LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools wants to spend millions of dollars on a plan to rebuild and renovate schools over the next four years, starting in 2023.
The district's chief operations officer said there is over $1 billion in unmet facility needs at JCPS schools, and district leaders said they're already working on improvements.
The schools chosen to be built, or rebuilt, were not only picked because of the state of their current buildings — whether they are too old, too small, or past the point of renovation — but also the needs of its student population. 
"I would say I remember the schools that I went to already seeming rundown," Brock Barnett, former JCPS student, said. "It makes sense to start rebuilding."
JCPS said it's time to start tackling its most serious facility needs. 
"Historically, what we've done at JCPS just because of available bonding capacity and capital dollars allocated, is to just renovate buildings to keep them afloat, if you will," said Chris Perkins, JCPS' chief operations officer. 
The district has already discussed building a new Grace James Academy, W.E.B. DuBois Academy, and a new west end middle school. New to the list is a brand new Seneca High School, as well as Kerrick and Okolona Elementary schools. For middle schools, Westport Middle and Olmstead Academy South, and a new early childhood center.
 

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) updated the Texas school safety standards earlier this month to amend certain safety requirements for schools to follow. 
“In light of recent events, ongoing public concern, and the charge by Governor Abbott, the Commissioner… is proposing §61.1031 to address school safety and ensure minimum school safety standards to address the safety of students and staff alike in our public schools,” said the TEA.
In the new standards, the TEA established modifications structurally and systematically for school districts to adopt. The TEA is also providing grant opportunities for school districts seeking funding for the upgrades needed and schools must implement these plans for construction or modification during the 2022-2023 school year. August of 2023 is the deadline to have a contractor procured.
First, the TEA outlined structural requirements for school facilities to modify. The TEA outlined that if the school has a wall or fence, it must be at least 6 feet high and have unscalable measures to it. Or it must be 8 feet high. If it is gated, school districts must prevent the gate openings from being accessed from the outside without a key or system to unlock it. 
 

UPDATED, Dec. 1, 11:08 a.m., to include the total taxpayers would pay per $100,000 of taxable property ($91), based on what the district is currently collecting ($59) and would collect ($32) if the new bond issue passes.

The Nampa School District decided to put a $210.2 million bond on the ballot in March to replace two schools and build a new career and technical center, among other projects. 

The district’s board of trustees voted during a special meeting Monday to float the bond, a decision that comes after Idaho Falls School District’s $250 million bond failed earlier this month. 

If passed with the required two-thirds majority, the bond would go toward replacing, renovating, and maintaining facilities and improving student access to special education, preschool, fine arts, and athletics programs. The district says the bond financing will lead to students in every part of town having equal facilities and opportunities. 

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the first round of a new grant that will fund energy improvements in schools.
The Renew America’s Schools grant program provides a total of $500 million in funding. The first round of grants will provide up to $80 million for schools to install energy efficient lighting and HVAC systems, improve the insulation of their buildings, switch to electric vehicles, and convert facilities to renewable energy sources like solar and wind.
The grant program was included in the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that President Joe Biden signed Nov. 15. While it touches on key priorities of green building advocates, the grant falls far short of the $100 billion in new federal funding for school infrastructure Biden originally proposed.
The Energy Department “is working diligently to deploy these critical funds so that schools can start turning infrastructure improvements into healthier learning environments and big cost savings, as soon as possible,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement Tuesday.
Here’s what you need to know.
 

The D.C. agency responsible for maintenance and repairs in school buildings and other government property has “multiple failures” in the way it manages work orders, according to a report from the city’s auditor.
The report, released Monday, described the Department of General Services’ use of a management system that is supposed to help it handle service requests. But auditors said the system has “serious shortcomings” — including incomplete data on work order costs, inconsistent photo documentation of repairs and a failure to provide requesters with an estimated completion date.
Auditors also said the agency fails to meet response times. Routine work orders must be completed within 45 days, but it takes DGS an average of 55 days to finish or close requests, according to data from more than 48,000 work orders. Sixty-two percent of work orders considered to be “high priority” were not finished within the mandatory 10 days, according to the report.
 

BOISE — Lawmakers on a special interim legislative panel examining funding for school construction in Idaho appear to be coalescing around a proposal to tap the state’s annual endowment payments to schools to create a new funding stream for school facilities, partially relieving local property taxpayers in the process from bearing the full cost of repaying school bonds, as one piece of the solution.

Sen. Jeff Agenbroad, R-Nampa, presented a revised version of the proposal to the panel on Monday, and at the end of the meeting, when each member identified his or her top priorities among the ideas that have been laid out thus far, seven of eight specifically mentioned the endowment plan.

The lawmakers haven’t yet made any decisions. Second-most popular among the ideas they’ve discussed, according to their comments at Tuesday’s meeting, is a re-examination of the current two-third supermajority requirement to pass a school construction bond. Ideas range from amending the Idaho Constitution to lower that to 60%, to following Montana’s lead and requiring lower margins when more voters turn out to vote on the bond.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — One Providence elementary school now offers its students a “unique nature space.”

The city’s first “green schoolyard” opened Monday at Bailey Elementary School near Baxter Park.

The Bailey Baxter Green Schoolyard is the flagship project of the Providence Green Schoolyard Initiative.

The goal of the initiative, according to the city, is to develop formerly under-resourced urban school grounds into places that improve student learning outcomes, community health and neighborhood pride.

“Parks continue to be one of the most critical investments we can prioritize in our city,” Mayor Jorge Elorza said. “I’m excited that work is already underway to have even more of these beautiful spaces for learning and play right here in Providence.”

The green schoolyard serves as a connection between the park and school, according to the city. Baxter Park was expanded onto two previously-blighted properties, while the Bailey School playground encompassed two additional lots.

Scott Miller had an offer on the table.
The superintendent of Hammond City Schools had a couple of older buildings that were no longer needed for classroom instruction, Gavit and Clark high schools.
“I actually have a buyer,” said Miller.
It was the city of Hammond. Miller said the city government was interested in repurposing the structures for economic development. Not all the details were worked out, but the superintendent shared this much, “It would be in the millions. I don’t have an exact number, but it would be in the millions.”
Potentially, a pretty nice windfall for an urban school district with declining enrollment and decades of maintenance invested in both buildings.
But there would be no deal.
A state law that went into effect in July 2021 requires any local school building used for student instruction that is closed must be sold or leased to a charter school that wants it for one dollar.
Miller has kept control of the two high schools by keeping some level of activity at the buildings although student instruction has been moved to two other Hammond high schools.
“We haven’t officially said they’re worthless or unused is probably a better word. We haven’t said that officially in Hammond,” explains Miller.
What Miller did instead was successfully urge Hammond schools to join school districts from Lake Ridge and West Lafayette to challenge the state law in court claiming the dollar-for-a-school law violated both state and federal constitutions.
 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state School Building Authority approved more than $10 million in supplemental funding Monday for ongoing school construction projects in three West Virginia counties because of increasing construction costs.
The SBA has been dealing with the inflation-fueled construction cost increases for about a year and has even put on hold the funding of any new projects.
SBA Chairman Brian Abraham said Monday’s move is part of a new temporary policy that allows for supplemental funding. He said the money is only approved after the counties do some budget trimming with their project architects.
“The counties shared in the pain here,” Abraham told MetroNews. “It’s not simply providing extra money. This is after everything has been gone through and they still can’t meet their budget. The SBA is trying to keep these projects going.”
The SBA approved $2.2 million in supplemental funding for the Central Elementary School project in Hampshire County, an additional $6 million for work at Frankfort Elementary School in Mineral County and nearly $2 million more for the Alderson Elementary project in Greenbrier County.
 

Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington said the district has paused the process it’s developed to decide on upgrades to school facilities, in order to align it more closely to the district’s future five-year strategic plan. 

During a school board meeting Thursday, Watlington said the facilities planning process will be put on hold until the district adopts that strategic blueprint, but added that building work that’s already been approved will proceed. 

The district’s “facilities planning process” sets long-term priorities for building and other infrastructure upgrades. In April, Philadelphia officials unveiled an interactive map that let people learn about specific conditions at neighborhood schools. And in May, the district announced public forums where people could discuss the best way to repair and upgrade the city’s aging public schools; the average Philadelphia school building is about 75 years old. 

However, those moves occurred before Watlington took over as superintendent in mid-June. Since then, Watlington has focused much of his attention on trying to create that five-year roadmap for schools by — among other things — gathering input from the public and different groups and officials. The district aims to adopt that roadmap next year.

It's typical for school buildings to become shelter locations during a hurricane. The infrastructure is secure and the amenities are suited for hosting those who need help and refuge from a storm. But in Sarasota County, shelters had to remain open, some for more than a week, meaning they couldn't welcome students back in. Other schools were so badly damaged during the storm, they still require extensive repairs.

 The Denver Public Schools (DPS) Board rejected a proposal Thursday to close elementary and middle schools that were being considered for consolidation due to an expected budget deficit over the next several years.
The initial proposed closure list included ten schools, then that was cut down to five. But Thursday night, DPS Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero changed the recommendation again to only include two schools:
Denver Discovery School in Central Park
Math Science Leadership Academy in Athmar Park
The measures to close those schools both failed on 6 to 1 votes.
The board then voted unanimously to rescind the Small Schools Resolution. That's the resolution the board passed in 2021 to direct the superintendent to address declining enrollment, paving the way for the school closure proposal.
“I want to thank everyone who participated during this difficult process,” Superintendent Dr. Marrero said in an emailed statement after the vote Thursday night. “The budget crisis that we are facing as a District is not expected to go away. Following the vote, I asked the Board for direction to move the District forward. I look forward to engaging with the community and with the Board to develop other ways that we can address the crisis.”
 

Southwest Baltimore parent Krissy Herbet isn’t looking forward to next school year. That’s because the neighborhood elementary school where two of her children attend is slated to close in the coming months.

“My children have been at Steuart Hill since we moved to Baltimore City. That's the only school that they know,” Herbert said. “They know no other school they know no other teachers they know no other friends.”

Baltimore City Public School leaders have closed two dozen schools in the past eight years, but one community in southwest Baltimore is fighting an uphill battle to keep the doors open. In January, Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners voted 8-1 to close three schools: Steuart Hill Academic Academy, Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary School, New Era Academy.

Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelisis rescinded the recommendation for Dr. Bernard Harris Elementary School in Broadway East to shutter during the board meeting. That's because the building condition was not as severe compared to the other schools and community members asked for more time to improve enrollment numbers.

KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — For decades, East Tennessee schools have struggled to keep up with the costs of maintenance.
Parents, students and teachers have complained about leaky roofs, crowded classrooms and outdated technology. The solutions often came with million-dollar price tags that districts simply can't afford.
Then, East Tennessee schools came into a windfall — more than $500 million in COVID-19 funding. Here's how they spent it.
ALCOA CITY SCHOOLS:
Alcoa City Schools received about $3.9 million in ESSER funds, according to documents submitted to the Tennessee Department of Education.
The district said it intended to spend about $1.5 million on building upgrades at Alcoa Intermediate School, specifically on the roofing, walls and HVAC system. 
It also wanted to upgrade radios and security cameras across the district, provide additional maintenance/custodial support and purchase the necessary equipment for sanitation and HVAC maintenance.
 

Superintendent Scott Ziegler presented his recommended Fiscal Year 2024-2029 capital budget to the School Board on Tuesday night in front of a crowd of Sterling Park residents who showed up to support one element of the plan—building a replacement Park View High School. 

Several spoke during the public comment section asking the board to support the superintendent’s recommendations. Others spoke up expressing frustration over other older schools, including Banneker Elementary School in St. Louis, that are slated to be renovated instead of rebuilt. 

Included in the plan are three new elementary schools; renovations two older elementary schools, Banneker ($38.9 million) and Waterford ($20 million); a new middle school and $271 million Dulles North high school; and the $221.7 million reconstruction of Park View High School.

New Hampshire officials are seeking this week to distribute $9.8 million in federal funds to help boost school door-locking systems to mitigate threats.

In a request to the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee, Gov. Chris Sununu said the funds will be spread among 231 public schools and 18 nonpublic schools if approved. The committee will vote on whether to approve the grants on Friday.

The proposed funds are part of the state’s Security Action for Education (SAFE) program, launched this year to use federal COVID-19 relief aid toward school security upgrades. 

Under a process set up this year, schools could apply for up to $100,000 in funding for three categories of upgrades: access control, surveillance, or emergency alerting.

But all of the state’s proposed awards this week will go to access control projects, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education said Tuesday. 

“Homeland Security determined that these access control projects were the most at-risk, and were the priority,” the spokeswoman, Kimberley Houghton, said. 

On Nov. 14, the Center for Green Schools published new findings about how school districts are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically as it relates to investing federal relief funds to manage air quality and upgrade facilities.

The American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds (ARP-ESSER or ESSER III) represented an unprecedented federal investment in K–12 schools and a lifeline over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the case of school facilities. The funding offered school systems a chance to address a critical backlog of deferred maintenance, needed equipment and infrastructure repairs, as well as upgrades to outdated building systems to improve health, air quality and comfort.

The report looks at how school districts across the country plan to invest that federal aid, with a focus on planned funding for large-scale facilities related work. The analysis includes qualitative interviews with three school district facilities personnel and a quantitative analysis based on a data set of 5,004 school districts’ ESSER-III spending plans by the Burbio data service. The data set contained information from school districts from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, representing approximately 74% of public school students and roughly $83.1 billion in ESSER III funds. Access to the data set was generously supported by Carrier.

Major findings include:

With active construction underway on one full school replacement and design reveals held for three other full school replacements and one brand new school, the district is passing many milestones in its 15-year master facilities plan. These projects are funded by the half-penny sales tax approved by voters in 2020.

Besides moving forward with new school buildings, safety and security projects are in progress at 42 schools. Some safety and security projects have been delayed due to material shortages as well as the need to re-bid materials due to excessive costs. Even with these delays, all safety and security projects are on schedule to be completed in the three-year timeline as planned.

Revenue exceeds forecast but inflation offsets gains
Revenue from the half-penny funds the district’s master facilities plan. Through June 2022, the tax generated $172.44 million overall with about $149.4 million going to the district. Revenue is exceeding projections made when the tax was proposed. However, inflation of material and labor costs is offsetting the additional revenue.

State law requires that charter schools receive a portion of the funding based on enrollment. The charter school share was $23.06 million through June.

LOGAN COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — A number of serious problems recently caused the West Virginia Board of Education to take over Logan County Schools.

A Logan County Board of Education vote approving a new Chapmanville Middle School baseball field to be built at the former East Grade School property appears to be one of the last straws to break the system's back.

“That decision, in hindsight was certainly not a decision that I would have made,” interim Logan County Superintendent Jeff Huffman told Eyewitness News. “I don't think former superintendent Lucas...was in agreement either.”

Accusations of toxic teaching environments, inadequate school safety measures, the needs of special education students being ignored and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent in questionable ways triggered the state school board to take over the system.

A recallable “nickel tax” could be on the way for Cadiz and the surrounding county. One that some officials believe would benefit the school system in unique ways.

During Thursday’s Trigg County Board of Education meeting, a first reading of a “nickel tax” passed unanimously and with little fuss — in hopes, among many things, of increasing the district’s bonding potential for capital projects.
More importantly, there seems to be a unified focus to renovate a dilapidated high school that’s seen little love since its 1962 construction, and now is officially the oldest building on campus.
Board member Clara Beth Hyde called for the vote, herself noting a levy wasn’t ideal.
Superintendent Bill Thorpe noted that any increase of a school tax wouldn’t be paying for any past or current projects, but would only be propelling and preparing for the future.
Today’s current construction, which is aplenty, is already budgeted and accounted for — either through grants, current bonding potential, or school capital.
Furthermore, officials feel like this as opportune a time as any to implement such an effort. With increasing property value assessments, Trigg’s BoE can issue the nickel at four cents, rather than the standard six cents, and in return receive the same cash valuation.
In even clearer terms, a home assessed at $100,000 would only see its tax increased by $40 over the year, rather than nearly $60.
That’s $3.33 per month.
School Attorney Jack Lackey has noted in previous school board meetings, especially in Hopkinsville, that a nickel tax has been adopted by more than 100 of Kentucky’s 120 counties, and that under state law, the tax can only be used for capital construction or repairs and renovation of existing facilities.
On Thursday, he broke down how a 2023 nickel tax would look for local payers.