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A Policy Research Report to the California Department of Education, 2012. "In California’s K-12 Educational Infrastructure Investments: Leveraging the State’s Role for Quality School Facilities in Sustainable Communities, the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Cities & Schools provides an analysis of the state’s K-12 infrastructure policies, regulations, and funding patterns. Findings reveal the need to greatly refine school facilities planning and funding policies and practices to promote sound, efficient, and goal-oriented decision making at state and local levels. The recommendations re- envision the state’s role in K-12 infrastructure as one of appropriately supporting educational outcomes and contributing to more sustainable communities through a framework of public infrastructure best practices for sound planning, effective management, adequate and equitable funding, and appropriate oversight."

"A host of policy and implementation challenges remain barriers to California maximizing its strategic use of state-level K-12 infrastructure funds. Our research findings indicate concerns of inequitable facility condition; inadequate investment, particularly in existing facilities; and lack of local government and LEA collaboration around infrastructure and land use decisions. We found likely causes for these challenges in the capital facility planning, management, funding, and accountability systems in place in the state."

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School Facilities and Organization, 2011. The purpose of this manual is to explain the spectrum of activities involved in the planning, design, and construction of school facilities and to increase awareness of all activities that comprise the total effort necessary for successful, cost-effective school projects. If your school district is ready to embark upon a school facility building program: Have you already started, and are you uncertain of what to do and when to do it? Do you know what resources are available to help you plan, design, and construct? Do you know how to find appropriate consultants and what you should expect from them? Do you know who all the people are that normally participate in planning, design and construction?

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Education Law Center, 2005. The scope of this document is limited to the intersection of facilities planning and inclusion of students with disabilities. For further information about issues related to other aspects of facilities planning, you can visit ELC’s website at www.edlawcenter.org. With respect to other aspects of inclusion, please note that this document is just the tip of the iceberg. Moving from separation of students with disabilities to inclusion requires extensive planning and staff training. It goes without saying that enhancing a district's ability to educate children with disabilities--from mild to significant--will not result simply from creating more and better physical spaces in their neighborhood schools. Reducing the separation of children with disabilities will be impacted as much by increasing teacher expertise, changing attitudes and instituting innovative program models as it will be by adding square footage to buildings. The offices involved in the preparation of this document would be glad to help districts in their efforts to deal with these critical aspects of inclusion of students with disabilities.

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BEST Collaborative, 2005. It is the responsibility of each state to ensure that every child has access to a quality education. In many states, the courts have determined that school facilities that provide educational settings suited to the state’s determined curriculum are a significant part of this responsibility. However, school facility management and construction have traditionally been entirely the responsibility of the school district. Many states, particularly those who have increased their funding to local school districts are putting in place policies, procedures and technical assistance to ensure that their public school facilities are educationally adequate. The purpose of this paper is to provide policy guidance and recommendations to elected and appointed officials and administrators at the State, local, and school district level to improve facilities funding in order to support and enhance the delivery of educational programs and services for students and teachers.

W. Kyle Ingle, Alex J. Bowers, and Thomas E. Davis, (2014).

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocated $11 billion per year for 2009 and 2010 for qualified school construction bonds (QSCBs) for America’s schools. From a historical perspective, this program is a broad transformation of the federal role in school facility funding. This study examined factors associated with federal allocations to school districts in Ohio. (Posted July 22, 2014 with permission of Journal of Education Finance).

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Soares, R. (2013). The traditional way to manage construction projects has been challenged by the actual social economic needs to deliver a project with higher quality, lower cost and in a short period of time. However, industry is unable to delivery projects under those criteria. Historically, the industry experiences continuous higher price, continuous decline in productivity and extremely high levels of waste. This paper discusses the levels of price, waste, and productivity that historically the construction industry is experiencing and proposes three concepts to change the actual management process of construction projects. The concepts are: design-build concept, Building Information Modeling (BIM) concept, and Lean Concept.

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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.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/03/08/city-schools-renovation-budget-behind-schedule/6207771/