, rather than the standard six cents, and in return receive the same cash valuation.
In even clearer terms, a home assessed at $100,000 would only see its tax increased by $40 over the year, rather than nearly $60.
That’s $3.33 per month.
School Attorney Jack Lackey has noted in previous school board meetings, especially in Hopkinsville, that a nickel tax has been adopted by more than 100 of Kentucky’s 120 counties, and that under state law, the tax can only be used for capital construction or repairs and renovation of existing facilities.
On Thursday, he broke down how a 2023 nickel tax would look for local payers.
 

Travis Hairgrove, The Herald Banner, Greenville, Texas
Thu, November 10, 2022 at 11:51 AM·3 min read
Nov. 10—After Greenville ISD's proposed $136.5 million facility bond narrowly failed Tuesday night, the district announced its plans the following morning on how it will work to accommodate new families as Greenville's population continues to grow.

The proposed bond lost by 135 votes out of a total of 8,925, a margin of 1.52%. Had the bond passed, GISD was to have built a new middle school for an estimated $105.1 million and a new early childhood center for about $31.4 million. Both existing campuses are 72 years old, deteriorating, and out of compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, Texas Education Agency standards and updated building codes, the district has said.

Now that the referendum has failed, GISD officials intend to continue developing alternate plans that were in place for such an eventuality.

"Though disappointing, it does not minimize the fact that we all believe our students and staff deserve the very best learning environments, and in spite of the vote, we will continue to serve our students well," GISD Supt. Sharon Boothe said. "Respecting the voters' wishes, we will move forward with the resources and facilities that we have."

The Guam Education Board officially approved the master facilities plan for the Guam Department of Education but in one board member’s view, there’s no money for it.
“We are introducing and we are going to vote on and approve a master facilities plan, but, we don’t have any money for it,” GEB member Robert Crisostomo said during a recent board meeting.
While GDOE has $80 million left in federal relief funding, it can’t be applied for this purpose, according to Crisostomo.
“But we can’t use the $80 million for facilities or earmark it,” he said as he moved to have the board adopt an amendment to the master facilities plan.
“If you’d like to entertain along with that an amendment with that to include earmarking $80 million for facilities, I think it would go a long way in solidifying our commitment to the community that we want our facilities built up," he continued.
And although board chairman Mark Mendiola was in agreement about committing the funds, he also said, unfortunately, it isn’t in the board's authority to do so.
“Mr. Crisostomo, that’s a great motion and I would love to support it, but, unfortunately, these are federal dollars, so we cannot,” the chairman said.
 

Voters approved bonds and levies for schools in seven of 10 races across the state.

That includes a $250 million bond for Bend-La Pine schools and a $450 million bond for Portland Community College.

In a statement shared Tuesday night, PCC president Adrien Bennings thanked voters for their support and acknowledged the bond goals of modernizing the college’s Rock Creek and Sylvania campuses and expanding career technical education in Washington County.

“Portland continues to grow and evolve, and PCC is adapting to meet Portland’s needs,” Bennings said. “As Oregon’s largest post-secondary institution, our bond program is committed to being a responsible steward of community resources, and returning to voters and taxpayers a value that far exceeds the investment they have made in us this November.”

Bend-La Pine superintendent Steven Cook said Wednesday he will work to make the district’s schools a source of pride for residents.

“We are grateful to our community for showing their commitment to students and public education by supporting this measure, which will upgrade safety and security, modernize classrooms and provide for critical maintenance and preservation projects across our district,” Cook said in a statement emailed to OPB.

Other bonds approved by voters will support the Forest Grove School District in Washington County and David Douglas schools in Multnomah County.

Lead exposure during childhood may lead to reduced cognitive abilities in later life, meaning people experience symptoms of dementia sooner, data suggest.
The study, one of the first to investigate the decades-long consequences of lead poisoning, suggests countries could face an explosion of people seeking support for dementia as individuals who were exposed to high lead levels during early life progress into old age.
“In the US, and I would imagine the UK, the prime years when children were exposed to the most lead was in the 1960s and 70s. That’s when the most leaded gasoline was getting used, lead paint was still common, and municipal water systems hadn’t done much to clean up their lead,” said Prof John Robert Warren at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, who was involved in the research.
“Those children who are now in their 40s, 50s and early 60s, will soon be entering the time of life when cognitive impairment and dementia are really common. So there’s this coming wave, potentially, of problems for the people who were most exposed.”
Although scientists have long known that children and adults who are exposed to lead have poorer cognitive and educational outcomes, few studies have investigated the longer-term consequences.
 

ST. PETERSBURG — In its past life almost a century ago, the historic Tomlinson building off downtown St. Petersburg’s Mirror Lake was known as St. Petersburg Junior High.

The building became a vocational high school in the 1930s and, until its closure in December due to low enrollment, an adult education center that taught thousands of Pinellas County’s grownups.

Now, school district officials hope the three-story building on 1.7 acres will be the district’s first project to provide affordable apartments to teachers and school staff. Pinellas County Schools this week issued a request for proposals to redevelop the building into a mixed-use, public-private partnership project and manage affordable housing apartments for educators as housing costs continue to rise.

The state Department of Education will share its ranked list of school districts who will be prioritized for building aid in 2024 and 2025 on Thursday, a decision that will impact the future of Concord’s Rundlett Middle School building project.

The state’s school building aid program reimburses a portion of a district’s construction costs. The Department of Education creates a ranked list of school districts that will get priority for funding if it is approved in the state budget. The list will be presented to the State Board of Education at its Thursday meeting in Nashua, the Department of Education said Friday. Districts will be able to log in and see the results on the website.

The Concord School Board is responsible for deciding how to move forward after learning the results of the building aid decision, according to Superintendent Kathleen Murphy.

After Hurricane Ian slammed against the Southwest coast of Florida, several school districts suspected that damage, flooding, power outages and other difficulties might mean students may never get back into their classrooms.

That was about five weeks ago. Now, school districts in Lee, Sarasota, DeSoto and Charlotte have slowly begun recovering from the impact of a Category 4 storm. Some schools have recovered faster, sending kids back to classes as early as Oct. 10.

But schools in other hard-hit areas struggled, going weeks without any instruction, constructing new teaching facilities, learning at home with virtual instruction and attending different schools while repairs continued.

Lee County
Some school buildings are not operational yet, but students are largely back in an in-person learning environment, according to Irma Lancaster, director of strategic communication for Lee County public schools.

“Students returned to a learning environment in phases during the week of October 17. The first group started on Monday, and by the end of the week on that Friday the 21st, all students were in a learning environment,” she said in an email to the Phoenix.