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Tag: Procurement

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KnowledgeWorks Foundation, 2005. Good small schools create supportive communities where students succeed, and both students and teachers thrive. Years of research and experience – not to mention common sense – support this notion. Yet legislators and other decision-makers continue to close small schools and build large ones because they think large schools are more cost effective to build, maintain, and operate. The first report, Dollars & Sense: The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools, outlines the economic and social arguments in support of smaller schools and demonstrates that the true costs of large schools are enormous and the benefits dubious (D&SI, pp. 8 - 19).1

Dollars & Sense II: Lessons from Good, Cost-Effective Small Schools strengthens the case for the cost effectiveness of small schools with new research and examples of what’s working at such schools across the nation. It answers the question – “Can small schools actually be built and run at a cost per pupil that is comparable to that of large schools?” – with a resounding “yes.”

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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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Stephanie Riegg, Cellini Fernando, Ferreira Jesse Rothstein, 2008. This paper analyzes the impact of voter-approved school bond issues on school district balance sheets, local housing prices, and student achievement. We draw on the unique characteristics of California's system of school finance to obtain clean identification of bonds' causal effects, comparing districts in which school bond referenda passed or failed by narrow margins. We extend the traditional regression discontinuity (RD) design to account for the dynamic nature of bond referenda, since the probability of future proposals depends on the outcomes of past elections. By law, bond revenues can be used only for school facilities projects. We find that bond funds indeed stick exclusively in the capital account, with no effect on current expenditures or other revenues. Our housing market estimates indicate that California school districts under-invest in school facilities: passing a referendum causes immediate, sizable increases in home prices, implying a willingness-to-pay on the part of marginal homebuyers of $1.50 or more for each $1 of facility spending. These effects do not appear to be driven by changes in the income or racial composition of homeowners, and the school bond impact on test scores cannot explain more than a small portion of the total housing price effect. Our estimates indicate that parents value improvements in other dimensions of school output (e.g., safety) that may be not captured by test scores.

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Mary Filardo, Michelle Bar, Stephanie Cheng, Jessie Ulsoy, Marni Allen, 2010. In this study, the 21st Century School Fund (21CSF), with support from the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, examined the state capital outlay funding for elementary and secondary public education facility construction and modernization. We examined how much capital outlay has been expended by states from 2005‐2008 as reported to the U.S. Census of Governments and surveyed every state on what share of these funds were provided from state sources as compared to local sources. 21CSF collected information about school facility capital outlay and related capital data management, planning, funding and oversight practice from each state’s department of education and/or building authority.

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Wen Wang, William D. Duncombe, and John M. Yinger, 2011. States are financing a larger share of capital investment by school districts but little is known about how districts respond to facility aid programs. Our paper addresses this gap in the literature by examining how a short-term increase in the matching rate for the Building Aid program in New York affected district capital investment decisions. We estimate a capital investment model and find that most districts are responsive to price incentives but that price responsiveness is related to the fiscal health and urban location of the district. Drawing on these results, we provide recommendations for the design of capital investment aid programs to increase their effectiveness in supporting high-need urban districts.

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Sharon Krengel, December 22, 2014. In testimony before the Joint Committee on the Public Schools, Education Law Center Executive Director David Sciarra called on the State Legislature to prepare for authorizing an increase in funding for New Jersey’s school construction program. “It’s now clear that the funds for school construction projects in urban districts are nearly exhausted and there are no funds left for projects in the rest of the state," Mr. Sciarra said. "State lawmakers must start work now on legislation to replenish the school construction fund to support urgently needed projects across the Garden State."

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Research Department, Minnesota House of Representatives, 2014. The Minnesota school finance system is the method by which funds are provided to operate public elementary and secondary schools. The bulk of state support for elementary and secondary education is distributed to school districts through the general education revenue program, which provides money for the current operating expenditures of the districts. The remaining portion of the state’s appropriation to local districts is provided through special purpose or categorical aids, such as special education aid and local property tax relief aids. The purpose of this guide is to describe the various state programs that provide financial aid to Minnesota school districts. It includes finance data as well as some historical background. Historical, legal, and descriptive information in the following pages provide the context for understanding the school finance system.

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Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 2009. The full School Facilities manual (the Manual) outlines the process for planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of school facilities and provides detailed information about the state School Construction Assistance Program. It serves as a guide to the services offered by OSPI, and to the procedures required for obtaining state assistance in planning, design, and construction of school facilities. This Summary Handbook is a shorter, high-level companion document to the School Facilities Manual to help navigate the SCAP process. The handbook provides an overview of the school construction process and references specific Manual chapters. All forms identified here and in the Manual are available on the OSPI School Facilities website.

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