In this first annual State of Our Schools report, our best guess is that it will take approximately $271 billion to bring school buildings up to working order and comply with laws. If we add to that modernization costs to ensure that our schools meet today’s education, safety and health standards, we estimate a jaw-dropping $542 billion would be required.
Category: Recent Additions
Project Issues Keep First-Graders Dreams From Materializing
A few years ago, when 15-year-old Unique Fair helped redesign the school he'd attended since he was a first-grader, he imagined walking out of its doors and into college and the future beyond. But reality got in the way. Construction delays mean Fair and his School 58 classmates will begin senior year as they have every year of high school: in space at the Franklin high school building on Norton Street.
Joplin School Rebuilt on Same Site
The linked campus of Soaring Heights Elementary and East Middle School opened in Joplin in early January. Both schools needed to be rebuilt after they were struck by the May 2011 tornado that devastated the Joplin community and killed 161 people. In total, 10 buildings in the Joplin School District were damaged due to the tornado.
http://www.schoolconstructionnews.com/articles/2014/02/13/joplin-schools-rebuilt-on-same-site
Should Charter Schools Pay Rent?
BOULDER, CO (February 20, 2014) – New York City's new mayor, Bill de Blasio, has suggested charging rent to charter schools that use buildings owned by the NYC public school district. This policy proposal prompted the Manhattan Institute, a think tank favoring expansive charter school policies, to issue a report criticizing de Blasio's plan.
The Manhattan report claims charging charter schools rent would cause many to run budget deficits that would force them to cut staffs and lower their quality. But a new review of that report finds no merit in its conclusions.
Professor Bruce Baker, a school finance expert at Rutgers University, reviewed Should Charter Schools Pay Rent? for the Think Twice think tank review project at the National Education Policy Center.
http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2014/02/review-should-charter%20schools-pay-rent
Pennsylvania Governor Proposes $400 Million Education Boost
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, who will seek reelection this year, has announced considerable education funding increases in his upcoming budget. "Education is the largest single item in my budget," Corbett said Tuesday. "The increase I propose would bring direct state support of public education to $10.1 billion, more than 40 percent of state spending."
Children’s Environmental Health Questions from Parents
Jerome A. Paulson, MD, FAAP & Benjamin Gitterman, MD, FAAP
Associate Professors of Pediatrics & Public Health
Children’s National Medical Center
Co-Directors, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health & the Environment
macche@cnmc.org
While the dialogue speaks to parents and home environment, the information is quite pertinent to school environments. School leaders, teachers, parents, and maintenance personnel need to know.
http://www.childrensnational.org/files/PDF/ForDoctors/cnhn/environmental-pediatrics.pdf
http://media.childrensnational.org/#/search/environmental/
FCC to boost fund for broadband in schools
The Federal Communications Commission plans to double a fund dedicated to bringing broadband Internet connections to schools and libraries, bolstering a White House push to wire all U.S. schools with faster speeds.
The plan to be announced Wednesday by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is to increase to $2 billion from $1 billion the portion of the E-Rate program for broadband grants. The FCC said the two-year increase in broadband grants will not come from an increase in rates charged to wireless and phone customers. lls include a line-item charge for the federal Universal Service Fund, which includes the $2.4 billion annual E-Rate program.
New York State Solar Initiative Would Target Public Schools
Many of the 5,000 public schools in New York State could be designated as demonstration hubs to promote and expand the use of solar energy.
In his 2014 State of the State message, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a new program called K-Solar, which would help schools in the state acquire and install photovoltaic solar panels.
The initiative would expand on the state’s NY-SUN program, which aims to make New York a national leader in the use of solar power.
