FAST! is a new proposal by Mary Filardo of the 21st Century School Fund, Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute to fund the maintenance and repair of public schools in the United States, paid for by eliminating $46 billion in fossil fuel preferences. Implementing FAST! will reduce costs, improve student and teacher conditions and employ hundreds of thousands of workers.

Proper planning of school facilities is critical for all school districts no matter how large or small. When school districts properly plan for their school facilities they have better schools, more public use and higher value for public spending. This evaluation guide was designed for superintendents and school boards that are called on to sign off on plans presented by facility professionals and consultants, but who generally do not have experience with educational facility planning. It can also be used by community members to advocate for high quality educational facility planning.

The 21st Century School Fund analyzed a co-location proposal of the NYC Public Schools on classroom utilization and capacity between Coney Island Prep Charter School and three public schools at the request of the Advocates for Justice, a public interest law firm in New York City. The school building, located in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, currently serves three schools, I.S. 303 (a middle school), Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies and P771K (an inclusion program).

Gracye Cheng and Steve English of the Advancement Project and Mary Filardo of the 21st Century School Fund submitted a report to the U.S. Department of Education Excellence & Equity Commission on school facilities impact on educational equity. The report reviews court cases and studies and provides recommendations for the Commission.

This report details serious flaws in New York City's school capacity numbers and calls for immediate changes to its reporting system so that all students are provided with the best possible conditions to learn.

Convened August 31, 2010, the half-day roundtable brought together a diverse set of state, regional, and local policy leaders to discuss promising strategies for connecting schools to the creation of healthy, sustainable communities in California. Structured as a “public research” event, participants discussed issues, pointed out challenges, and identified policy and implementation opportunities. In this report, we summarize the speakers’ presentations and provide a set of key state policy recommendations developed from the Roundtable discussion.

One of the obstacles to intensive joint use of public school buildings and grounds is the school district’s facility operation and maintenance costs. Yet most school districts have not calculated the real cost of ownership of their facilities. This joint use cost calculator,developed by the 21st Century School Fund and Center for Cities and Schools, enables a school district to: 1) Determine the true “cost of ownership” of all its facilities and grounds; and 2) Develop a fee structure for community use, based on the real cost of ownership. The calculator fully identifies the elements of school district facility costs, calculates a per square foot cost of ownership and proposes various scenarios for cost recovery, so school districts can knowingly subsidize broader community use, or secure the other public or private funds needed to support intensive community use. The calculator was piloted in the San Francisco Unified School District to assist with decision-making about maximizing the use of public educational assets for school and community benefit. It is in BETA form and we are actively soliciting feedback for improvement.

"'Building a Sustained School Facilities Remedy' analyzes the success of Arizona's statewide process for financing and building school facilities, which is a result of the 1998 Students FIRST Act, an education quality lawsuit that established the Arizona School Facilities Board. The author gives an overview of this litigation and its effects in Arizona, including the progress of the School Facilities Board in funding new building and renovation, and areas where the funding mechanism still falls short." This report was released by the Campaign for Educational Equity at the Teachers College, Columbia University. Molly Hunter from the Education Law Center is the author.

New York City PS15's Parent Community called for an independent analysis of the utilization of PS15's school building as it related to the expansion of the PAVE Charter School. Campaign for Fiscal Equity was subsequently contacted because of our extensive work on school facilities and participation in Building Educational Success Together (BEST), a national coalition of partners who are involved with joint development and joint use issues through research, policy, and analysis. CFE asked Mary Filardo, the Executive Director of the 21st Century School Fund and Coordinator of BEST to provide us with an independent analysis.