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Category: Federal Resources

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American Federation of Teachers, American Institute of Architects, American Lung Association, Federation of American Scientists, and U.S. Green Building Council, 2006

Some 55 million students spend their days in schools that are too often unhealthy and that restrict their ability to learn. A recent and rapidly growing trend is to design schools with the specific intent of providing healthy, comfortable and productive learning environments. These green, high performance schools generally cost more to build, which has been considered a major obstacle at a time of limited school budgets and an expanding student population. A 2005 survey by Turner Construction Company of 665 senior executives found that executives are discouraged from undertaking green construction because of concerns about cost, and a lack of awareness and available information on the financial benefits of green buildings.

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The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention Funded by the U.S. Department of Education

Institutions of higher education (IHEs) are often regarded as sanctuaries, protected environments where young people explore great ideas in a collegial atmosphere and make lifelong friendships. Consequently, incidents of violence on campus are particularly shocking for the extended campus community, evoking questions about whether there is any safe haven. An abundance of evidence indicates that in fact campuses are not immune from such incidents. There are many types of campus violence—including rape, assault, fighting, hazing, dating violence, sexual harassment, hate and bias-related violence, stalking, rioting, disorderly conduct, property crime, and even self-harm and suicide. While grappling with these complex problems is challenging, lessons learned from community-based prevention research point to a set of best practices to guide the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions to improve campus health and safety.

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U. S. Environmental Protection Program

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed these voluntary guidelines to assist states in establishing and implementing environmental health programs for K-12 schools in accordance with the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007. In carrying out this statutory mandate, EPA, along with its federal partners, developed these guidelines to help states establish the infrastructure needed to support schools in implementing school environmental health programs. The practices recommended within these guidelines can also be applied, with appropriate adaptation, to a wide range of school related institutions, including child care and early learning centers.

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2015

The School IAQ Assessment app provides you with a “one-stop shop” for accessing guidance from EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit with proven strategies for specifically addressing important issues such as ventilation, cleaning and maintenance, environmental asthma triggers, radon, and integrated pest management. Whether you are developing, sustaining or reinvigorating your IAQ management program, this tool will help you identify and prioritize IAQ improvements district-wide.

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Dortch, 2013

By some measures, the United States spent over $55.4 billion on new construction, additions, and alterations in public elementary and secondary schools and public and private postsecondary institutions in 2011. Although state and local governments are traditionally responsible for the majority of facilities in public K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions, the federal government also provides some direct and indirect support for school infrastructure. Facilities at private institutions are funded primarily by donations, tuition, private foundations, endowments, and governments. The largest federal contributions are indirect—the forgone revenue attributable to the exemption of interest on state and local governmental bonds used for school construction, modernization, renovation, and repair; and other tax credits.

Federal direct support for school infrastructure is provided through loans and grants to K-12 schools serving certain populations or K-12 schools with specific needs. There are grant programs for schools with a high population of students who are Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Indians, children of military parents, individuals with disabilities, or deaf. Funding is also available to schools affected by natural disasters or located in rural areas. And there are programs to encourage the development of charter schools. Although the Department of Education administers several of the grant programs funding facilities at elementary and secondary schools, other agencies, such as the Department of the Interior and the Department of Defense, also administer programs.

At the postsecondary level, there are several programs to support institutions of higher education that serve large low-income or minority populations and to support research facilities. The allowable uses of funds in the programs authorized primarily by Titles III and V of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, variously include construction, maintenance, renovation, and improvement of instructional facilities and acquisition of land on which to construct instructional facilities. There are programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education and other agencies, such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department of Commerce, that support postsecondary research facilities, facility renovations at minority-serving postsecondary institutions, telecommunications, disaster relief at postsecondary institutions, and other uses.

This report provides a short description of federal allowances and programs that provide support for the construction or renovation of educational facilities. The allowances and programs are organized by the agency that administers or regulates the program. Appropriations and budget authorities are included for FY2012 and FY2013. These programs exist in various forms and responsibility for their administration is spread across many agencies; thus, the list of programs presented should not be considered a fully exhaustive list of all federally funded programs that support school facilities and infrastructure at least in part.

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This online tool developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration provides recommendations for exit routes within buildings. Schools may use this resource to inform the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of exit routes within school buildings and on school grounds, as well as the development of evacuation annexes.

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REMSExpress, Volume 5, Number 4: K–12 Six-Step Planning Process, Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center, Office of Safe and Healthy Students/U.S. Department of Education

The federal Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (School Guide) describes a practical six-step planning process for developing a high-quality school emergency operations plan. The resulting plan builds capacity in preparedness and its five mission areas: prevention, mitigation, protection, response, and recovery.

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Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (2014).

Our nation’s schools and school districts are entrusted to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for approximately 55 million elementary and secondary school students in public and nonpublic schools. Families and communities expect schools and school districts to keep children and youths safe from threats, including human-caused emergencies such as crime and violence, as well as hazards like natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and accidents. Preparedness is a shared responsibility. In collaboration with their local government and community partners, schools and school districts can take steps to plan for these potential threats and hazards through the creation of an emergency operations plan (EOP).

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The Center for Green Schools, 2012

The importance of school buildings has been recognized as a fundamental element of society since the beginnings of America and beyond. Today, roughly a quarter of our nation’s population, including our youngest citizens, spends the majority of their days in school buildings. As a result, schools have become a contentious and heavily scrutinized part of civil society.

And yet, many of our nation’s schools are in disrepair, with systems in need of repair or replacement. But with state and local budgets growing increasingly limited, funding allocation for school construction and renovation needs to be carefully weighed. It is important to ensure that investments are going toward efforts that can best foster healthier buildings and environments.

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