This evening, the Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees will consider whether or not to implement sizable new developer impact fees within the district’s boundaries. These charges, which would be assessed to local builders in the permitting process, would generate revenue while making the district eligible to pursue $5.6 million in state grant money for new preschool classroom facilities.

According to Eureka City Schools Superintendent Fred Van Vleck, the driving force behind this proposal is the state’s recent adoption of a universal transitional kindergarten (TK) program. Currently, only a subset of 4-year-olds — those who will turn 5 between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2 — are eligible to attend TK. But thanks to a $2.7 billion initiative supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom and others, California’s TK program will be gradually expanded until it includes all of the state’s 4-year-olds by the 2025-26 school year.

That expansion, Van Vleck says, will lead to an influx of new preschoolers, requiring the district to add more classrooms that meet the state’s Title 5 requirements. And in order to qualify for the $5.6 million state grant that could pay for those new facilities, the district needs to charge these fees, at least temporarily. (We’ll get to his explanation of why that’s the case below.)

(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Governor Mike DeWine today awarded $4.8 million in grants to nearly 100 Ohio schools to help them improve the overall safety and security of their buildings.

Ninety-eight schools in 27 counties will implement safety upgrades with funding from Ohio's K-12 School Safety Grant Program. Governor DeWine launched the program through the Ohio School Safety Center to help local schools with costly safety upgrades to their buildings.

“I care deeply about every child in Ohio, and this will help ensure that more students are learning in an environment where they can feel safe and secure,” said Governor DeWine. “Today's kids are tomorrow's leaders, and we applaud the school districts that are proactively looking for ways to protect both their students and staff."

Funds will be used to cover expenses associated with physical security enhancements such as security cameras, public address systems, automatic door locks, and visitor badging systems. 

 MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — Students at two schools where new football stadiums are under construction will have to wait a little longer than planned to watch games under the Friday night lights.
The Mobile County Public School System has four stadiums under construction and had hoped to open fields at LeFlore and Vigor high schools in August. But school system spokeswoman Rena Philips told FOX10 News that a variety of obstacles are causing a delay in that timeline. For instance, she said, workers have had difficulty getting aluminum transported to the construction sites.
“It’s like everything else in the country. … And so yes, we have had delays with some truck drivers and some materials and some weather delays,” she said.
Still, Philips added, officials hope to open the new stadiums at both schools before the end of the season. Construction also is under way at Davidson and B.C. Rain high schools. The school system is paying the roughly $20 million cost with money the state has borrowed and dedicated for school construction projects.
 

Construction has been temporarily halted on the Del Mar Heights School rebuild after San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal granted Save the Field’s preliminary injunction on May 12. The action comes about two months after the old school was knocked down and construction began on the new campus on Boquita Drive.

Save the Field’s latest legal action challenges the city of San Diego’s approval of the project, arguing that it did not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act because its approvals relied on a court-ordered vacated mitigated negative declaration and a “focused” environmental impact report. Save the Field’s attorneys have argued that environmental review may not be split between two documents.

“Judge Bacal found significant and serious flaws in the Del Mar Union School District’s plans and implementation – so serious as to issue an injunction to protect the environment from further destruction,” said Save the Field in a statement issued on May 18. “DMUSD has consistently and continuously operated as if laws and rules don’t apply to them. The court had to take action issuing the injunction, because the district has ignored the facts and attempted to silence community concerns that raised real, material issues that could and should have been addressed years ago.”

Last week, superintendents gathered at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to celebrate the distribution of almost $400 million in needs-based school construction grants.
Twenty-eight districts received grants, which will provide funding for 42 projects such as new schools, renovations, and new classrooms, according to a DPI press release.
“Just as all students in North Carolina need an excellent teacher in every classroom, students and teachers need high quality schools in good repair that help support learning,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt in a press release. “These needs-based grants are an important boost for many districts and communities — and most importantly, their students.”
The grant distribution this year is the largest in the history of the needs-based public school capital fund, which has sent out $739 million in the last five years, funding “60 new K-12 construction projects, including 33 new schools, eight new buildings, and the replacement of 44 existing schools,” according to the press release.
Here’s which districts received this year’s awards, what they’re being used for, and how much each district received. For example, Polk County Schools will receive $1.3 million for an addition to Tryon Elementary School, Warren County Schools will receive $24 million to build a new elementary school, and Mooresville Graded School District will receive $615,750 for renovations to two schools.
All of this raises a question: What in the world is the needs-based public school capital fund?
 

PROVIDENCE, RI — The Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education has voted to approve $550 million in new school construction projects across Rhode Island, allowing for educational enhancements, health and safety improvements, new physical education and media centers, and five new schools to be built.

These improvements literally span the state: from our southernmost point on Block Island to Cumberland in the north, and from Tiverton in the east to Scituate in the west,” said Governor Dan McKee. “Today’s approval by the Council is an affirmation of my administration’s commitment to fixing schools in every corner of Rhode Island. We are excited to hit the ground running and give these communities all the support they need to build great schools for our kids”

“Our school construction program is transforming hundreds of school buildings across the state. That initial investment culminates today in the release of the last of those funds,” said General Treasurer Seth Magaziner. “Now we must move forward with a second state school construction bond, to continue this vital work so that all children can go to schools that are warm, safe, dry, and equipped for twenty-first century learning.”

Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio and House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi said, “In the last few years, communities across Rhode Island have been energized by school improvement and construction projects. In many places, the benefits of these long-overdue investments in educational facilities are already being enjoyed. This latest round of approvals will enable more cities and towns to replace aging and ailing facilities with safe, modern and engaging learning spaces. Our children deserve every resource and advantage we can provide, and these projects represent the foundation of our state’s future.”

Fifteen years ago, Greg Libecci quit his career in sales at Fortune 500 companies to do something good for the planet: make public schools more sustainable. Since 2010, he’s been the energy and resource manager for the Salt Lake City district, tasked with minimizing the district’s use of energy and natural gas.
Progress has been slow going.
Libecci initially focused on what he calls “low-hanging fruit"—encouraging staff to turn off lights more often and shutting down HVAC systems during holidays and weekends. When he wanted to make bigger changes, such as replacing or converting fluorescent lights to LED bulbs, administrators told him it would be too expensive, or that it wasn’t the highest priority.
That all changed in early 2020. High school students in environmental clubs started asking him, Why aren’t you doing more to minimize the district’s carbon footprint? After all, as advocates and policymakers are beginning to realize, schools across the country contribute a huge chunk of the harmful emissions that are driving climate change at an increasingly alarming rate.
“I was almost embarrassed,” Libecci said.
Armed with a toolkit from the nonprofit Sierra Club, students crafted a thoroughly researched presentation and arrived at the April 2020 school board meeting with a concrete request: Could the district commit to transitioning its 40-plus buildings to entirely clean energy by 2030? And eliminate fossil fuels for heating and transportation by 2040?
Two months later, the board unanimously voted yes. That gave Libecci the backing he’d never had before to work with colleagues and students on a plan of action.
 

WASHINGTON (7News) — Big changes could be coming to a number of Ward 4 schools after council members approved the first vote of a budget bill to aid in modernization and address overcrowding.
“It was about $17 million in renovations and modernizations for Garnet-Patterson, about $7 million or so for renovations and modernizations for Sharpe,” said Ward 4 Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George
The plan calls for Roosevelt Stay to move to the renovated Garnet-Patterson School.
That would free up Roosevelt High students to have the building to themselves, bringing down what Lewis George says was set to be the most overcrowded school in DCPS with a 134 percent utilization rate.
Sharpe, across the street, will get renovated and will serve as the swing space for both Dorothy Height and Truesdell elementary schools.
All of this will then allow Whittier to stay on track with its modernization plan.
“The community really got together about the swing space and Stay and it’s a tremendous victory for democracy in action,” said Ward 5 Board of Education Representative Frazier O’Leary.
 

ROCK HALL — Renovation of the Kent County Middle School building is off the table, Superintendent Karen Couch told the Board of Education at its meeting May 9.
During her report, Couch said the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC), an offshoot of the Maryland State Department of Education that provides funds for school construction, visited Kent County on May 6 to tour the middle and high schools.
“They notified us that renovation of the existing (middle school) facility is off the table,” Couch said. “They are absolutely in favor of new construction … and where the new construction is going to be, that is for us to decide and we’re not at that point yet.”
Couch said the IAC was against renovation due to the age and condition of the existing middle school.
The IAC said renovation of the existing building would be “upwards of $100 million,” Couch told the school board. She estimated a new school would cost about $70 million.
There are two site possibilities for the new school: the existing site in Chestertown or the high school site in Worton, either attaching or building within close proximity of that school.
“And that really is something that we have to make some determination after we’ve had an opportunity to get community input,” Couch said.
That input will likely happen in early fall, she said.
 

Some of the two dozen school buildings in Butler County’s largest school system are aging or increasingly inadequate when it comes to providing modern learning spaces for 17,000 students or even more in the future, said school officials.
Lakota Schools officials recently announced a series of public meetings to let residents and others learn more about not only the state of its 24 school buildings, but also what facility needs are projected in the coming years as the district’s two townships continue to grow.
A “master facilities plan” is essential for Lakota’s future, said district officials.
And while public input is being gathered — and many decisions remain to be made in the coming months — any replacement or upgrade of existing Lakota buildings will likely require asking residents to approve higher school taxes to supplement state construction funding for projects.
But Lakota officials said no decisions as to the timing or size of a possible tax hike have been made.
“As we look to the future, it is crucial that we have a master facilities plan in place,” said Betsy Fuller, spokeswoman for Lakota Schools.
The work toward such a facilities plan actually started prior to the March 2020 onset of COVID-19 and was paused during the pandemic until recent months, though surveys of school parents, staff and others have been an on-going, periodic process.
 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A recurring issue is the focus of a big financial ask to the county commission from Memphis-Shelby County school leaders.
Old, dilapidated buildings within the district are at the center of a multi-million dollar funding request to county commissioners.
School leaders are proposing a $55 million capital improvement project budget for next year, that’s $33 million more than what is currently budgeted for this fiscal year.
The proposal was discussed during Wednesday’s Shelby County Commission budget committee meeting.
“Our students deserve to walk into a world class facility where they can learn, grow and compete globally,” said MSCS superintendent Dr. Joris Ray.
Within the district there are 33 schools that are 50 years or older.
School leaders told county commissioners Wednesday it’s time for much needed repairs, and, in some cases, it’s time to demolish some of the old buildings and start new.
There was a debate among commissioners about whether or not the county should consider raising taxes to fund the increased budget request.
Collierville residents, for example, voted to raise their taxes to help pay for their state of the art school building.
“The question here is if they’re willing to raise the taxes out in the suburb to fund their kids because they think that much of their kids, why can’t we do the same for our kids,” asked Commissioner Van Turner.
Superintendent Ray remained neutral on the subject of raising taxes to fund schools.
“I want to support anything it takes for our students to have the best facilities in the country. They deserve it,” said Ray.
 

The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has released a report detailing the amount and types of capital spending for local school districts and an overview of the methods districts and local governments use to pay for capital and debt spending.

Spending for public school capital projects by both local school districts and their county and city governments totaled an estimated $2 billion in fiscal year 2019-20, including spending for land; building construction and renovation; related facilities like parking lots and athletic fields; as well as equipment like desks, chairs, playground equipment, and buses.

The bulk of capital spending on K-12 school facilities, and any related debt payments on loans, is paid from local revenues, including revenues from bonds and notes issued by local governments, adequate facilities taxes, and dedicated property taxes. The state supports capital spending for schools primarily through the state’s share of Basic Education Program (BEP) funding for several components related to capital needs. State dollars allocated in fiscal year 2019-20 totaled $503 million for the BEP’s capital outlay, equipment, and technology components. (The BEP’s capital outlay component will be folded into the newly-approved Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) base funding formula, which will be implemented in school year 2023-24. Equipment and technology components are to be split between TISA’s base, weighted, and direct funding components.)

The report reviews the factors that can increase capital spending for schools, including student enrollment growth, classroom size limit, the age and quality of school buildings, and the cost of building materials and labor. The report’s focus on spending and revenue data from 2019-20 captures more typical spending patterns that occurred mainly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the large injections of federal emergency relief funds known as ESSER.

When it was time to put down roots and buy a home for their family, Bay Area residents Mandeep Kaur and Jimmy Singh decided it was time to leave their cramped apartment in Fremont and purchase a home in the San Joaquin Valley.
They landed in Patterson, a small but rapidly growing town of 24,000 off the Interstate 5 freeway. The development they moved into in February is so new that not all the homes on their street have been finished.
Their new home, which, with two stories and a backyard, has plenty of room for their 6-year-old and baby. They like Patterson’s small-town feel.
“There are better schools,” Singh said. “It’s a nice community, not as hectic.”
Patterson is 75 miles from Oakland, which puts it at the outer rim of Bay Area bedroom communities. Singh is freed from the daily commute as the owner of a trucking business who works from home — an increasing trend among recent transplants.
For decades, the San Joaquin Valley has been a destination for young families seeking affordable housing. Enrollment in the San Joaquin Valley grew 24.5% before the pandemic, and it dipped only 1.1% since 2019.
“We’re very lucky,” said George Bradley, director of research and planning at the Kern High School District. “The alternative is that you’re shrinking.”
The big questions about enrollment in the San Joaquin Valley have been about where new schools will be built, how they will be funded and what to do with the surge of students on campus in the meantime.
 

Beaverton School District voters approved a $723 million bond to replace Beaverton High and Raleigh Hills K-8 school and carry out deferred maintenance and seismic upgrades throughout the district.
To pay for it, property taxes will increase by 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, resulting in a $709 school construction-related tax bill for the owner of the typical home, assessed at $303,000. If voters had rejected the bonds, the tax rate would instead have fallen 41 cents per $1,000, yielding a $509 tax bill for school construction debt on such a home.
Preliminary results as of 1 a.m. Wednesday showed 54% of Beaverton School District voters approving the bond and 46% rejecting it.
There was no organized opposition to the bond. Proponents raised $150,000 for brochures, online ads and other promotional efforts. Lead funders were Pacific Office Automation, at $25,000, and Nike, with $20,000. Three other donors -- food company executive Patricia Reser, law firm Miller Nash and construction company Kirby Nagelhout -- each gave $15,000.
By far the largest outlay from the bond, $253 million, will be to build a new Beaverton High on the campus that is home to the school, which was built in 1916 and has been expanded many times over the years. It’s the only high school in the district with a seismic rating indicating it would be at risk of partial or full collapse during an earthquake, district officials say. It also needs $53 million worth of repairs, which the district now won’t have to pay for.
 

As the Philadelphia district aims to tell the public how it is managing its aging infrastructure, parents and community leaders remain concerned about possible school closures, lack of enrollment data, and transparency when it comes to school building maintenance and safety.

The district is in the middle of public engagement about its long-term plan to improve school facilities. During this round of talks, which will take place over Zoom, the district’s facilities planning team is providing an overview of the process, including project goals and data collected from the district. These sessions began May 10 and are open to the public. Additional sessions are scheduled for May 18, 19, 24, and 25. To participate, residents can register online. 

In addition, as part of that plan, all district school buildings will be evaluated over the next 12 months, with the goal of creating recommendations for each building.

To identify problems with school buildings and identify recommendations to address them, the district also launched a $1.3 million Facilities Planning Process last month. School officials unveiled a website with an interactive map that the community could use to access information about each school building’s condition, as well as facility assessments conducted by third-party industry professionals. 

Penn Hills School Board voted to approve two bids to improve the Penn Hills High School and Elementary School infrastructure at a special voting meeting on May 10.

The cost of the bids amounts to a combined total of $2,281,200 and was based on the recommendations of Dodson Engineering Inc., an engineering firm located in Pittsburgh. It is a division of Remington and Vernick Engineers.

The first bid was for heating, cooling and air conditioning modifications at the two schools and is from RB Mechanical, a South Hills-based HVAC that is family-owned and has been in business for 16-years. The HVAC bid is the more expensive of the two, costing $1,501,200.

By spring of 2021, Rashelle Chase-Miller knew she'd have to make some hard decisions.
Schools in Portland, Oregon—including her son Leo's charter—were reopening in-person. But Chase-Miller, herself born and raised in the City of Roses, had reservations. For decades, she'd watched the schools—especially in her historically Black neighborhood—fall into disrepair.
In particular, she worried about ventilation. Vigorous air flow and filtration are crucial for preventing outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus. Yet, an August 2021 inspection by the city's schools found every assessed facility had at least one room with inadequate ventilation.
Chase-Miller had another reason to be worried: Leo, who is 9 years old, has cerebral palsy and asthma. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that puts him at higher risk of severe COVID. Leo catching the virus would also put her elderly parents, who live close by and are both older than 65, at risk. Not to mention, her 4-year-old daughter Luna, who is too young to be vaccinated.
"For families like mine," Chase-Miller told ABC News, "ventilation in school is a huge deal."

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Valley City school board continues to move cautiously on whether the district should build a new school or repair their existing facilities.

During a public meeting on May 16th, superintendent Josh Johnson said the district it facing some tough decisions due to aging buildings and facility maintenance upgrade needs. He said the district it looking at the most cost-effective option for all school district stakeholders.

Johnson said under one option, the cost to build a new grade 7-12 structure is estimated at $55 million. He said the school district has $3 million in COVID dollars to use for a new building. He said if there was a referendum vote and it passed, the maximum allowed would be $40 million, but, he said the district would still be $12 million short for that proposed construction project.

During the meeting, someone asked if the remaining money could be made up using dollars from the state Legacy Fund. Rep. Dwight Kiefert said it was unlikely that lawmakers would reach a two-thirds majority to free up funding for school district building projects, being there are other needs for those dollars across the state.

Johnson was asked about the school district’s priority for a new heating and cooling system, he had this response.

Johnson talked about how the school district can use their existing $3.8 million in COVID funding and the timeline.

Johnson believes transferring existing technologies and furniture would not be a cost effective issue, if the school district built a new structure.

The U.S. Department of Education will consider requests from school districts for an 18-month extension on spending COVID-19 emergency funds under the American Rescue Plan beyond the Sept. 30, 2024, obligation deadline, according to a May 13 letter from the department to AASA, The School Superintendents Association. 
The two-page letter said that while the obligation deadline — when a district commits to use of certain funds — is based on statutory and regulatory requirements, the department can approve spending extension requests for properly obligated funds. Approvals would be based on specific facts and circumstances, and longer extensions may be considered for “extraordinary circumstances.”
School system officials and education advocacy groups, such as AASA, have raised concerns that a tight spending timeline for ARP — plus other circumstances such as supply chain challenges, inflation and labor shortages — make it harder for districts to use ARP funds for needed facility improvements.

The Hawaiʻi State Legislature passed six bills that invest $220 million in education, with $200 million appropriated for the goal of expanding preschool access to all 3- and 4-year olds by 2032.

The $220 million is in addition to the $2.4 billion in the Department of Education’s most recent budget. The bills were sent to Gov. David Ige for his consideration.

The biggest chunk of the additional funding is for the education portion of HB 2000. It appropriates $200 million to the School Facilities Authority to expand access to pre-kindergarten for eligible children. The funds may be used to construct new school facilities; renovate, improve and expand existing school facilities to increase pre-kindergarten student capacity; and any other costs to increase pre-kindergarten student capacity within the state.

In 2020, the legislature passed Act 46, which created a goal to expand preschool access to all 3- and 4-year olds by 2032. But there were two issues with meeting that goal: lack of preschool facilities and lack of a qualified workforce.

“Making big change such as providing preschool access for 3- and 4-year old keiki takes time,” said Rep. Justin Woodson, Chair of the House Committee on Education. “Last year, we adopted HB 1362 to create a stipend program for UH students to become early childhood educators. This year, HB 2000 provides an appropriation of $200 million to create appropriate spaces for these keiki to learn effectively. This investment lays the foundation for Hawaii’s children to succeed.”