Four eastern North Carolina school districts have hit the jackpot, being awarded millions in state lottery-funded grants for school construction and renovation projects. But Pitt County Schools did not receive the funding it had sought for security enhancements when the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction announced grants last week.

School districts in Greene and Wilson counties received $42 million each for the construction of new elementary schools, according to NCDPI. Greene County Schools will use the funds to replace West Greene Elementary School in Snow Hill. Wilson County Schools will construct a new Wilson Elementary School to consolidate two outdated elementary schools.

They were among 10 North Carolina school districts that will share more than $392 million in state lottery-funded grant awards for school construction and renovation projects. Five eastern North Carolina districts received the grants aimed at schools in economically distressed counties.

WAYNE, NJ — When Wayne voters rejected the $169.8 million facilities referendum nearly two years ago, the district was left with the same aging buildings, the same infrastructure problems, and few funding sources to address them. A newly filed Comprehensive Maintenance Plan required by the New Jersey Department of Education outlines how Wayne Township Public Schools is managing repairs across all 15 school buildings — and it shows that the work is being funded through annual maintenance appropriations, reserve accounts and, in at least one case, state grant funding tied to preschool facility expansion.

“I wanted to point out something that was a recurring theme — a complaint that people were throwing out there during our referendum," said Board of Ed Trustee, Harry Prassakos. “They were saying, ‘Oh, all these years they never put any money aside for maintenance.’ Well, if you pick up today’s agenda — which I know 99% of residents don’t really read — but if you look at today’s agenda, the November 13, 2025 Regular Meeting agenda, item O.4, we approved the Comprehensive Maintenance Plan, which is a requirement. So every year there is maintenance in the budget."

"That’s what we can budget," he added. “We need to budget more, but we don’t have that money.”

The Wooster City School District board is considering several options for its master facilities plan to address aging buildings, enrollment pressures and long-term financial stability.

Superintendent Gabe Tudor presented the options during a Board of Education meeting Nov. 20. The update outlined approaches designed to meet immediate needs while responding to community feedback about affordability and sustainability.

“For students to thrive, they must have access to safe, comfortable schools,” Tudor said. “These proposed plans reflect both the immediate needs of our students and our commitment to remaining fiscally responsible.”

For more than a decade, the Kuspuk School District asked Alaska's education department for the money to fix a rotting elementary school. The school, in the small and predominantly Indigenous community of Aniak in western Alaska, was in deep need of repairs. The nearby Kuskokwim River had flooded the 88-year-old building several times. The walls were moldy. Sewage was leaking into a space below the school's kitchen.
In 2018, the department finally approved the school district's $18.6 million funding request to build a new elementary school wing onto Aniak's middle and high school building, which was owned by the state.
But on Page 4 of the funding contract for the project, Alaska's education department included a catch.
"The State would only build the new school if the local school board agreed to own it when completed," former superintendent James Anderson said in an email to KYUK Public Media, NPR and ProPublica.
 

INOLA, Okla — The Inola community will vote on a $60 million school bond proposed by Inola Public Schools on Nov 18.
Early voting started Nov 13.
According to Superintendent Jeff Unrau, the bond is aiming to help students study more efficiently, as overcrowding has become an issue.
“We're just totally out of classrooms," he said. "Our faculty, our elementary administration, and our elementary teachers and faculty just do a great job of maintaining what we can do.”
school buildings
Proposed bond would ease cramped Inola school buildings
Inola PS School bond
By: Isabel Flores
Posted 6:10 PM, Nov 16, 2025 and last updated 11:04 PM, Nov 16, 2025
INOLA, Okla — The Inola community will vote on a $60 million school bond proposed by Inola Public Schools on Nov 18.
Early voting started Nov 13.
WATCH: Proposed bond would ease cramped Inola school buildings:

According to Superintendent Jeff Unrau, the bond is aiming to help students study more efficiently, as overcrowding has become an issue.
“We're just totally out of classrooms," he said. "Our faculty, our elementary administration, and our elementary teachers and faculty just do a great job of maintaining what we can do.”
Superintendent Unrau said fifth-grade students have had to be moved to the high school building, with many students already having to study in portable trailers.
He also said there are a few other things the school would have to focus on building.

Educational institutions across Connecticut, from public schools to colleges and universities, continue searching for ways to make their buildings and campuses more environmentally sustainable.
More are installing fuel cells — a form of technology that produces electricity, water and heat through a chemical reaction, without harmful emissions.
Some institutions, like the University of Connecticut, have been using fuel cells for years, and others, like Hamden High School, are turning to them now. Hamden High recently installed its first fuel cell. 
"Hamden, the town and schools, come out a big winner. ... We have a cleaner outcome that offers clean energy, reliable energy and resilience in the event of a disaster," said Gary Hale with Daisy Solutions LLC, which helps schools use clean energy. 
Daisy Solutions works with the Area Cooperative Educational Services, a regional organization that serves 25 school districts in south central Connecticut, to bring renewable energy to school districts. 
 

It’s four steps down, 18 to go.
Three towns in Oxford County took the fourth step last week when voters approved a referendum article to pursue withdrawal from Regional School Unit 10.
The long path ahead is now set. The Maine Department of Education has outlined a 22‑step timeline that towns must follow to withdraw from a school district. The first step came when an ad hoc committee was formed to explore secession.
The Nov. 4 vote marked the fourth step. The total vote was 920 in favor and 609 opposed.
If the process runs its course, the next time voters in the three towns would be involved is the 16th step, which is holding a special town meeting in each community to vote on the agreement of withdrawal. If the agreement passes, the final six steps would involve certification and notification of the results.
Special town meeting votes do not always match early referendum results, but for now the three towns have voted to pursue withdrawal.
The Nov. 4 votes pushed the project into the fifth step, requiring town clerks to officially notify Superintendent Deborah Alden of RSU 10 and Commissioner Pender Makin of the Maine Department of Education of the results. The commissioner, in turn, is expected to direct the towns to appoint a committee to prepare an agreement of withdrawal.
That is the sixth step, and it could come quickly.
 

A proposal to merge some elementary schools and create neighborhood resource centers is under consideration in Pueblo's District 60.

The plan involves combining the student populations from six D60 facilities in three areas of the city, according to a recent press release. The vacated buildings would then be repurposed for pre-schools, staff training and what the district is calling community resource hubs.

This so-called rightsizing proposal will help address declining student numbers across the district and repurpose underutilized buildings, according to a website for the project. The district began the process to address these issues, along with budgetary concerns and input from the public, about a year ago.

Two charter school companies submitted letters to the School District of Manatee County indicating interest in taking over district facilities under a new state law. On Tuesday, Florida’s “Schools of Hope” law went into effect, which allows charter school companies to “co-locate” in unused or underperforming public school facilities. The School District of Manatee County received letters from two companies vying for the same spaces.
Both companies are interested in using Lincoln Memorial Middle School and the Sara Scott Harllee Center as “co-location” sites and transforming them into charter schools. If the facilities are chosen as viable sites, a charter school company could occupy the space while the School District of Manatee County would be responsible for providing cafeteria services, utilities, busing and custodial services.
 

EFFINGHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) – Effingham County residents voted to continue the Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST), keeping funding in place for school construction, facility upgrades and safety improvements across the district.
“Our community is growing, and people want nice schools. They want nice facilities for their children,” district spokesperson Tiffany Altman said.
The one-penny sales tax does not raise property taxes, but it does help the district fund major projects. Altman said those funds have already made a significant impact.
“A lot of our schools have been upgraded recently with new air conditioning systems or new wings. We’ve added a lot of new additions and new wings to a lot of our elementaries because our school and our community’s growing and we needed the space. Nobody wants kids crammed in a classroom,” she said.
One of the largest projects underway is Creekside Elementary, a new school expected to open in fall 2026.
 

Six high schools are set to get either new synthetic turf fields or replacement fields as part of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) proposed six-year capital improvements program (CIP), a plan that sparked debate among county school board members Tuesday over whether the district should move forward with turf or explore installing more natural grass fields.  

MCPS Athletics Director Jeffrey Sullivan and Capital Budget and Projects Manager Donald Connelly joined the school board Tuesday to talk about the proposal for fields during a CIP work session at the school board headquarters at 15 W. Gude Drive in Rockville. They discussed the costs, benefits and drawbacks of natural and turf fields as part of the board’s review of the district’s $2.7 billion proposed CIP plan.  

In recent weeks, the board has held several work sessions to review the proposed CIP, and is expected to vote on the proposal during its Nov. 20 business meeting.   

The CIP calls for the district to spend $15 million during fiscal year 2027 for six turf installations or replacements. The amount also includes money for three or four playground replacements.  

The Lafayette Parish School Board on Thursday advanced plans to remove long-standing portable classrooms from campuses parishwide, citing safety concerns and growing community support for replacing the temporary structures with permanent buildings.
“We truly are investing in the infrastructure in Lafayette Parish,” LPSS Superintendent Francis Touchet said during the meeting.
One of the board’s major actions was declaring several portable buildings as surplus, a step that allows the district to advertise them for sale and eventually remove them from school property.
“That’s a process that’s going to take a couple of years,” said Tracy Wirtz, the district’s communications and public relations specialist.
District officials say the move is part of a broader effort to ensure all students are housed in brick-and-mortar facilities. Many of the portable buildings, originally intended as temporary solutions, have remained on campuses for decades.
“They were never supposed to be permanent fixes,” Wirtz said. “But they stayed there, and for a number of years folks in Lafayette have said we want those portable buildings gone.”
 

Richmond Public Schools officials are picking back up work to outline their major upcoming projects for the next 10 years. 

Patrick Herrel, the division’s new chief operating officer, presented the Richmond School Board with a schedule outlining the development of the division’s 10-year master facility plan at this month’s general Board meeting. 

The plan is expected to be created over the next year in four phases that will heavily include community input, Herrel said. He wants it to balance the need to build new facilities, maintain existing ones and respond to demographic shifts that will lead to changing enrollment numbers.

Under a plan set in place by former Mayor Levar Stoney, RPS will receive lump-sum payments of $212.2 million in 2029 and $237.8 million in 2034 to be used for school construction.

“I mean, $200 million, given how expensive a single building can be to build, can go very, very quickly. And we need to make disciplined and smart decisions about when does it make sense to address deferred maintenance versus when does it make sense to build new?” Herrel told The Richmonder in an interview. 

The LeRoy school district now has enhanced, data-rich school maps, allowing first responders to more quickly respond to emergencies.

Through collaboration with the Emergency Telephone System Board [ETSB], Metcom and Western Illinois University, all LeRoy schools and athletic facilities will have up-to-date info to provide emergency workers. This Geographic Information System [GIS] is provided to schools at no cost because of a grant provided by Illinois State Police. This makes LeRoy the first school in McLean County to do so.

All district property, including all three school buildings in the district and off-site locations like athletic facilities, is mapped to eliminate guesswork for first responders. The maps show data points like room numbers, exit doors, key landmarks, lockdown zones and treatment needs like where an Automated External Defibrillator [AED] or gas shutoff valve can be located. Color coding is also used for fast orientation. Many of these data points are not shown on a standard building layout.

Prince William school officials recently provided insight on nearly $83 million in energy cost savings the division has amassed since 2012.
The eight-figure savings were revealed as part of a comprehensive presentation on the division’s energy and sustainability initiatives
Jessica Weimer, the division’s supervisor of energy management and sustainability, said at the School Board's Nov. 5 meeting the energy and sustainability program is framed by three pillars: building efficient infrastructure, conserving resources and reducing waste.
The division’s goals include integrating environmental literacy, using buildings as teaching tools, reducing emissions and designing and constructing the first net-zero energy school, which is the forthcoming Occoquan Elementary School replacement.
For energy conservation, the division recently completed a feasibility study for potential electrification of its white fleet work vehicles.

Schools across West Virginia are requesting more than a quarter of a billion dollars in state funds for school safety improvements during the 2025-26 school year.
That figure was revealed on Wednesday at the West Virginia Board of Education’s meeting with the presentation of the 2024-25 West Virginia School Safety and Security Report.
“Local counties spent $40,709,676 last year, and then we are requesting $252 million moving forward,” School Facilities Director Micah Whitlow said.
All 55 county school systems, six multicounty vocational centers, two charter schools, and the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind made funding requests for school security. According to Whitlow, that daunting number comes in part due to larger figures requested by state legislators.
“The legislature in the past years has asked what it would cost to put security cameras in all the schools. Some of these numbers include things that the legislature has asked for numbers for, so it kind of has a few different levels of requests there,” he said.
 

The New Haven Board of Education on Monday discussed a report which found that the school district spends $1.70 per square foot on district buildings — a figure that is between roughly 38 percent and 57 percent of the nationally recommended $3 to $4.50 and between 43 percent to 49 percent of what other school districts in suburban Connecticut spend on maintenance: on average, between $3.50 and $4.

The report, first presented to the Board of Education’s finance and operations committee last week by Chief of School Operations Paul Whyte ’93, offers a closer look at the district’s funding shortfalls, which district leaders have cited in their responses to complaints about deteriorating school facilities, unmet repair requests and other maintenance issues throughout NHPS. 

“Good intentions don’t fix roofs,” Matt Wilcox, the chair of the finance and operations committee, said at the board meeting. “The funding to hire people to fix roofs is necessary.”

The funding shortfalls account for long-standing complaints about facilities in NHPS, Wilcox said.

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s consolidation and cost-cutting plan, announced last week, calls for shutting 18 of its buildings – and dropping a handful of leases.
As families, teachers and administrators prepare for major changes to the district’s footprint, neighbors are wondering what’s next for the buildings that get left behind.
Across the city, developers and nonprofits have turned former schools into apartments and, in one case, a manufacturing training center. But other properties owned by CMSD are still sitting vacant, despite years of attempts to find new uses – and the money for renovations.
On Thursday, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said the consolidation presents “a unique opportunity” to reimagine surplus real estate. Standing with CMSD CEO Warren Morgan, flanked by pastors who endorsed the downsizing plan, Bibb said there’s more news to come.
 

Memphis schools’ facilities committee wants a $750 million bond from the Shelby County government to help fund long-term building repairs and closures.

It’s one of many proposals that the group will be presenting to the Memphis-Shelby County school board for approval next week. But there’s a long way to go before those recommendations are put into action.

“This is preliminary, and this is ongoing,” committee co-chair Natalie McKinney said in a meeting Monday.

MSCS leaders are expected to present initial plans on Dec. 16 for what could be a decade-long process of school closures and renovations. This comes after an independent study found this spring that Memphis schools need over $1.6 billion in maintenance repairs over the next 10 years.

When Senate President Milton Potter walked through Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School last week, he didn’t need anyone to explain why students and teachers have been calling for help. The smell of mold lingered in the halls. Buckets caught condensation dripping from ceiling vents. Windows and doors were cracked open in classrooms just to keep the air moving, even as the heat built up inside.

Speaking with the Source afterward, Potter said he was shocked by the extent of the damage — a situation, he added, that “can’t continue” and demands urgent, coordinated attention.

“We definitely can’t function like this,” Potter said, calling for an honest dialogue among all agencies responsible for school infrastructure. “One thing that’s clear is that the relationship between the Bureau of School Construction and Maintenance and the Department of Education is not working in the way it’s perceived to be. The Senate has to have a discussion about what can be done in the interim.”