At an elementary school in southwest Boise, Idaho, in the fall of 2020, children in pre-K went to their recess on the playground, laughing and climbing ladders to reach the slide. One 3-year-old boy sat on the sidelines.

The loose woodchips prevented the boy, who uses a wheelchair, from joining his classmates. There were no swings he could use or textured panels or blocks he could play with. The only student in the class who used a medical stroller, he was relegated to watching his classmates play as a staff member stood with him.

Another year, he often spent recess inside his classroom.

“It was heartbreaking,” said his dad, Grant Schlink, at a neighborhood park where he pushed his son laying back on a swing made of a large circular disk that curved up on the sides. The boy, now 8, sported sunglasses and Converse shoes. The Schlinks requested that their child’s name not be used to protect his privacy.

The playgrounds at Silver Sage Elementary excluded children like Schlink’s son, even though they had been updated by the West Ada School District in 2016 — decades after the Americans with Disabilities Act required new construction to be fully accessible to all students.

A dire warning in Montgomery County about the state of public school buildings as the superintendent says the district is running out of money.
FOX 5's Maureen Umeh was at Magruder High School. It's one of the campuses that has been in need of repair for decades now, and those repairs may not come even if money is available. That's because  MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor says there simply is not enough money to fix all the schools in the county that need help. He says, on top of that, enrollment has been declining sharply.
Aging schools in crisis
Umeh says Montgomery County Public Schools has faced criticism for repeatedly requesting increased funding without fully accounting for inflation and long-term cost escalation. Officials say the district’s annual budget appeals to the county council overlook key financial factors, leading to recurring shortfalls.
Taylor is asking for $2.7 billion over six years to replace and renovate dozens of aging buildings, including Eastern Middle, Sligo Middle, and Damascus High School. Silver Spring International Middle School would close altogether under his proposal. MCPS operates more than 230 buildings, and many are more than 50 years old. Now Taylor says even that multi-billion dollar ask only covers half of the actual facility needs. Parents say something needs to be done now.
 

HAGERSTOWN- The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed a bill that could “facilitate the process by which school facilities are assessed and prioritized.

House Bill 1701 was introduced by Representatives Elizabeth Fiedler, Lindsay Powell, Tarik Khan, and Tarah Probst prior to being passed last week.

“You can’t fix a problem until you know the scope of what you’re dealing with, and this bill gets us to that place,” Fiedler said. “H.B. 1701 would help us compile comprehensive data on Pennsylvania’s school buildings and ensure that recommendations on our most urgent funding needs are made by experts. That way, we can move quickly and efficiently to support schools in making repairs.”

Fiedler noted that a wide scope of important building information would be provided, including the age of the buildings and their renovation history, building size and enrollment capacity. The assessments would also consider factors such as heating and ventilation, ADA compliance and environmental risk factors such as asbestos and mold.

Margate Middle School has once again found itself in the center of Broward County’s ongoing facilities crisis. The latest Facility Condition Assessment (FCA), presented to the School Board ahead of the October 21, 2025 workshop, estimates $50.5 million in repair and replacement needs at the school, making it one of the costliest middle school sites in the district.

Located at 500 NW 65th Avenue, Margate Middle’s aging campus received a 10-year Facility Condition Index (FCI) of 22.4%, according to Bureau Veritas’ analysis. In facility terms, that score indicates a building nearing the end of its useful service life. The FCI compares the cost of required repairs with the cost of full replacement. A facility exceeding 20% is generally classified as being in “poor” condition, signaling extensive deferred maintenance and high renovation urgency.

The assessment comes as Margate Middle remains years behind on its promised SMART Program renovations, despite more than $23.5 million already allocated for upgrades. Those improvements originally approved under the 2014 General Obligation Bond include new roofs, HVAC systems, fire alarms, restrooms, and updated art and music labs. As of June 2025. The school was classified as in “active construction” according to the September 2025 District Educational Facilities Plan publication.

The FCA report, combined with previous project data, paints a picture of a school long overdue for substantial investment. Modular classrooms intended to support phased renovation are still in limited use as contractors finalize plumbing and safety systems. Meanwhile, critical infrastructure like electrical systems and air conditioning units continue to age past their intended lifespan.

GREAT BARRINGTON — Should Berkshire Hills Regional School District taxpayers spend $89 million on a brand new building for Monument Mountain Regional High School or put that money toward repairing the current one?

That’s the question voters in Great Barrington, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge will answer Nov. 4 when they decide whether to allow the district to borrow $152 million and if the towns can override the Massachusetts Proposition 2 1/2 that limits how much property taxes can increase each year.

No matter what, taxpayers will be on the hook for major expenses. The 60-year-old school has reached the end of its natural life and requires significant repairs if it’s not replaced.

The Middleton School District celebrated the completion of a new facility — Middleton Career Campus: Construction — with a ribbon cutting and open house on Monday. 
Around 100 people gathered at the event, including Middleton Mayor Jackie Hutchison and Rep. Mike Moyle.
Food trucks and refreshments marked the occasion while attendees toured the new facility, which started construction in February.
Middleton high school students will learn technical construction skills as well as construction-oriented math and English in the new facility, Middleton Superintendent Marc Gee explained to the crowd.
In the new facility, students will switch between a lab, where they practice handiwork and technical skills, and classrooms, where they'll be instructed in math and English as they apply to the trade.
The facility cost around $2 million, which came from an Idaho Career Ready Students Grant, and Idaho House Bill 521, a bill passed in 2024 that issued public school districts funds to modernize their facilities. Steel for the building was donated by Rob and Nancy Roberts of R&M Steel, a Caldwell-based metal building manufacturer.
 

Bulloch County residents will soon have the opportunity to voice their opinion on the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, which has been responsible for the funding of important projects over the last two decades.
Bulloch County Schools has voted to place a continuation of the current 1 cent sales tax on the municipal election ballot set for November 4, 2025. 
This education special purpose local option sales tax (E-SPLOST) only exists for a five-year period and must be periodically voted on by Bulloch County’s registered voters. Bulloch County Schools is currently in its fifth E-SPLOST cycle, which will end on December 31, 2027.
It is currently estimated that one penny of sales tax revenues is the equivalent of five mills of property tax revenues. The alternative to a sales tax is an increase in property taxes, paid by Bulloch County property owners.
 

On Thursday, the School Committee gave administrators direction on how to proceed with HVAC projects at the middle and high schools.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Susan Rothermich gave a presentation on how to accomplish these projects without putting more debt and tax burden on the community.
“We’re trying to time [this] out to have little or no impact,” Rothermich said.
At the high school, the budget cost for the geothermal water to water heat pump (WWHP) system totals $18.9 million. MassSave and Federal Tax Credits are $1.3 million and $6.4 million, respectively.
Rothermich said the WWHP option is most favorable, with baseline energy savings of $6,500 and cooling adjustment energy savings of $86,000. The savings on geothermal is more than what would be achieved replacing in kind what currently exists and adding cooling.
The net cost comparisons would be $11.2 million for geothermal and $11.5 million for traditional plus cooling.
Rothermich spoke about the debt for the Charleswood School project, noting the construction contract is $22,684,689 under budget and contingency is $9,472,944 under budget, for a total of $38 million under budget.
Rothermich emphasized, “However, the project is early on and there will be change orders; $38 million will not be the number, but it gives you an idea of the magnitude where we stand [now].”
 

New Mexico public school districts have begun receiving portions of $35 million appropriated during the regular legislative session earlier this year for school security and safety improvements during the 2026 fiscal year.

The funds were appropriated through House Bill 450, which set aside funds for myriad capital outlay projects across the state. That includes include $50 for school security, continuing technical education equipment, school maintenance and repair, of which $35 million will benefit security upgrades. Majority Whip Sen. Michael Padilla (D-Albuquerque) advocated for including the security and safety fund appropriation in the bill.

“The objective here is to make sure that the school grounds are safe, warm, inviting. That they’re a place of learning, not a place that you need to be worried about going to,” Padilla told Source NM.

North Bend School District 13 told the board on Oct. 15 it has joined the Oregon Department of Education’s statewide facility assessment program and expects a free, comprehensive five-year capital-improvement plan to identify deferred maintenance and costs.

"This is coming to us for free, which I think is this it's amazing that we're able to get on board with this," the superintendent said, describing the statewide assessment that will produce a transparent list of deferred-maintenance priorities and costs and help the district budget for projects.

The superintendent also reported that the North Bend Middle School control and boiler replacement project has been completed and that the district plans to refurbish the removed boilers for future use at North Bay while it awaits a larger seismic retrofit scheduled for summer 2027 or 2028.

From preschool to high school, officials in Naperville School District 203 have unveiled updates to specific school improvement plans for each of the nearly two-dozen educational buildings that serve students of all ages and skill levels.

The Naperville 203 board of education has in place a policy that requires administrators report on school-specific improvement plans annually. Each school’s specific goals are encapsulated in a document available on Board Docs, the portal the district uses to upload board of education meeting materials. 

The Naperville 203 board had a preliminary discussion of the school improvement plans at its Monday, Sept. 22 meeting, and adoption of the documents is scheduled at the Monday, Oct. 6 meeting.

DETROIT — What was once an abandoned middle school just steps away from Michigan Central Station is now becoming a nonprofit center designed around artistry, creativity and connection.
Spread across multiple buildings, Kintsugi Village is set to open with an early childhood education center, artist incubator, culinary kitchen, retreat space and outdoor gardens. All of these combined are meant to create what co-founder Paul Spiegelman calls “a place where people can grow, create and connect.” 
“We believe that when we come together, we can build something truly beautiful, one piece at a time," Spiegelman said in a recent news release. “This campus is about resilience, connection, and embracing the beauty in our stories and in each other.”
Kintsugi Village officials say they aim to give artists, educators and families a shared "home base" that can be a workshop, classroom or studio to encourage collaboration between programs that don’t typically share the same roof.
 

A protest outside Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School Wednesday morning drew attention to ongoing maintenance problems in the territory’s schools, including failing air conditioning units.

Craig Benjamin, executive director of the Bureau of School Construction and Maintenance, acknowledged the issues and pointed to staffing and funding shortages as major obstacles to making repairs.

“The thing that I know is bothering them, and us, is that the classrooms are hot,” said Benjamin, referring to the protesters voicing their frustration over the failing air conditioning units on campus.

Benjamin explained that the bureau is responsible for maintaining more than 760 air conditioning units across the district, with only two government-employed technicians available to handle repairs.

BOSTON (SHNS) – Suburban districts are disproportionately benefiting through the state program used to help fund large school building projects across Massachusetts, and a new report calls on policymakers to reexamine why and how the state could address the resulting inequity.

Despite major public investments in recent years, the report by the MassINC Policy Center and the Worcester Regional Research Bureau found that students in Boston and “gateway cities” are more likely than their suburban counterparts to “learn in buildings that are deteriorating, lacking in basic features, and often cramped and overcrowded.”

“We’re seeing, just based on the invitation outcomes, who’s being invited to do these significant rebuilds or these significant renovation projects. We’re seeing suburban districts benefiting more than our urban and gateway city schools,” Anthony Clough, research associate at the Worcester Regional Research Bureau, said Tuesday at a briefing following the report’s release. 

The report, co-authored by Clough, found that schools with the best “building condition ratings” have received nearly two-thirds of program invitations since 2015. 

At its October work session, the Waseca School Board went over the comprehensive facilities condition assessment prepared by consulting firm ICS for the first time, a week after the District Facilities Committee reviewed the building by building reports.

Superintendent Eric Hudspith praised ICS for providing thorough assessments of facilities needs at each of the district buildings, providing a “report card” of sorts for each building while ranking the priority level of each needed repair on a 1-4 scale.

The report also provided a broad overview of the systems across each of the district’s buildings, with Hudspith expressing relief that no systems in any building were rated as in “critical” condition, the category in most urgent need of repairs.

The report comes in the context of continued work on the Long Term Facilities Maintenance Plan, a top board priority this year. In particular, Hartley Elementary School is known to have particularly acute facilities maintenance needs as the district’s second oldest building.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 503 into law on October 1, 2025. Effective immediately, AB 503 amends the Civic Center Act (Education Code section 38130 et seq.) to restore the definition of “Direct Costs” that expired on January 1, 2025.

Under the Civic Center Act, school districts may charge outside entities an amount not exceeding their direct costs for the use of school facilities and grounds. “Direct Costs” include the expenses for supplies, utilities, janitorial services, services of school district employees, and salaries paid to school district employees necessitated by the entity’s use of the facilities or grounds, commonly referred to as operating costs.

In 2012, SB 1404 expanded “Direct Costs” to also include a proportionate share of maintenance, repair, restoration, and refurbishment costs—commonly known as capital costs—based on the outside entity’s use of the school facilities and grounds. This provision was set to expire on January 1, 2020, but was extended to January 1, 2025, by AB 1303 in 2019.

SOUTHBURY — A group charged with assessing the future of Region 15’s two oldest school buildings has recommended constructing new schools rather than renovating the existing ones. 
The Feasibility Study Committee’s preferred options for updating Gainfield and Pomperaug elementary schools in Southbury include: combining the two schools on a new campus; constructing new buildings on the existing school sites; or building a new Pomperaug Elementary School at a new location, while Gainfield would get a new building at its existing Old Field Road site, according to Jeffrey Wyszynski, a principal at Tecton Architects, the firm hired to oversee the study. 

LAFAYETTE, La. (NEWS 15) — Lafayette Parish School System is moving ahead with plans to invest more than $30 million in school upgrades across the district. The school board unanimously approved the spending plan, which includes the construction of over 40 classrooms at three elementary schools.

Broussard Elementary, Ernest Gallet Elementary, and Westside Elementary will see significant improvements, including replacing outdated portable buildings with new permanent structures.

Broadmoor Elementary is set to receive an upgrade worth over $8 million. The A-rated school will add a two-story building, replacing 11 Butler buildings that currently hold 19 classrooms.

"And then, children transitioning outside, to go from class to class, in an open environment. Like, weather days, it is rough if you have really bad weather, then you have to move them inside to shelter and keep them safe," Broadmoor Elementary Principal Tracy Sanders said.

Green grass instead of asphalt now takes center stage at the playground at Riverwest Elementary School through a Green and Healthy Schoolyard project.

Milwaukee Public Schools and its partners held a celebration Oct 1. to mark the completion of that playground and four others.

Work was completed in September at Humboldt Park School, Albert E. Kagel School, Riverwest Elementary School, Samuel Clemens School and Walt Whitman School. At each school, asphalt was removed and more "play-friendly" features were installed, including soccer fields, green play areas, other recreational areas, outdoor classrooms and more. The projects also included stormwater green infrastructure.

Each year, the nonprofit Reflo works with MPS, the City of Milwaukee and other groups through its Green and Healthy Schoolyards program to design and redevelop five greener, healthier schoolyards. The five schools completed this year bring the total number of schools with Green and Healthy Schoolyards to 36. This year's projects cost $7.6 million and were paid for through a combination of grants, partnership and philanthropic support and school fundraisers.

STANFORD, Ky. — The Lincoln County Facility Planning Committee voted Sept. 25 to approve a draft plan outlining future school construction and renovation priorities. The plan now moves to the Board of Education for consideration in November.  The committee voted 7-4 in favor of the plan, which designates each school in the district as either “permanent” or “transitional.” Schools listed as permanent are eligible for restricted funds for reconstruction or repairs, while schools listed as transitional are not, except in emergencies.
Under the new plan, Hustonville Elementary is the only school designated as transitional. Highland Elementary and Waynesburg Elementary, both previously listed as transitional, are now marked permanent, making them eligible for restricted facility funds.