RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) signed a slew of school-focused bills on Monday aimed at strengthening schools and supporting students.

On Monday, May 18, Spanberger held a ceremonial signing of the bipartisan legislation at an event at Highland Springs High School in the eastern part of Henrico County, with a goal of addressing the teacher shortages and school construction processes.

CHEYENNE — As student enrollment continues to decline around the state, lawmakers met Tuesday to discuss volatile insurance markets and school facility funding formulas that impact education in Wyoming going forward.

The Wyoming Legislature’s Select Committee on School Facilities met to evaluate the state’s multi-billion-dollar portfolio of K-12 buildings. Lawmakers wrestled with how to maintain “right-sized” schools in a “boom and bust state” while addressing growing frustrations over charter school leasing and local infrastructure demands that drive up construction costs.

Since the late 1950s, Pfc. James D. Price Elementary School has educated thousands of military students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade.

Located on the Howard Cantonment Area of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), the school is full of heart but has long shown its age.

The facility lacks a production kitchen to prepare hot lunches for students and other school infrastructure considered ordinary in the modern day.

That’s about to change, though, after the Department of War last September approved an $8 million grant for Yuma Elementary School District (YESD) # 1 to partially fund construction of a new building. 

The Alaska House approved a capital budget totaling about $2.51 billion, with roughly $1.84 billion expected from federal receipts.

The largest construction categories include $323.4 million for drinking water and wastewater work, $148.3 million for K-12 school repairs and construction, and $42.5 million for University of Alaska projects.

The finance package is larger than last year’s lean capital plan, but it still does not erase Alaska’s long-running deferred-maintenance backlog.

The Alaska House has advanced a roughly $2.5 billion capital budget for fiscal 2027, pushing forward a construction package centered on repairs, public facilities, and federally backed infrastructure work statewide.

The Alaska Beacon reported on May 15, 2026, that the House passed the bill 24-16 and sent it back to the Senate, which had previously approved its own version 19-0. Senate aides told the Beacon they did not expect senators to object to the House’s additions.

Columbus City Schools announced $60 million in capital improvement projects at a Monday morning press conference. Planned projects include heating and air conditioning replacement, roof replacements and parking lot improvements at 11 schools.

America’s schools are crumbling.

There’s black mold in buildings in Alaska and Maine. Classrooms in New Jersey and Texas lack proper heating and cooling. And there are persistent plumbing problems in Idaho and Pennsylvania.

America’s aging school infrastructure is by one measure a nearly $90 billion problem. Federal leaders have acknowledged it since at least the 1980s but have declined to address it. Local school districts and state governments also haven’t solved it — in some cases, even after being ordered by a court to do so.

It’s a problem so big that one congressional candidate running to represent parts of Philadelphia — where the cost of repairing and upgrading public schools could cost up to $10 billion — is making it the centerpiece of his campaign. After struggling to find solutions in the Pennsylvania Legislature, state Sen. Sharif Street, a Democrat, believes only the federal government has the resources to tackle this issue. He thinks a $500 billion block grant proposal could find bipartisan support in a Congress and a country deeply divided on the federal government’s role in education.

The Arkansas State Board of Education approved Thursday an emergency rule to implement new legislation governing the creation of newly formed smaller school districts. During April’s session, lawmakers approved legislation outlining the process for providing funding and separating assets when a school district detaches from a district it was previously consolidated with to form an isolated district.

Stacy Smith, Deputy Commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education, told the board the emergency rule expands access to funding that has been provided to districts after they are consolidated or annexed. Under the change, the funding would also be available to a district that lost territory due to a detachment.

JUNEAU — The Alaska House voted Friday to adopt a capital budget that would allocate nearly $150 million toward K-12 school building repairs and construction.

The bill directs nearly $350 million in state funds to infrastructure investments across the state, more than doubling Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s original proposal of spending $159 million in state funds on such projects.

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 290 this week, sponsored by State Senator Tom Patton (R-Strongsville) and State Senator Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester), requiring public and private schools in Ohio to install an exterior master key lock box to ensure law enforcement have access to the building in case of an emergency.

State school construction board reports local shares of annual funding are $1.25B to the state share of $430M. Concern continues amongst IAC board members that state contributions are not keeping pace with need. 
During a regularly scheduled meeting of the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) Executive Director Alex Donahue shared insights on the FY27 state capital budget and sat for questions from board members. Donahue’s remarks included a description of the financial needs statewide in school construction along with an overview of state and local allocations.

California public schools are in the midst of a long-running trend of declining enrollment. Enrollment fell this past year by nearly 75,000 students. Since 2015–16, enrollment has dropped in all but one year, and there are now nearly 500,000 fewer students in public TK–12 schools. Declines have been substantial in many coastal regions, while the Central Valley has seen enrollment increase. However, all regions are projecting lower enrollment over the next decade.

This year, the statewide decline in enrollment accelerated. At 1.3%, the drop in enrollment in 2025–26 was over 2.5 times larger than the average annual decline experienced over the past three years. It also exceeded the decline projected by the California Department of Finance (0.2%). This difference was primarily driven by larger-than-expected declines across high school grades. Another factor was slower growth in transitional kindergarten compared to projections.

MONROE, Conn. — First Selectman Terry Rooney presented a proposal for a new Facilities Planning Committee to assess town and school building needs, and lead capital projects, to the Town Council, which unanimously approved its creation Monday night.

Critics contend that at least one member of the Ad Hoc Facilities Committee, which assessed capital and space needs of all of Monroe’s schools and recommended a renovation and reuse of Chalk Hill as a school, should have been chosen to serve on the new committee to share knowledge gained from the experience.

The cost of school construction is going up with no end in sight, leading to continued pressure on school districts' --- and taxpayers' --- pocketbooks.

That's according to state data and data compiled by the Wake County Public School System, which is set to present its findings to the Wake school board's facilities committee Tuesday.

The committee was scheduled to discuss the findings last month, before a power outage at the school district's headquarters canceled committee meetings for that day.

School systems are now paying tens of millions of dollars more for every new school and replacement school than they did just a few years ago.

The rising costs are adding up to rising bond requests that taxpayers ultimately foot the bill for. The school board voted in April to ask county commissioners to put a $680 million bond issue on the November ballot, though school leaders believe they have more than $830 million in needs, mostly for renovation, during the years of the bond, the 2028 and 2029 school years. It's likely to require a property tax increase, though it's unclear how much.

Last summer, as the district faced a massive budget deficit, Chicago Public Schools cut nearly 500 custodian positions, or close to one-fifth of full-time staffers who cleaned schools, and ended all private custodial contracts.

Then, three months into this school year, complaints rolled in through a district survey of 168 principals and 423 custodians: Three-quarters of principals indicated they didn’t have enough custodians on staff to meet their cleaning needs, and at least 40% asked the district for more staff. Nearly two-thirds of custodians said their tasks were difficult to manage given the size of their buildings and the number of people on their team.

The survey responses from late November, obtained by Chalkbeat through a Freedom of Information Act request, are a window into how the custodial staffing changes have impacted school cleanliness — and the potential challenges ahead in maintaining hygienic environments for kids and staff. Many custodians signaled that they were not equipped to clean schools well. Principals said they were picking up trash and cleaning spills or vomit. A few schools had new pest issues.

Across the country, Transitional Kindergarten is moving from pilot to policy, from niche offering to a foundational layer of public education. As districts expand access, a practical question comes into focus: where do four-year-olds fit within systems built for older children? 

The answer is beginning to reshape the physical environment of schools in ways both subtle and consequential. Transitional Kindergarten is not a program that can simply be absorbed into existing classrooms. It asks for spaces tailored to a different stage of development, where independence is emerging but not yet assumed, and where the first experience of school can shape a child’s long-term relationship to learning. 

Design, in this context, becomes less about accommodation and more about calibration. 

A Different Kind of Classroom  
Traditional elementary classrooms are organized around independence and routine. Transitional Kindergarten operates on a more fluid threshold. Students are learning how to be at school, and the environment plays a central role in that transition. 

Classrooms are larger, more flexible and intentionally zoned. Distinct areas for quiet reading, active play, group instruction, and sensory exploration allow students to move between modes of learning with clarity. Fixtures, storage and visual cues are scaled to a child’s perspective, supporting autonomy without overwhelming choice. In-class restrooms reduce disruption and reinforce independence, while material shifts from soft flooring to durable surfaces support a range of activities throughout the day. 

These intentional adjustments shape how students navigate space, build confidence and begin to understand the rhythms of school. 

Ashley Gardner’s classroom is often overwhelmingly hot or uncomfortably cold. Sometimes it smells like sewage. When it snows, the roof leaks.
It’s where the Wooster High School teacher works – alongside an occasional mouse and endless ants – while expecting her students to show up ready to learn.
“Could you effectively learn in that environment?” Gardner asked Washoe County School District's capital funding protection committee at its April 30 meeting. “These are not minor inconveniences. These are daily conditions that affect learning, teaching, safety and student dignity.”
The future of Wooster, built in 1962 and one of the district's oldest high schools, remains uncertain, even after being "promised" a new school.
"We had originally planned for a rebuild," Trustee Beth Smith said at an April school board meeting.
She said she knows nothing is set in stone, but the Wooster community believed a new school was coming. So did the school board. A new building was as close to a promise as one could be, she said.
 

Plans to redevelop the Claude O. Markoe and Alexander Henderson schools on St. Croix are moving through the review process, but Thursday’s public meeting before the Coastal Zone Management Commission made clear that the projects are being shaped by three major pressures: student and community safety, rising construction costs, and the challenge of managing work around active school operations.

The meeting focused on federal determination applications for both campuses. Officials from the Virgin Islands Department of Education, along with representatives from the master planning and contracting firms working on the projects, presented an overview of what the new schools are expected to look like and how they are intended to function.
 

Superintendent Tony Watlington reiterated in a Thursday statement that the purpose of Philadelphia’s school facilities plan has been to address “the challenges of aging, underutilized, and overcrowded school buildings,” while also expanding equitable access to high-quality academics and extracurricular activities. 

Though the district’s overall enrollment slightly increased by 106 to a total 198,405 students between the 2024-25 to 2025-26 school years, those figures vary by the type of school, including traditional, charter, alternative, and cyber charter schools. 

Last year, the district noted a 12% enrollment decline — amounting to a loss of 15,546 students — between the 2014-15 and 2024-25 school years. That dip comes as the School District of Philadelphia’s alternative school enrollment rose by 3.1%, its charter school enrollment decreased by 0.5%, and its cyber charter school enrollment jumped over 2,500%, with 13,705 more students in the same 10-year period.

Public school systems across the country are entering a period of sustained enrollment decline, driven by a convergence of demographic and behavioral shifts, particularly evident along Colorado’s Front Range. Over the next five years, the state is projected to lose more than 15,000 children ages 0–17, as persistently low birth rates, high housing costs, an aging population and slower immigration reduce the number of school-aged students. 

With more families considering online programs, private schools or homeschooling, public schools across the country are facing declines in student enrollment, accelerating enrollment losses that exceeded 10,000 students this year alone, the largest drop since COVID-19. According to projections from the National Center for Education Statistics, this downward trend is expected to continue nationally, placing increasing pressure on district funding, staffing and long-term planning, especially in high-poverty communities where per-pupil revenue is critical. 

Public school systems are moving beyond one-off solar installations, folding distributed generation into broader infrastructure strategies. A recent partnership between Ameresco and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) shows how districts are aligning clean energy goals with long-term facility planning.
Two rooftop systems—installed at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School and Germantown Elementary School—are expected to generate nearly 1 million kilowatt-hours annually. While modest on their own, they represent part of a wider push to reduce operating costs and increase on-site energy production.

From Pilot Projects to Portfolio Approach
What sets this effort apart is its scale and structure. The solar installations sit within a $23 million energy savings performance contract (ESPC) covering 25 schools. Rather than focusing only on generation, the program integrates multiple upgrades, including advanced energy management systems and LED lighting retrofits.