Region 15 panel recommends building new schools over renovating old ones in Southbury
-- CT Insider Connecticut: 10/03/2025 [ abstract]
SOUTHBURY — A group charged with assessing the future of Region 15’s two oldest school buildings has recommended constructing new schools rather than renovating the existing ones. 
The Feasibility Study Committee’s preferred options for updating Gainfield and Pomperaug elementary schools in Southbury include: combining the two schools on a new campus; constructing new buildings on the existing school sites; or building a new Pomperaug Elementary School at a new location, while Gainfield would get a new building at its existing Old Field Road site, according to Jeffrey Wyszynski, a principal at Tecton Architects, the firm hired to oversee the study. 


-- Michael Gagne
LPSS commits to removing portable buildings at 3 schools & building over 40 classrooms
-- KADN.com Louisiana: 10/03/2025 [ abstract]
LAFAYETTE, La. (NEWS 15) — Lafayette Parish School System is moving ahead with plans to invest more than $30 million in school upgrades across the district. The school board unanimously approved the spending plan, which includes the construction of over 40 classrooms at three elementary schools. Broussard Elementary, Ernest Gallet Elementary, and Westside Elementary will see significant improvements, including replacing outdated portable buildings with new permanent structures. Broadmoor Elementary is set to receive an upgrade worth over $8 million. The A-rated school will add a two-story building, replacing 11 Butler buildings that currently hold 19 classrooms. "And then, children transitioning outside, to go from class to class, in an open environment. Like, weather days, it is rough if you have really bad weather, then you have to move them inside to shelter and keep them safe," Broadmoor Elementary Principal Tracy Sanders said.
-- Drakkar Francois
Celebrating 5 more 'green schoolyards' at MPS schools
-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Wisconsin: 10/03/2025 [ abstract]
Green grass instead of asphalt now takes center stage at the playground at Riverwest Elementary School through a Green and Healthy Schoolyard project. Milwaukee Public Schools and its partners held a celebration Oct 1. to mark the completion of that playground and four others. Work was completed in September at Humboldt Park School, Albert E. Kagel School, Riverwest Elementary School, Samuel Clemens School and Walt Whitman School. At each school, asphalt was removed and more "play-friendly" features were installed, including soccer fields, green play areas, other recreational areas, outdoor classrooms and more. The projects also included stormwater green infrastructure. Each year, the nonprofit Reflo works with MPS, the City of Milwaukee and other groups through its Green and Healthy Schoolyards program to design and redevelop five greener, healthier schoolyards. The five schools completed this year bring the total number of schools with Green and Healthy Schoolyards to 36. This year's projects cost $7.6 million and were paid for through a combination of grants, partnership and philanthropic support and school fundraisers.
-- Alec Johnson
Facility planning committee approves draft plan for schools
-- Interior Journal Kentucky: 10/01/2025 [ abstract]

STANFORD, Ky. — The Lincoln County Facility Planning Committee voted Sept. 25 to approve a draft plan outlining future school construction and renovation priorities. The plan now moves to the Board of Education for consideration in November.  The committee voted 7-4 in favor of the plan, which designates each school in the district as either “permanent” or “transitional.” Schools listed as permanent are eligible for restricted funds for reconstruction or repairs, while schools listed as transitional are not, except in emergencies.
Under the new plan, Hustonville Elementary is the only school designated as transitional. Highland Elementary and Waynesburg Elementary, both previously listed as transitional, are now marked permanent, making them eligible for restricted facility funds.
 
-- Casey Roberts
'Fed up': McKinley Elementary teachers push for A/C repairs in classrooms
-- 10news.com California: 09/30/2025 [ abstract]

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Teachers at McKinley Elementary School in North Park say their classrooms have been unbearably hot for months, and they argue that the San Diego Unified School District is not moving fast enough to address the problem.
For nearly 10 weeks, Kindergarten teacher Frances Mackenzie said she has asked the district to repair the school’s outdated air conditioning system, which dates back to 1997.
months
Teachers at McKinley Elementary School in North Park say their classrooms have been unbearably hot for months, and they argue that the San Diego Unified School District is not moving fast enough.
By: Dani Miskell
Posted 9:35 PM, Sep 30, 2025 and last updated 7:43 PM, Oct 03, 2025
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Teachers at McKinley Elementary School in North Park say their classrooms have been unbearably hot for months, and they argue that the San Diego Unified School District is not moving fast enough to address the problem.
For nearly 10 weeks, Kindergarten teacher Frances Mackenzie said she has asked the district to repair the school’s outdated air conditioning system, which dates back to 1997.






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Mackenzie said she has 24 kindergartners in her class. Still, many students and staff members in nine different classrooms are also enduring the same miserable heat, which are connected or adjacent to hers.
“We have headaches. We’ve had students with bloody noses, and by the end of the day, you are fatigued, you are exhausted,” Mackenzie said. “Every day, multiple staff, over 100 students walk into classrooms that are not properly ventilated. We’re fed up. It’s unacceptable.”
 
-- Dani Miskell
Commonwealth school districts are still working on improving buildings and environments
-- City & State Pennsylvania Pennsylvania: 09/30/2025 [ abstract]
Cities across the commonwealth – from Philadelphia to Scranton to Pittsburgh – have long dealt with a myriad of menaces inside their school buildings, from mold and asbestos in walls and ceilings to lead in the drinking water, prompting schools to partially close, move or even cancel classes over the years due to the need for remediation.  Roughly three-quarters of the state’s 3,200 schools were built before the 1980s. The average age of a school building in the commonwealth is roughly 70 years old – 20 years older than the national average – meaning that students and staff spend their days in structures with asbestos-containing materials that insulate pipes and cover floors, and are thus more likely to be exposed to those construction materials, which have since been banned as health hazards. “Common with a lot of old infrastructure and older school districts, we have asbestos-containing building materials, lead in paint and other typical environmental concerns,” Sanjeeb Manandhar, Pittsburgh Public Schools’ environmental sustainability manager, told City & State. “Our focus is on proactive management of those materials and safe removal before hazards arrive.”
-- Harrison Cann
Alexandria to update school facilities plan amid overcrowding, aging buildings
-- alxnow.com Virginia: 09/30/2025 [ abstract]
Alexandria City Council and School Board members agreed Monday during a joint work session to update the city’s long-range school facilities plan as middle schools operate at more than 120% capacity and some elementary buildings approach 90 years old. The decision to revise the decade-old planning document comes as officials confront both immediate overcrowding and long-term infrastructure decay that officials say redistricting alone cannot solve. “It became very, very apparent that redistricting alone is not going to solve our middle school challenges,” School Board member Kelly Booz said. “Our schools would still hover around the 120% or more utilization no matter what.” The Long Range Educational Facilities Plan, last comprehensively updated in 2015, would guide school construction and renovation decisions for the next 10 to 15 years. Officials said it needs to be updated to reflect changed demographics, enrollment projections, and fiscal realities following the COVID-19 pandemic.
-- Ryan Belmore
One campus, two school model recommended for White Salmon Valley School District
-- Columbia Gorge News Washington: 09/30/2025 [ abstract]
WHITE SALMON —  After a year of study that included site visits and community conversations, the White Salmon Valley School District (WSVSD) Facilities Advisory Committee has unanimously recommended the district consolidate its schools into a one-campus model located at the current middle school / high school site. Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn said the plan will create one K-6 and one 7-12 school, “each designed to meet the developmental and academic needs of their students.” It will require significant modernization of the Henkle Middle / Wallace & Priscilla Stevenson Intermediate School, and the addition of new classrooms and a multi-purpose area at Columbia High School (CHS).
-- Trisha Walker
Anchorage School District to pair school closures with effort to add child care in vacant classrooms
-- Anchorage Daily News State of our Schools Alaska Pr: 09/29/2025 [ abstract]

Anchorage School District officials say they are coupling this year’s effort to close more elementary schools with a plan to add child care operations to vacant classrooms.
A proposal for where those child care centers will be located is set to be released alongside the district’s recommended school closures at an Oct. 7 Anchorage School Board meeting. The plan is subject to school board approval and would expand access to child care for Anchorage School District employees, city workers and the community at large.
“It’s not just about closing schools. It’s about being smart about how we use extra space in our elementary school buildings,” Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said of the plan at a Sept. 17 event at King Tech High School.
During a Sept. 16 presentation to the school board, ASD Chief Operating Officer Jim Anderson said the co-located child care centers could be at elementary or secondary school buildings.
“This is the heart and soul of ‘rightsizing’ this year, is looking at it in terms of potential for helping out the community and not just closing every school that is low capacity,” Anderson said.
 
-- Tim Rockey
Charlottesville’s schools are old. Local officials are trying to change that
-- The Cavalier Daily Virginia: 09/29/2025 [ abstract]
The Charlottesville School Board is currently discussing renovations that need to be carried out on many of the city’s school buildings and infrastructure as many schools across the city are in need of maintenance work due to their age. Planned construction, which may cost millions in the coming years, will lead to major changes in the education system, including the number of school transitions students make. These major renovations include HVAC system overhauls, roof replacements and potential new construction. Charlottesville School Board Chair Emily Dooley said that in ongoing conversations, the School Board has discussed with the Charlottesville City Council about deferred maintenance in many schools that will soon be due and other immediate concerns that need to be addressed. “Prior to this construction [at the middle school], the last [school] building that the city built was in 1974 … so our buildings are old,” Dooley said. “Not to say that they haven’t been touched since 1974, but really it’s been a focus on quick hits and infusions of money that can happen over the summer.”
-- Brandon Kile
District completes 477 work orders, achieves “good” ratings across all campuses
-- Santa Monica Daily Press California: 09/29/2025 [ abstract]
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District announced significant facility improvements during a board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 18, with all schools now receiving good ratings on state inspections after years of substandard conditions at multiple campuses. The district's maintenance team completed 477 work orders during an intensive summer campaign, reducing the backlog from 661 pending requests to 184 by the end of July. The effort resulted in every school in the district improving its Facility Inspection Tool (FIT) scores, with several schools jumping from poor or fair ratings to good status. "We moved all of our scores up to good," said Glen Infuso, Director of Maintenance and Operations. "Every single school improved from last year."
-- Maaz Alin
Here's what school districts are lacking in terms of safety, security features
-- Wyoming Tribune Eagle Wyoming: 09/29/2025 [ abstract]
CASPER — When the Wyoming School Facilities Commission sent its budget request to the Legislature’s Select Committee on School Facilities, commissioners were asked to justify their $10 million request for school safety and security. The budget request is for the 2027-28 biennium budget. The $10 million was split into two piles: $8 million to go to schools based on enrollment, and the other $2 million to secure vestibules and vehicle barricades. To provide justification for the fund request, the School Facilities Commission had asked each school district to send in how many secure vestibules they had, whether they had vehicle barricades and what their top security projects would cost.
-- Allison Allsop
Harwood leaders to review facilities report as need for a construction bond grows
-- Waterbury Roundabout Vermont: 09/28/2025 [ abstract]
An architectural report on the physical condition of the schools in the Harwood Unified Union School District is complete and school officials this week will begin reviewing its findings.
The report from Burlington architectural firm TruexCullins was requested to inform district leaders as they look to prioritize facility needs and maintenance projects, as well as their ongoing discussions over whether to consolidate the number of schools the district operates. In 45 slides, it details $45,354,980 in work needed across the district’s five elementary schools and Crossett Brook Middle School. An additional $73 million is noted for Harwood Union Middle/High School, as was determined in 2024. The overall pricetag for facility repairs and upgrades in the report totals $118,357,780.
The School Board’s Building Use and Visioning Committee will discuss the report when it meets on Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 6 p.m. on Zoom only. The meeting agenda includes the presentation slides from TruexCullins.
 
-- Cheryl Casey and Lisa Scagliotti
One year later: Four districts had damaged schools after Helene. How are they doing now?
-- WFAE North Carolina: 09/27/2025 [ abstract]
Due to the unprecedented flooding from Hurricane Helene in September 2024, four school buildings in western North Carolina flooded so severely that students were unable to immediately return to school. Some schools closed temporarily and are back in their buildings, and some are still in transition while awaiting a more permanent home. EdNC spoke with each school district’s superintendent to learn about the status of the buildings and how their school communities look a year after Helene. Henderson County
Atkinson Elementary School in Henderson County Public Schools (HCPS) is split by Perry Creek. The gym sits on one side of the creek, the school building on the other. Helene dumped 21.96 inches of rain in Hendersonville, the creek swelled, and both buildings took on two inches of water. Dr. Mark Garrett, superintendent of HCPS, was no stranger to flooding before Helene. As a principal, he had dealt with water in schools, and during his tenure as the superintendent in McDowell County, he’d faced other natural disasters. “I think the most challenging part of last year was just dealing with a disaster the magnitude of what we had,” Garrett said. “You sort of think, you know what may or may not be coming, but something of this magnitude — it’s really not anything you can be prepared for.”
-- Caroline Parker
Florida now allows charter schools to move into underused public school facilities
-- FOX13 Tampa Bay Florida: 09/26/2025 [ abstract]
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida’s Board of Education has voted to expand the reach of charter schools across the state, building on the "Schools of Hope" program created in 2017.
That program was originally designed to give families in struggling districts more options outside of failing schools.
The backstory:
This year, lawmakers loosened restrictions — allowing charter operators to expand beyond low-performing neighborhoods and even move into high-performing campuses if they have vacant or underused classrooms. The new rule also requires districts to hand over facilities rent-free, while providing utilities and support services.
Supporters, including Governor Ron DeSantis, say the change is about opportunity and competition.
-- Regina Gonzalez
Fort Wayne Community Schools to fix ongoing facilities problem with savings
-- Journal Gazette Indiana: 09/25/2025 [ abstract]

Fort Wayne Community Schools will use about $545,000 in voter-approved funds to fix an ongoing facade issue at Wayne High School that leaders have delayed addressing until savings were available.
The district will also spend nearly $90,000 of its operations fund to address emergency projects at five schools and the transportation center following board approval Monday.
The problem at Wayne involves the exterior finish insulation system. It features an insulation board that is adhered to the building’s exterior and is covered by stucco, said Heather Krebs, facilities director.
It was popular in the 1980s and 1990s, she said, but moisture has become a problem with age.
Krebs told the board the issue was not included in Wayne’s recent renovation, which voters approved in spring 2020 as part of a $130 million referendum that also included major renovations to Blackhawk and Miami middle schools.
 
-- Ashley Sloboda
Maryland comptroller: 80% of public schools in need of ‘repair, renovation or replacement’
-- WTOP News Maryland: 09/19/2025 [ abstract]
Just 20% of the state’s school buildings are in satisfactory shape or better, while the other 80% would need “repair, renovation or replacement” to get to that level, according to a report released Thursday. The report from Comptroller Brooke Lierman said that the state needs to improve its school facilities if it wants to keep its reputation for top-ranked schools, but that doing so will require “a statewide reimagining of funding formulas and revenue streams.” The report did not make recommendations on that reimagining, however. The report is part of the comptroller’s “State Spending Series” that assesses costs on various projects, impacts on the state and other economic factors. The first report, in March, focused on transit and the second, released in April, on climate change.
-- William J. Ford, Maryland Matters
DOE Aims To Avoid School Closures Through Redistricting
-- Civilbeat.org Hawaii: 09/17/2025 [ abstract]
Amid significant drops in school enrollment, the Hawaiʻi Department of Education is considering redistricting as a solution to more equally distribute students across its 258 campuses.  Earlier this year, the department announced plans to study closing and consolidating small elementary schools that may struggle to provide high-quality education or upkeep their facilities. The study was supposed to be completed within a year, with the Board of Education voting on which schools to close by spring 2026.  But the department has changed its course and plans to consider redistricting schools instead of pursuing campus closures. Over the summer, principals and other school leaders urged the department to consider alternatives for filling unused campus space instead of studying consolidation, according to a recent memo from DOE Deputy Superintendent Tammi Oyadomari-Chun. 
-- Megan Tagami
MPS will seek community’s feedback on Facilities Master Plan’s progress
-- Milwaukee Public Schools Wisconsin: 09/17/2025 [ abstract]
The Milwaukee Public Schools Long-Range Facilities Master Plan will help the district provide the high-quality facilities our students need and our community deserves.   Developing the master plan has been and will continue to be a community-driven process. Members of the Facilities Master Plan steering committee helped advance the work.   Now, the district will be bringing the results of this work back to the broader community across all of Milwaukee. MPS will ensure that the plan continues to be centered on students, with equitable opportunities for all.    Please watch for specific opportunities to learn more and get involved. 
-- Staff Writer
Lakota Schools propose school demolitions, expansions, renovations and a tax hike in Master Facilities Plan
-- WCPO Ohio: 09/16/2025 [ abstract]
WEST CHESTER, Ohio — A nearly $600 million overhaul of Lakota Local School District's future hangs on the will of voters in West Chester and Liberty Township to hike their own property taxes after the November election.
Treasurer Adam Zink and Superintendent Ashley Whitely spent Thursday evening laying out the plan in front of those potential voters at the West Chester Boys and Girls Club.
Many in the crowd of a couple dozen were wary to pay additional property tax in a time of widespread price increases.
"I'm not happy about it," said Carolynne Johnson who's lived next to Adena Elementary for 18 years.
Master Facilities Plan
Lakota Local Schools Master Facilities Plan
Photo by: Lakota Local School District
Lakota Local Schools Master Facilities Plan
By: Sean DeLancey
Posted 6:52 AM, Sep 16, 2025 and last updated 6:53 AM, Sep 16, 2025
WEST CHESTER, Ohio — A nearly $600 million overhaul of Lakota Local School District's future hangs on the will of voters in West Chester and Liberty Township to hike their own property taxes after the November election.
Treasurer Adam Zink and Superintendent Ashley Whitely spent Thursday evening laying out the plan in front of those potential voters at the West Chester Boys and Girls Club.
Many in the crowd of a couple dozen were wary to pay additional property tax in a time of widespread price increases.
"I'm not happy about it," said Carolynne Johnson who's lived next to Adena Elementary for 18 years.

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Adena is one of nine buildings to be leveled as part of the facilities plan, with six of the schools to be replaced by the construction of four new elementary schools.
-- Sean DeLancey
Why Portland’s ‘cost-saving’ school redesign hasn’t actually saved any money
-- The Oregonian Oregon: 09/16/2025 [ abstract]
Hopes are vanishing that significant savings can be realized from the three major high school modernization projects set to begin next year in Portland, according to a new set of cost estimates headed to school board members Tuesday. Rebuilding Cleveland High in Southeast Portland, Jefferson High School in North Portland and Wells High in Southwest Portland is now estimated to cost nearly $1.4 billion. Concerned about the price tag, school board members last winter ordered a “pause” in the design process to explore cost-saving measures. Subsequent design reductions did produce some savings by cutting square footage in all three buildings, newly updated documents show. But that was offset by costs incurred by the redesign process, along with the rise in the estimated prices of goods and materials as the months went by.
-- Julia Silverman and Eddy Binford-Ross
Seattle's new $297 million high school was built on a peat bog. Then the foundation started settling
-- KUOW Washington: 09/16/2025 [ abstract]
Months before the long-awaited, brand new Rainier Beach High School opened to students last April, engineers on the $297-million project reported problems with the building’s foundation to the city, records show. The school was settling into the earth more than expected in areas, as much as three inches, and it hadn’t stopped sinking. “The project is on fairly porous ground, and it did settle more than they expected,” said Tina Christiansen, Seattle Public Schools capital projects spokesperson. Shortly before the building opened, “it was determined that settlement had stopped,” Christiansen said, and builders dealt with the uneven settlement by releveling the top of the concrete foundation. While excessive or uneven settlement rarely poses an immediate safety risk, it can require costly remediation, and repairs to elements like cracked walls and floors. The risks depend on factors including the cause and extent of the settlement, said Brett Maurer, a civil engineering professor at the University of Washington.
-- Ann Dornfeld
School Building Authority receives ‘needs’ funding requests from 32 counties
-- Metro News West Virginia: 09/16/2025 [ abstract]
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More than 30 county school systems hope to have their names called when the West Virginia School Building Authority decides later this year who should receive funding as part of the ‘Needs” grants program.
The SBA annually allocates several millions of dollars for new school construction or renovations to existing schools. The SBA’s deadline to submit was last Friday, SBA Executive Director Andy Neptune said.
“We have 32 county requests at over a $170 million with about $40 million of all the locals combined,” Neptune told MetroNews.
School superintendents from those 32 counties will make their cases before the SBA in meetings set for Nov. 3-4 in Charleston. The funding decisions will be announced Dec. 15.
Neptune said like many other yeas they have more requests that money to allocate.
 
-- Jeff Jenkins
South Carolina Department of Education deploys new digital mapping technology to all K-12 public schools
-- South Carolina Public Radio South Carolina: 09/12/2025 [ abstract]
Ensuring the safety of students, staff, and visitors to campuses has surged to the forefront of a national conversation in the wake of now three tragic school shooting events since the beginning of the 2025 academic year. On Aug. 27, two children were killed and multiple people were injured in a shooting during a church service for students from Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. On Sept. 10, a student shot and injured two teenagers, then took his own life, at Evergreen High School near Denver. And later that same day, a gunman shot and killed political activist Charlie Kirk during a campus event at Utah Valley University, where an estimated 3,000 students and visitors were in attendance. The very next day after the Minneapolis school shooting, the South Carolina Department of Education announced that every public K-12 school in the state would be digitally mapped by a company called Critical Response Group (CRG) to help give first responders essential information needed to quickly and efficiently navigate campus buildings during emergency events.
-- Linda Núñez
Helena approves historic school bonds by fewer than 400 votes
-- Montana Free Press Montana: 09/10/2025 [ abstract]
Helena voters appear to have narrowly approved $283 million in bonds by fewer than 400 votes after early results showed the efforts failing.  Lewis and Clark County election officials said midday Wednesday that they had counted all but a handful of votes. A tally the office provided then indicated the Helena School District’s $240 million high school bond was passing by a 361-vote margin and the $43 million elementary school bond was passing by a 382-vote margin. Nearly 22,000 votes were cast. While the bonds will pay for the renovation of Capital High School and the new versions of Helena High and Kessler Elementary School — impacting about 2,660 students — it will also mean additional taxes on the homes that house Helena’s 32,000 residents.
-- JoVonne Wagner