HARRISBURG — In the flurry of last-minute dealmaking to approve this year’s state budget, legislators tucked in eleventh-hour language that relaxes Pennsylvania's rules for publicly reporting the results of lead tests on school drinking water.

State law does not require schools to test for lead, as long as the topic is discussed at a public meeting annually. But if schools do test, they were previously required to report any finding above zero to the state so the results could be posted publicly.

Researchers at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University found that neighborhoods surrounding long-vacant schools saw a 10 percent increase in gun violence compared to similar neighborhoods where schools didn’t close.

Massachusetts School Building Authority bond ratings remain at the top end of the scale as dedicated sales tax revenues continue to support strong debt repayment capacity. Fitch Ratings also removes the bonds from Under Criteria Observation and maintains a Stable Outlook, underscoring the resilience of pledged revenues under stress scenarios.

The Jacksonville Office of Inspector General released a new report Wednesday, alleging unpermitted and uninspected renovations inside Duval County school kitchens resulting in "potential life-safety defects" for both staff and students.

The findings were made during a procurement and safety compliance review, initiated in September 2025, of more than $30 million in food services funding managed by the Duval County school district.

The Wake County Public School System will pay $5.6 million to several contractors to repair and reassess structural deficiencies at three schools recently deemed "unsafe" for students.

Superintendent Robert Taylor provided an update to the Wake County Board of Education on Tuesday on the repairs and the contingency plans for each school in case work isn't done before the school year is set to begin.

The New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) has acquired sites for three new schools in Long Island City in the first major development of the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan.

SCA announced last month that it has reached initial agreements to acquire three sites in the neighborhood following the inaugural meeting of the OneLIC Oversight Task Force. 

Thousands of schools constructed during the postwar building boom are reaching the end of their useful lives, prompting districts to weigh costly renovations against replacement facilities designed for modern learning, technology, energy efficiency, and student services.

Key Highlights

Post-WWII suburban expansion led to a construction boom that shaped the American school infrastructure for decades.
Many mid-20th-century schools are now aging, with over half of districts needing significant updates or replacements.
Renovation costs can sometimes exceed the cost of new construction, especially when hidden issues are discovered during upgrades.
Modern educational models require flexible, energy-efficient, and technologically advanced school facilities, often lacking in older buildings.
Districts across the U.S. are investing in new schools, replacing outdated structures to improve safety, efficiency, and learning environments.

More than $751,000 in federal disaster funding has been approved to help repair six Guam Department of Education facilities damaged by Super Typhoon Mawar.

Congressman James Moylan announced Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has obligated $751,714.97 in Public Assistance funding for school repair projects. The funding will help restore building exteriors, interiors, exterior sites, contents and other damaged components at six GDOE facilities.

Buildings and republics are both susceptible to deferred maintenance. The mold that develops from roof leaks addressed only with buckets, the concentration of power among wealthy elites and corporations resulting from unfettered dark money, and the loss of voting rights that comes from passing legislation designed to suppress the vote — these are all examples of how both buildings and democratic institutions deteriorate without proactive care.

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The average public school building in America is now 49 years old. In more than half of U.S. school districts, those buildings require significant repairs or full replacement. Too many students are trying to prepare for a 21st-century economy in facilities that are no longer capable of supporting a 21st-century education.

Today’s healthy schools are transforming classrooms and better supporting students by moving away from sedentary, punitive approaches to tailored, whole-child environments. They factor in healthy meals and learning environments, including indoor air quality (IAQ) and comfort, aside from improved teaching methods.  

IAQ in schools is of particular importance to students, affecting learning experiences and overall long-term welfare. As the U.S. EPA reports, most people spend around 90% of their time indoors, where the levels of some pollutants can be two, five, or even over 100 times higher than outdoor levels.

CAMP POINT, Ill. — The Camp Point Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution to place a 1% countywide school facilities sales tax on the November ballot. If approved by Adams County voters in the November 3 general election, the tax is estimated to generate almost $700,000 annually for the district.

Superintendent Erica Smith noted that the funds would be limited to school maintenance, resource officers and mental health professionals. While she said the district has no immediate concerns or pressing repair projects, the revenue would provide an essential safety net of funds to maintain the aging infrastructure, including buildings from the 1950s and 1970s.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — The Rhode Island Department of Education announced the release of a comprehensive report that documents changes and progress made in the Providence Public School District since the state’s intervention in 2019.

The state took control of the school district following a 2019 Johns Hopkins University report that detailed widespread academic, operational, and facility failures throughout the district.

The city took back control of the district earlier this month.

WOOD RIVER JCT. — The Chariho School Committee on Tuesday reviewed updates to the Stage II Necessity of School Construction Application for the proposed unified elementary school campus, including a draft Bureau Veritas Report assessing the condition of all schools in the district.

Superintendent of Schools Gina Picard said in the fall of 2024, Bureau Veritas was contracted by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) to create a comprehensive facility assessment of every school in the state, which is part of state law. The report gives the General Assembly information to make decisions regarding state infrastructure for schools.

LANSING – Students in more than 80 schools in 31 Michigan districts will benefit from improved learning environments due to $224 million in state grants being awarded for projects to address critical needs that include heating, ventilation and air conditioning and roofs.

Falling birth rates suggest that Illinois’ declining public school enrollment will continue, a reality that should inform decisions of education policymakers.

The National Center for Education Statistics projected in early 2024 that Illinois public school enrollment would fall to 1.8 million students by 2030, but the number had already dropped to almost that low for the 2024-25 school year, according to state data.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a major factor in the decline in, but enrollment had already been falling for years. Year-over-year enrollment in Illinois increased only two times over the past 15 school years.

HARRISBURG, July 17 – State Reps. Elizabeth Fiedler, D-Phila.; Lindsay Powell, D-Allegheny; Tarik Khan, D-Phila.; and Tarah Probst, D-Monroe/Pike, on Thursday celebrated the inclusion of the school facilities inventory in the fiscal year 2026-27 state budget.

Introduced in 2024, the school facilities inventory was designed to address the urgent issue of outdated and unsafe school buildings in Pennsylvania, an issue that leads to educational disparities for students across the state. The statewide public school building inventory will allow the Department of Education and other experts to make recommendations for repairs using comprehensive, up-to-date information about building conditions and the most urgent needs in the state.

DENVER — With 90 degree days here to stay, many Denver kids may just be feeling relieved that they're not learning in the heat.

Denver Public Schools has been working throughout the years to install AC in schools but there's still more than 20 currently without it. So the district is using the summer months to get the cool air in for more children.

Public schools in North Carolina are facing billions of dollars in unfunded school construction projects, and a lottery-supported grant program is only able to address a fraction of the requests it receives.

As one of the state’s poorest school districts, Halifax County hasn’t had enough funding to make needed repairs and renovations to its oldest schools. Hollister Elementary School was built in 1960 to serve the small rural community about 70 miles northeast of Raleigh (home to the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe), and the building looks much as it did when it first opened.

The General Assembly approved amendments to Sections 58.1-605.1 and 58.1-606.1 to allow all Virginia cities and counties to put forth a referendum to their voters to give the locality the power to impose an additional 1% sales and use tax in the locality, provided the revenues from the additional tax may only be used for school capital projects.  In order to appear on the November 3 ballot, Virginia localities must petition and have an order from the local circuit court on the referendum question by August 14.