NATIONAL: In one of the largest school closures ever seen in the U.S., the Kansas City, Mo., school board approved a plan that will shutter 26 of the district's 61 schools. Kansas City's action may have been drastic, but it's not unique. On Tuesday, Cleveland's school board approved a plan to close or move 16 schools. Detroit, which closed 29 schools before the term began last fall, is considering shutting more.

All over the country, many school districts are facing declines in both revenue and enrollment. As a result, the number of districts considering school closures this year has doubled — and is expected to double again next year. "Right now, the economy is expediting school closures," says Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. "As districts are hard-pressed to meet their budgets, they're looking for everything they can cut."

School districts are facing particularly strong budget pressures just now because their main source of revenue — property taxes — is in decline owing to the foreclosure crisis. Housing values have come down about 10 percent since 2007. And things aren't expected to get better on that front anytime soon, with the commercial real estate market beginning to wobble. In addition, many states are cutting aid to education. Last year's federal stimulus package included $48 billion for education, but much of that money was used to make up for cuts in state spending. And the stimulus money runs out next year. As a result, school districts are cutting back. Most districts are laying off teachers and other workers, and many are shrinking or eliminating funding for programs such as arts and athletics.

Others are considering what might be the most drastic step, closing facilities altogether. According to a survey conducted last fall by the school administrators association, 6 percent of districts closed or consolidated schools for the current school year, which doubled the number from the previous year. Their ranks are expected to grow to 11 percent for the 2010-11 school year. "As bad as things are now, we see they're going to get worse next year," says Domenech, the association's director. "But it's the following year which is really going to be hard."

School closures are the ultimate anti-NIMBY issue. Three years ago, Maine Gov. John Baldacci proposed cutting the number of school districts in his state from 290 to 26. The state still has some 200 districts, with arguments cropping up whenever districts or individual schools are put on the chopping block. Just this week, the South Portland school board delayed its decision on a plan put forward by the superintendent to merge two middle schools after the federal stimulus dollars run out. "The funny thing is, some [communities] are very quiet, but the minute you say you're going to close their schools, you hear from them," says Mary Louise Bewley, director of school and community relations for the Indianapolis Public Schools, which has shut 14 of its 79 schools over the past two years. "It's always fraught with emotion, because people love their schools."

The DeKalb County School System, in suburban Atlanta, is considering a proposal to close at least four and perhaps as many as a dozen of its 147 schools. The district is anticipating a budget shortfall of $88 million, which could easily grow. Residents are upset, particularly because the schools listed so far as targets for elimination are in the southern part of the county, which is poor and heavily African-American. Hundreds of angry parents filled a school cafeteria Tuesday to protest the plan at a meeting of the school system's Citizens Planning Task Force.

But many of DeKalb's schools enroll fewer than 450 students, which is a threshold level for state funding. "It costs more to operate schools with very low enrollment, and the state formula for funding school construction penalizes systems which have very large numbers of vacant seats," says Tom Bowen, who chairs the DeKalb school board. "Closing schools actually increases the ability for the school system to get state construction dollars."

CALIFORNIA: What with budget cuts, teacher layoffs and increasing class sizes, the situation at L.A. Unified School District is grim. But there’s yet another issue. With 14,000 buildings housing 700,000 students spread over 710 square miles serviced by 1,300 school buses, the district is one of the largest users of water and energy in the state of California.

Now an ambitious sustainability program has been implemented to reduce the district’s environmental impact and, in the process, save money, improve student performance and serve as a hands-on teaching tool. In March, hundreds of decades-old buses will be upgraded to less-polluting, more-energy-efficient propane models. Eight schools, out of a planned 250, will have solar power installed. Still others will be outfitted with "smart" irrigation systems to reduce the millions of gallons of imported water the district guzzles each day, more than half of which is used for outdoor watering.
Building on a 2005 recycling initiative, LAUSD is striving to slash greenhouse-gas emissions, energy use and water use by 10% from 2007 levels by 2013. It also will install 50 megawatts of solar photovoltaics – a move that could save the district more than $20 million annually on an electricity bill that normally runs $85 million.

So far, most of the changes have been funded with voter-approved state bond measures, utility incentives from Southern California Edison and the L.A. Department of Water and Power and grants from such agencies as the Air Quality Management District. An additional $120 million in federal Clean Renewable Energy Bonds also may be available to the LAUSD to help it go solar.

The 44 campuses the district plans to build by 2013 will be designed to comply with water and energy efficiency standards of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, which also encourages better classroom acoustics, air quality, mold prevention and natural lighting. "People think of the whole green issue as focusing on energy, but it’s actually only one-fifth energy. It’s also focused on air quality, land use and human comfort," said Vivian Loftness, professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon University and co-chair of a 2008 National Research Council report on green schools. "There’s a much broader set of issues."
For the green schools study, a 5-person panel of medical doctors, school officials and building experts looked at research linking green schools to health and student performance. It found that many green building practices aided learning. Insulated walls and double-paned windows don’t just save energy, they also reduce noise pollution. Increasing natural light in classrooms doesn’t just save electricity, it triggers melatonin production, which leads to healthy sleep cycles, and it makes textbooks and other materials more colorful and compelling to students, Loftness said. Using non-VOC paints reduces respiratory problems such as asthma – the No. 1 cause of absenteeism in schools.
It’s the intersection of green architectural practices and improved learning -- as well as teaching opportunities -- that led to Project FROG, a San Francisco firm that designs and manufactures zero-energy classrooms and portable trailers, such as the one at a LAUSD charter school opening this fall. The Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in San Fernando will feature recycled denim insulation, low- and no-VOC interiors and a tall, pitched roof that allows so much natural light that overhead lights may not even be needed. The school itself will be a training center to prepare high school students for careers in California’s budding green economy.

NATIONAL: Sen. Charles Grassley is opposing the expanded bond provisions included in the jobs bill the House passed Thursday, arguing that the higher subsidy rates in the legislation will just boost profits for Wall Street underwriters.

The House’s version of the jobs bill would allow issuers of four types of tax-credit bonds — qualified school construction bonds, qualified zone academy bonds, new clean renewable energy bonds, and qualified energy conservation bonds — to opt to receive direct-payment subsidies as opposed to receiving that subsidy in the form of tax credits provided to investors. Under the measure, issuers of the bonds would receive direct payments that are roughly equal to the credit rate currently on the bonds — 100% of interest costs for QSCBs and QZABs, and 70% for new CREBs and QECBs. Although the bill the Senate passed last month also extend Build America Bond-style subsidies to those programs, it offered significantly lower subsidy rates. Under that version, large issuers would receive a subsidy rate of 45% of interest costs and small issuers would receive a 65% rate.

The bill defined small issuers as those that sell less than $30 million of bonds in the calendar year. However, several muni market groups have spoken out against the Senate bill and in favor of the higher rates the House is pushing. Under the Senate plan, the groups argued, no issuers would be willing to go the direct-subsidy route if it meant receiving half of the subsidy that could be obtained with tax credits. “The RBDA is encouraged by House passage of [the jobs bill] and its provisions to allow the conversion of tax-credit bonds to BABs,” said Mike Nicholas, chief executive officer of the Regional Bond Dealers Association. “We think this is a positive first step in expanding the vibrant market for tax-exempt securities.” And Ken Bentsen Jr., executive vice president of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, told lawmakers in a letter that the House provisions enable “state and local school districts and governments ... to achieve the no-cost or low-cost financing that Congress originally intended, similar to the highly successful Build America Bonds (“BABs”) program.”

CALIFORNIA: While the Los Angeles Unified School District grapples with budget slashing, teacher layoffs, program cuts and increasing class sizes, a 3-year-old program has been steadily carving away at future water and electricity costs for the 14,000 buildings in the sprawling system.
Since passage in 2007 of the Green LAUSD resolution, the district has been working to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and its energy and water use by 10% from 2007 levels by 2013. It also will install 50 megawatts of solar photovoltaic arrays, a move that could save the district more than $20 million annually on an electricity bill that normally costs $85 million.

In March, hundreds of decades-old buses will be upgraded to less-polluting, more energy-efficient propane models. Eight of a planned 250 schools will have solar power installations. Still others will be outfitted with "smart" irrigation systems to reduce the millions of gallons of imported water the district guzzles each day, more than half of which is used for outdoor watering.

Most of the changes have been funded with voter-approved state bond measures, utility incentives and grants from agencies including the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Southern California Edison and the L.A. Department of Water and Power. An additional $120 million in federal Clean Renewable Energy Bonds may also be available to LAUSD to help it go solar. Under a program unveiled for this school year, a portion of water and energy savings are being returned to schools that institute conservation measures, such as fixing leaky faucets or turning off lights in empty rooms.

HAITI: Thousands of schools in and around this devastated capital could remain closed for months or never reopen, according to Haitian and United Nations education officials. That leaves vast numbers of children languishing in camps or working in menial jobs as they struggle to survive. Even before the Jan. 12 earthquake, only about half of Haiti’s school-age children were enrolled in classes, a glaring symbol of the nation’s poverty.

Unicef, basing its estimates on talks with government officials, said that more than 3,000 school buildings in the earthquake zone had been destroyed or damaged. Hundreds of teachers and thousands of students were killed, and officials are questioning the safety of the remaining buildings after violent aftershocks in recent weeks, making the goal of Haitian education officials to reopen many schools by April 1 seem increasingly remote.
“We have six engineers in the Education Ministry to survey more than 10,000 schools to see if they’re safe,” said Charles Tardieu, a former education minister who is pushing for schools to reopen in tent camps. “Let’s face the reality that many schools are never going to be used again, and that we urgently need other ways to revive the system,” he said.

Haiti’s education system was already dysfunctional before the earthquake. Only about 20 percent of schools were public, with the rest highly expensive for the poor. Even in public schools, poor families struggled to pay for uniforms, textbooks and supplies. While other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean spend about 5 percent of their gross domestic product on education, Haiti was spending just 2 percent, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.
“The quality of education was very low, with about a third of teachers having nine years of education at best,” Mr. Cabral said in an interview here, after a recent meeting with Haitian officials in an attempt to come up with a plan to reopen schools. Mr. Cabral said the Inter-American Development Bank estimated that Haiti needed $2 billion over the next five years to rebuild its education system.

MICHIGAN: The Detroit Public Schools will spend about $41.7 million on improvements to safety and security over the next year, funded mostly by the $500.5-million construction bond voters approved in November, district officials announced. The improvements will include $6 million to build a 20,000-square-foot public safety department on the former Sherrard school site to be open in November, $17.3 million for high-tech surveillance cameras as well as $3.5 million for swipe identification badges for high school students and employees that will allow officials to better track attendance, according to Robert Bobb, emergency financial manager for DPS.
The investment will result in about 100 remotely accessible digital cameras to be placed in high schools, 32 in kindergarten-grade 8 schools and two dozen in elementary schools.

NATIONAL: The House approved a revised jobs bill that would allow issuers selling four types of tax-credit bonds to receive a direct Build America Bond-style subsidy payment from the federal government at a far higher rate than was proposed in the Senate version of the bill.
The modified bill is “terrific,” said Michael Decker, managing director and co-head of the muni division of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. “It means that those products will actually be able to be used, because right now they’re not nearly being used to the extent that Congress intended.”

Under the legislation, qualified school construction bonds, qualified zone academy bonds, new clean renewable energy bonds, and qualified energy conservation bonds could be issued as direct-pay bonds similar to BABs. The payment rate for the bonds would closely approximate their current tax-credit rate. Currently QSCBs and QZABs provide investors with tax credits of roughly 100% of interest costs. CREBs and QECBs offer credits roughly equal to 70% of interest costs. Under the programs, the Treasury Department determines a daily tax-credit rate based on taxable bonds with ratings ranging from single-A to triple-B from various market sectors.
For QSCBs and QZABs, the jobs bill would require the Treasury to give issuers direct payments equal to the lesser of the actual interest rate of the bonds or the daily credit rate for municipal tax-credit bonds. For CREBs and QECBs, the Treasury would have to give issuers payments roughly equal to 70% of interest costs.
Both of those rates exceed the ones that were in the Senate bill, which came under fire from muni market participants for providing no incentive for issuers to issue tax-credit bonds as BABs. Under the Senate bill, large issuers would have received a subsidy rate of 45% of interest costs and small issuers would have received a 65% rate. The bill defined small issuers as those that sell less than $30 million of bonds in the calendar year.
Market participants had said issuers would not opt to issue the bonds as BABs if it meant practically halving the amount of the subsidy they could receive, and threw their support behind the House’s version of the bill with the far richer subsidy.

NEW YORK: New York Governor David A. Paterson announced a $40 million investment to improve the energy efficiency of the state’s schools, universities and colleges, hospitals and not-for-profit agencies. The 118 projects, funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), aim to reduce energy and operating costs by $13.5 million a year and provide a full return on investment within seven years. The announcement marks the second round of funding in the State Energy Program, taking the total investment to $74 million.

The programme backs projects to install energy efficient lighting, improved heating and cooling systems, high efficiency biomass boilers and renewable energy technologies like photovoltaics, solar thermal and small wind turbines. Alternative fuelling stations and vehicles are also supported by the programme. “These funds will provide public and non-profit entities with critical resources needed to make long-term investments that will reduce their energy costs and save taxpayers money,” said Governor Paterson.

OHIO: To build new or to renovate? That was the main question that brought more than 100 people out on a snowy night to King Elementary School. It was the initial community planning meeting in a process that will eventually produce a renovated or a brand new King Community Learning Center. In attendance were Akron Public Schools District (APS) officials, school board members and former members, Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) and city of Akron representatives, architects and interested community members.
King is next in the APS’ 12-year program to replace or renovate all of its school buildings, with the help of the 59 percent of the funding that is being provided by the state through the OSFC. The remainder of the money is coming from a voter-approved quarter-percent city income tax. The APS’ executive director of facility services and capital improvements, Paul Flesher, said 17 buildings have been completed, four more will be complete by the end of the summer, four are under construction and four are in the design phase. The completed buildings are called community learning centers (CLCs), not schools. When a woman at the King meeting expressed her desire to keep the name King School, APS Superintendent David James explained that since the city of Akron is providing tax money to help build them, the buildings are operated jointly and the Ohio Revised Code requires they be called CLCs.

The new King, like other CLCs, will be open for community activities in the evening, on weekends and in the summer. But it is first and foremost a school, several officials stressed. The CLCs are all different, constructed to meet specific building programming needs and, as far as possible, wishes of the local community. King was built in 1923. Its high ceilings, transoms over doors, dark woodwork and painted brick walls give away its age. The 46,000-square-foot building is often crowded with its more than 400 students. Kindergarten and first-grade classes are housed in the basement, with no windows — a major problem, since the OSFC rules prohibit classrooms in basements or rooms without windows.

Mark Salopek, an architect with GPD Associates — the consortium of architects who are working on the many buildings in this huge APS project — said that while no decisions have been made yet on any specifics, their proposal is for a building that will accommodate 400 students, prekindergarten through fifth grade. Salopek said they are aiming for ratios of one teacher for every 18 students in kindergarten through second grade and 1:22 in grades three through five, and this will require 58,000 square feet for additional classrooms. The OSFC will pay for only 50,000 square feet, Salopek said, so the APS District will fund the extra 8,000 square feet needed.
One of the OSFC’s requirements is that the new or renovated building qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver certification. This will require efforts in energy efficiency, daylighting, indoor air quality, and more, all of which will be funded by the OSFC.
Salopek said the project would take approximately three years: around three months for programming review and planning, 11 to 14 months for design and 12 to 18 months for construction.

PENNSYLVANIA: During a state-mandated public hearing last week on plans for a $113.3 million renovation and construction project at Mt. Lebanon High School, the group of about three dozen speakers appeared to be evenly divided among those for and against the project. The biggest concern among the opponents of the Mt. Lebanon project is the 14 percent hike in school property taxes -- from 24.11 to 27.52 mills -- that has been proposed to meet the project costs and other district obligations, including teacher pensions.
The Mt. Lebanon debate may be echoed in other communities as the project is among the approximately $453 million in proposed major school construction projects in the region. In addition, at least $286 million in major school construction projects are currently under way, including new high schools in Bethel Park and Moon Area, renovated middle schools in Upper St. Clair and new elementary schools in the North Hills School District.

Taxpayers, like those in Mt. Lebanon, get their chance to voice opinions on the projects as the state requires, under Act 34, known as the "Taj Mahal" act, that all districts hold a public hearing on any major construction projects. Topics at the hearing include an explanation of why the project is necessary; a review of options; project description and expected maximum cost, financing plans and tax implications.
While most school construction projects involve some level of tax hike to finance them, there is good news for residents in districts preparing to go out to bid and some who have recently accepted bids. Because of the slow economy and dearth of other major construction projects in the region, more contractors are scrambling to bid on school projects, with the competition bringing prices down.

School and construction officials can't say exactly why there is so much school construction either in the works or in the planning at this time, but some speculate that many districts are simply on the same cycle for refurbishing their facilities. "A lot of the suburbs around here built out at the same time and now the facilities are hitting that age where they need work," said David Hall, director of finance and operations for the North Hills School District. "We built most of our elementary facilities in the 1960s, they are 50 years old and worn out," he said.

Other reasons for the construction and renovation projects involve updating the buildings to accommodate state-of-the-art technology, changes in educational programs, changing security needs and energy efficient equipment. The Aliquippa renovation included a new energy-efficient geothermal heating and cooling system to replace the old boiler system.
Some of the educational changes include special education programs, following the inclusion model, which brings special needs students back to their home districts, and full-day kindergarten, which requires more classroom space for kindergarten programs

OHIO: The Huber Heights City School District is planning on constructing five new K-6 elementary schools, a new middle school and a new high school at a cost of $159.1 million. The district wanted to know how this investment from Jan. 1, 2010 to August 2012 would affect the community outside of the schools, so they contracted with the Center for Urban & Public Affairs (CUPA) to conduct the economic impact of new school construction on the local economy.
"I think that the economic study does a good job of that--what they call the ripple affect--because it does impact the motels, and the restaurants, the service stations and grocery stores and all those other periphials," said William Kirby, superintendent of Huber Heights City Schools. "So, when we have that many contractors coming in to help build schools, that many other service providers, I think the economic study shows that its millions of dollars that's going to be spent in our community over the next two-and-one-half years, as a result of what we are putting in the schools."

The study estimates the construction project will generate a total of 1,944 jobs in Montgomery, Greene, and Miami counties related to the construction of the school buildings. It estimates that 1,113 laborers and professional employees will be directly related to the construction of the Huber Heights school buildings. Indirectly, 387 jobs will be created as a result of products and services (associated with the construction the Huber Heights facilities) purchased from area businesses. An additional 444 jobs will be created in the three-county area to support increased household spending generated by those workers affected directly and indirectly by the construction project.
The total labor income is estimated in the study to be nearly $92 million. The direct effect of labor income supported by the school district construction is approximately $55.4 million, while nearly $36.5 million in wages and benefits is projected to be generated in indirect and induced effects - $19.9 million and $16.7 million, respectively.

The study suggests that economic activity will also have a significant impact on tax revenues. The model estimates that $2.3 million will be generated indirectly by businesses as sales tax. The model also estimates that just over $2.2 million will be generated in the local economy as income tax revenues paid by employees. The study suggest that the total impact of new construction on the Huber Heights (zip code 45424) economy is estimated to be 668 jobs out of the 1,944 jobs generated. These jobs are estimated to generate $33.2 million in labor income. New building construction is also estimated to generate nearly $1.3 million in state and local sales and income tax revenues.

NEW YORK: A recent report by the Independent Budget Office found that New York City charter schools that don’t use public space receive around $3,000 less per pupil than traditional public schools. This post reviews how much charter schools actually spend on their space.
We created a database using financial information from the 2008-2009 annual financial audits and school siting statistics from the 2008-2009 Blue Book report produced by the School Construction Authority to catalog school space. We found that the 26 schools not housed in Department of Education-provided space spent around $2,100 per pupil on occupancy costs, which includes rent, utilities, safety, and maintenance. (You can see the full spreadsheet.) This database lists every charter school and whether or not it is in DOE space. As an added feature, for those in DOE space, it lists the schools with which they share space and their respective progress report scores.

This $2,100 number only tells part of the story. According to a source who helps charter schools find private space, the market average for a charter school to lease space is between $2,400 and $3,500 per pupil. If the rental costs are less than $2,000 per pupil, this probably indicates that the school negotiated a great rental deal, bought the building a long time ago and paid off most of the mortgage, or has some sort of philanthropic money subsidizing part of the cost. This is certainly the case for many of the schools in our spreadsheet, such as the Carl C. Icahn Charter School or Bronx Preparatory Academy — both schools that have some sort of philanthropic entity helping them with their rental and/or purchase needs.
Ultimately, this spreadsheet is intended to serve as a comprehensive resource for those who want to know which charter schools share space, which schools own their buildings, and which schools lease. It includes information gathered from the 2008-2009 Blue Book reports to determine co-located schools, as well as the 2008-2009 fiscal audits and the 2008-2009 Progress Report scores.

NORTH CAROLINA: Guilford County Schools is reviewing its list of projects that could be funded with federal bonds, entertaining the idea of using those bonds to pay for projects passed by voters in a 2008 local bond referendum. GCS stands to gain $34 million in no-interest Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB), which were authorized by the federal government through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Proceeds must be used for the construction, rehabilitation, or repair of public school facilities or the acquisition of land on which a school facility would be built.
But some school system officials want to divert those funds to cover existing bond obligations.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction reports that the state received a total QSCB allocation of $275 million. Of that, $261 million has been passed along to school systems, with $34 million in total bonds being issued. The state’s top five county school systems — Cumberland, Forsyth, Guilford, Mecklenburg, and Wake —were allocated a total of $88.4 million. The stimulus act also more than tripled funding for another federal school bond program. The Qualified Zone Academy Bond (QZAB) allocation went from $400 million annually nationwide to $1.4 billion for 2009, with an equal allocation coming in 2010. North Carolina in total received $44 million in QZAB. Of that total, $19 million has been allocated to 13 school systems.

GCS’ $34 million in qualified school construction bonds will come in two $17 million installements, one for 2009 and another that is expected for 2010. Facilities director Leo Bobadilla told the Board of Education at a recent meeting that while the federal government will allow systems to carry over 2009 allocations, they will not be allowed to carry over 2010 allocations, creating what he described as a “use it or lose it” situation.
Bobadilla and system chief financial officer Sharon Ozment presented the board with a list of projects that would qualify for QSCB funding, the majority of them heating and air conditioning improvements to several schools. Also included on the list were door, window, and roof replacements at several schools. Bobadilla also offered up another alternative, however — use some of the QSCB bonds to fund projects in a $457 million bond referendum approved by voters in 2008. Guilford County commissioners, who already have warned school officials to brace for another tight budget year, are pushing that alternative. Bobadilla suggested the proposed Northern Greensboro Elementary School, at a cost of $25 million, for QSCB funding.

School board chairman Alan Duncan noted that switching new construction from the local bond to federal bonds would save taxpayers $6 million. “It’s very important to preserve our assets, because they’re the taxpayers’ assets,” Duncan said. But board member Nancy Routh questioned that notion, saying the money saved was only “imaginary money” because it was merely savings on debt service. “Theoretically it’s there, but there’s not $6 million somewhere in existence that the county could allocate for another project,” Routh said. In the end, the board voted 6-3 to approve the list of maintenance projects as presented by staff and present it to county commissioners. Still, as school systems across the state wait for their 2010 allocations, the big question is how quickly they will have access to funds. The economy is still slow, and the bond market remains down.

UNITED KINGDOM: Rolling over is a pretty common trick for dogs to do, but have you ever seen a building do it? Well, architecture firm 3DReid and luxury treehouse makers Blue Forest have teamed up to show you one that can. rotatED, their plan for a modular schoolhouse, can rotate onto any of its seven sides, making it a space that is totally adaptable to many different activities. It will also allow the inhabitants of the space to select sustainable add-ons like solar panels for their customized designs.

Developed as an external learning building at the BSEC School Construction conference, rotatED consists of a base that can be flipped in many different ways. Judging from the images, it also looks like it’s possible to open up certain sides of the structure to create an outdoor/indoor environment. Because of the modular design of the building, students and teachers will also have the opportunity to select their own desired external finishes, doors and screens as well as eco-features like photovoltaic panels.

“The concept has been developed in response to feedback from pupils, staff and stakeholders seeking quality outdoor space that promotes healthy living, environmental awareness, social interaction and opportunities for personal development,” said Graham Edwards, divisional director at 3DReid. “The simplicity of this creative and flexible design enables pupils and staff to use and personalise the space in various ways to suit their needs. No two ‘rotatED’ will be the same.”

KANSAS: The bleak news of 2009 has been replaced by a sunnier outlook this construction season for Wichita's architects and commercial contractors. The Wichita school bond will dump as much as $150 million into the local economy this year, according to a USD 259 official. Another $100 million will hit the market next year. Plus, there is bond construction under way in some neighboring districts, including Goddard. That money will replace the money that disappeared because of shopping centers, churches and apartment complexes that won't be built. It also means the owner of a $150,000 home in the Wichita district is paying almost $64 more per year in taxes.

The first sizable Wichita school bond projects were approved late last year, and many more will start construction this year and next. It couldn't have come at a better time for the city's construction industry. As the economy and credit availability plunged in 2009, non-residential building permits in Wichita dropped by more than half from the year before. "I shudder to think where we'd be without it," said Beverly Sauerwein, vice president of Sauerwein Construction, which is building an addition to Clark Elementary. "It's a lifeboat." She estimated that the company's revenues fell by half or more from 2008 to 2009. She said it's a win for taxpayers who want value for their money.

Bidding for the projects has been intense. Forty-two general contractors, 37 from Sedgwick County, got approval to bid. Scores more of electrical, mechanical and other subcontractors also received approval. Every bond project bid so far has come in under budget, said Julie Hedrick, director of design and construction for USD 259. Projects came in from 2 percent to 18 percent below estimates. "The schools are getting a great deal," Sauerwein said. She said that many of the companies aren't making much in the way of profit, but the cost-cutting is being shared by the subcontractors.
One of those subcontractors, Kruse Corp., a heating, air-conditioning and plumbing contractor, is about to start work on the new Eisenhower High School in Goddard. The company has bid on the Wichita bond work but has not won any contracts yet. Work is pretty slow on traditional commercial projects, said company president Kent Kruse. He laid off 10 workers late last year but said that he will put more back on when he starts work on the high school. Without the school work, the company would have a much rougher time of it, he said. "I don't like to think about it," he said. "We got a great bunch of guys and they would have found something for us to do. But this is big."

NORTH CAROLINA: The Harnett County School Board approved spending more than $1.5 million in bond money for several different heating, ventillation and air conditioning projects. The board voted to spend the $1,517,700 on projects at eight schools. The money comes through qualified school construction bonds. The bonds will be repaid at no interest and are part of the federal stimulus program instituted last year by President Barack Obama.

ALABAMA: Special needs children across the county will soon have the freedom to go down a slide and cross the monkey bars, activities that many take for granted, when the construction of four playgrounds is complete later this school year. The Escambia County Board of Education approved a $249,772 bid to Kidz Zone for construction of four special needs playgrounds at schools countywide including Rachel Patterson, A.C. Moore, Flomaton and W.S. Neal elementary schools.
“The majority of our playgrounds are not (Americans Disabilities Act) compliant,” Suzanne Barnett, special education coordinator for Escambia County School System, said. “Students that have physical limitations, in wheelchairs or use walkers cannot readily access or play on the playgrounds independently.”

The money for the project was made available through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, which are based on the population of special needs children in each county. There are currently 538 special needs children in Escambia County that meet IDA (Individuals with Disabilities Act) criteria, Barnett said. As part of standards set forth by the AARA, the project chosen by school systems had into include “innovative” and “instructional” materials for special needs children. “These are fully accessible playgrounds,” Barnett said. “Part of instruction is socializing with other children and learning how to play and interact with other children.”

The playgrounds are also considered a “green projects,” Barnett said. All the materials used in the construction of the playgrounds are recycled materials mostly milk cartons. The playgrounds are also safe for the children with no exposed metal that resists heat and materials that do not splinter. The playgrounds will also be constructed on poured in place safety surfaces made out of chipped rubber, which have give in them in case of falls. Barnett said that the new playgrounds would afford the students in the county with special needs endless opportunities.
“They will have the opportunity to access a playground with no limit or boundaries,” she said. “All students whether they are able to walk or not will be able to maneuver the safety zone due to the solid surfacing. Those same children will also have the freedom to move about the play structure without assistance, which many have never experienced before.”

The project, which has been eight months in the making, is under a 120-day contract, but Barnett said Kidz Zone officials said it would take 6-8 weeks to construct all four projects, which will be built simultaneously. She added that it was a relief that the project will finally become a reality.

HAITI: The Jan. 12 quake dealt a devastating blow to Haiti's already struggling schools: More than 80 percent in the earthquake zone were damaged or destroyed. All in Port-au-Prince and the other affected towns remain closed, and with tens of thousands of bored and restless children living in increasingly squalid encampments, patience is growing short. On Monday, a group of private school directors delivered a petition to President Rene Preval decrying the lack of government action and demanding schools reopen immediately — be they in tents, temporary buildings or other makeshift facilities. But some are urging caution before rushing back into a system that never really worked in the first place. "This is an opportunity in a lifetime to radically change the educational system in Haiti," said Marcelo Cabrol, head of the Inter-American Development Bank's education division. "We want to be aggressive."

The problems are monumental: Just one in 10 Haitian teachers is a qualified educator, according to the IADB — and a third have not even completed ninth grade. The government is unable to support more than a handful of schools, leaving the system dominated by fly-by-night, for-profit storefront schools whose onerous fees and other costs keep half of Haiti's children from enrolling at any given time. Buildings were so unsafe that one school collapsed on its own in 2008, a year and three months before the quake, killing 100 students and adults. Wealthy Haitians and foreigners opt out entirely, putting their children in upscale schools that cost some $8,000 per year — more than most Haitians will spend on food and basic necessities in 20 years.

Before the earthquake, Associated Press journalists visited classrooms in rickety warehouses, one with an open-pit toilet dug alongside the desks. In a private elementary school just blocks from the National Palace a teacher slumped in his chair, half asleep, while a teenage student scrawled rote Creole phrases on a flimsy blackboard. That school is gone now — one of the more than 3,800 damaged or destroyed in the quake. Nearly 4,000 students, and more than 700 teachers, principals and staff were killed during afternoon classes. All that's left of the Ministry of Education's main building is a crater filled with torn workbooks and lost teachers' ID cards.
Education advocates see a chance for a fresh start.

NATIONAL: All four federally supervised Indian schools in northern Minnesota failed to meet federal testing standards last year, yet they aren't likely to see much of the cash being doled out to public schools across the country under the Obama administration's signature education reform plan. Two of them are also sorely in need of physical repairs or replacement, and have been for years. Yet, at current funding levels, the money to fix them may not arrive for years, possibly decades. "No student in Minnesota should have to contend with mold problems or huge leaks, but that's what kids in some reservation schools deal with every day," said Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. "Students can't be expected to achieve at high levels when their school building is falling apart."

The four schools, all in northern Minnesota, are among 183 schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Education, which is managed under the Department of the Interior. The Bureau acts like a giant, nationwide school district, one of just two federal agencies that directly manage schools (the Department of Defense is the other).

Indian schools face similar problems to those of rural schools — a difficulty in attracting top teachers not least among them — but also have unique challenges. The quality of life on many reservations is poor, with increased rates of unemployment, alcoholism and domestic violence, as well as lingering tensions between some tribes and the federal government that trace their way back through sometimes centuries of broken treaties and promises. But one particularly striking problem facing the schools is the quality of the school buildings themselves.

About one-third of Indian schools — 64 in all, including Bug-O-Nay-Ge Shig School in Bena — are listed as being in "poor condition," but a lack of funding for school construction means it could be years, possibly decades until the school is brought up to an acceptable level. The math isn't pretty. President Obama's Fiscal 2011 budget proposed an effective cut of $9 million to Indian school construction. The estimated cost to replace a BIE school runs about $30 to $50 million, while the president's budget contains just $52.8 million for Indian school construction. The total cost of improving every "poor condition" school: $1.3 billion.

"At this level of funding, it would take 30 years to clear the backlog" and bring all Indian schools into acceptable condition, said Indian Affairs Chairman Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. The Bureau of Indian Affairs maintains a separate, more critical "Replacement School Construction Priority" list, which ranks the 14 Indian schools in "most need of replacement of their core academic and/or dormitory facilities." The most recent list was published in March of 2004.

OKLAHOMA: The Oklahoma City Public School District has found a way to make a little more than $1 million without sacrificing jobs. Instead, several old buildings can now be yours for the right price. It comes with a playground and 32,000 square feet. What was once Creston Hills Elementary can be yours if you're willing to pay. The school that closed in 2003 as part of the MAPS plan is just one of the district's seven vacant buildings that are now up for sale.
"We spend $30,000 per year in insurance alone for those buildings. We're also keeping the grounds and mowing the grass. We have maintenance folks that are constantly coming through to check on those buildings." says Tierney Cook, Public Relations Manager for OKCPS.

Cook says it's a liability to keep up the vacant buildings. Plus, if all the properties sell at their appraised values, the district stands to make a little more than $1 million, which would come in handy in the midst of the district facing budget cuts. "This is one area we were really interested in to see if we could sell those buildings, which would alleviate that liability and also make the district some money," says Cook. Cook says the district also plans to sell another round of vacant buildings. While the buildings remain empty, staff members will check on them routinely to make sure no suspicious activity is taking place.