Supporting the Stewardship of America’s Public School Facilities

The cost of school construction is going up with no end in sight, leading to continued pressure on school districts’ — and taxpayers’ — pocketbooks. That’s according to state data and data compiled by the Wake County Public School System, which is set to present its findings to the Wake school board’s facilities committee Tuesday.…

Across the country, Transitional Kindergarten is moving from pilot to policy, from niche offering to a foundational layer of public education. As districts expand access, a practical question comes into focus: where do four-year-olds fit within systems built for older children?  The answer is beginning to reshape the physical environment of schools in ways both…

Plans to redevelop the Claude O. Markoe and Alexander Henderson schools on St. Croix are moving through the review process, but Thursday’s public meeting before the Coastal Zone Management Commission made clear that the projects are being shaped by three major pressures: student and community safety, rising construction costs, and the challenge of managing work…

Ashley Gardner’s classroom is often overwhelmingly hot or uncomfortably cold. Sometimes it smells like sewage. When it snows, the roof leaks. It’s where the Wooster High School teacher works – alongside an occasional mouse and endless ants – while expecting her students to show up ready to learn. “Could you effectively learn in that environment?”…

Superintendent Tony Watlington reiterated in a Thursday statement that the purpose of Philadelphia’s school facilities plan has been to address “the challenges of aging, underutilized, and overcrowded school buildings,” while also expanding equitable access to high-quality academics and extracurricular activities.  Though the district’s overall enrollment slightly increased by 106 to a total 198,405 students between…

Public school systems across the country are entering a period of sustained enrollment decline, driven by a convergence of demographic and behavioral shifts, particularly evident along Colorado’s Front Range. Over the next five years, the state is projected to lose more than 15,000 children ages 0–17, as persistently low birth rates, high housing costs, an…

Public school systems are moving beyond one-off solar installations, folding distributed generation into broader infrastructure strategies. A recent partnership between Ameresco and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) shows how districts are aligning clean energy goals with long-term facility planning. Two rooftop systems—installed at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School and Germantown Elementary School—are expected…

Dallas voters have just approved a massive $6.2 billion school bond, the largest in Texas history. The voters approved four separate propositions that cover new school construction, safety and security campus upgrades, and technology, as well as buses and playgrounds. The largest part of that money is going towards fixing up aging schools as some…

Portland’s three public high schools. A consortium of coastal schools led by Ellsworth. Wiscasset and Boothbay. These are some of the schools competing for capital funding to build a first-of-its-kind regional high school in Maine. Eight groups of school districts, career and technical education centers, colleges and businesses submitted the first part of a funding…

With total costs coming in at nearly $86 million, about $16 million over budget, Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School officials are working with architects to reduce costs for the planned $70 million facility project. On Thursday, the BBCHS District 307 School Board’s operations committee reviewed construction bids and project costs with BLDD Architects and PSI Construction.…

Pink basketball courts, a hair braiding station and a butterfly garden. These are just some of the innovative ideas that New York City schoolchildren came up with when they were actively engaged in the planning and design process to transform their schoolyards into vibrant public spaces that better serve themselves and their communities. Anyone familiar…

A first-of-its-kind elementary school is opening in the Chicago area. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday for an elementary school located at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, but the school is not just for military families. The new Forrestal Elementary School is designed to mimic a children’s storybook, taking not only the…