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.
Tag: School Construction
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
Is it too hard to fund new school construction ?
Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, Washington, has introduced a bill to reduce the constitutional requirement that 60 percent of the voters must approve a bond in school district elections. She wants to shrink that to a simple majority. Haigh said: "I think our kids should be in as nice a building as we are sitting in right here" (in the House's office and hearing rooms building in Olympia).
