MARYLAND: Dozens of Baltimore schools are slated to receive new heating, lighting and other energy-efficient upgrades under a deal that school officials say will pay for itself. The system will use the money it saves in energy costs to pay for the upgrades - estimated at $25 million for an initial batch of 76 schools plus administrative headquarters. The savings will also cover interest on a loan and $727,874 in fees paid to energy savings companies implementing the project. System officials are promoting the project as a creative way to make desperately needed repairs despite limited funding for school construction. The system estimates its schools have $1 billion in maintenance needs. This school year, it received $18.8 million from the state for construction and renovation, plus $17 million from the city. Mayor Martin O'Malley has pledged to create a $75 million city fund for future assistance.

RUSSIA: The head of the Russian parliamentary commission investigating last year's Beslan school siege that left 331 dead said local law enforcement officials were negligent and ignored instructions to strengthen school security. Alexander Torshin told the upper house of parliament that Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev and his deputy had sent telegrams less than two weeks before the militants' raid instructing the regional police department in North Ossetia, where Beslan is located, to beef up security on the first day of school. But only a single policewoman was posted outside the Beslan school the day of the siege in September 2004, and she was taken hostage, he said. Torshin also criticized authorities for sharply underreporting the number of hostages involved during the early stages of the crisis. Survivors have said that the misinformation infuriated the militants. The release of the parliamentary investigation came a day after prosecutors exonerated security forces in the bloody police raid that ended the three-day school siege.

Islamic militants seized Beslan's School No. 1 on the first day of school, taking more than 1,100 children, parents and staff hostage and herding them into the gymnasium, which they rigged with explosives. The hostages suffered in hot, unsanitary conditions and were denied water by their captors during the ordeal, which ended in explosions and gunfire on the third day of the standoff. The dead hostages included 186 children. The rebels, who were demanding that Russian troops withdraw from the nearby Chechnya region after a decade of separatist warfare there, had crossed heavily policed territory to reach Beslan, and victims' relatives are convinced they got help from corrupt officials. Families of the hostages have strongly criticized the rescue operation, saying hostages died needlessly because special forces soldiers used flame-throwers, grenade launchers and tanks against the militants.

KENTUCKY: The Kentucky Department of Education has determined that Northern Kentucky's 14 public school districts need $90.2 million to build, repair and rehabilitate schools. But the region's school districts say the state's estimate is not even close to meeting the local construction needs of almost $300 million. Even with the state's own assessment reaching almost $100 million in just Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, only about $15 million will be spent statewide this year on school construction. The disparity between what will be spent, what the state determines as a school district's construction needs and what local education officials say is reality has left lawmakers and educators frustrated as they grapple with the dual challenge of repairing and replacing aging schools while trying to build new ones in Northern Kentucky's booming suburbs.

NORTH CAROLINA: Starting next fall, schools in Orange County will have high-tech digital cameras that will allow police, district administrators and security officers to see the schools -- even from remote locations. The county school district, along with the Orange County Sheriff's Department, has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to improve security on school grounds. The district plans to put cameras at as many schools as it can with the money -- which totals about $284,000. High schools will be first, followed by middle and elementary schools.

This winter, COPS gave $14.7 million in grants to local law enforcement agencies to enhance school safety in 43 states. Part of the Secure Our Schools program, the grants seek to improve security on school grounds through cameras, locks, lighting, metal detectors and training for employees. "Creating the safest schools possible is a priority shared by the law enforcement community, educators and the public," said Carl Peed, director of COPS. "We are pleased to assist with local school safety initiatives."

FLORIDA: Florida's public schools will have millions more dollars to spend on construction and renovation projects next year if legislators give the nod to a revised budget request approved by the State Board of Education. The board revamped its construction budget request after getting word from state forecasters that more money than expected will be available next year. The board also pumped up its recommended construction budget for Florida's 28 community colleges. The total amount the state board now wants spent for public-school construction projects is more than double what it budgeted in September. The revised request earmarks more than $514 million compared with less than $211 million previously. Only about $41 million was to be spent on new construction in that earlier budget, compared with more than $242 million in the new one.

WYOMING: Construction of three schools here is expected to be delayed while the state School Facilities Commission slashes by more than half the school district's construction funding for the next two years. The commission has proposed cutting the district's construction budget for 2007 and 2008 from $76 million to $36 million. Statewide, the School Facilities Commission, which oversees a court-ordered project to build and renovate dozens of schools statewide, has proposed cutting the $637 million in building requests from school districts to $221 million.

NEW JERSEY: The agency in charge of building schools in New Jersey's neediest districts suffers from management problems and confusion over some of its employees' roles, according to a report issued by the state inspector general. The Schools Construction Corporation is in charge of a fund to repair, build and expand schools in 31 so-called Abbott districts. Costs have been higher and progress slower than expected when the agency was established in 2002.

This year, Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper issued a blistering report on waste and the potential for malfeasance and conflicts of interest in the agency. That report led to sweeping changes in policies and personnel. The new leaders asked Cooper to delve deeply into the agency's Design and Construction Division and suggest changes, prompting the new report. "Our review revealed the absence of an overall coordinated plan to enable Design and Construction to efficiently build schools," Cooper said in a statement. The report said relationships between the state-employed project officers and the private firms managing construction were murky. In some cases, the state workers had a hard time getting the firms to follow direction; in others, the report said, the state workers provided little oversight.

LOUISIANA: The two campuses that will be operated as New Orleans public schools this school year have nearly reached capacity, but district officials say it's doubtful they'll open more before next fall. Parents still looking for school placement should consider enrolling their children in one of the 15 charter schools already operating in the city or opening in January, officials said.

IDAHO: The state Supreme Court ruled Idaho has failed to effectively provide its children a public education in a safe environment, concluding a lawsuit filed by a group of school districts 15 years ago. The justices say the way Idaho funds the major repairs or replacement of school facilities is unconstitutional. In a 21-page ruling, the court said the Legislature must make sure there are adequate funds to pay for new school facilities, especially in the state's poorest districts. They say overwhelming evidence shows the state has allowed classroom conditions to worsen, and the current system of depending on voter bonds to pay for construction of new schools is unconstitutional. Traditionally, the state does not pay to replace school facilities. Local property tax payers have, which is why it can be difficult to get voters to pass the bonds necessary to get even the most run-down schools replaced. Lawmakers should appropriate $32 to $38 million toward school facilities during the next legislative session.

NEW JERSEY: In a ruling education advocates hope will return a sense of urgency to the stalled school construction program, the state Supreme Court ordered the state to provide cost estimates for hundreds of approved projects that have gone unfunded. The ruling orders the Department of Education to deliver its 2005 annual report by February 15. The report will include cost estimates for more than 300 approved school projects that have been in limbo since the Schools Construction Corporation tapped out its $6 billion fund for building in mostly poor, urban districts. David Sciarra, a lawyer who represents students in the 31 so-called Abbott school districts, said the report should give lawmakers information they need to provide more funding for school construction and renovation. "This should be a wake-up call to both the governor and the Legislature that they've got to take quick action on getting the school construction program in shape and restarted as quickly as possible," said Sciarra, executive director for the Newark-based Education Law Center.

NEW JERSEY: In a ruling education advocates hope will return a sense of urgency to the stalled school construction program, the state Supreme Court ordered the state to provide cost estimates for hundreds of approved projects that have gone unfunded. The ruling orders the Department of Education to deliver its 2005 annual report by February 15. The report will include cost estimates for more than 300 approved school projects that have been in limbo since the Schools Construction Corporation tapped out its $6 billion fund for building in mostly poor, urban districts. David Sciarra, a lawyer who represents students in the 31 so-called Abbott school districts, said the report should give lawmakers information they need to provide more funding for school construction and renovation. "This should be a wake-up call to both the governor and the Legislature that they've got to take quick action on getting the school construction program in shape and restarted as quickly as possible," said Sciarra, executive director for the Newark-based Education Law Center.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : A D.C. Council committee listened for seven hours as charter school proponents made their case for four former school properties that the city has said it doesn't need. At a time when many of the city's regular school buildings are underused, public charter schools are scrambling for any scrap of space they can get. The number of charter school students jumped from about 6,000 in 1999-2000 to more than 15,000 last school year, according to the District's State Education Office. Some public charter schools have had a tough time finding affordable and suitable space in the midst of the city's real estate boom.

CALIFORNIA: Cesar Chavez Elementary, the newest Long Beach school, has won seven awards from construction experts and regulatory agencies for design and energy efficiency. The downtown school recently received a 2005 "Savings by Design" award for "expert integration of energy efficiency" and earned certification by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools for an environmentally sound design. "The ability to integrate innovative environmental technologies into a well-sculpted building is a tough job and done extremely well in this project," said the jurors of the "Savings by Design" awards, co-sponsored by the American Institute of Architects and administered by Southern California Edison, the Southern California Gas Co. and other utilities. The judging panel noted the building's choice of color, use of limited urban space and efficient design.

The 470-student school, which opened in the fall of 2004, surpassed state energy efficiency requirements by more than 34 percent, resulting in annual utility savings of nearly $30,000 compared with minimally compliant buildings, according to the Long Beach Unified School District. The school incorporated recycled materials, including post-consumer recycled ceiling tiles and a rubberized playground. The lighting system has cut costs through dimming systems, daylight sensors and occupancy sensors. The LBUSD used materials that emitted fewer chemicals in ceiling tiles, wall insulation, flooring and other building components.Efficient irrigation and landscaping cut outdoor water consumption by 100,000 gallons annually compared with standard buildings, according to the district.

The school has an on-site health clinic and gymnasium. The school partnered with the city of Long Beach to allow the public to use the school's gymnasium on weekends and after school on weekdays. During school hours, a section of the adjacent Cesar Chavez Park is sectioned off as a playground for the elementary school's students. The school's other five awards were bestowed by the American Institute of Architects Orange County Chapter, the Coalition for Adequate School Housing/American Institute of Architects California Council and the American Institute of Architects Long Beach/South Bay Chapter.

NEW YORK: A project to spruce up dreary hallways at inner city schools is based on a simple idea: Bright walls make for brighter students. Publicolor, a program in which students are permitted to paint over the industrial shades of their schools' interiors, is credited by school officials with lowering dropout rates, decreasing discipline problems and increasing attendance. The program, now a decade old, has already redecorated 71 schools in blighted city neighborhoods.

Ruth Lande Shuman, an industrial designer who created the program, said Publicolor has far surpassed her expectations and won over once skeptical city school officials. "They didn't understand that schools are not meant to look like prisons," Shuman said. "I was, frankly, horrified by how hostile these schools looked and felt." Alarmed by accounts of the city's dropout rates at some schools in the early 1990s, Shuman said she wondered how to help engage disinterested students. "I thought color," said Shuman, who has researched the colors' psychological effects. "Color has enormous power. It can make you feel sad. It can make you feel happy. It can make you feel energetic or lethargic." Shuman began simply, by providing paint and brushes to students and letting them transform drab walls and doorways into colorful entrances and pathways that set them apart in blighted neighborhoods.

MASSACHUSETTS: Whether it's to ease overcrowding, provide temporary shelter during renovations, or keep class sizes small, many schools around Massachusetts are adding temporary classrooms. School officials in several suburban Boston districts -- including Stoughton, Avon, and Framingham -- say that modular classrooms are their only solution to stem overcrowding. They say they have been adding modular structures, particularly in recent years, because of a state moratorium on new construction that began in 2003 and lasts until July 2007. But the head of the new state school building authority, plus teachers' union and health officials, say they worry that the trend may do more harm than good. Kept too long, modular classrooms can grow mold and create unhealthy conditions for schoolchildren, they say. School officials said they began using modular classrooms because they are cheaper than new construction projects, take less time to build, and, in the case of newer models, resemble regular buildings.

MARYLAND: Pointing to the example of an elementary school that opened with 200 more pupils than it was built to hold, Baltimore County Council members are looking to strengthen a law that is designed to cut off residential development near crowded schools. The council is to vote on a bill that would prohibit homes from being built if they, along with other planned developments, would lead to a school exceeding its capacity by 15 percent. Under the current adequate facilities law, the county could approve two residential projects that, individually, would not cause a school to become crowded, even if the combined effect of the two plans would be to raise school enrollment to more than 115 percent of capacity. All seven council members have sponsored the proposed legislation.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A lot can be learned at the new North Charleston Elementary School without even stepping foot inside a class. That's because the architects, contractors and school district committed to making the school an environmental model. First, they tried to recycle the original 1922 building, but it was too susceptible to earthquakes and had to be taken down, says architect John Ciccarelli of McKellar Associates. When designing the new school, McKellar chose to replicate the original building's footprint, height and roof shape, a logical decision for a school that blended in well with the surrounding neighborhood off Park Circle. Much more was recycled than the old school's size and scale. About 87 percent of the original school's material was not tossed in a Dumpster, but reused. Inside, the heart of the school is given over to a chiller the size of two SUVs, which makes ice that chills piped water and cools the air in the classrooms. The icemaking is done mostly at night, when the power costs are lower. While that chunk of equipment is the most obvious difference, the school's design also saves energy by maximizing the amount of natural light in classrooms and using motion sensors to turn on lights in classrooms and water in sinks.

MASSACHUSETTS: There are mysterious stains on the ceiling at the Fiske Elementary School, spongy floors at Hardy Elementary, cracks in the walls at Hunnewell, a high likelihood of lead in the water at Upham, and there's no library at Schofield. These grade schools are all in Wellesley, but a collection of similarly afflicted schools could probably be found in many other districts in the nation. The elementary schools built in the 1950s and '60s for the baby boomers are, like their original students, showing their age.

The average age of a public school in the Northeast is 46, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Five of Wellesley's seven elementary schools have had major additions but never been renovated. They range from the 42-year-old Schofield to the 81-year-old Hardy. The five schools just got their report cards, which were prepared by an architectural planning firm. While noting that the buildings have been kept in good repair by custodial staff, the study recorded numerous instances of leaky roofs, worn carpets, poor ventilation, dim lighting, plumbing that could allow lead in drinking water, and little or no accessibility for students in wheelchairs.

ARKANSAS: The state has retreated from its obligation to adequately support public education and must reverse its course within a year, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled. Governor Mike Huckabee said it was too early for him to decide whether to call a special session to address the court's concerns. The governor said he would review the opinion and build legislative consensus before committing to a session. In a 5-2 decision, the high court ruled the Legislature failed to make education spending its top priority in this year's regular session and "grossly underfunded" school building repairs and construction. This year, the Legislature appropriated more than $110 million toward a 10-year, $1.9 billion overhaul of public school buildings and equipment.

The court set a December 1, 2006, deadline for lawmakers to remedy what Justice Robert Brown called "a constitutional infirmity which must be corrected immediately." Huckabee dismissed suggestions that the state dip into a $123 million budget surplus to address the high court decision. Budgets fluctuate, he said.

CALIFORNIA: Fanno Academy, one of 33 charter schools in San Diego, opened in September at an Emerald Hills church, holding some classes in rooms not much bigger than walk-in closets. KIPP Adelante Preparatory Academy opened two years ago in a downtown office building. As charter programs, both public schools operate independently of the San Diego Unified School District. Both serve mostly poor and minority children. But unlike other public schools, they spend thousands of dollars each month on rent, leaving less for teachers and instructional materials.

After the district repeatedly denied their requests to use its campuses, the schools filed a lawsuit to force San Diego Unified to make buildings available. Fanno and KIPP, along with the California Charter Schools Association, want the district to comply with voter-approved Proposition 39, a measure that entitles charter schools to the use of district-owned buildings. Passed in 2000, the law says districts must provide to charter schools facilities that are "reasonably equivalent" to those their students would be housed in if they were attending district schools. The law has been the subject of several lawsuits. In two cases, charter schools have won. If Fanno and KIPP prevail, the ruling could force districts statewide to do a better job of complying with Proposition 39.

Most San Diego charter schools are housed in non-district facilities. Ten use district-owned campuses under Proposition 39. Most of them are traditional public schools that converted to charters and remained at their locations. The school board has had several discussions on how to comply with Proposition 39 while also preserving the district's financial interests. Money is a key issue. This year, the district expects to make $2.5 million from renting out nine vacant campuses to mostly private schools and organizations. Under the law, the district is restricted in how much it can charge charter schools.

VIRGINIA: The Loudoun County School Board approved a plan that called for building 19 schools and renovating several others over the next six years at a cost of about $915 million. The schools would be built across the county and include 12 elementary schools, three middle schools, three high schools and a technology academy, all intended to house the thousands of students arriving in Loudoun each year. According to the plan, voters could be asked in November to decide on a bond referendum of as much as $260 million to fund construction of two elementary schools, a high school and the technology academy in Ashburn and to complete renovations at four middle schools. Last month, county voters approved school bonds totaling a record $180 million.

VIRGINIA: The Loudoun County School Board approved a plan that called for building 19 schools and renovating several others over the next six years at a cost of about $915 million. The schools would be built across the county and include 12 elementary schools, three middle schools, three high schools and a technology academy, all intended to house the thousands of students arriving in Loudoun each year. According to the plan, voters could be asked in November to decide on a bond referendum of as much as $260 million to fund construction of two elementary schools, a high school and the technology academy in Ashburn and to complete renovations at four middle schools. Last month, county voters approved school bonds totaling a record $180 million.

CALIFORNIA: Over the pleas of some South Los Angeles residents, the Los Angeles Board of Education unanimously approved a plan to build a $100-million school on a contaminated property that will require the demolition of dozens of homes and businesses, and cost millions of dollars to clean. The site is tainted with a type of carcinogen commonly called PCBs and other toxic substances, according to studies conducted by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control. It also contains potentially explosive methane deposits from runoff left by an old carwash, and is near railroad tracks.

NATIONAL : Schools in the Northern and Mountain states may be asking students to bundle up this winter. Lowering the thermostat is one way that districts are bracing for predicted higher heating costs. Some districts are also looking at alternative fuel sources and energy-efficient building materials for longer-term savings. According to the federal Energy Information Administration, natural-gas prices are projected to rise an average of 38 percent nationally this winter, compared with last winter. The average price of propane is projected to go up 14 percent this winter, while heating-oil prices are expected to jump 24 percent. Districts saw a rise in gasoline costs after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita disrupted oil production this fall. And while those prices have come down, they are still projected to average $2.43 per gallon at the pump in 2006, up from $2.29 in 2005, according to the EIA.

Some districts are making tentative plans to lower thermostats during school hours and to limit access to schools when classes are not in session. Some districts have banded together to buy electricity in bulk; others have banned small appliances such as coffeemakers in teachers’ classrooms. Districts in New York are trying various tactics to compensate for the expected shortfalls: creating or enforcing energy-conservation policies, looking to reserve funds, or cutting school programs. The districts may also ask state lawmakers for relief aid when they convene in January. Some school districts are making longer-range plans for cost control by looking to a variety of products that are not dependent on traditional energy sources. New sources include geothermal heat, hydrogen-cell technology, solar energy, and biomass products such as wood and animal refuse. Sustainable architecture—which promotes environmentally building friendly materials and energy-efficient products—has been a trend for several years and is growing in popularity.

CALIFORNIA: The Los Angeles school district's aggressive push to build schools is leading officials to consider campuses in dense, industrial and residential neighborhoods, often requiring extensive cleanup and relocation costs. The latest of these, which the district acknowledges is far from ideal, is a contaminated South Los Angeles site that would require officials to take dozens of homes and businesses — either by buying them or seizing them through eminent domain — and spend millions of dollars to clean.

The district already has built 46 new schools, and officials have said they are at the point now that they are looking at more "brownfield" properties — former industrial sites with potentially contaminated soil. With construction underway on many campuses, the board is expected to decide on about 20 more proposed sites in coming months. In all, the district plans to build about 150 schools by 2012 in an ambitious effort to end overcrowding, forced busing and year-round calendars.

MICHIGAN: On the University of Michigan campus, one venerable building is beginning its second century decked out in a trendy new color. Green. Sunflower seed hull cabinets, bamboo floors, solar panels and composting toilets are among the green -- meaning environmentally friendly and energy-efficient -- components of the recently renovated Dana Building, home to the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

A few blocks away in Ann Arbor, construction is to begin next year on another green building: U-M's new $145-million Ross Business School. When complete, it will have plants growing on part of its roof, a feature intended to reduce storm water runoff and keep classrooms and offices warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Across Michigan and the nation, many schools are opting for more energy-efficient structures to save money on energy and water use. In the process, they become highly visible models of green construction.

NEW YORK: Most people think all asbestos was removed from New York City public schools years ago. So participants in a New York State Assembly hearing on healthy schools earlier this year were shocked to learn that last year construction workers who were replacing a gym floor at P.S. 219 in Brownsville, Brooklyn inadvertently released the flaky white substance throughout the building. The school was shut down immediately for an emergency cleanup. Student and faculty health was jeopardized, and valuable learning time was lost. The legislators were even more shocked to learn that no one knows how many other New York City school buildings still contain asbestos; records at the Department of Education are incomplete.

There is some good news to report. Coal boilers, which remained in some New York City schools for more than 20 years after they were outlawed in other facilities, have now all been removed. In 1999, the state Education Department issued minimal standards and procedures for school indoor environmental quality and health and safety. State legislation has banned arsenic-infused pressure treated wood (commonly used in playground equipment), pesticide-laden cake toilet deodorizers and elemental mercury (a potent neurotoxin) in schools. Schools must now provide notification when they plan to apply toxic pesticides. In August, Governor George Pataki signed legislation requiring schools to use environmentally preferable (green) cleaning products. The state Office of General Services already does this for state facilities, so the healthy products are readily available. Reducing student and staff exposure to industrial strength chemicals will help reduce school absenteeism. The program will take effect with the start of the September 2006 school year.

NORTH CAROLINA: Faced with a high demand for new classrooms across the state, North Carolina lawmakers made sure that some of the proceeds from a state lottery would help pay for school construction. Forty percent of the net proceeds - the money leftover after prizes are paid out and overhead costs are figured in - would be earmarked for school construction needs. Estimates suggest that during its first five years, the lottery will provide somewhere between $160 million and $200 million a year to be used for school construction. The most recent estimates - which are about five years old - place North Carolina's school construction demands at $6.2 billion, a figure that is expected to rise when new estimates are released in spring.

Elaine Mejia, director of the N.C. Budget and Tax Center, which opposed the lottery, said that most counties would not receive enough money from the lottery in one year to build one school. Todd McGee, a spokesman for the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, acknowledged that lottery revenues wouldn't control all construction needs. "It's certainly going to be a help," he said. "But it's not going to come anywhere close to doing what counties need." "There never was a promise that it would generate enough funds to meet all our educational needs," said Cecil Banks, manager of government relations for the N.C Association of Educators, which supported the lottery. "And that's especially true with school construction."

NEW YORK: New York City will be forced to delay more than 23 major school construction projects scheduled to begin this fiscal year unless New York State begins to comply with a court order mandating billions more in aid for the city schools, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said. Among the projects in danger are proposed new school buildings that community groups fought to have included in the mayor's five-year, $13.1 billion capital plan for the schools, including a campus of small high schools in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx and a high school in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Mr. Bloomberg announced the $13.1 billion plan, the most ambitious school construction proposal in city history, in November 2003. And from the outset, he has insisted that Albany pick up more than half of the costs - $6.5 billion - on top of the state's normal contribution to school construction efforts. The mayor has said the $6.5 billion should be viewed as a down payment on more than $9 billion in additional capital funds that a state court has ordered Albany to pay in a long-running lawsuit over school financing. The Pataki administration has appealed the court decision, which also awarded the city schools $5.6 billion in additional operating aid each year. Last year, after the state refused to provide the added school construction money, Mr. Bloomberg accelerated the city's part of the plan, increasing the city's total outlay for the 2005 fiscal year to $2.6 billion. The mayor said the city could do no more to keep the plan going.

MARYLAND: Baltimore school system officials are asking the public to stand with them as they prepare to close several schools around the city in the next few years. In exchange, they are promising to build new schools and renovate old ones. Mayor Martin O'Malley unveiled a strategy to create a $75 million fund for school construction.

But the options for school construction and renovation presented by the school system this week would require a lot more than $75 million. The least expensive proposals on the table would cost $1.8 billion over the next decade, according to a Sun analysis. The most expensive would cost $2.1 billion. And that doesn't include the cost of upgrading the city's high schools, the proposals for which will be released next month. David Lever, executive director of the state's Public School Construction Program, called the figures "staggering." "They're going to have to prioritize," he said.

The bulk of school construction funding in Baltimore comes from the state, which allocated $250 million for all 24 school systems in Maryland this year. For next school year, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has indicated he will budget about $150 million for school construction. The Maryland Association of Counties is asking the state for $400 million.

MASSACHUSETTS: When it begins approving new projects in 2007, the state board responsible for funding and approving school improvement and construction projects plans to narrow the scope of reimbursable expenses and reduce how much money cities and towns receive in state payments. Under the recent state law that created the Massachusetts School Building Authority and dedicated a penny of the state’s sales tax to funding school improvements, the authority is set to issue draft regulations in January that will go into effect in July. The payment and reimbursement eligibility changes will be included in those regulations. The new law dictated that state reimbursements to cities and towns for school projects must be between 40 and 80 percent of the eligible costs. The average reimbursement will drop to 62 percent under the new system, as the state tries to bring expenses under control in a program that critics have claimed is marked by runaway spending.

NORTH CAROLINA: Wake County might need billions of dollars for school construction and renovations, but school board members were ambivalent about how much money to seek. School administrators presented five options for dealing with school growth that call for spending between $4.25 billion and $5.59 billion through 2015 -- all scenarios that probably would require major property tax increases. The dollar figures left school board members uncertain how much they could realistically ask county commissioners and voters to approve. The board wants to decide in January or February how much to ask for an initial bond issue that will be on the November 2006 ballot. [Related columns discuss the five options, how bond issues work, and graph school growth over the next ten years.]

NORTH CAROLINA: Wake County might need billions of dollars for school construction and renovations, but school board members were ambivalent about how much money to seek. School administrators presented five options for dealing with school growth that call for spending between $4.25 billion and $5.59 billion through 2015 -- all scenarios that probably would require major property tax increases. The dollar figures left school board members uncertain how much they could realistically ask county commissioners and voters to approve. The board wants to decide in January or February how much to ask for an initial bond issue that will be on the November 2006 ballot. [Related columns discuss the five options, how bond issues work, and graph school growth over the next ten years.]

FLORIDA: Hurricane Wilma's impact on the Broward County School District is estimated at $267 million, due in large part to the cost of fixing and replacing roofs. State code mandates that a roof must be entirely replaced -- and must meet current codes -- if more than 25 percent of it is damaged. Plus, a shortage of materials has driven prices way up, and the multiple hurricanes this season may make it difficult to find the supplies needed for new buildings.

OHIO: School districts already struggling with budget cuts and levy defeats are fighting another uphill battle -- increased heating costs. Thermostats aren't being turned down -- they are at or below 72 degrees at most schools. Students aren't being asked to wear long underwear or sweaters yet, as their predecessors did during fuel shortages in the '70s. But schools are doing whatever they can to reduce electricity and natural gas costs. Burkhart said the district has 1.16 million square feet over 17 buildings. During the 2004-05 school year, the gas bill was $621,000. The estimated cost this school year is $798,622, he said. Burkhart said the district recently joined the Metropolitan Educational Council, a consortium of schools that have banded together to purchase natural gas from Energy USA. He said the group purchase will save about $48,000. The district also recently joined a new electric cooperative purchasing program Burkhart said will reduce electricity costs.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : McKinley Technology High School sits on a hill in Northeast Washington, a $73 million campus of imposing brick and stone. But resurrecting the once crumbling and empty school cost taxpayers $21 million more than expected, making it one of the most expensive school construction projects in the city's history. The complicated story of why McKinley went so far over budget offers a lesson during the current debate on whether the city should raise an additional $1 billion to renovate its aging schools.

McKinley's case involves finger-pointing in every direction, including criticism that school officials paid too little attention to the project, that the design contained errors, that the project was poorly managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and that it was plagued by unrealistic cost estimates and timetables.

WYOMING: Governor Dave Freudenthal's recommended budget calls for substantial increases in funding for school construction. The governor announced that his recommendation will call for about $541 million for the School Facilities Commission to continue the construction of school buildings for the K-12 system for the 2007-08 biennium.

"With this appropriation, Wyoming will have spent more than $1 billion on new school construction since 1999 without raising taxes and without incurring debt," Freudenthal said. "I'm glad that the state has the opportunity to remove some of that pressure from the backs of local governments, who otherwise would have faced the challenge of raising that funding themselves." Michael McVay, administrator of the Budget Division of the state Department of Administration and Information, said state funding for school construction for the 2005-06 budget was $371.5 million. He said Freudenthal's recommendation for the coming budget cycle represents a substantial increase in school construction funding. McVay said the project opportunities money will help school districts manage several construction projects together so contractors can bid on them in a single bid. The program is intended to help school districts get the best deal possible, he said. Of the proposed $541 million, about $131 million is school foundation funding and about $419 million is from state and federal mineral royalties and coal lease bonus dollars.

NORTH CAROLINA: The frustrations many voters expressed about Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on Election Day in defeating a $427 million bond package have been building for a while. But most of those frustrations are not unique to Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Crowded schools, aging facilities in disrepair and strained budgets are an increasing and familiar refrain for public schools nationwide. Resolving these conflicts is challenging communities and school administrators everywhere. In CMS, public distrust of the school board and school officials, management problems and a tendency toward secrecy exacerbate the situation. But the fundamental problems remain the same all over. U.S. Census data track a big upsurge in school-age children starting in the early 1980s. That's exactly when CMS officials began projecting booming student populations here. By 2004, U.S. public enrollment in kindergarten through grade 12 was nearing a record 50 million. As enrollment grew, public school facilities were aging tremendously. Notes the National Center for Education Statistics, 28 percent of all public schools last year were built before 1950 and 45 percent were built between 1950 and 1969. In addition, school systems nationwide are wrestling with providing equitable facilities in inner-city communities as enrollment soared. Those realities have forced school systems to become inventive. As CMS and Mecklenburg County officials examine how to proceed following the November bond defeat, they might benefit from the experiences of other school systems facing similar dilemmas.

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey taxpayers today face a larger bill to rebuild schools in the state's poorest districts than they did five years and $6 billion ago. A Star-Ledger review of proposals for further school construction in 11 of the state's Abbott districts shows a projected price tag of $6.5 billion. That means the requests from these 11 districts alone, including Newark, Jersey City and Camden, would cost more than the $6 billion allocated in 2000 for the entire 31-district program. The Schools Construction Corporation exhausted those funds with most projects incomplete or never begun. The other Abbott communities, including Paterson and Elizabeth, have yet to file their proposals, so the new round is on track to approach $14 billion. The entire tab for the court-ordered program could come to $20 billion. The $6.537 billion in requests from those 11 districts comes on top of $2.55 billion already spent there, and it is likely to lead to more borrowing by the state. New Jersey borrowed all of the initial $6 billion, and taxpayers currently face $600 million annual payments through 2021. Officials say new projections are soaring because they incorporate realistic construction and land-acquisition costs. Five years ago, officials didn't include the land costs and were directed by the state to assume average construction costs of $125 per square foot. The new plans are running above $210 per square foot and include estimates to acquire properties.

FLORIDA: While Dunedin's old middle school has fallen to the wrecking ball, a new elementary school will rise in its place. The new and improved Dunedin Elementary will be larger, more secure, and beefed up to meet hurricane standards. Fleischman-Garcia Architects designed the new facility to fit in with the community aesthetically, said Jeff Pelszynski, a senior associate with the firm and project manager for the school. "It will be broken up into smaller units so it won't look like a huge box and will be less intimidating to the youngsters," he said. The proposed design incorporates five buildings, most of which are two stories high, connected by covered walkways.

In today's world, safety is front and center. "The overall design is in keeping with the latest advances in security and surveillance," said Pelszynski. The entire area will be fenced, with gates open at arrival and dismissal times. "No one will be able to gain access to the campus without going through the administration office," Pelszynski said. Thirty-two cameras for full-time surveillance are incorporated into the plan. The media center and multipurpose rooms on the west side of the 12-acre site may be accessed separately after hours for community programs, school functions and other meetings.

CALIFORNIA: In an effort to build a showcase performing and visual arts high school downtown, the Los Angeles Board of Education is considering an unusual fundraising agreement that includes a $5-million contribution from billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad. Board members are scheduled to vote on whether to partner with Discovering the Arts, a nonprofit organization formed to serve as the future school's fundraising arm. Broad has already committed the money to the group to help offset the high building and operating costs of the Grand Avenue campus. The district anticipates the school will cost about $120 million, significantly more than previous estimates. The agreement, which calls for the nonprofit group to pay the salary of an executive director and advise on the school's management, is uncharted territory for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Supporters of the plan have scrambled in recent weeks to assuage concerns of some board members and union leaders that the unusual relationship could threaten the district's control over the school.

PENNSYLVANIA: Pennsylvania school officials are constructing a legacy that's sure to stand for generations. It takes the form of massive debt -- an annual average of $10,450 for each of the state's 1.8 million students, federal statistics show. Pennsylvania ranks first in the nation in long-term debt, spending nearly $1,500 more per student each year than Michigan, the state carrying the second-largest debt load. In the Moon Area School District, taxpayers will be paying $6.5 million in debt each year for the next 25 years. The Highlands School District is spending 7 percent to 8 percent of its $33 million annual budget on debt. The Norwin School District estimates it will have to raise taxes by 2.17 mills to pay for building and operating a new $13.95 million elementary school.

More money for buildings can mean less money in the classroom. Pennsylvania districts spend an average of 54.2 percent of their budgets on instruction. But in a state where more than a fourth of schools were built before 1950, school officials say aging structures and keeping up with technology leave them with little choice but to stack up bricks, mortar and debt.

LOUISIANA: Nearly 50 New Orleans public schools devastated. Three hundred buses destroyed. Hundreds of millions of dollars in storm losses. And as officials begin filing insurance claims, 'grossly negligent' record-keeping has only made it worse.

Of the 117 schools the district was operating before the storm, Thompson said 47 were severely damaged, many beyond repair. Another 38 suffered moderate damage and the remaining 32 suffered light damage or none. The district carried about $200 million in property insurance -- about average for a system its size, since it's difficult to obtain blanket coverage -- and Thompson estimates total storm losses at about $800 million. The district also lost 300 school buses, which have been stored in an eastern New Orleans lot since Katrina and are now branded with pink or black X's indicating they're totaled. The transportation fleet was grossly underinsured, Thompson said, at $5 million. It will cost $15 million to replace the buses alone. Now school system officials are trying to decide which schools -- and how many -- to rebuild. In the city's hardest-hit areas, rebuilding would have to be from the ground up.

But despite the devastation and a severe lack of insurance, the district is still likely to come out ahead. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to reimburse the district for 90 percent of uninsured losses to fix damaged schools. With officials expecting less than half of the city's 460,000 residents to return, the school system is also likely to end up with less than half of the 60,000 students the district typically had enrolled before Katrina. Since it's likely many schools will no longer be needed and some areas of the city might never fully repopulate, Thompson said the district can use 75 percent of the FEMA money it receives from damaged schools to build entirely new schools in other areas. "In a long-term scenario, there will be the opportunity to build great schools, and the money and financing will be there to do it," he said. But the remaining challenge is filing those claims.

LOUISIANA: Nearly 50 New Orleans public schools devastated. Three hundred buses destroyed. Hundreds of millions of dollars in storm losses. And as officials begin filing insurance claims, 'grossly negligent' record-keeping has only made it worse.

Of the 117 schools the district was operating before the storm, Thompson said 47 were severely damaged, many beyond repair. Another 38 suffered moderate damage and the remaining 32 suffered light damage or none. The district carried about $200 million in property insurance -- about average for a system its size, since it's difficult to obtain blanket coverage -- and Thompson estimates total storm losses at about $800 million. The district also lost 300 school buses, which have been stored in an eastern New Orleans lot since Katrina and are now branded with pink or black X's indicating they're totaled. The transportation fleet was grossly underinsured, Thompson said, at $5 million. It will cost $15 million to replace the buses alone. Now school system officials are trying to decide which schools -- and how many -- to rebuild. In the city's hardest-hit areas, rebuilding would have to be from the ground up.

But despite the devastation and a severe lack of insurance, the district is still likely to come out ahead. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to reimburse the district for 90 percent of uninsured losses to fix damaged schools. With officials expecting less than half of the city's 460,000 residents to return, the school system is also likely to end up with less than half of the 60,000 students the district typically had enrolled before Katrina. Since it's likely many schools will no longer be needed and some areas of the city might never fully repopulate, Thompson said the district can use 75 percent of the FEMA money it receives from damaged schools to build entirely new schools in other areas. "In a long-term scenario, there will be the opportunity to build great schools, and the money and financing will be there to do it," he said. But the remaining challenge is filing those claims.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : Between 30 and 40 percent of New Orleans schools -- many of them crumbling, sadly beautiful art deco hulks even before the storm -- will probably have to be bulldozed, said Sajan George, a managing director of the private firm hired by the state to oversee the school system's finances this spring. The school system probably will have more than $1 billion in insurance claims, he said. The school system is in such disarray that to assess damage, workers have had to break into some schools, smashing windows or drilling through doors, because no one with keys -- not a principal or teacher or janitor -- can be found. Many of the schools will cease to exist because they are ruined or will be closed for years for repairs. The enrollment figures are low throughout the city, in dry neighborhoods and wet ones, but are worst in the most damaged parts of town.

CALIFORNIA: To control skyrocketing construction costs, the Vista school district will use a rent-to-own strategy to build two magnet high schools at a cost of $79 million. With the school board's unanimous vote, Vista Unified joined the growing ranks of districts pursuing creative ways of financing projects while bond money keeps coming up short. The method, also called "lease-lease back," has drawn protests from some low-bid contractors who say it goes against competitive bidding by allowing public agencies to favor local builders.

Here's how the method works. The district purchases land, selects a builder and leases the land to that company for at least $1 a year. The district makes payments to the developer as construction proceeds. By the time construction ends, the school has been paid for. In between is where a district can save money. The contractor must set a cap on the project's price upfront, precluding it from asking for change orders later in the process. Only the school board can bring changes forward. The company chosen for the work must look in advance at the district's building plans and decide which frills its budget allows – a process called "value engineering."

CALIFORNIA: Revisions to a campus security policy largely intended to make Encinitas schools safer has some residents arguing that the mandates will force students onto traffic-clogged streets and unfairly ban dog walkers from school grounds. The policy amendments that went before the school board would close campus play fields and playgrounds to the public after sunset unless people have an agreement with the Encinitas Union School District; secure the perimeter of each campus with locked gates during the school day so visitors must check in through the main office; and seal off school entrances and exits in the back of campuses so students would be unable to walk through private or unsafe property to reach school.

CALIFORNIA: First they found the explosive methane gas. Then it was the earthquake fault line under the half-built high school. Twice they have tried to finish Belmont Learning Complex. Twice it has been abandoned. Now, eight years and about $175 million after construction first started, the deeply troubled downtown campus is again on the verge of resurrection.

Los Angeles schools Superintendent Roy Romer will ask the Board of Education to approve a $132-million construction contract to complete a scaled-back version of the school. Using outdated estimates that did not fully account for the dramatic rise in the price of building materials, district officials had expected construction costs to be about $40 million less. All told, including new design, inspection and equipment costs, the final cost is expected to approach $350 million. It is believed to be the nation's most expensive public school. A divided school board, which agreed to finish the troubled campus in 2003, is expected to vote on the construction contract. The staggering figures, and an unusual plan to use money from developer fees to pay for the school, have rekindled long-running concerns over the wisdom of pursuing the project.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : After years of deferred maintenance, funding cuts, and mismanagement of capital programs, most of the D.C. school system's 147 schools are in desperate need of repair and renovation. The buildings average 73 years old, and many have leaky roofs, faulty plumbing, dimly lighted halls, and air-handling systems that leave classrooms too cold in winter and too warm in spring and summer. Everyone agrees that the needs are glaring. But a D.C. Council member's proposal to generate $1 billion in school renovation funds over the next decade through various tax increases has revived concerns about the scope and cost of a major renovation project.

Among the issues being debated by city officials, business leaders and education activists: How can the school system ensure that a bigger construction budget won't lead to cost overruns like those that plagued some of the earlier capital projects? What is the right balance between upgrading basic infrastructure and spending more to create state-of-the-art media centers and science labs? What is the appropriate scope of renovations in a system that is losing enrollment every year? And what claim do the city's fast-growing public charter schools have on the revamped buildings?

FLORIDA: Massive concrete walls toppled, temporary fences tipped and portions of roofs tore away. But school construction sites in Palm Beach County mostly withstood the worst of Hurricane Wilma. Officials say damage and work delays are not major setbacks for at least two-dozen building jobs in progress. Only one project, a $32.7 million replacement of John F. Kennedy Middle School in Riviera Beach, had major damage that likely will force the postponement of an August opening into 2007.

ILLINOIS: Superintendents for the O'Fallon High School, O'Fallon elementary, Shiloh and Central school districts proposed requiring developers and builders to pay a fee every time they plan or build houses. Edwardsville and Glen Carbon have taken that step, and the Highland and Triad school districts are discussing it. The fees, broadly referred to as school impact fees, would go directly to schools to pay for expansions needed to accommodate the student influx. It sounds simple, but the idea that "growth should pay its own way" is controversial, especially with those in the building industry. They say the fees unfairly punish newcomers, discourage development, and ultimately slow local economies. While developers and builders pay the fees, those fees get passed to home buyers - and that, critics say, unfairly penalizes those buyers. Some won't even have children in the local schools.

MASSACHUSETTS: In Boxford, a chemical often found in explosives recently turned up in the drinking water of the Spofford Pond elementary school, reigniting questions about potential contamination from a nearby capped landfill. In Lynn, the $40 million Classical High School, built on a landfill six years ago, is sinking into the ground. Repair estimates run as high as $10 million. In Salem, a $16 million renovation of the Witchcraft Heights Elementary School three years ago uncovered tons of arsenic buried underneath the site, forcing the city to scrounge for another $2 million for cleanup.

Now, state Treasurer Timothy Cahill, the head of a new authority charged with overhauling the state's school construction assistance program, said he is likely to require communities to test all sites for contamination long before the backhoes roll in. Under the old system, run by the state Department of Education, environmental assessments were mandated in 2003 but only for new schools built on new sites. Expansion and renovation projects were exempt. So, too, were 425 projects statewide on a list that the department had approved before the new authority took over in July 2004. Facing more than $5 billion in reimbursements to communities for already-approved school construction projects, the state in 2003 imposed a moratorium on new applications until July 2007. Cahill said he intends to release draft regulations that include environmental assessment requirements well before then. He also said the new system would probably help reimburse communities for the cost of any required environmental reviews.

MISSISSIPPI: To the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the modular classrooms lined up next to the soon-to-be demolished former Mississippi school show, as the billboard out front boasts, "Katrina Recovery in Progress." But to critics, the 450 portable classrooms being installed across Mississippi are prime examples in their case against FEMA and its federal partner, the Army Corps of Engineers, for wasteful spending and favoritism in the $62 billion hurricane relief effort.

Provided by a politically connected Alaskan-owned business under a $40 million no-bid contract, the classrooms cost FEMA nearly $90,000 each, including transportation, according to contracting documents. That is double the wholesale price and nearly 60 percent higher than the price offered by two small Mississippi businesses dropped from the deal. In addition, the portable buildings were not secured in a concrete foundation, as usually required by state regulations because of safety concerns in a region prone to hurricanes and tornados. The classroom contract has already prompted a lawsuit from one of the Mississippi companies and a government investigation.

FLORIDA: Computer textbooks. Handprint ID scanners. Super-sized high schools with "expandable" hallways and wireless Internet hot spots. School of the future? Not really. Public schools in South Florida already are testing these and other high-tech ideas, from energy-saving reflective windows to computerized gizmos that will alter the way teachers and students communicate. In Hollywood, for example, South Broward High is letting police peek into campus with a $5 million computer system that links school security cameras to police cruisers. At Boca Raton's Don Estridge High Tech Middle, students, as an experiment, will pay for lunch and check out library books using an ID scanner that measures the unique shape of their hands. And North Miami Senior High is replacing its sprawling, low-slung campus with a mammoth four-story building, a $78 million project complete with tree-lined "skypatios" on the third floor and a state-of-the-art theater.

"For many decades now we've shortchanged the public in the quality of school design," said Rose Diamond, the chief facilities officer for Miami-Dade County schools. "We've solved overcrowding so far with trailers, turning them into trailer parks. My mission is to change that." School designers are always mulling over new classroom shapes, "expandable" learning nooks in hallways and other ideas that promise to make life better for students. It's hard to say which will become standard issue and which will bust. But administrators say the next generation of schools will follow a few distinct trends.

FLORIDA: Computer textbooks. Handprint ID scanners. Super-sized high schools with "expandable" hallways and wireless Internet hot spots. School of the future? Not really. Public schools in South Florida already are testing these and other high-tech ideas, from energy-saving reflective windows to computerized gizmos that will alter the way teachers and students communicate. In Hollywood, for example, South Broward High is letting police peek into campus with a $5 million computer system that links school security cameras to police cruisers. At Boca Raton's Don Estridge High Tech Middle, students, as an experiment, will pay for lunch and check out library books using an ID scanner that measures the unique shape of their hands. And North Miami Senior High is replacing its sprawling, low-slung campus with a mammoth four-story building, a $78 million project complete with tree-lined "skypatios" on the third floor and a state-of-the-art theater.

"For many decades now we've shortchanged the public in the quality of school design," said Rose Diamond, the chief facilities officer for Miami-Dade County schools. "We've solved overcrowding so far with trailers, turning them into trailer parks. My mission is to change that." School designers are always mulling over new classroom shapes, "expandable" learning nooks in hallways and other ideas that promise to make life better for students. It's hard to say which will become standard issue and which will bust. But administrators say the next generation of schools will follow a few distinct trends.

CALIFORNIA: Supporters of the Los Angeles Unified School District's $4 billion facilities bond measure were buoyed by their election victory, saying the funds would put an end to year-round schooling in the nation's second-largest district. The election puts the district on schedule to open approximately 185 new campuses by 2012.

With Measure Y, the price tag for the districtwide school construction and renovation campaign grows to $19 billion, including state matching grants. About $9.5 billion has come from three previous bond measures passed by Los Angeles voters since 1997. So far, 47 schools, 17 early education centers and 35 campus additions have opened their doors, and another 42 schools are currently under construction. Measure Y earmarks $1.6 billion to build about 25 new elementary schools all over the district. For existing campuses, Measure Y promises nearly $1.5 billion in repairs and renovations. Many local campuses are in line for asbestos removal, fire alarm repairs, air conditioning and bungalow renovations. Measure Y also directs money toward the district's latest academic initiatives, including $90 million to help reconfigure secondary campuses into small learning communities. Ten million dollars is earmarked for improvements at the district's worst performing schools to help address the achievement gap. As with previous bonds, a citizens committee and the district's inspector general will share $10 million from Measure Y to provide oversight. For property owners, Measure Y would add a tax of an average of $26.71 per $100,000 of assessed valuation annually over the course of the 25-year bond. That's on top of the district's first three bond measures, which this year cost Los Angeles property owners $85.12 per $100,000 of assessed value.

NEVADA: An audit that assessed the Clark County School District's construction program concluded the school system keeps up with the area's rapid growth by opening campuses on time, but the school system also has some management problems when dealing with unanticipated costs. A report presented to School Board members had a favorable analysis of the district's ability to open schools on time, manage finances and obtain federal land to build schools on at substantially lower costs than market value. But the report concluded that district officials sometimes break the district's policy when dealing with unanticipated construction costs called "change orders" by proceeding with the project when officials need to go before the School Board for further approval.

The district's bond program began in 1998. Voters approved a $3.5 billion measure to build 88 new schools over a 10-year period. The program is expected to produce 90 new schools in addition to 10 older schools that will be rebuilt. The district, the fifth largest in the nation, routinely builds more than 10 new schools per year.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : D.C. Council member Kathy Patterson has postponed a vote on her measure to raise $1 billion for school renovations through various tax increases, saying she wants to give school officials more time to convince business leaders that the funding is needed and would be spent wisely. Delaying the vote will allow school officials to detail how they would use the revenue as well as get feedback from the business community on the construction program.

Last month, several business groups voiced opposition to Patterson's proposal, which would generate $1 billion over the next decade by increasing the city's hotel, parking and cigarette taxes and delaying a planned income tax reduction. The additional revenue would roughly double the school system's capital budget over that period. Patterson suggested that she was prepared to replace the proposed hotel tax increase, the most controversial part of the legislation, with an increase in the commercial real estate tax. But business leaders are unhappy with that idea, too.

The school system has a long-term capital improvement plan that is severely underfunded, partly because the D.C. Council has provided far less money than anticipated but also because several of the first projects on the list came in over budget. Barbara B. Lang, president and chief executive of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, said that in addition to concerns about raising taxes, business leaders want the school system to quantify its capital needs and show how it will avoid the large cost overruns experienced in several of its recent renovations.

MICHIGAN: A soaring natural gas market, expected to drive up heating bills as much as 70 percent for schools this winter, has districts across Metro Detroit bracing for an ugly winter before the first snowflakes even dust the ground. From South Lyon to Riverview, districts are revising budgets, turning down thermostats, installing energy-efficient lights and even encouraging kids to wear warmer clothes to school as they prepare to get hit with what some experts say is the most severe spike in natural gas prices they've ever seen.

The higher prices have forced school districts to not only revise budgets, but also rethink how they use energy. Lamphere Schools in Madison Heights, which is preparing for a 35 to 40 percent increase in natural gas rates, has upgraded its heating system, installed new windows, and sent a memo to staff asking them to turn off lights and computers when not in use. It's budgeted an extra $100,000 to cover its natural gas bills. Riverview Community Schools is nearing the end of a $1.1 million energy plan. They've installed lights that put out more light and are less costly to run; installed a new computerized energy management system; and replaced one massive boiler at the high school with four modular boilers that require significantly less energy to run and fire up based on demand.

TENNESSEE: A high school student opened fire on a principal and two assistant principals, killing one of the men before a teacher wrestled his weapon away, the sheriff said. The 15-year-old suspect was taken into custody, authorities said. No students were injured, and Campbell County Comprehensive High School in Jacksboro, Tennessee, was locked down immediately after the shootings, said Judy Blevens, director of county schools. About 1,400 students are enrolled in the school.

FLORIDA: The landscape on many Palm Beach County public school campuses has changed, but for the first time in two weeks, the kids are finally back. Since Wilma, district maintenance crews and construction contractors worked continuously clearing debris, patching roofs and drying out flooded classrooms, Chief Facilities Officer Joseph Sanches said. The storm caused an estimated $35 million in damage to Palm Beach County schools. After Wilma passed, just four schools had electricity. Many had roof damage, broken windows, and fallen trees. The district requires every school to be usable before any children are allowed back into its campuses schools. All schools have electricity or are using generators now.

FLORIDA: As students return to school, most will find patched-up roofs, radically altered landscapes, and lessons that seem like a distant memory. The rest of the school year could be defined by Hurricane Wilma: make-up days, delayed FCATs, damaged schools, postponed events. But the most pressing concern is getting kids back to learning after a storm called Wilma robbed them of two weeks, stole their electricity and, in some cases, demolished their homes.

NATIONAL : In schools, style is taking on substance. From the width of the corridors to the depth of classroom sinks, the smallest detail is viewed as a way to foster an academic advantage. Advocates of fresh school design, however, have work to do. They must show elected leaders and taxpayers that such attention to detail does not drive costs out of reach.

At Manassas Park High School in Virginia, scores in algebra, geometry and writing have jumped since 1999, when students moved into a building featuring light, versatility and open spaces. Principal Bruce McDade says he has no doubt the school's physical features have contributed to those scores. "That's exactly the message," McDade said. "The design of this building does in fact have a measurable effect on student achievement and student behavior." Studies support what educators consider to be common sense: Students do better in school when they hear well, see well and are not packed into tight spaces. Noise, light, air quality, cold and heat have all been found to influence behavior.

"Let's not build warehouses for students," said Ronald Bogle, president of the American Architectural Foundation and former president of the Oklahoma City Board of Education. "Let's create environments that are uplifting, that are exciting, that are interesting." That sounds great to policymakers, until the question turns to money. Leaders are under pressure to ease crowding and ensure safety, which means design is often seen as a luxury. Bogle, whose foundation leads a national drive to improve school design, said success stories need not be more expensive. The nation spends roughly $30 billion a year on school construction, he said, and "good design can be accomplished at the same price as bad design."

LOUISIANA: In what visibly pleased St. Bernard Parish public school system administrators called a good sign, more than 250 students signed up on the first day of registration as the Hurricane Katrina-devastated system prepares to reopen a school using temporary trailers set up in the parking lot of the high school. Work crews already are preparing the temporary site at Chalmette High and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleared the site after another round of soil testing. The agency tested parts of the school grounds last month and said results "came back clear."

During a meeting of the school board, the board approved the hiring of C&B Services of Texas to clean and sanitize all of the system's buildings, in a contract estimated to cost $15 million to $20 million. The firm must finish the work by November 26, the deadline for emergency work to be paid in full by FEMA. The board also accepted a $551,000 bid from Roy J. Gross Contractors of Chalmette to gut and restore the flooded administration building. The contract's cost, which beat offers from three other companies, is expected to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

VERMONT: Rockingham voters will have the opportunity to take advantage of the highest percentage of financial assistance ever offered by the state of Vermont toward a school renovation project, allowing urgently needed safety upgrades, repairs and improvements to be made at both the Saxtons River and Central Elementary Schools for half of what it would normally cost taxpayers. At what is an unprecedented level of funding, the Department of Education will contribute 50 percent of the estimated $6.6 million it will cost to bring the town's two elementary schools up to code in terms of fire, electrical, and structural safety and up to speed as regards fundamental teaching, special education, and administrative facilities. With no substantial renovations having been made to either school for nearly 50 years, both are in dire need of attention, to the point of being extremely hazardous and woefully out of date.

VERMONT: Rockingham voters will have the opportunity to take advantage of the highest percentage of financial assistance ever offered by the state of Vermont toward a school renovation project, allowing urgently needed safety upgrades, repairs and improvements to be made at both the Saxtons River and Central Elementary Schools for half of what it would normally cost taxpayers. At what is an unprecedented level of funding, the Department of Education will contribute 50 percent of the estimated $6.6 million it will cost to bring the town's two elementary schools up to code in terms of fire, electrical, and structural safety and up to speed as regards fundamental teaching, special education, and administrative facilities. With no substantial renovations having been made to either school for nearly 50 years, both are in dire need of attention, to the point of being extremely hazardous and woefully out of date.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : The question should not even have to be asked. The District's public school facilities, many of which are more than 65 years old, are in deplorable shape, and the tide of deterioration is swamping the system. But parents, community and business leaders, and all residents concerned about the city's schools should be worried about the priorities of the District's elected officials. While classroom ceilings are falling, boilers are breaking down, and school bathroom facilities become health hazards, the mayor and the D.C. Council are moving in lock step toward dipping into the city's limited treasury to join with Howard University in building a $400 million, 250-bed, state-of-the-art hospital that cannot be justified either by cost or purpose. If residents ever had a need to speak up on behalf of a neglected public school system, now is the time. The choice should not come down to spending on a sumptuous hospital or modernizing D.C. public schools. But if it does, the schools should win hands down.

MASSACHUSETTS: Students at a Boxford elementary school are drinking water only from bottles as state health officials investigate how traces of a chemical found largely in explosives slipped into the school's water supply. Officials from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection discovered elevated levels of perchlorate, a contaminant found in fireworks and rocket fuel, in the drinking water at Spofford Pond School, which serves 560 students in grades 3 through 6. When ingested in high doses, the chemical can pose significant health risks to children, pregnant women, and infants, officials said. The overall danger of the chemical, which has been found in nine other Massachusetts communities since 2002, has been in dispute among environmentalists, regulators, and the US Department of Defense. Still, state and school officials have decided to err on the side of caution.

LOUISIANA: The New Orleans public school system, which suffered from corruption, internal scandals and structural problems before Hurricane Katrina, took a damaging hit from the storm. School officials say they will rebuild the system starting from scratch and hope to open some repaired schools in November. This transcript includes a discussion of evaluating and replacing damaged school buildings.

WISCONSIN: Students always want to be part of the cool crowd. Now, because of higher energy costs, chances are they will be a little cooler, thermally if not socially. Districts across Wisconsin are turning down thermostats, eliminating unnecessary appliances and upgrading heating systems in a bid to keep energy bills affordable. Complicating the issue are state caps on tax increases that restrict schools from raising additional funds and a mandate that schools maintain minimum standards of comfort. So school administrators have been forced to design creative solutions to cut both energy costs and usage as bills continue to rise.

State law mandates a minimum classroom temperature of 68 degrees. Bishop said his district keeps temperatures between 68 and 72 degrees, and turns heating systems off as soon as the last bell rings. Kids who participate in indoor after-school activities are advised to wear warm clothes. Schools are also driving down electricity costs by eliminating perks from classrooms and offices such as coffee pots and microwave ovens, appliances that administrators say aren't there for the kids. One district has automated certain outlets so power can be cut off to energy-intensive machines -- vending machines, water coolers, computers -- after school hours. Some districts are negotiating with unions to shut down between Christmas and New Year's, instead of having some support staff on duty, to keep heating costs down. Other districts use their size to their advantage. Larger schools consume enough energy that the district saves money by buying natural gas in bulk on the open market. Even small changes make a difference. Turning off all 8,000 computers in the Kenosha district at the end of the school day instead of letting them run all night saves nearly $48,000 a month, according to estimates by state utility We Energies.

ILLINOIS: The Disney Magnet School reaps $175,000 per year renting overnight spaces to residents in the parking-deprived neighborhood of Buena Park--money used to buy books, software and other extras for the school's 1,550 Chicago elementary students. A handful of Chicago public schools have turned their lots into cash cows, particularly in gentrifying neighborhoods where parking is scarce for residents and visitors. The extra money has been a lifeline, especially in this tight budget year, when schools lost teachers and discretionary funds. Despite the potential in fast-growing neighborhoods, parking lot leases remain an isolated moneymaker, one that is not marketed by the district and is mostly spread through word-of-mouth by enterprising principals.

NEW YORK: Designing a school building for a Long Island district was once a humdrum assignment for many architects. But the process of choosing an architect and agreeing on a suitable design for a school building in recent years has undergone a sea change. Today, it's 100 percent more exciting because the users are more educated and they expect more out of the architects who they hire. Some school officials and communities now hash out the particulars of new school buildings and the bond issues needed to build them, sending out inquiries to dozens of architectural firms and conducting hours of interviews to select the right one. The result has been an inspiring collection of modern school buildings across the Island.

CALIFORNIA: Rising costs are jeopardizing many projects that were to be financed with Oceanside Unified's $125 million bond measure, including the renovation of eight elementary schools, Oceanside High School's performing arts center and construction of four schools. Since voters approved the measure in 2000, the price of the projects has doubled from an estimated $245 million – with little more than half paid from the bond – to about $490 million, partly because of rising costs for construction materials. In addition, the state reduced the amount of matching funds it doles to Oceanside and other districts for campus construction. New and stricter state regulations have contributed to the rising costs. Additionally, school officials say they've spent much more than planned to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Plummeting enrollment in the district also led to reduced state funding.

MINNESOTA: High heating costs this winter could mean cooler classrooms and tighter budgets for many Minnesota school districts. In a year when public schools got a big boost in state funding, rising natural gas prices might force school leaders to spend thousands of dollars they hadn't planned on. District officials in St. Paul are hoping to ease the financial impact some with energy conservation measures in every school building.

MARYLAND: Montgomery County school officials acknowledge that there's a mold problem at DuFief Elementary School and say they are doing their best to solve it. They say this is the first time in recent years that mold has been an issue at DuFief, but families suspect it has been around for far longer. No matter the timeline, it was clear when custodians opened classrooms in early August that the mold had gotten out of control. The powdery substance was found on desks, counters and ceiling tiles. A crew was brought in to clean surfaces; workers adjusted thermostats and installed dehumidifiers in a handful of rooms in hopes of retarding future growth. Richard Hawes, director of facilities management for Montgomery County schools, said the outbreak might have been caused by a combination of heat and humidity -- hallmarks of a Washington area summer. A broken air conditioner and thermostats set to improper temperatures also contributed by making rooms moist, creating an ideal climate for mold to thrive, Hawes said.

In September, an outside contractor found elevated mold levels in five rooms and ventilation units were cleaned. A new evaluation done last week found that mold concentrations in those five rooms had decreased to outdoor levels. But some parents are skeptical. They want the school system to do more because they fear that overexposure to mold can exacerbate respiratory problems and lead to other, more serious health effects. Research results are mixed. A report by the National Academy of Sciences in 2004 concluded that damp, moldy buildings can worsen asthma and cause coughing and wheezing. But there is no evidence linking mold to other illnesses. Spokesman Brian K. Edwards said officials have no way of knowing whether the reported symptoms are connected to the outbreak. No one has asked for a transfer because of it, he said.

FLORIDA: Hurricane Wilma looks to be more destructive and costly to Palm Beach County schools than last year's two hurricanes combined. Facilities chief Joseph Sanches said he expects damage to exceed $30 million, which is how much the district spent for hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. He said at least 95 percent of 110 schools assessed so far have some damage, ranging from broken windows to collapsed roofs. The district has 171 schools.

FLORIDA: Hurricane Wilma looks to be more destructive and costly to Palm Beach County schools than last year's two hurricanes combined. Facilities chief Joseph Sanches said he expects damage to exceed $30 million, which is how much the district spent for hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. He said at least 95 percent of 110 schools assessed so far have some damage, ranging from broken windows to collapsed roofs. The district has 171 schools.

CALIFORNIA: The long-touted plan to build a much-needed high school at the site of the trouble-plagued Anthony Office Building in Sun Valley has run into yet another problem, and it could cost taxpayers $20 million more in school construction costs. The expensive change of plans tops a list of problems associated with the mold-infested structure that many groups criticized Los Angeles Unified School District officials for purchasing from the city Department of Water and Power for $37 million in 2004, years after the environmental problems were identified. District officials insisted on acquiring the building - across the street from overcrowded Polytechnic High - to open what they called a desperately needed high school in northeast San Fernando Valley. The idea was to move as many as 1,000 students into the building by July 2002, but the discovery of mold forced the district to plan to demolish the structure and build a new high school at the site. But plans to raze the building later this year and build a $54 million high school on the 31-acre site have riled the community. Residents say building a brand new high school so close to a World War II-era campus would create a fierce, cross-street rivalry.

NATIONAL : Turner Construction Company, one of the U.S biggest building consortiums, have announced the findings of its survey of 665 building owners,developers, architects, engineers, corporate owner occupants, consultants and educational institutions on Green educational facilities. Educational institutions are recognizing that Green facilities provide a more effective learning environment. The interest in Green educational facilities is part of a broader recognition of the critical importance of the physical environment to the health and performance of students and teachers.

Improved student performance was cited as an important benefit of Green construction, especially for younger students. 71% of interviewees said that student performance was better than in typical facilities, including 24% saying that it was much better. These ratings are consistent with a number of studies that have found improved student test scores and other outcomes in facilities that incorporate Green features.

MASSACHUSETTS: Newburyport schools have taken the first steps to combat dramatic increases in energy prices expected this winter by shuttering Nock Middle School on weekends for the rest of the year. Athletic and other youth events scheduled there will be held at the recently renovated high school where the technology allows the building's temperature to be controlled better in specific areas than at the middle school. Nock is the city's only school heated entirely by electricity.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which disabled major Gulf Coast refineries, contributed to higher heating oil and natural gas prices. After several years of energy-saving measures — like installing more efficient lighting — Farrell has been leading a concerted effort recently to clamp down on energy costs. The middle school has put the word out to teachers about conservation. The school plans to form a group to promote energy saving. At the high school, the task of conserving is easier beause of modern technology like sensors that automatically shut off lights in rooms with no activity for a given period of time. But the culture at the high school has changed in light of increased energy costs. One example is the way the building's 450 computers are managed.

KANSAS: Students might want to keep an extra sweater in their lockers this winter. That's because public school administrators could set thermostats lower than usual if heating costs soar as expected. In the next few months, school district natural gas bills could reflect spikes of up to 84 percent over last winter. The state's energy regulatory office is warning school superintendents to expect significantly higher energy costs. Lawmakers said that rapidly rising energy costs could eat up new state aid sent to school districts this past summer. And rising heating costs aren't the only energy worry. Freight haulers will have to pass along today's fluctuating prices of diesel and gasoline to the school districts they supply with food, textbooks and other items.

FLORIDA: School will be in session today across much of Central Florida as districts reported little hurricane-related damage. Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia county schools will resume classes. "Everything is fine," Orange district spokesman Dylan Thomas said. "Nothing that can't be picked up and put in the garbage can." Osceola County reported minor damage, which included some water intrusion, mostly leaks, in portable classrooms and school buildings. Some canopies connecting school buildings were also damaged and may need replacement, officials said. Hardest hit was Brevard County, where heavy winds and two tornadoes caused power outages and blocked roads. Officials in Osceola and Volusia counties warned parents and students to be on the lookout for flooded bus stops.

FLORIDA: Public school will be canceled at least through the end of this week in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, district leaders said Tuesday, raising issues about the length of the school year and the schedule of Florida's high-stakes standardized tests. Principals were still gauging hurricane damage to school buildings, but massive power outages and difficult road conditions convinced both districts to scrap the entire week. Initial damage reports were surprisingly light for a region that sustained massive trauma to homes and businesses.

In Miami-Dade, a wall collapsed at Henry H. Filer Middle School in Hialeah. Maintenance offices in north Dade and Coral Reef sustained serious wind and water damage, which will slow repairs elsewhere. In Broward, Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach lost its gymnasium roof, Cypress Bay High School in Weston sustained major roof damage and eight new portables were severely damaged in Pembroke Pines.

VERMONT: With energy costs expected to increase as much as 48 percent this winter, school districts that spend millions of dollars on heat and lights every year are redoubling their efforts to conserve and cut costs. Schools around New England have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, by conserving energy, banding together to buy electricity and other measures. "It's money we are able to use for other things," said Bob Dooley, business manager for the Warwick Public Schools. "Every dollar that we don't spend on support services is a dollar that we can spend in the classroom." Warwick schools hired an energy manager five years ago when the district introduced a conservation program run by Energy Education, Inc., a company that helps schools reduce energy use without buying new equipment. In the first four years, the district saved $1.7 million, Dooley said. Now staff members are looking at additional ways to save, such as keeping boiler temperatures low on warmer days, making sure books aren't stacked on heating vents and ensuring heating systems are in good repair.

TEXAS: The Austin school district is in the midst of a five-year, $519.5 million bond project that will renovate or update every Austin school, as well as build eight schools and a performing arts center. But from August to September, rates for refined fuel and plywood have risen about 13 percent and about 14 percent, respectively. Although district officials emphasize that they can pay for everything they need now, the rising prices have prompted concerns about whether the district can remain within its budget if rates continue to soar. Economists, contractors and the district's construction managers list several reasons for the rising costs of materials: the Chinese manufacturing colossus, a U.S. real estate boom, rising fuel prices and, most recently, supply disruptions and rebuilding after the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

NEVADA: A $1.2 billion surplus is expected to help the Clark County School District build at least 14 elementary schools when its current bond measure expires in 2008, district officials said. The report to the district's Bond Oversight Committee comes as the district, the fifth-largest and one of the fastest growing in the nation with nearly 292,000 students, is nearing the end of a 10-year, $3.5 billion program that built 88 schools. It also is considering whether to bring a new bond measure before voters in 2006 or 2008 to build at least 138 schools over a 10-year-period. The committee approved the first expenditure of those funds, deciding to increase the district's budget to acquire land for the schools by $100 million, from $155 million to $255 million. Panel members said the schools need to be opened by 2010 to keep pace with student growth. The proposal will go before the School Board on Nov. 7 for final authorization. Southern Nevada's booming economy created the surplus through increases in tourism, property taxes and real estate sales, district officials said.

NORTH CAROLINA: Rashkis Elementary School is one of the most environmentally friendly schools in the state. Rashkis, which opened in 2003, is one of two Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools designed for high performance - meaning that virtually everything on the building is designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible. A high school scheduled to open in 2007 will expand upon the features, possibly making it the most environmentally friendly school in the state. What is unique about Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Scroggs said, is the school board's policy - adopted in 2000 - requiring district officials to include every possible green feature in new schools. Among other things, they must reduce the use of water, conserve natural resources, limit excessive noise and provide high-efficiency lighting, heating and cooling.

Smith's sloped ceilings are lined with windows, housed in triangular-shaped roof monitors to provide daylight to classrooms and offices. Fabric "baffles" lining the windows can be closed if a room gets too bright. Solar panels on the roof provide some energy used to heat water and power lights and equipment. The school also has a rainwater collection tank out back, from which water is obtained to flush toilets and irrigate fields. With light-colored walls and ceilings to diffuse sun throughout the building, the school has made environmental awareness something of a theme. Students monitor energy use and embark on recycling projects. They've also done comparisons with other middle schools.

NORTH CAROLINA: Rashkis Elementary School is one of the most environmentally friendly schools in the state. Rashkis, which opened in 2003, is one of two Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools designed for high performance - meaning that virtually everything on the building is designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible. A high school scheduled to open in 2007 will expand upon the features, possibly making it the most environmentally friendly school in the state. What is unique about Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Scroggs said, is the school board's policy - adopted in 2000 - requiring district officials to include every possible green feature in new schools. Among other things, they must reduce the use of water, conserve natural resources, limit excessive noise and provide high-efficiency lighting, heating and cooling.

Smith's sloped ceilings are lined with windows, housed in triangular-shaped roof monitors to provide daylight to classrooms and offices. Fabric "baffles" lining the windows can be closed if a room gets too bright. Solar panels on the roof provide some energy used to heat water and power lights and equipment. The school also has a rainwater collection tank out back, from which water is obtained to flush toilets and irrigate fields. With light-colored walls and ceilings to diffuse sun throughout the building, the school has made environmental awareness something of a theme. Students monitor energy use and embark on recycling projects. They've also done comparisons with other middle schools.

RHODE ISLAND: The Warwick School Committee has cut its budget for art supplies and textbooks by $200,000 to help cover a spike in energy costs. Another $200,000, in surplus funds from the last fiscal year, will also go for natural gas, heating oil, diesel fuel and gasoline. "We did not anticipate the very sharp increase," Robert W. Dooley, School Department director of business affairs, said yesterday. "There's no indication these prices are going to get better." The $400,000 jump in fuel spending represents a 15 percent increase in the schools' $2.7-million energy budget. The School Department's electricity rate is fixed and the school board did not increase its overall fuel budget for this fiscal year, which began July 1. But fuel costs have soared, in part because of damage to oil refineries caused by Hurricane Katrina. To cover the cost, the School Department will dip into its anticipated $2.65-million surplus from the last fiscal year.

LOUISIANA: A bitter split on the Orleans Parish School Board widened into a chasm, as warring factions battled over how to reopen the first schools on the West Bank and who will do it. Despite the board's October 7 approval of a plan to charter 13 West Bank schools and open several of them to students from across the city in November, School Board President Torin Sanders said a recent court order -- stemming from allegations that the board violated the state's open-meetings law -- voids that decision.

The chartering effort is designed to take advantage of a $20.9 million federal grant to expand, repair and create new charter schools. Officials with Alvarez & Marsal said the district's ability to reopen schools is contingent upon concessions from the federal government and preservation of its funding by the state. Although as many as eight undamaged schools in Algiers are able to open to 7,111 students from across the city, only about 3,000 have expressed an interest in returning so far, said Steve Alschuler, a spokesman for Alvarez & Marsal. Alschuler said company officials are working simultaneously on plans to open schools as charters and under the district's plan.

NEW JERSEY: Trenton school officials filed a lawsuit demanding that the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation tear down a partially built school that already has cost the state about $10 million, charging it was erected on ground contaminated with carcinogenic pollutants. The suit names as defendants the SCC and the project's two major contractors, Hill International and Turner Construction. It is the latest development in a costly and controversial effort to build an elementary school for 800 youngsters on Trenton's north side. Work on the $28 million Jefferson/Martin Luther King Elementary School project was suspended in May after state officials learned that fill dirt used to build a foundation for the new school was contaminated with potentially carcinogenic asphalt shavings. In August, after learning from another consultant that contaminated dust and water from the construction site might be endangering nearby residents, the Trenton Board of Education shut down an adjacent elementary school and moved the students into a vacant parochial school building in neighboring Hamilton. Last week, the school board emptied one wing of another nearby school building after a consultant detected evidence of contamination that had been washed into that school by recent heavy rains.

NATIONAL : The federal government will help rebuild parochial schools, nursing homes and similar religious institutions but will not pay for reconstruction of churches or other houses of worship destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, administration officials said. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Southern Baptist Convention and other religious groups are believed to have suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage from the hurricane. Many have been asking what help the government will provide, said H. James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Towey announced in a conference call to reporters that religious groups that run "essential, government-type facilities" can apply for reconstruction grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In addition to schools and nursing homes, he listed assisted-living facilities and community centers as the kind of institutions that FEMA would pay to rebuild. Churches, mosques and synagogues are not eligible, he said.

Until three years ago, FEMA would not have paid to repair religious schools. The Bush administration changed the policy beginning with a $550,000 grant in 2002 to the Seattle Hebrew Academy, a private school devastated by an earthquake. "The aftershocks of the Seattle Hebrew Academy policy will be felt now in the gulf states," Towey said. Before receiving federal funds, religious groups must exhaust private insurance coverage and apply for disaster loans from the Small Business Administration. After that, Towey said, there is no cap on how much FEMA can provide per grant; the only limit is the amount of money appropriated by Congress for disaster relief, about $62 billion so far.

NEW JERSEY: Most schools throughout New Jersey are taking steps to safeguard their buildings and campuses from terrorism or other acts of violence, according to a statewide review. Still, there is more work to be done, acting Gov. Richard J. Codey said when he released the findings of the monthslong security audit of 3,350 schools. The audit was undertaken in response to a 2004 terrorist attack at a Russian school. It also was intended to address incidents like the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado.

An analysis of the data shows that most schools have crafted or are developing written emergency management plans and developing measures to prevent unauthorized access to school grounds. Three-quarters of the schools have protocols to be followed when the federal Department of Homeland Security raises the national terrorism threat level, and nearly all have or are developing student conduct codes with specific attention being paid to bullying, firearms offenses and assaults with weapons.

Areas the acting governor now wants addressed include limiting visitor access to a single school entrance, maintaining sign-in logs of all visitors and requiring badges for those visitors. State police are to develop a list of procedures that will be part of schools' visitation policies. Codey, who made school safety a priority of his administration, also is calling for specialized security training for school staff, and for state police to develop procedures for schools' handling of bomb threats and suspicious packages.

TEXAS: An anonymous donor from Saudi Arabia has given portable classroom buildings and educational items valued at $1.25 million to the Fort Bend Independent School District to help educators cope with the large number of students relocated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. About 15,000 displaced students from Louisiana ended up in Houston-area school systems, including about 1,200 who are enrolled in the Fort Bend district. Another 140 students arrived in Fort Bend after Hurricane Rita struck, with enrollment eventually swelling to 2,100 before dropping. The gift comes at an opportune time for the district, which has been forced to hold classes in auditoriums and other makeshift spots to handle the extra children.

Smelley said the donor is buying the buildings and other items and giving them to the district. The portable buildings cost about $92,000 each. Six will be set up at elementary schools and the remainder at secondary schools. The buildings are coming fully equipped, Smelley said. "That includes everything that goes in the building — desks, the chalkboards, even the walkways and canopies leading up to the building. It's a totally contained portable building and details for installing the buildings are being ironed out.

President Bush has asked Congress to approve $2.6 billion in education aid to help school districts that have had to spend more money after taking in evacuated students. Houston ISD officials have spent an estimated $2.5 million dealing with Katrina evacuees. The number of displaced students for Fort Bend peaked at 2,100 and has seemed to level off in the 1,100 to 1,200 range. The number fluctuates daily and school officials don't know how long the visitors will be staying. FBISD, which has an enrollment of 66,000 and an annual budget of nearly $400 million, has been relatively fortunate in that the Katrina students have been spread out among the district's 49 schools.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : The chairman of the D.C. Council's education committee proposed raising an additional $1 billion for school modernization over the next 10 years by increasing hotel, parking and cigarette taxes and by delaying planned reductions in income taxes. The bill would provide the school system with twice as much capital funding as projected for that period. The chairman said she proposed increasing taxes in this case because the city does not have the capacity to increase debt to meet the overwhelming need for renovation and repair of schools. Hotel industry officials immediately criticized the measure, saying it would harm the city's economy by sending tourists elsewhere. Patterson's measure received high marks from school officials and education activists, who have long sought more money to upgrade crumbling facilities.

The council in recent years has provided the school system with much smaller annual appropriations for its capital improvement plan than school officials had anticipated. The funding gap prompted the school board to scale back the construction program this year, from major modernization of most of the schools to renovations at seven senior high schools and modest repair work at other facilities.

CONNECTICUT: They're not rocket scientists. But conservation consultants John Pierson and Parthiban Mathavan were able to save New Haven Public Schools $1.1 million in energy costs last fiscal year. How? By peeking out the window and deciding that a mild winter morning does not require full-blast heat at the 50 schools they monitor. "We are always dreaming up ways to be more efficient," says Pierson. Typically, heat or air-conditioning was on 24/7 — even if no one was in school. Stopping that saved $600,000 the first year. "A lot of it is common sense." Their aims are part of a larger effort that has given New Haven something experts say few other cities have today: a lower energy bill. Now that natural gas, oil, and electricity prices have jumped significantly, New Haven — with its efficient street-lights, bulk purchases of natural gas, and the building of newer, more efficient schools that operate at lower costs— could become a model for other municipalities across the country.

IOWA: Iowa schools are hoping wind power will make energy costs a breeze. About 30 high schools across the state have installed turbines to generate electricity and help fight rising power costs. The spinning action of the blades rotate a shaft, which triggers a generator that converts the energy into electricity. In 1996, just three school districts used turbines — Spirit Lake, Nevada and Clay Central-Everly. Other schools have caught the wind wave since. Excess energy from towers can be sold to utility companies.

WISCONSIN: Although rising energy costs strike all budgets, they hit some harder than others. Kids in the Kenosha Unified School District know this better than anyone. Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Kenosha schools are deliberately turning down the temperatures in classrooms in order to pay their unexpectedly high energy bill. The district is also asking schools to rely more on natural light, remove space heaters and unplug coffee makers and refrigerators in faculty lounges. Officials believe this approach will save the district nearly $77,000 over the course of the school year. A similar fate awaits Milwaukee public schools. The district has enough for this year’s energy bill, but it’s only because it pre-purchased natural gas at a discounted rate. Next year, students and faculty won’t be so lucky. Small changes in classroom temperature and electricity consumption may not seem like unjust demands in this era of budget cuts. Right now the state is asking students and teachers to wear extra layers. But there will be a point when heating costs will go up further than classroom temperature can go down. Then the cuts will come from elsewhere.

WISCONSIN: Although rising energy costs strike all budgets, they hit some harder than others. Kids in the Kenosha Unified School District know this better than anyone. Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Kenosha schools are deliberately turning down the temperatures in classrooms in order to pay their unexpectedly high energy bill. The district is also asking schools to rely more on natural light, remove space heaters and unplug coffee makers and refrigerators in faculty lounges. Officials believe this approach will save the district nearly $77,000 over the course of the school year. A similar fate awaits Milwaukee public schools. The district has enough for this year’s energy bill, but it’s only because it pre-purchased natural gas at a discounted rate. Next year, students and faculty won’t be so lucky. Small changes in classroom temperature and electricity consumption may not seem like unjust demands in this era of budget cuts. Right now the state is asking students and teachers to wear extra layers. But there will be a point when heating costs will go up further than classroom temperature can go down. Then the cuts will come from elsewhere.

CALIFORNIA: With little time and money, the Los Angeles school district is engaged in its toughest bond campaign yet as it seeks voter approval for a fourth multibillion-dollar school construction measure. Campaign strategists say they are unable to convene focus groups or conduct polls and have scaled back mailings to voters.Although the $3.9-billion bond has won support from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and scores of other local and state politicians, the campaign has not attracted some of the notable heavy-hitter endorsers of past bonds. Absent this time, for example, are billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and former state Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg.

CALIFORNIA: Textbooks, overhead projectors and chalkboards are the traditional teaching tools, but Claudio Zavala Jr. doesn't rely on any of them in his fifth-grade class. He is among a new breed of instructors who have gone high-tech. Zavala wears a clip-on microphone and stands in front of a presentation station equipped with a document camera, a modern version of an overhead projector with a remote control and a mouse. Next to him are an iBook with high-speed Internet access and a wireless pad that allows him to control computer applications from anywhere in the classroom and highlight images projected onto an 84-by-84-inch screen. Everything is linked to a ceiling-mounted digital projector. Zavala's classroom at Herbert Ibarra Elementary School in City Heights is the face of modern education throughout the United States. As schools are upgraded and new ones are built, high-tech gadgets are becoming standard fare. It isn't cheap. Wiring and equipping a digital classroom costs about $20,000, according to the San Diego school district.

Studies suggest that when technology is effectively integrated into the curriculum, it improves performance. In the Escondido Union School District, research has shown that students who learned through digital filmmaking do substantially better on standardized tests than those who do not. The program is credited with motivating students to come to school. In Maine, where the state provided every seventh-and-eighth-grade student and teacher with laptop computers starting in 2002, more than 70 percent of instructors surveyed say the laptops help them meet curriculum goals. The same percentage of students said laptops helped them get their work done more efficiently. Studies on the use of microphones indicate they are effective in keeping students' attention. Teachers' voices are not hoarse at the end of the day. And during silent reading, they can play classical music from their laptop for their students. However, no single study captures the combined effects of multiple technologies. Digital classrooms of San Diego's caliber are so new that there is scant research on them.

OHIO: If people think the price spike at the gas pump has hurt their pocketbooks, try driving 6,044 miles a day ... every weekday. That's how many miles Milford School District buses travel. School budgets throughout Greater Cincinnati are being hammered as gas prices have jumped nearly $1 a gallon on average from last year. The price spikes force districts to scale back field trips, cut summer school transportation, consolidate bus routes and turn off idling engines whenever possible. Other energy costs have skyrocketed, too, leaving some schools planning to turn down the heat this winter. Other districts are removing some light bulbs from classrooms. Even microwaves, small refrigerators and mug warmers might be expelled from some rooms.

FLORIDA: The class-size amendment has created a capital budget shortfall of up to $315 million, prompting Palm Beach County School Board members to ask for help from the state. Board members agreed to send a letter to Palm Beach legislators saying they support the amendment, passed by voters in 2002, but don't have the money needed to fully implement it. The district has already hired nearly 1,600 new teachers so that class sizes can be smaller, and they anticipate the need for another 1,000 over the next four years. District officials say the state has given them adequate money to hire teachers but not nearly enough for classrooms. The district has spent $200 million of its own revenue for new classrooms to meet the amendment's requirements, while the state has given the district $56 million. Another $315 million is needed, officials said.

LOUISIANA: Vernon Parish Schools sustained an approximate $50,000 in damages as a result of Hurricane Rita. The largest amount of damage was sustained at East Leesville Elementary where part of their roof was ripped off. Fortunately the roof, which was new, was pitched over the existing flat roof which held through the storms torrential wind and rain. The insurance deductible for the VPSB is $500,000. An assessment team of the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be assessing the damage sustained by the VPSB at a meeting held later in October. "We are hoping that FEMA will help us pay for the repairs," Gillespie said. Unlike many school districts Vernon is financially solvent even considering that they have hosted more than 200 additional students that evacuated from South Louisiana and have sustained extensive damage during Hurricane Rita.

FLORIDA: The soaring price of real estate is forcing the Polk County School District to dig deeper to buy land for new schools. The board recently offered $12.2 million for 154 acres next to Wagner Elementary in Southwest Lakeland. The land -- 53 acres for a new middle school and 101 acres for a new high school -- costs more than $80,000 an acre. That's an increase of 470 percent from the price of $13,750 per acre paid five years ago for the Wagner site on Yates Road. The district purchased those 25 acres for $343,750. Bob Williams, district assistant superintendent of facilities and operations, said high land costs are built into the district's massive school construction budget. For example, the new southwest Lakeland high school has a budget of $50 million, which is $5 million more than the budget for a new high school to be built off of Saddle Creek Road. The difference in the budgets is the difference between the sites' prices.

Over the next five years, Polk schools will spend about $450 million of sales tax and impact fee revenue to build 12 new schools and more than 400 new classrooms and carry out 100 renovations at existing schools. So far this year, the district has spent $26 million to buy 442 acres, an average of $59,090 per acre, for seven pieces of property. Six of the seven are sites for schools slated to open in 2009 and 2010. In the last four years, the district paid an average of $22,727 per acre -- a total of $6.5 million -- for 242 acres for seven new schools and property at Haines City High. Because of the half-cent sales tax and increased school impact fees, the district, for the first time, has the means to buy land before a school is desperately needed in an area, Williams said. Fifty million dollars has been set aside for the purchase of land over the next five years, for future use.

LOUISIANA: The hygienist hired by the Vermilion Parish School Board to certify that schools are safe following flooding from Hurricane Rita asked for patience. "As far as the schools right now," said Steven Dufield of Altec Environmental Consultants, "the materials are going through the decontamination process. Then they will be released to teachers and students." "It takes time to process each item and sometimes it is better to just discard items," he said. Dufield explained that some items are not worth cleaning because of the cost of the item compared with the cost of processing. He also said that the process is not truly "decontamination" because mold is a part of the environment and there is no way to completely remove it from the environment. Part of the process involves a hepa-vacuum and cleaning with Environmental Protection Agency-approved disinfectants. Samples are being taken at the schools to determine whether they are safe to re-enter. "In Erath, the sample from one class resulted in 43,000 spores (of mold) per cubic meter. Outside, the results were 2,000 spores per cubic meter. In a clean room, it is 1,000 per cubic meter." Dufield also said a large percentage of the spores in the sample were one of two types of mold that are considered toxic.

Roy Dowling, Altec president, said it is best to err on the side of safety. "There are so many problems out there and you have to take it one step at a time," Dowling said. "I think you are taking prudent action." Because of the cost of testing -- $1,200 per sample -- samples were limited, he said, and results were not ready. The cleanup is only the first part of what needs to be done for students and faculty to return. Once the schools are cleaned, many still need repairs and replacement of the contents lost in the mud and water which invaded them. That process will likely take months, he said.

LOUISIANA: Restoration work is well underway in Calcasieu Parish schools. About half of Calcasieu's 58 schools received some damage. Ten to 20 schools still have no electricity. "Until we have electricity everywhere, we know we're not starting school. Once we get the electricity up we have to get a reading on air quality," said Schools Superintendent Jude Theriot. At Lake Charles Boston, the roof is being repaired, molded tiles are coming out, and moisture from a leaky building is being removed from the cafeteria to prevent the spread of mold. In order to get the moisture out of these schools restoration crews use a process that's similar to the process your clothes dryer uses at home. They pump in hot air, air that's about 115 to 125 degrees. They send that into the school. They suck that back out. They send in some more air, and they complete that cycle over and over. Mold is being removed from about 25 schools after water got in. "Any school that had water damage is going to take some work to reopen, then we have to have all our cafeterias certified safe. We had to throw away or give away close to $300,000 worth of food, so we have nothing in the ice box right now," said Theriot. Not only will the school system need to restock the freezers, it will have to make sure there is enough gas around to fuel its 300 school buses. A huge to do list before schools reopen. "A lot of schools have to be certified safe and we don't want to make a mistake and put children back in schools that could cause problems," said Theriot

TEXAS: Two weeks after Hurricane Rita smashed into East Texas, the schoolchildren in this devastated region are doing everything but what kids their age ought to be doing: going to school. The 10-day grace period the state gave some East Texas school districts to reopen in the wake of Rita came and went with no signs of students returning to classrooms in many parts of a region still lacking in water, power and sewage services. The Texas Education Agency gave districts devastated by Rita the grace period to suspend classes without having to make them up later. But officials in districts such as Jasper said they couldn't make the deadline with homes and schools still lacking power and electrical lines and fallen trees still blocking school bus routes.

LOUISIANA: State Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard and Mayor Ray Nagin said they would not be opposed to allowing some public schools on the east bank of New Orleans to open this academic year, contradicting remarks by the Orleans Parish School Board president. Although the school district is tentatively planning a November opening of as many as eight schools on the city's West Bank, where many city services have already been restored, anticipated delays in returning those services to the east bank could delay reopenings of undamaged schools there until January, officials said.

Picard said Tuesday he is open to the prospect of opening some east bank schools in January, or whenever officials determine the city is safe for children and it's possible to open schools. Nagin agreed. "I want to get the water certified (by health officials), which will hopefully be this weekend, then I will be much more comfortable bringing back children," he said at a news conference Tuesday. Watson, however, said Nagin recently told her "he would not be comfortable with our opening schools outside of the West Bank until he was assured that the waste management controls in place were sufficient," adding that water treatment facilities were still in need of much work. Nagin also said he doesn't want students to return to the "deplorable conditions" that existed in some schools before the storm and encouraged district officials and the board to take advantage of this opportunity to improve the system. "My only push back to the School Board would be, 'Take this opportunity to fix yourself,' " he said.

LOUISIANA: State Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard and Mayor Ray Nagin said they would not be opposed to allowing some public schools on the east bank of New Orleans to open this academic year, contradicting remarks by the Orleans Parish School Board president. Although the school district is tentatively planning a November opening of as many as eight schools on the city's West Bank, where many city services have already been restored, anticipated delays in returning those services to the east bank could delay reopenings of undamaged schools there until January, officials said.

Picard said Tuesday he is open to the prospect of opening some east bank schools in January, or whenever officials determine the city is safe for children and it's possible to open schools. Nagin agreed. "I want to get the water certified (by health officials), which will hopefully be this weekend, then I will be much more comfortable bringing back children," he said at a news conference Tuesday. Watson, however, said Nagin recently told her "he would not be comfortable with our opening schools outside of the West Bank until he was assured that the waste management controls in place were sufficient," adding that water treatment facilities were still in need of much work. Nagin also said he doesn't want students to return to the "deplorable conditions" that existed in some schools before the storm and encouraged district officials and the board to take advantage of this opportunity to improve the system. "My only push back to the School Board would be, 'Take this opportunity to fix yourself,' " he said.

NATIONAL: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have displaced tens of thousands of students and severely damaged dozens of school facilities in the Gulf region. Before the storms, some $30 billion was expected to be spent this year on school construction in the United States. Much more will be needed now. The challenge is to spend it wisely. At this critical moment, we have a unique opportunity - obligation, even - to rethink the classic American schoolhouse and to design and build schools that serve the educational needs of the 21st century. The educational facilities we design today are expected to last 50 or more years. While the Gulf region has immediate needs for schools, it is important that we take the time to plan, design and construct these facilities to serve the unique needs of each community. A one-size-fits-all solution is a sure recipe for failure. A failure we cannot afford in New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Washington or in any of the many cities needing significant investment in educational facilities.

TEXAS: More than 40 school districts in Southeast Texas, victims of Hurricane Rita, remained closed, and most had no idea when they would reopen. At least 85,000 students and possibly as many as 100,000 are affected, a Texas Education Agency spokeswoman said. "Most of Southeast Texas is still shut," Debbie Graves Ratcliffe said, mainly because of power outages and, in some cases, wind damage and disrupted water supplies. Most of the closed schools are in Education Service Center Region 5, including Jefferson, Tyler, Jasper, Newton, Hardin and Orange counties, which took a hard hit when Rita roared ashore. As of Monday, only two school districts in that region had set reopening dates. Kountze plans to resume classes Oct. 10 and Port Arthur, Oct. 13.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : In recent years, an increasing number of schools in the Washington area have begun "habitat gardens" on school grounds. These can range from simple vegetable patches, where children can plant tomatoes and oregano to "grow a pizza," to Asian-themed gardens landscaped by parent-designers. Said Arlington schools' science supervisor, Constance Skelton: "You can be a very environmentally challenged school with a lot of asphalt on it and still make use of nature. Every school has some trees." Many schools in Alexandria, the District and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Montgomery counties have versions of "Edible Schoolyards." Popular themes include "Beatrix Potter" gardens, with the vegetables from Mr. McGregor's garden; butterfly gardens, where children can witness caterpillars' metamorphosis; and pumpkin patches, where they can carve jack-o'-lanterns from the fruits of their labor.

But where garden activities used to be considered slightly looser than most academics, the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act have prompted teachers to find ways to tie the gardens to Virginia's Standards of Learning exams, said Wendy Sparrow, who oversees Alexandria school gardens. That way, she said, as schedules get tight and schools emphasize the core curriculum, teachers can still justify taking their students outside and devoting precious time to what can be learned in the garden.

CONNECTICUT: The adage that "time is money" is certainly true when it comes to school construction. In 2001, the state approved spending $22 million for a new elementary magnet school in East Hartford. The school has not been built, largely because of delays related to environmental and political issues, and now construction costs are projected to be $32 million. In Manchester, where residents have approved spending about $80 million for school renovations and additions, officials also are wary. Schools Superintendent Kathleen Ouellette said last week that starting renovation work at Bennet Middle School after the current academic year, rather than waiting until June 2007, could save the town more than $1 million. Construction costs typically increase about 3 percent each year, according to industry officials, who warn that recent hurricanes on the Gulf Coast could push prices higher. Damage to refineries and pipelines have affected fuel prices, and demand has been increasing for products such as steel and cement. As rebuilding efforts in the Gulf region expand, the labor market could get tight throughout the country, raising prices further.

LOUISIANA: Hurricane Rita's winds kicked up enough water and debris to keep Acadia Parish schools closed for a week. Crowley High School Principal Steve Duplechin says some of the problem was getting electricity back and no one knew how quickly that would be able to be done. Duplechin says the school never lost water, but contamination was a problem and on top of that, when the electricity was turned back on, there were air conditioning problems. Principal Steve Duplechin says leaks from hallway skylights and air conditioning vents, mixed with humidity triggered mold growth. Despite parents' concerns, Duplechin says the problem has been resolved. Duplechin says the small amount of mold in the school was taken care of by using 10% solution of Clorox and water.

MINNESOTA: Minnesota schools are bracing for major fuel-cost increases. Some school officials say you have to go back to the energy crisis of the 1970s to find the kinds of price hikes anticipated for this year. Gas prices were already rising before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hammered the fuel-producing Gulf Coast last month. The effect of the hurricanes on Minnesota fuel prices remains unclear, but it is clear that the prices are likely to far outstrip what districts already budgeted for this year's heating and bus diesel fuel costs.

Many districts are putting an extra emphasis on energy conservation to try to ease the impact of rising prices. In St. Paul, for instance, that includes not just turning down the thermostats, but such measures as taking the light bulbs out of pop machines and telling employees to get rid of their microwaves and space heaters. A recent survey of school districts shows fuel cost estimates for this year are up between $5,000 and $1.3 million, depending on the size of the district.

LOUISIANA: The New Orleans public school system does not intend to open any campuses on the city's east bank this school year, the president of its governing board, the Rev. Torin Sanders, said. New Orleans public schools Uptown and elsewhere may be in good condition, but it's unlikely they could open soon, he said. If the east bank schools opened in January or later, students attending them would not receive enough instructional time, he said. Last month, State Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard said engineers and architects who visited New Orleans public schools concluded at least seven Uptown schools are in good condition.

Sanders said Mayor Ray Nagin "wants us to be cautious and not have too many people using the city at one time." Sanders said it's unclear whether city services would be ready in time for a Nov. 1 opening of Uptown schools. The mayor, he said, wants things done in stages. "We have the city and the School Board working with each other," Sanders said. At least two private schools have opened in New Orleans and eight public schools are scheduled to open in a few weeks. All of the schools are in Algiers.

CALIFORNIA: With 45 Los Angeles schools finished and another 115 in the pipeline, there is less optimism for promising designs for the construction program. As LAUSD seeks voter approval next month for a $4-billion bond measure — the building campaign's fourth in eight years, which would push the budget for the construction and renovation campaign to a staggering $17.2 billion — the architectural promise has largely faded. Certainly the district deserves praise for confronting, after years of official neglect, the twin problems of overcrowding and aging facilities. The building campaign's central goals — to move every student back to a traditional two-semester calendar and into a neighborhood school — are finally within sight. But as the district has become more aggressive about asking for money and tackling new lists of educational problems, on the design front it has shrunk into caution and insularity.

Architects who continue to work for the district say they have sensed a growing backlash from facilities officials in the last couple of years against high-profile firms and progressive design. The district's goal now appears to get the remaining campuses finished without incident or controversy — to keep the assembly line moving. Given how dramatically the building program is remaking neighborhoods from San Pedro to Canoga Park, you don't have to be a parent to find the shift troubling.

MISSISSIPPI: The senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee said that the government is vastly overpaying for hundreds of portable classrooms purchased for Mississippi schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and that auditors should investigate. Missississip Representative Bennie Thompson charged that the government is paying $88,000 per mobile classroom under a $39.5 million deal but that the classrooms should cost no more than $42,000 apiece. The contract is with Akima Site Operations LLC, a firm that does business as an Alaska Native Corporation. The designation allows the government more flexibility in giving it no-bid contracts. Thompson also suggested in his letter that Akima "does not have any particular expertise in constructing or installing portable classrooms or other temporary structures." Thompson said in an interview that he's concerned not enough local firms are being given federal work. "If we're going to rebuild Mississippi, we're going to have to use Mississippi companies and let some of that money return to the state," he said.

Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Michael H. Logue said that Akima is getting the job done and that the price is reasonable. Logue said the lower price cited by Thompson does not take into account the difficult conditions and the speed needed. "We've got 70 school districts where the schools have either been totally obliterated or seriously damaged. There is no school in south Mississippi to speak of," Logue said. "These things represent classrooms and libraries and cafeterias." Logue said Akima was chosen because it had a pre-existing Army contract for related work.

GEORGIA: The Gwinnett County school board is close to sealing a deal to sell the school system's new administrative headquarters to raise money to build two additional schools. Last July, the school board agreed to sell the property to investors and lease it for a specified period before buying it back. The property contains a pair of former manufacturing plants now being renovated for use as office buildings. School officials said the sale/lease-back plan will allow the system to open two schools by August 2007, at least three years earlier than planned. Wilson said similar deals are used by businesses and some other government agencies, although it was unusual for a school system. The investors will buy the headquarters and the surrounding land for $17 million — $4.5 million more than the board's purchase price, school officials have said. The buildings' makeover, estimated to cost between $26 million and $27 million, will also be paid for by the partnership of investors.

GEORGIA: The Gwinnett County school board is close to sealing a deal to sell the school system's new administrative headquarters to raise money to build two additional schools. Last July, the school board agreed to sell the property to investors and lease it for a specified period before buying it back. The property contains a pair of former manufacturing plants now being renovated for use as office buildings. School officials said the sale/lease-back plan will allow the system to open two schools by August 2007, at least three years earlier than planned. Wilson said similar deals are used by businesses and some other government agencies, although it was unusual for a school system. The investors will buy the headquarters and the surrounding land for $17 million — $4.5 million more than the board's purchase price, school officials have said. The buildings' makeover, estimated to cost between $26 million and $27 million, will also be paid for by the partnership of investors.

TEXAS: A majority of East Texas school districts will remain closed until power lines knocked down by Hurricane Rita are restored by power companies servicing the area. There have been no reports of major damage to school buildings in East Texas, but some power line damage is so drastic that some districts may be closed as long as a month. The majority of the districts are located in Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange and Tyler counties — all of which have been declared disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. DeEtta Culbertson, spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said TEA officials are still waiting to hear back from superintendents in East Texas to report on when districts will reopen. Superintendents are working with county officials and emergency management personnel to assess any damage made by the hurricane to determine whether the infrastructures of the schools are safe, Culbertson said.

LOUISIANA: With hundreds or even thousands of builders wiped out by Katrina _ their tools lost and workers scattered _ homeowners looking to rebuild quickly are in for a shock. The scope of home destruction is so sweeping that it will likely stretch rebuilding for years. It took more than a decade to reconstruct all the homes destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, after it hit Florida in 1992. Katrina destroyed 10 times as many homes as Andrew. The difficulty of rebuilding could be exacerbated because Gulf Coast contracting has long been the province of small, independent companies without the deep pockets to recover quickly. That has spurred out-of-state contractors to pour into the region, increasing competition for labor and driving up prices. When the region's contractors do get back on their feet, most of their time will be directed at repairing homes that are salvageable, not rebuilding ones that were destroyed, industry experts say.

The appetite for construction materials and labor in the Gulf Coast will be voracious over the next few years, which could raise prices of wallboard, cement, Southern yellow pine and other building materials, said Robert Murray, an analyst with McGraw-Hill Construction Research and Analytics. Katrina has already boosted the prices of lumber, plastic piping and scrap steel _ from which rebar is made _ said John Mothersole, senior economist at forecasting firm Global Insight. But he said the price spikes could be moderated by softening demand elsewhere in the U.S. housing market as interest rates go higher.

CALIFORNIA: Saratoga High is certainly a public school. But when its new $8.8 million performing arts center opens this fall, it will be largely due to private largess. Taxpayers provided only about 40 percent of the cost of the center. The remaining 60 percent -- $5.5 million -- came from individual donors. In Saratoga, Palo Alto and other affluent Silicon Valley communities, public school parents are financing facilities by mounting the sort of multi-million-dollar fundraising drives more traditionally associated with elite private schools. Increasingly, they are overcoming their school districts' limited means by tapping successful alumni, seeking gifts of huge blocks of stock, and naming buildings after big donors. But their success also raises an equity issue.

There appears to be no statewide data on private financing of public school projects. But according to one expert, it is on the rise due to the state's fiscal crisis and shrinking education budgets. "It's a growing trend," said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association. Plotkin added, though, that it's difficult to say whether less affluent communities are hurt because they can't afford pools and theaters, as long as they can provide educational necessities.

LOUISIANA: At least 15 New Orleans public schools could be operating in November or December based on a recent review of school buildings by engineers and architects, state Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard said. Whether to do so will be a local decision made by the School Board, Mayor Ray Nagin and others, Picard said. New Orleans interim School Superintendent Ora Watson and officials with Alvarez & Marsal, the company working to right the school system's finances, plan to meet with Nagin to discuss both short- and long-term plans for the school district, including opening between eight and 16 schools in the next few months, said Bill Roberti of Alvarez & Marsal. Picard said the schools that could be opened - eight in Algiers and at least seven Uptown - could serve about 12,000 students.

In regard to the other schools in the city, assessments are under way. William Quade, who is overseeing Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance to school systems in Louisiana, said that it's already clear the cost of repairing some New Orleans public schools is greater than 50 percent of their value, so those schools will be replaced. "A lot" of city schools fall in this category, Quade said, adding "FEMA's going to give you a brand new school when it's damaged beyond economical repair." The new schools may be smaller or larger and configured in different ways, said Quade, who spoke at a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting at which Picard provided an overview of 68 school systems in the state, at least 40 of which desperately need money. Picard said that based on the latest educational research, the city could improve its odds of having successful schools by configuring new schools as follows: pre-kindergarten centers, kindergarten through eighth-grade schools, and high schools that include only grades nine through 12.

FLORIDA: Broward County schools might delay low priority campus renovations or ditch them altogether because hurricanes Katrina and Rita jacked up construction costs across the country, Deputy Superintendent Mike Garretson said. Garretson, the district official who oversees school construction, told the School Board on Tuesday that in the past month, a $60 million plan to build four new elementary schools has increased by $8 million. Gas prices also are up. And lumber costs 12 percent more than it did in August. "A $20 sheet of plywood in some places costs $40 now," Garretson said. If Broward wants to hold onto its highest priorities, such as plans for new schools and classrooms, he said the board will have to cut out some projects that it can do without. Board members agreed that they're going to have to reopen the five-year, $2.9 billion construction plan they approved in August. Member Bob Parks said that he would fight to keep projects that promote student health and safety, and member Robin Bartleman said she would try to maintain renovation projects that make campuses more accessible to students with disabilities. Bartleman said she would also try to keep building playgrounds at schools that don't have them.

NATIONAL : As schools torn apart by Hurricane Katrina look to rebuild, and districts welcoming displaced students wonder how to pay for their education, federal officials were still mulling options for providing aid to schools. Congress is weighing several large education aid packages that would provide differing levels and methods of funding. But progress on passing relief for school districts could be snagged by a growing insistence from some Republicans for cuts elsewhere in the federal budget to offset massive spending for hurricane relief, and by controversy over President Bush’s proposal to provide private school vouchers for students displaced by the storm.

The competing ideas on the table in Washington include a bipartisan bill introduced by Senate education committee leaders on Sept. 15 and President Bush’s own hurricane-relief package for schools. On Sept. 22, Sen. Landrieu unveiled her own wide-ranging relief bill that included a school component. The Landrieu plan includes $2 billion to help areas rebuild or repair school buildings. The bill introduced by Sen. Michael B. Enzi and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, would authorize aid to hard-hit school districts seeking to rebuild. The measure, if funded, would award up to $900 million in immediate grants to districts directly harmed by Hurricane Katrina to reopen schools. That money would supplement money from FEMA. Districts could use the money under the Enzi-Kennedy bill to recover data, replace instructional materials and equipment, and establish temporary buildings and classrooms. But the money could not be used for construction or renovation of schools. Money for reconstruction costs will come from private insurance and FEMA, said Melissa Janssen, a spokeswoman for the federal agency. Federal construction money is being funneled to states through two hurricane-aid measures that have already been enacted, she said. FEMA money typically flows to states to repair infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and schools. For projects costing over $55,000, following estimates for rebuilding, FEMA sends the money to the state, which then doles it out to school districts, Ms. Janssen said.

WYOMING: The Wyoming School Facilities Commission asked a legislative committee to help redefine and, in some cases, increase its power in the state. The commission needs more explicit power to force school districts to opt for efficient building plans, said director James "Bubba" Shivler. It also needs the authority to work with districts' architects earlier in the building design process to keep costs down, he said. But in other issues arising from the statewide push to rebuild and remodel schools, the commission wants to take a hands-off role. For example, it doesn't want to get involved in any aid the state might provide school districts or municipalities for off-site infrastructure, such as roads. The commission also reported that the state's 48 school districts have requested about $600 million in facilities funding in the coming biennium, a figure the commission does not expect the Legislature to fully allocate.

One proposal brought to the committee would give the commission more power to compel school districts to accept value engineering suggestions. The value engineering process is one in which school plans are assessed at different stages for efficiency and educational suitability. While most districts comply with the findings, Shivler said some do not. Another potentially contentious proposal would give the commission the authority to contract with architects working on districts' building designs and to develop standardized school plans for the state. As it stands now, districts contract individually with architectural firms. Both proposals, Shivler said, are integral to keeping construction costs down in a rapidly fluctuating market. He said school building bids are consistently coming in over estimates, and that the cost to build a school in dollars per square foot is unpredictable throughout the region.

NORTH CAROLINA: School and county officials began reconsidering a 10-year-old set of construction standards they said were outdated. The cost of building schools has increased considerably, the officials said, since the elementary- and middle-school standards were adopted in 1996. The high school construction standards, approved in 1999, are also outdated, they said during a semiannual meeting of the Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school boards and the Orange County Commissioners. "The cost guidelines really don't make sense at all in terms of what's happening when we're building schools," said Lisa Stuckey, chairwoman of the city school board. The standards call for a high school to cost between $25 million and $30 million, and hold 1,000 students, but be expandable to hold 1,500. However, when the city school board set out to build a high school several years ago, members found that that size school would cost some $34 million. The school, scheduled to open in 2007, was scaled back to hold 800 students -- and board members are still finding, with the rising cost of steel and construction materials -- the building will cost about $34 million. An Orange County middle school, meanwhile, could cost the county school board about $22 million. The standards call for a middle school to cost $18.5 million. "As we know, per-square-foot costs and other costs have gone up," County Manager John Link said during the meeting at the Southern Human Services Center. "They've all gone up."

TEXAS: About 84,000 students from the southeastern region of Texas will be out of school for the foreseeable future, as cities such as Beaumont and Port Arthur and smaller towns surrounding those areas assess the damage caused by Hurricane Rita. The storm also forced schools to remain closed in parts of southwest Louisiana. Debbie Graves Ratcliffe, the spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said she had heard from a state board of education member who lives in southeast Texas that he was told not to expect electricity for a month. Districts throughout the coastal region of Texas had closed and residents were asked to evacuate as the hurricane appeared to bear down on the Galveston area. However, before landfall, the hurricane shifted to the east, striking hardest along the Texas-Louisiana border on Sept. 23 and 24. Several districts that had closed, including the 210,000-student Houston district and the 9,100-student Galveston district, plan to reopen this week.

OHIO: Across Ohio, the shiny bricks and gleaming white concrete of new schools are everywhere. But the schools don't only look good. They feature larger classrooms with the latest audio technology and sound systems that make it easier for teachers and students to understand and communicate with each other. Security cameras allow principals to quickly spot trouble and new ventilation systems mean staff and students are breathing cleaner, healthier air. The construction boom is driven by population changes, a state effort to renew schools and in some cases, the simple cycle of time. But in place of the cracks and crumble of the buildings that have passed into memory, these new buildings are returning schools to a treasured place as community anchors with bold architecture, cutting-edge technology and creative, functional designs that teachers of the past could only dream about.

OHIO: Across Ohio, the shiny bricks and gleaming white concrete of new schools are everywhere. But the schools don't only look good. They feature larger classrooms with the latest audio technology and sound systems that make it easier for teachers and students to understand and communicate with each other. Security cameras allow principals to quickly spot trouble and new ventilation systems mean staff and students are breathing cleaner, healthier air. The construction boom is driven by population changes, a state effort to renew schools and in some cases, the simple cycle of time. But in place of the cracks and crumble of the buildings that have passed into memory, these new buildings are returning schools to a treasured place as community anchors with bold architecture, cutting-edge technology and creative, functional designs that teachers of the past could only dream about.

INDIANA: After Monday's knife attack at Central High School, security guards aren't enough for parents who want more security measures taken to protect students in an environment that should be educational and fun. Central does not have metal detectors, but school officials aren't ruling anything out as they re-evaluate security at the school. Central and Southside high schools each have three security officers working during the school day, and one security officer working before school and during afterschool activities, Muncie Schools director of facilities and operations Bill Reiter said. Once school begins, all doors at Central except those at the main entrance and by the planetarium are locked for those entering the school, though the locked doors can still be opened from the inside. Those doors are in plain view of desk where security guards or teachers on security duty sit. Visitors who enter the building must stop by the desk to sign in and out. Plans already are under way for 16 security cameras to be installed at Central. The cameras system will be similar to system already in place at the Anthony Administration Building and planned for at least some other schools. The cameras would be installed outside to monitor the student parking lot, as well as inside main corridors, the student center and cafeteria. The cameras would not be in classrooms. Most of the cameras would be fixed, but a couple will be able to scan an entire area. The cameras would operate 24/7, though the school doesn't have anyone to monitor the system that entire time.

LOUISIANA: Even after the latest hurricane crisis eases, and downtown businesses along with French Quarter bars reopen, life in New Orleans will be far from normal. Among the somber distinctions: For months to come this will be an almost childless city. Dozens of schools were irreparably damaged by Hurricane Katrina, and only a handful are expected to open before January. Few day-care centers will be available for preschoolers, and health experts warn that children are at extra risk of contamination if they come back before the city is thoroughly cleaned of the foul floodwater's residue.

School board president, Torin Sanders, said a broader reopening in the main part of the city probably wouldn't occur until January -- and even that would involve only a limited number of the 126 public schools. The plan, he indicated, would be to open certain schools that suffered little damage, accommodating returning students even if they lived in other neighborhoods. Sanders said the widely criticized school system, which served 60,000 students, could benefit in the long term. "We are poised to take advantage of this, to make our schools the best in the country," he said, "Most of our buildings were built before World War II. This is an opportunity to make them environmentally sound, with new technology and better security, with more specialized programs in the high schools."

FLORIDA: It seems like the perfect partnership: an elementary school and a library. And if Hillsborough County commissioners pass the proposed county budget as it's currently written, the county could see four of those marriages - near the University of South Florida, in Sulphur Springs, near downtown Tampa, and near Brandon. The upcoming budget includes proposals for four school and library partnerships. Elementary schools would team up with either new public libraries that will be built, or existing school libraries that would be expanded. The libraries would be open to the public during certain hours, which are yet to be determined, and would also offer expanded facilities for the schools they're connected to. The plans are modeled after a library at Egypt Lake Elementary School in north Tampa that serves both students and the public.

Near Brandon, a library would be built in a vacant school. In Turkey Creek, government would spend $3.9-million to acquire and renovate the historic Turkey Creek School for a library. Built around 1927, the two-story, red brick school sits empty today next door to Turkey Creek Middle School. In Sulphur Springs, which has no library, the school district would build a 3,300-square-foot expansion to the Sulphur Springs Elementary School's media center. The $1.1-million project would also purchase books, computers and equipment to furnish the library. Near downtown Tampa, there are plans to demolish the current Robert W. Saunders Library at 1505 N Nebraska Ave. and build a 25,000-square-foot one in its place by 2010. The $7.8-million library would also be used by students at nearby Booker T. Washington Elementary School.

NEW MEXICO: New school construction projects will be up for bid in 19 New Mexico school districts within the next two years thanks in part to a record $229 million in state funding that will be allocated for improvements to school buildings and the construction of new buildings. Governor Bill Richardson said the state funding, assigned to the schools determined to be in the most dire need based on the state's new process for paying for school building improvements, will be matched with local money from school districts. The largest amount of state money awarded was $25.7 million to the Albuquerque Public Schools for a new high school. Rio Rancho will receive $46.8 million, and seven schools in Las Cruces are slated to receive money for improvements, including $2.7 million for a new high school. Officials at the state Public School Facilities Authority said districts intending to make use of the projects must start construction within 24 months.

WASHINGTON: Ben Franklin Elementary in Kirkland opened this school year as one of the newest schools to be constructed under the state's "green school" standards. Other districts, including Seattle, Northshore and Arlington, also are using elements of the green standards in new construction. Ben Franklin, of the Lake Washington School District, was designed to be more environmentally friendly, using natural light and ventilation and natural materials such as rubber and wool. The school cost $9.8 million to build, about the same price as for a conventional school, said Kathryn Reith, spokeswoman for the district. The new building is at least 35 percent more energy efficient than the old one and will save 40,000 gallons of water yearly by using waterless urinals. The new school has carbon-dioxide monitors in each classroom that trigger louvers, which let in fresh air to keep students and teachers from feeling drowsy. Overhead lights dim when the natural light is bright enough, and motion sensors turn the lights off when the room isn't in use. Windows facing south are shaded to keep the light from causing glare in the room, and the light is diffused and bounced farther back into the rooms with the help of light shelves. The school is an example of a trend toward using sustainable resources in school construction. These new, environmentally friendly school designs will become standard for public schools seeking state matching funds for construction beginning in 2007.

TEXAS: First, Hurricane Katrina sent thousands of displaced children into North Texas schools. Now, the storm's aftermath is threatening to disrupt school construction, possibly for years. Shortages of cement, lumber, insulation and PVC pipe and rising steel prices could push construction costs up substantially, several contractors said. One predicted the jump could be as much as 20 percent. For school districts with large building projects in the works, that could be very bad news. Companies could see shortages of heavy equipment and even work crews as workers head off to rebuild the Gulf Coast, where jobs and overtime will be plentiful, industry analysts say. These factors and others could lead to construction delays, which drive up costs further. Petroleum-based products, like asphalt and roofing materials, will also almost certainly see sizable cost increases. The Associated General Contractors of America announced that it expected the cost of construction materials to rise 10 percent in the next year, instead of the 6 percent to 8 percent increase the group predicted before the storm. "Most of the increased costs in construction materials will result from a reduction in oil and natural gas production, and not from higher demand [from] devastated areas," said Ken Simonson, the group's chief economist. Katrina will cause "higher prices or supply disruptions for PVC pipe, construction plastics, tires, galvanized steel, gypsum products and cement." Dallas, in the midst of a $1.37 billion school construction and renovation program, says it is taking a "wait and see" approach. With 80 percent of the building program already under contract, the district is protected from future cost increases, said Phil Jimerson, who oversees the program.

GEORGIA: The old M.A. Jones Elementary in southwest Atlanta had its share of problems. The roof leaked, flooding the bottom floor during hard rains. Teachers talked above the roar of window-unit air conditioners. The plumbing had badly deteriorated, causing constant maintenance headaches. Teachers, administrators and parents cheered when Atlanta Public Schools tore down the 65-year-old building in 2003 and replaced it with a new $14 million facility. The new Jones Elementary, which serves a low-income neighborhood west of downtown, boasts wireless Internet access throughout the building, a television station for student broadcasts, and enough classroom space to offer a parent resource center and a tutoring room. "It's been uplifting for the community as a whole to have a brand-new facility that's state-of-the-art," said the school's principal, Eunice Robinson. "It says Atlanta cares about them." Similar transformations are taking place at dozens of sites across the city as APS nears the end of a 10-year, $750 million effort to upgrade or replace most of the district's 86 schools. The school-building program is one of the biggest construction projects in the city's history, equivalent to building three Georgia Domes. Most of Atlanta's schools were built in the first half of the 20th century, when the city experienced a prolonged population boom. Like many big-city school systems, Atlanta didn't properly maintain the buildings, and many fell into disrepair. That's all in the past. The district's new and renovated schools wouldn't look out of place in the most affluent suburbs. The buildings are bright, airy and stuffed with the latest features, including science labs, teacher workrooms, computer labs, art rooms and spacious media centers.

WYOMING: The Wyoming School Facilities Commission may be moving toward some form of standardizing new schools. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride suggested offering school districts a half dozen designs of schools that have been built and paid for and meet all requirements for Wyoming. The commission also could have a laundry list of "enhancements" the districts can choose from. The list of enhancements can be extensive, McBride said, but it should be made clear that the state won't pay for these extras.

Commission members have been dogged by the enhancement issue ever since they began the job of bringing schools in the state's 48 districts up to standard as required by the Wyoming Supreme Court in a 2001 decision. In that decision, the Supreme Court moved the responsibility for school construction and maintenance from the local school district level to the state. The commission does not pay for such amenities or enhancements as a swimming pool or extra space for a lab.

LOUISIANA: Like many Hurricane Katrina survivors, the St. Charles Parish public school district is playing the waiting game. Since being cleared for $4 million in relief money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the school system has been eagerly awaiting a check. District officials have been given several different dates for when the money will arrive. Most recently, they said, they were told the money would be in their hands at some point this week. Before schools could be opened, more than $2.8 million in damage had to be completed. District officials hope the FEMA funds will replenish the money used for the recovery effort.

The $2.8 million in damage is expected to increase as the district identifies other storm-related damage not found in initial observations. The $4 million initially requested was an early estimate of total damage, and any remaining money will be returned to FEMA. Much of the initial estimate was for cleanup and disposal. The maintenance cost alone was $735,000. Several schools also sustained roof damage. One of the hardest hit schools was the newly built Raymond K. Smith Middle School in Luling, which had $400,000 in damages. Larry Sesser, executive director of plant operations for the district, said heavy, sustained winds took a lot of the trim off of the building. The wind was so powerful it ripped off a gymnasium door. "It's going to be a lengthy task," Sesser said about the repair effort. "The roofs are intact. They had an extreme test." New Sarpy Elementary School in Destrehan received some of the most severe roof damage in the district. Sesser estimated that $80,000 will be needed to repair the school. "We've repaired the roof, but we haven't had rain since then," Sesser said. The district's Satellite Center, which will house vocational programs for high school students, racked up $1 million in damages and delay costs. The district will not be reimbursed for any of those damages because it technically does not own the site. The site still belongs to contractor Aegis Construction. The completion of the Satellite Center will be pushed back another 20 days, officials said.

LOUISIANA: Across Louisiana, in every district outside the storm-damaged area, school systems have gotten swarms of students displaced by the Aug. 29 hurricane. With the help of volunteers and a hope that the state and federal governments will eventually reimburse them, they are overspending their budgets and finding resources on their own, many expressing feelings of neglect by state authorities in a time of crisis. The federal Department of Education says about 372,000 students from Louisiana and Mississippi are unable to attend classes at their normal public or private schools because of Katrina. Louisiana's education department, which has assigned an agency liaison to each school district in the state, counted 39,518 student evacuees enrolled in Louisiana public schools. Thousands more evacuees have enrolled in private schools, not counted by the state education department.

"Try to be creative" is the message to school systems from state schools Superintendent Cecil Picard, who is looking for long-term compensation from the federal government while advising local authorities to solve their immediate problems as best they can without state money. Picard is banking on a federal Department of Education request to Congress for $1.9 billion in aid to compensate school districts, up to maximum of $7,500 per evacuee student. The agency has requested additional funds to compensate private schools and colleges. In Louisiana, politics may decide how much the districts get. If the federal money is approved, it will flow to the state, which will have the flexibility to divide the funding between the districts serving evacuee students and the districts severely damaged by the storm. The state Legislature will have to be involved in allocations that involve the state's school funding formula, likely setting off a regional tug-of- war. So far, communication between the state and the districts has been inadequate, officials in some parishes say.

LOUISIANA: Across Louisiana, in every district outside the storm-damaged area, school systems have gotten swarms of students displaced by the Aug. 29 hurricane. With the help of volunteers and a hope that the state and federal governments will eventually reimburse them, they are overspending their budgets and finding resources on their own, many expressing feelings of neglect by state authorities in a time of crisis. The federal Department of Education says about 372,000 students from Louisiana and Mississippi are unable to attend classes at their normal public or private schools because of Katrina. Louisiana's education department, which has assigned an agency liaison to each school district in the state, counted 39,518 student evacuees enrolled in Louisiana public schools. Thousands more evacuees have enrolled in private schools, not counted by the state education department.

"Try to be creative" is the message to school systems from state schools Superintendent Cecil Picard, who is looking for long-term compensation from the federal government while advising local authorities to solve their immediate problems as best they can without state money. Picard is banking on a federal Department of Education request to Congress for $1.9 billion in aid to compensate school districts, up to maximum of $7,500 per evacuee student. The agency has requested additional funds to compensate private schools and colleges. In Louisiana, politics may decide how much the districts get. If the federal money is approved, it will flow to the state, which will have the flexibility to divide the funding between the districts serving evacuee students and the districts severely damaged by the storm. The state Legislature will have to be involved in allocations that involve the state's school funding formula, likely setting off a regional tug-of- war. So far, communication between the state and the districts has been inadequate, officials in some parishes say.

NATIONAL : This is a Hurricane Update chart, organized according to districts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, that includes the lastest damage report and reopening dates as of September 21st. For example, in New Orleans, all but eight of the 126 New Orleans district schools sustained major damage, but most of the damage has not been determined. In Jefferson Parish, nine of 84 schools must be rebuilt; 11 have little damage and will reopen soon. Two administrative buildings were destroyed and another suffered significant damage.

FLORIDA: Hurricane Katrina spared Central Florida its massive destruction. But early signs suggest K-12 students will feel its effects for years. Pasco County school officials said national construction supply shortages are threatening to delay the district's aggressive building program, one that calls for the opening of seven schools by the 2006-07 school year and 21 total by 2009.

Between tremendous population growth, a class-size reduction law that calls for districts to build more classrooms, escalating construction costs and a new law that requires school vendors to conduct pricey criminal background checks on their employees, school districts are struggling to figure out how they are going to catch up. "It's kind of like there are so many factors working against school construction at this point in time that it has to be viewed holistically," Valdes said. "It's not only Katrina. Before Katrina there was escalating construction costs." Prices for concrete, steel, insulation and any petroleum products all are on the rise. Cement prices rose by between 12 and 30 percent in some regions in the past year. And as the construction industry prepares for reconstruction efforts in the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast, demand and prices are only expected to go higher.

MARYLAND: Hoping to catch up with a $2 billion statewide construction and maintenance backlog, the leaders of Baltimore and the state's five biggest counties asked Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to spend $400 million next year to build and renovate schools statewide. The request competes with calls for tax cuts, state worker raises and more funding for state programs as administration officials decide what to do with the state's $600 million budget surplus. But the executives said they believe school construction is the best use for a large part of the money because it would address a growing problem and would do nothing to worsen the projected state budget deficits in the years to come.

School construction emerged as a major issue in last year's legislative session when Ehrlich promised to add an extra $100 million a year in funding if the legislature agreed to legalize slot machine gambling. His budget proposal allocated $155 million to school construction, a $55 million increase from the year before but still well short of the $250 million a year that a study commission had determined would be necessary to catch up on the state's $2 billion backlog. The legislature couldn't agree on a slots bill, but it managed to boost construction funding to $250 million anyway.

NATIONAL : Fueled by aging and inadequate facilities, the "baby boom echo," immigration and relocation, the K-12 construction market is providing a steady stream of work for contractors and design firms. In the first half of this year, construction started on $15.6 billion worth of school facilities in the U.S., a 4% increase over same period last year. If the economy continues in its pre-Katrina trajectory, the growth should continue for the next few years, due to improving state and local government conditions and an increase in property values, which are closely tied to funds for school construction.

The need for new facilities should persist, however, especially in parts of the country with rapidly expanding populations, such as the South, Southwest and South Central regions. The Clark County School District, which includes Las Vegas, anticipates a 58% increase to its current enrollment of 295,650 students over the next decade. In Texas, K-12 enrollment is growing by 70,000 to 80,000 students each year. Even districts with declining enrollment have huge needs. Between the past two academic years, Los Angeles Unified School District enrollment dropped by almost 6,000 students. Even so, LAUSD estimates a deficit of nearly 200,000 seats. To address the problem, LAUSD is in the midst of a construction push that will add 165,000 seats by 2012. In November, voters will face a $3.8-billion local bond measure for school construction, on top of $9.5 billion approved since 1997. Statewide, California voters have signaled support for new schools by approving more than $15 billion in bond measures since 2002.

Florida is another hub of K-12 activity. Districts in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties together are spending about $1.5 billion. One huge driver for K-12 construction in Florida is an amendment passed by voters in 2002 that requires class sizes be reduced by 2010. Conservative estimates put the cost of compliance at $10 billion. Court decisions are increasingly shaping construction programs. Observers are watching New Jersey, where a 1990 state Supreme Court decision required that the state boost school construction in its poorest districts. Earlier this summer, the Schools Construction Corp. announced that its $8.6-billion construction fund was nearly tapped out, leaving more than 200 planned projects in limbo. In New York City, the School Construction Authority’s $13.1-billion five-year capital plan, to be completed by 2009, anticipates $6.5 billion from New York state in response to a 2003 state Court of Appeals decision. The court found New York City schools have the highest local costs but receive the lowest per-student funding. But the legislature has not yet complied with the decision.

NEW YORK: When the principal of Public School 43 in Far Rockaway, Queens, told a developer two years ago that he needed another building for the students that new housing was bringing to the area, he got a surprise answer: "O.K., I'll build it." "I'll never forget that conversation," said the principal, John M. Quattrocchi. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is to be held for the $2.5 million annex built by the developer, Ron Hershco, at his company's expense. It opened on September 8, the first day of school, and houses nearly 200 students. In the past, such students had to sit in a room where two classes were taught at once, or in one of the five red trailers parked across from the main building. More than 1,400 students are enrolled in P.S. 43, which opened in 1996 and was built to hold 1,200 pre-kindergarten to eighth grade students, Mr. Quattrocchi said. School overcrowding has been a problem in New York City for years, and rapid development on the Rockaways peninsula in Queens has aggravated the situation there. New housing has been springing up across the Rockaways in the past decade, filling schools beyond their capacity, said Councilman James Sanders Jr. of Queens. While the city sometimes demands that housing developers help pay for school construction, Mr. Hershco's offer to build an annex and pay for it himself was a first in recent memory, said a spokesman for the Department of Education, Margie Feinberg. The new building will not eliminate overcrowding at P.S. 43, but it helps, said Mr. Hershco, who does not plan to build any other school facilities because it is "very exhausting." Councilman Sanders said the new building set an example for other developers. "It's not that we solved the problem, it's that we've created a new model," he said. "If every developer who came in did the same, we would have solved the problem of overcrowding."

LOUISIANA: Conditions at several New Orleans campuses appeared grim. Floodwaters covered two-thirds of the Tulane University’s Uptown campus to depths of three or four feet in many places. The brackish water tossed debris about a baseball stadium that was under renovation, ruined virtually all of the university’s vehicle fleet and spilled into the basement of Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, where a world-famous jazz music archive is stored, officials said. Much of the campus was strewn with large tree limbs.

Floodwaters still covered most of the Southern University at New Orleans campus Wednesday. There were reports of water as deep as 14 feet around the campus after the storm, and by Wednesday the receding water was still an inch deep in the administration building. A state damage assessment team hadn’t yet begun its work. At the University of New Orleans, floodwaters at some point covered about a third of the Lakefront campus, mostly on its south and west sides, invading the first floor of a dorm and the city’s premier high school, Ben Franklin, at the edge of the college campus. But "most of the academic buildings didn’t have water," Chancellor Timothy Ryan said. Still, he estimated that building repair and equipment replacement needs will top $100 million.

Xavier and Dillard universities, both hit hard by what appeared to be at least a few feet of flooding on ground floors, were strewn with tree limbs and other debris last week. Damage at Xavier, near South Carrollton Avenue and the Pontchartrain Expressway, had yet to be formally assessed. In addition to flood damage, Dillard lost three buildings to fire, said Savoie, who did not know which buildings burned. A drive past the campus suggested that the stately buildings along Gentilly Boulevard had been spared. But dried muck and downed tree limbs across much of the campus gave it a look of devastation. Nunez Community College in Chalmette, part of a swath of destruction caused by storm surge in St. Bernard Parish, saw six to seven feet of water on the bottom floors of its four buildings, spokeswoman Teresa Smith said. Some of the buildings also sustained roof damage, and mud from the storm waters filled parking lots, one of which was littered with marooned boats. A damage assessment for Nunez was incomplete last week.

NEVADA: The Clark County School District will have to build at least 138 schools during a 10-year period to maintain pace with growth once its current bond measure expires in 2008, district officials said. No estimates have been made of how much revenue will be needed to build those schools. And no decision has been made on when to bring the next bond measure before the voters, although likely dates are 2006 or 2008. District officials looked at three different scenarios, one which calls for 138 new schools, another for 158 and the third for 212, based on the number of year-round schools. The plan for 138 new schools assumes all elementary schools are on a year-round calendar. Under the plan to build 158 schools, 43 percent of the elementary schools would operate under a year-round calendar. The plan for 211 schools operates under the assumption that all elementary schools are on a nine-month calendar.

The bond approved in 1998 called for 88 new schools to be built with $3.5 billion. Twenty-six schools remain to be built under that bond, with some of those under construction. The 1998 bond measure has been a success. The school district, the fifth-largest in the nation, gains about 15,000 students each year. The district's current bond is expected to produce more schools than initially projected: 90 new schools, with an additional 10 older schools being replaced.

ARKANSAS: The three-member commission overseeing the repair and upgrade of Arkansas schools approved the transfer of $34.7 million in state funds for 142 districts statewide to proceed with immediate facilities improvements. Two months ago, the commission hired longtime Arkansas Department of Education official David Floyd to head the newly created Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation. Floyd's charge was to review applications from 142 districts seeking money to address immediate facilities needs, such as roof and floor repairs. The districts were seeking a share of $20 million authorized by the Legislature for emergency facilities improvements. Under rules established by lawmakers, the state can transfer funds to pay for the additional $14.7 million needed to pay for the state's portion of the facilities improvements. Altogether, districts sought $73 million for projects. Districts must fund a portion of renovation costs. In other business, Floyd asked the commission to OK a phased master plan timeline for school districts to provide the state with a blueprint to improve facilities.

MARYLAND: Two problems - declining enrollment and old, decrepit buildings - affect scores of schools in Baltimore. Issues for years, they have at last reached the point where school system officials say they must act. The system has 87,000 students enrolled and space for 126,000. Baltimore has the oldest schools in Maryland, with its average building 45.6 years old, according to system figures. About 30 of 171 buildings are more than 75 years old. Fewer than half have air conditioning. And it would cost an estimated $1 billion to fix all the maintenance problems. In the past, proposals to close schools have run into opposition from parents and neighborhood activists who rally to save them. But over the next seven months, the financially strapped school system will take a hard look at its buildings. By April, officials say, they will have a plan to determine which schools to close, which schools to renovate and where to build new schools over the next decade. The system has hired a consulting firm for nearly $1 million. The firm will help community committees to determine the space needs of their neighborhood schools and how schools should be configured to meet modern academic needs. Most notably, the school system is asking the groups to consider converting conventional middle schools to K-8 schools.

FLORIDA: Forget Katrina. The checks are still in the mail for almost $4 million that the federal government and others owe the Broward School District for expenses connected to last year's hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. At least $2.3 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been bogged down in micromanaging, minutia-laden paperwork, rolls of red tape and confusion, school officials said. Even with storms that only grazed the county, the School District spent $3.39 million on Frances and $631,000 on Jeanne, including services rendered to the American Red Cross and nearby counties, district memos show. Some checks have been promised to arrive this month, but other payments are still being processed.

FLORIDA: Forget Katrina. The checks are still in the mail for almost $4 million that the federal government and others owe the Broward School District for expenses connected to last year's hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. At least $2.3 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been bogged down in micromanaging, minutia-laden paperwork, rolls of red tape and confusion, school officials said. Even with storms that only grazed the county, the School District spent $3.39 million on Frances and $631,000 on Jeanne, including services rendered to the American Red Cross and nearby counties, district memos show. Some checks have been promised to arrive this month, but other payments are still being processed.

MISSISSIPPI: Throughout South Mississippi, superintendents, teachers and other school employees are working to clean up, repair and in some cases move schools in order to get students back in the classroom. Schools in South Mississippi expect to open again at the end of September or early October, depending on how quickly repairs are made. Education officials in the southern part of the state met to get questions answered and give updates on the condition of their schools. They learned that schools will get extra money from the state and federal governments. They also learned that the state has ordered 400 portable classrooms that will be delivered in the next few weeks. State Supt. Hank Bounds said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay districts for all costs for textbooks, classroom furnishings, library books, building reconstruction, teaching supplies and bus repairs attributed to Katrina. Residents and public officials in hurricane-ravaged areas have criticized FEMA for its perceived slow response. Many also say FEMA is slow to pay governments and schools for purchases and repairs after a hurricane.

MASSACHUSETTS: East Bridgewater is among the communities that have turned to portable classrooms to ease school overcrowding. Stoughton, Avon, Silver Lake Regional and Bridgewater-Raynham have all used the so-called "modular" classrooms as a temporary and less expensive solution to growing student populations. In Stoughton, for example, a modular building was added to the Robert G. O'Donnell Middle School. More room was needed quickly and as inexpensively as possible, so the town went with a modular building, he said. The brick-faced building houses six classrooms, where students study world languages.The cost of the modular building was about $850,000 and that included everything from site work to furnishings. In East Bridgewater, using modular classrooms to ease a longtime overcrowding problem at the Central School is near. But, officials warn, it is just temporary. Up until two years ago, Silver Lake Regional High School leased two modular buildings, each with 20 classrooms. The first building was leased beginning in 1995 and the second in 2000. The classrooms were bright, clean and spacious, and were the preferred classrooms of both teachers and students, Principal Richard Kelley said. "They are not a long-term solution," Kelley said. "They deteriorate rather quickly with 1,800 students traipsing through every day." The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District purchased a modular building with four classrooms about 10 years ago to alleviate an overcrowding problem at the McElwain Elementary School in Bridgewater.

The school district leased a modular building with four classrooms during the renovation of the Williams Middle School in Bridgewater and plan on removing the four classrooms at the Williams this winter when the new section of the building is completed. The school district also leased two modular buildings, each with four classrooms, for the high school. The modular classrooms at the at the high school cost about $20,000 each to lease annually and modular classrooms at the Williams School cost $16,000 to $20,000 each to lease annually.

LOUISIANA: New Orleans presents an educational challenge. Its public schools have struggled for decades and have shown few signs of getting better. Yet the needs of the Big Easy's children are so great. Fully 27 percent of New Orleans residents lived below the poverty line. That social challenge deserves our attention and compassion. And poor children deserve excellent schools. They weren't getting them in New Orleans pre-Katrina, which means getting back to the status quo ante does little to meet those kids' educational needs.

Break the mold on school buildings. The physical structures of schools should be a means to an end — housing excellent educational institutions — not an end in itself. With the whole city a rebuilding project, why not throw out our old notions of stand-alone buildings, behemoth high schools, and other vestiges of the industrial age? Instead, New Orleans could build schools that are more integrated into the community — as part of housing developments, or near offices, or strategically located near recreation opportunities. Most important, the educational design should come before the facility design.

LOUISIANA: Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, fallen tree branches, standing water, and layers of muck still block vehicles from getting to Carter G. Woodson Middle School, a building near the Magnolia public housing complex that has long held the state title "academically unacceptable." The damage to Woodson and many of the 126 public school buildings in Orleans Parish does not bother school board member Jimmy Fahrenholtz, who is happy the system's 65,000-plus students have been forced to find new schools in Louisiana, Texas and elsewhere. "A lot of them we never should have had open," Fahrenholtz said in an interview on a French Quarter street corner. "I wanted to tear this system apart two years ago. God answered my prayers." His words may seem callous, but they echo the thoughts of many in Louisiana who have spent years puzzling over how to fix the state's poorest-performing school system.

New Orleans wasn't the only district displaced by Katrina. With all 15 of its schools underwater, St. Bernard Parish has canceled its entire year of classes. Six of the nine schools in Plaquemines Parish were flooded, and the wind blew the roof off another. And countless private schools, including many in the eight-parish network run by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, must also find homes for their students. But it's the disintegration of the city's public school system that is causing the most discussion - both for its statewide impact and its uncertain future. Like many urban school districts, the New Orleans public school system faces countless social problems. Families are poor. Violence is prevalent. Many parents are uneducated and underemployed

LOUISIANA: In a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, Paul Solis Elementary School Principal Ginny Dufrene spent most of Tuesday with co-workers cleaning up the Terrytown school, where electricity is spotty and the air conditioner is still on the fritz. The school suffered roof damage, with winds scattering insulation and shingles across the campus. Still, only one of the school's nearly 40 classrooms saw significant flooding. "It's nothing we can't handle," Dufrene said, applauding National Guard troops who helped clean debris outside. "It looks worse than what it is from the outside. I think we're going to be OK." In a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, Paul Solis Elementary School Principal Ginny Dufrene spent most of Tuesday with co-workers cleaning up the Terrytown school, where electricity is spotty and the air conditioner is still on the fritz. The school suffered roof damage, with winds scattering insulation and shingles across the campus. Still, only one of the school's nearly 40 classrooms saw significant flooding. "It's nothing we can't handle," Dufrene said, applauding National Guard troops who helped clean debris outside. "It looks worse than what it is from the outside. I think we're going to be OK." Despite lingering uncertainty about the Jefferson Parish public school system's fiscal stability, Superintendent Diane Roussel told principals to return to their schools Tuesday for damage assessment and preparation for students' return. Since the storm, the school system has shifted its administrative operations to Baton Rouge. At a School Board meeting last week, its first since Hurricane Katrina struck on Aug. 29, the board approved a resolution setting Oct. 3 as the targeted reopening of schools, though officials admit some schools might open later that week. Including Solis, Jefferson has classified nine schools as the most severely damaged in the parish, and Nowakowski said the School Board must decide what do with those.The other schools are East Jefferson High School, Bonnabel High School, L.W. Ruppel Elementary School, Ames Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Shirley Johnson/Gretna Park Elementary, Woodmere Elementary School and the Thomas Jefferson High School, which was slated to open for the 2006-07 school year. An adult education building in Gretna was being converted into the magnet high school. Overall, about 42 of the system's schools, about half, are expected to be useable by the Oct. 3 reopening target date.

NATIONAL : State leaders have just begun counting the billions of dollars it will take for schools in the Gulf Coast region to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Schools around the country, meanwhile, continue to welcome the estimated 300,000-plus students displaced by the storm—some 50,000 of whom were learning last week that their home schools would likely be closed for the rest of the academic year. Louisiana schools will need $2.8 billion in federal aid so New Orleans and surrounding districts can pay their operating costs for 2005-06. And state officials hadn’t started estimating the expense of rebuilding more than 100 schools in the city alone. In Mississippi, state Superintendent Hank Bounds would not offer a specific price tag for schools in his beleaguered state, but he warned that it would be "very, very big."

As leaders in the storm-torn region started to map out the future of their schools, they made it clear that they don’t believe they’ll be able to rebuild or even reopen them without federal help. Late last week, Mississippi officials announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had committed to provide 400 portable school buildings to the state to help it open schools as soon as next month in that state’s hardest-hit region. Louisian schools chief Cecil J. Picard said school officials had not had the chance to thoroughly survey damaged buildings as of last week because floodwaters hadn’t fully subsided. Once that work is done, he said, the state will submit a separate request to federal officials. The $62.3 billion in federal aid approved last week would pay for the rescue efforts, shelters, and emergency aid and health care for displaced people. As early as this week, Congress may begin drafting a bill that would help finance schools’ needs in the wake of Katrina, said a congressional aide familiar with the appropriations process, who asked not to be named.

MISSISSIPPI: Hundreds of Mississippi schools remained closed last week in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as education leaders from this community and others began making plans to resume classes, rebuild schools, and restart their lives. More than 80,000 Mississippi students were believed to be scattered across the state and neighboring states following the storm, which ravaged the region in late August. Dozens of schools on Mississippi’s coast and farther inland were destroyed or badly damaged. Still, school leaders hope to have all districts open again in early October, using whatever facilities are available and serving whatever students remain or return.

Hundreds of Mississippi schools felt the impact of Hurricane Katrina. And after well over a week without power, officials in charge of those sites struggled last week to determine when classes would resume and how they would rebuild their school systems. In Pass Christian, an oak-shaded beach town about 75 miles northeast of New Orleans and just west of Gulfport, schools, houses, and businesses were leveled by huge tides and mighty winds. Locals said the storm was more devastating than the legendary Hurricane Camille of 1969. Katrina left Pass Christian Middle School, which had been destroyed by Camille when it was the local high school, as nothing more than piles of red brick and other debris stretching for a city block. Only the school’s concrete sign, which carries a plaque marking the 1969 storm, and a small portion of a new building at the rear of the campus, remained standing. It looked as if dozens of bulldozers had stormed the place.

In the Harrison County district, which mostly surrounds the cities of Gulfport and Biloxi, three schools may not reopen for months, or even for this entire school year. "I am anticipating having to double-shift some schools," said Henry Arledge, the superintendent of the 13,000-student Harrison County district. One of his district’s schools, D’Iberville Middle School in the town of that name, just across an inland bay from Biloxi, had eight feet of water invade its hallways and classrooms and the neighborhood surrounding it. The school’s cafeteria and library were filled with water and mud. Trophies floated down hallways, and classroom supplies ended up strewn about the community. A moldy stench could be detected in the school through smashed-out classroom windows.

LOUISIANA: Mold is growing on the carpet, chairs, tables, and walls of the Jefferson Parish school district’s main office here. But that’s only one of countless problems that David P. Taylor and Scott B. Adams were worrying about last week. Early on the morning of Sept. 8, the two district employees climbed into a dark-green van and headed southeast from Baton Rouge to the school system adjoining New Orleans to get a better fix on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Although most headlines and TV cameras have spotlighted New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, across the Mississippi River, has plenty of headaches, too. Not only did the storm damage many of the district’s 84 schools, but its central offices took a beating as well. Katrina had ripped off the roof of the district’s headquarters, and heavy rains had wrecked parts of the building. A crew was putting up a temporary roof fix to prevent further damage. “The personnel department is wiped out,” said Mr. Adams, the district’s construction manager, while touring the building with a flashlight. Mr. Adams told Mr. Taylor, the facilities director, that the building was “at least six months away” from being habitable. Besides visiting the district headquarters, the two dropped by the administrative annex, a massive structure offering a prime view of the New Orleans skyline from its roof that was also damaged in the storm.

NATIONAL : Hurricane Katrina has booted at least 372,000 students from classrooms in Louisiana and Mississippi, and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said there are no clear answers about who will pay to educate them. In Louisiana, more than 247,000 public and private school students have been displaced. The storm forced 489 schools to close. At least six parishes have destroyed or damaged buildings, she said. In Mississippi, more than 125,000 students have been forced elsewhere. About 226 schools in 30 districts are closed, and almost 30 schools have been destroyed. Spellings declined to estimate the cost for the states to rebuild schools or serve displaced students--or how much the federal government will cover. "I shouldn't be talking about the details that I'm in negotiations with the White House and the [Capitol] Hill on," she said. "As soon as I can talk about it, I want to talk about it."

LOUISIANA: Jefferson Parish public school principals are heading into their schools today to help the district assess storm damage and prepare for a target reopening for the week of October 3. "We have had a property preservation team checking on the schools, but we thought let’s augment that with the principals who know their schools best," Jeff Nowakowski, school system spokesman, said. "They’re going to report back to us, to report on what damage there is, and how extensive it is so we can complete the repairs before the next rain comes." Principals from West Bank and East Jefferson schools met with school system officials Monday to start making plans for a return of students, Nowakowski said. "We had about 66 out of 84 principals attend the meeting," he said.

LOUISIANA: Jefferson Parish public school principals are heading into their schools today to help the district assess storm damage and prepare for a target reopening for the week of October 3. "We have had a property preservation team checking on the schools, but we thought let’s augment that with the principals who know their schools best," Jeff Nowakowski, school system spokesman, said. "They’re going to report back to us, to report on what damage there is, and how extensive it is so we can complete the repairs before the next rain comes." Principals from West Bank and East Jefferson schools met with school system officials Monday to start making plans for a return of students, Nowakowski said. "We had about 66 out of 84 principals attend the meeting," he said.

DELAWARE: The cost of school construction in Delaware has increased by 20 percent in the last year due to increases in the price of steel, fuel, labor and petroleum-based materials, a state Department of Education official said. Nick Vacirca, education associate for school planning and maintenance at DOE, said the state is seeing an average bid price of $230 to $250 per square foot for new school construction. Construction prices promised to the public in referendums passed within the last year are based on a rate of $175 per square - a formula that remains the state's standard for funding. Mr. Vacirca said the state will only fund its contribution to school construction on the $175 per square foot rate, and if a local district wants to exceed that cost, it will have to make up the difference with local funds. To prevent that, Caesar Rodney Assistant Superintendent Dr. Victor P. Valeski said, districts often have to scale back plans and use cheaper materials in order to fund their projects for the prices promised to the public in a referendum

LOUISIANA: Click on the graphic "Neighborhoods That Were Hit Hard and Those That Weren't." This maps out the location of schools, and other selected infrastructure, in the flooded areas of New Orleans.

NATIONAL : It takes two to three days for mold to begin growing in a flooded building. It can take years to get rid of it. For most houses and buildings damaged by Hurricane Katrina, it already is too late to stop the mold invasion, say sources. And the longer there is no power in New Orleans to dry out buildings, the worse the situation will get. That means many buildings will have to be stripped to the bone to rid them of mold.

For mold to form, there has to be moisture, a food source, and certain temperature and humidity. Almost every single building in New Orleans has all three ingredients. Buildings fitted out with gypsum board offer the best mold breeding ground, say sources. But even plaster has a food source because of how it is applied. New buildings with light frames of steel, concrete or wood; cavity wall construction; and steel or wood studs will be "completely trashed." Older buildings, especially bearing wall structures built a century ago from nonporous brick, are expected to do much better. If the heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment has not been submerged, turning it back on is not likely to be a problem. Buildings fitted out with gypsum board offer the best mold breeding ground, say sources. But even plaster has a food source because of how it is applied. New buildings with light frames of steel, concrete or wood; cavity wall construction; and steel or wood studs will be "completely trashed. Older buildings, especially bearing wall structures built a century ago from nonporous brick, are expected to do much better. If the heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment has not been submerged, turning it back on is not likely to be a problem. But the enclosures will all be trashed by then anyway.

NATIONAL : The impact of Hurricane Katrina can be felt on the construction industry as far away as Hawaii. Prices for diesel fuel and other petroleum and natural-gas products, cement and tires for heavy equipment are already rising. Prices for lumber and labor are expected to soar. And delays in projects are likely coast-to-coast. The cost of lumber will also rise because of damaged mills in the deep south and as demand increases with the rebuilding of communities nearly leveled by Katrina. Already, some contractors are seeing hikes of 8 percent or more in the cost of lumber. For South Florida and other markets, though, the materials crunch may wind up as the least costly component of their business in the near future. As rebuilding gets under way on the Gulf Coast, they expect the labor market to tighten. That labor drain won't just be in people who work directly for construction companies. It will be in subcontractors who see both a duty and an opportunity in all the work to be had as rebuilding money pours into the now-stricken region.

ALABAMA: All but one of Mobile County's public schools are set to open September 12. Grand Bay Middle School, severely damaged due to Hurricane Katrina, won't be opening for another six months, officials said last week. Grand Bay Middle's students will begin attending Causey Middle School in west Mobile on Tuesday on a split-shift, with Causey's children in class in the mornings and Grand Bay's in the afternoons. Students returning to the other 100 schools can expect to encounter construction work and, some system officials are saying, up to 1,000 new students from Mississippi and Louisiana who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Baldwin County students returned to class last Tuesday and have already received more than 500 hurricane refugees, officials there said last week.

Mobile County schools Superintendent Harold Dodge said contractors are working at 76 schools and that damage from the hurri cane, which should be covered by insurance, is expected to be around $35 million. Tommy Sheffield, executive director of facilities for the Mobile County Public School System, said contractors over the last two weeks have already patched holes in roofs, cleaned water out of buildings and performed other tasks to get the schools ready for students. But making permanent fixes on all of the schools could take months. Dodge, Sheffield and several school board members took Gov. Bob Riley on a tour of Grand Bay Middle and Williamson High School last week, pointing out the damage. Part of the roof at Grand Bay Middle blew off during the hurricane, causing it to rain inside the building. The floors and ceiling tiles were damaged. Visitors standing in the gymnasium can see the sky through large and small holes in the roof, which contractors began removing Friday. Workers in the sixth-grade hall on Friday peeled off layers of the wall, revealing what Sheffield said he had feared -- mold growing inside. He said it may be better to tear that whole building down and construct a new one, rather than having to replace all of the walls, floors, ceiling tiles and roof there. Dodge and several board members agreed. "I know there are a lot of memories in that old building, but that's about all that's left," said board member Bill Mere dith, who represents south Mobile County. Grand Bay Middle was built in 1929 and used to be Mobile County High School.

CONNECTICUT: Communities across southeastern Connecticut are confronting the necessity to rebuild their aging public school buildings, many of which have not received significant attention for decades. But New London especially needs to modernize and reconfigure its elementary schools, whose condition and number are a strain on the financially distressed city and drawback to improving the quality of public education. A committee for the school district has produced a plan that is impressive for its thoughtfulness, not to mention the price of the effort. The study was virtually free because all the work was done in-house. The outcome, which the Board of Education has approved, calls for reducing the number of elementary schools from five to three. This would mean closing two schools, most likely Harbor and either Winthrop or Edgerton School.

GEORGIA: Some of Macon's oldest schools are falling apart. At Southwest High School, a teacher complained that students drink warm water from water fountains, and an air conditioner blows hot air. A heater blows cold. "Some buildings are in such disrepair you could go into a science lab and look up at all the holes," said Southwest teacher Henry Ficklin, also a Macon city councilman. And cracks in the walls of the band room have allowed snakes to get inside. Bibb County voters will decide Sept. 20 whether to approve a $165.6 million special purpose local option sales tax for education that will pay for upgrades such as technology, buses and new schools.

At Central High School, which has student-used buildings that date back to 1917, there is a shortage of classroom space. Teachers often pack students into whatever rooms they can find, unlike contemporary schools that are logistically designed. For instance, a calculus class meets behind a weight-lifting room where barbells clang and near a choir room where students can be heard practicing their octaves. Once a building is 35 or 40 years old, it's a candidate for a major overhaul or total replacement, said Bob Nickels, a Bibb County school board member. School officials said one-third of Bibb's schools need to be rebuilt.

LOUISIANA: State schools Superintendent Cecil J. Picard posted the results of a parish-by-parish survey of hurricane damage on the state Department of Education's Web site. Orleans Parish: Only eight schools out of 126 have been inspected. They have been damaged but are usable. The eight are in the West Bank area. Plaquemines Parish: Six of the nine schools have been "completely flooded" and Katrina blew the roof off a wing at one school. St. Bernard Parish: Officials believe all 15 schools are under water and have suffered extensive damage. Authorities in St. Bernard and Plaquemines can't say when they will be able to open schools. Jefferson Parish: Nine schools were severely damaged and can't be used, 11 will need repairs and 37 have little or no damage. Of the 84 schools, 57 have been inspected. Officials hope to reopen some schools on October 3. St. Charles Parish: One school had minor roof damage over the cafeteria and auditorium but can be used safely. No date has been set to reopen the 19 schools. St. Tammany Parish: Five schools have been badly damaged and can't be used. The district said 2,600 students who attend those schools will be taken in by others in the district when it reopens on October 3. Washington Parish: All nine of schools were damaged and three need major repairs. Schools reopen on September 19. City of Bogalusa: The central office was destroyed and the 10 schools received "some damage." Officials hope to reopen school by October 3.

MARYLAND: The global economy - and, now, the aftershock of Hurricane Katrina - is conspiring against Allegany County's first new high school in 50 years, renovations for Baltimore's School for the Arts and similar school projects throughout Maryland. School construction costs have soared 20 percent or more over the past year as prices increase for steel, petroleum-based materials, labor and fuel. And that was before Katrina's impact began to be felt throughout the broader economy. As a result, officials all over Maryland have been forced to delay, trim and retrench as they begin their annual search for more state and local funding. "We've seen staggering construction costs. The cost of petroleum products affects almost every aspect of construction," said David Lever, executive director of the state's Public School Construction Program. Costs per square foot are rising to the $210-$225 range from about $176, Lever said. The increases come at a time when contractors in the Baltimore-Washington area are flush with work and when skilled workers are in short supply for such jobs, which often require night and weekend work to avoid classroom disruptions.

NEW JERSEY: Senator Jon S. Corzine said that if he is elected governor, he will ask voters to approve a statewide bond referendum to pay for the construction and renovation of schools in poor and urban districts, at a possible cost of billions of dollars. Mr. Corzine's plan would finish what New Jersey's troubled Schools Construction Corporation has said it will not complete after canceling more than 200 school projects around the state this summer. The agency concluded that its $8.6 billion construction budget would cover only half the projects it had expected to undertake. Mr. Corzine called the agency a "disgrace."

NEW JERSEY: Senator Jon S. Corzine said that if he is elected governor, he will ask voters to approve a statewide bond referendum to pay for the construction and renovation of schools in poor and urban districts, at a possible cost of billions of dollars. Mr. Corzine's plan would finish what New Jersey's troubled Schools Construction Corporation has said it will not complete after canceling more than 200 school projects around the state this summer. The agency concluded that its $8.6 billion construction budget would cover only half the projects it had expected to undertake. Mr. Corzine called the agency a "disgrace."

MISSISSIPPI: State Superintendent of Education Hank Bounds has asked the federal government for money and waivers to help local school systems handle the influx of children of evacuees from Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. Department of Education officials said about 3,200 students from Louisiana and the Mississippi Coast have been enrolled since Katrina hit Aug. 29. Districts now are going to shelters to enroll students. Bounds said Mississippi needs "lots of money, lots of waivers and lots of assistance." "In the three coastal areas, about 75 percent of schools have significant damage," he said. Bounds said he sent federal education officials an eight-page letter detailing waivers that Mississippi seeks, as well as lists of items Mississippi needs money to pay for, including buildings and teachers.

LOUISIANA: Louisiana school districts decimated by Hurricane Katrina will need $2.8 billion in federal aid this school year to recover from the devastating storm, Louisiana’s top education official said, adding that as many as 100,000 of the public school students displaced in the New Orleans area may return to their home schools by January. That would leave about 55,000 students from New Orleans and one of its neighboring parishes without a home school to return to during the current school year.

The $2.8 billion would allow many schools in the New Orleans area to reopen soon, some even in the city itself. Eight or nine schools in the city’s West Bank suffered little damage and may be able to accept about 13,600 students by January. But at least 80 buildings in the 60,000-student Orleans Parish district were destroyed or suffered significant damage from the Aug. 29 winds and the floodwaters that followed. Students who attended those buildings are unlikely to attend school in the city in the current school year. Those estimates are based on an initial inspection conducted shortly after floodwaters spread across the city. School officials will know more about the long-term damage caused by the storm once they conduct a follow-up inspection of the city. Other New Orleans-area districts are working to reopen soon.

ARKANSAS: The constitutionality of Arkansas' funding of school building repairs was questioned after the state's school facilities director acknowledged districts may compete for a limited pool of money. A fight among schools for $20 million in immediate repair money contradicts a Supreme Court decision saying all public school students have access to substantially equal facilities. In testimony, the director of the Division of Academic Facilities and Transportation said guidelines for distributing the $20 million indeed create competition for the money. And, according to director David Floyd, it is possible some schools with the worst needs could be left without any money. The state claims more than $700 million in additional aid has been directed to schools since the Supreme Court's first Lake View decision in 2002. About $120 million is dedicated to facilities, including the $20 million in the immediate repair program. Schools statewide submitted 140 requests for the $20 million for needs such as new roofs and heating systems. If all were approved, the state share would be more than $39 million. To evaluate which districts are funded, Floyd said architects and engineers evaluated each project to determine actual cost and need. A scoring system takes into account a building's future use, school enrollment and a state academic facilities wealth index to prioritize funding.

MISSISSIPPI: Getting students back in classrooms will be a challenge for some districts. The Pass Christian system lost two of its four schools to Katrina and a third is out of service. "We have one school, Delisle Elementary, that had water damage, but we can get it up and going," Superintendent Sue Matheson said. Matheson said the district will set up portable classrooms on the eight-acre elementary campus and hold classes for all grades there. The target date for reopening the district is Oct. 15. Henry Arledge, superintendent of the 13,000-student Harrison County School District, has three schools in "serious trouble" and roof problems at the rest. The worst is D'Iberville Middle School, where Katrina pushed in eight feet of water. In addition, five schools are being used as hurricane shelters and four others are staging areas for relief workers. Even the front desk at the school district's main office has been commandeered as the communications outpost for the Gulfport Police Department. Arledge has people problems, too. He has no idea how many students or teachers will return when the school year resumes. "We don't even know how many employees (are in the county)," he said. Nevertheless, the Harrison County School Board Tuesday set a target of reopening schools sometime between Oct. 1 and Oct. 15, and under emergency procedures, hired contractors on no-bid contracts to fix roofs, heating and air-conditioning systems, and make other repairs. Securing funding is the next challenge.

NATIONAL : In the aftermath of one of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, education officials from the three states are working hard to get children back in school and, in hard-hit Louisiana and Mississippi, establish plans to rebuild or repair destroyed and damaged school buildings. In addition to Texas, states throughout the country are also welcoming displaced students into their schools.

Louisiana officials are piecing together a picture of what their school system will look like in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. For now, it appears that both the New Orleans district, the state’s largest, and the nearby St. Bernard public schools could be out of commission for the entire school year, and that other districts could take weeks or even months to reopen, state schools Superintendent Cecil J. Picard said in a Sept. 6 statement to the press. In Mississippi, state and local education officials were considering setting up portable classrooms and establishing double-shift schedules at some schools to accommodate students whose schools were destroyed or are too damaged to use for months. And in Houston, a prime destination for hurricane evacuees, one of the largest school enrollment efforts in local history is starting Sept. 7 in the Houston Astrodome sports arena, the convention center, and other nearby facilities that have been turned into shelters that Houston residents are now calling “Dome City.”

MISSISSIPPI: Superintendents throughout South Mississippi don't know how many students or teachers they'll have, but they plan to resume classes at the beginning of October. Educators from Hattiesburg south met with officials from the state Department of Education to discuss issues such as school damage, pay for non-contract employees and displaced students and teachers. Many schools in South Mississippi received major damage after Hurricane Katrina ravaged this area, but officials are doing everything they can to return students back to the classroom. Many schools in Hancock County and Pass Christian were either destroyed or damaged almost beyond repair. Other districts just have one or two schools with major damage. Beyond that, the homes of many students, teachers, superintendents and other employees were destroyed, leaving officials unsure of how many students have enrolled in other districts and how many teachers and employees have found jobs in other cities or states.

NATIONAL : Federal officials are grappling with the next steps to help students displaced by Hurricane Katrina return to school and to help districts and educators also cope with the aftermath of the disaster. Secretary Spellings announced a new Web site aimed at helping schools that have enrolled student evacuees, called www.ed.gov/katrina">Hurricane Help for Schools. The Web site is aimed at getting additional supplies to schools that have enrolled students from New Orleans and other hard-hit areas. Schools can post messages about what resources and supplies they need, and companies and organizations can respond directly. Groups can also offer their own resources and provide ways for schools to contact them.

On Capitol Hill, federal lawmakers were also moving to aid schools handling an influx of evacuated students. Though Congress has already approved $10.5 billion in general emergency funds for the affected areas, some lawmakers were seeking to provide help specifically to schools and students.

LOUISIANA: Students likely will not be able to attend public school in Orleans or St. Bernard parishes for the rest of the school year, state schools Superintendent Cecil Picard said. Other school districts, such as those in Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Charles and St. Tammany parishes and the city of Bogalusa, can be up and running in either weeks or months, he said at a briefing at the state Office of Emergency Preparedness. About 135,000 public school students in four parishes - Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines - were displaced by Hurricane Katrina, along with 52,000 private and parochial school students, according to the state Department of Education. These students will be required to attend school, for at least part of the year, outside of their home districts. "We're going to have to really take a hard look at complete reconstruction of the Orleans Parish school system," Picard said. But Interim Superintendent Ora Watson said earlier in the day that she hopes that at least a few schools in Algiers could be opened this school year to accommodate families that might return to the area, which has not been flooded. Picard said that there are about eight schools in Algiers that were not substantially damaged by the storm, but added that he did not expect even those schools would be ready by year's end. If people return to the West Bank, a small school district of maybe 7,000 or 8,000 students could be set up to accommodate those children sometime after January, he said. Even getting to that point will depend on how quickly the area can be made habitable, Picard said. He noted that the state must deem the area safe - including ensuring that there is no environmental contamination from the floodwaters - and basic amenities like electricity and water must be available.

NATIONAL : The U.S. Department of Education announced Hurricane Help for Schools, a new Web page aimed at getting additional supplies to schools serving students displaced by the hurricane. The website can be accessed through the Department of Education's Web site—www.ed.gov/katrina—and will serve as a clearinghouse of resources for Americans who want to help the students displaced by the hurricane.

NEW JERSEY: For many New Jersey students, Tuesday was the first day of school, and it served as a reminder of the litany of problems, big and small, never addressed by a troubled statewide school construction program that abruptly canceled more than 200 school projects this summer after running out of money for them.

NEW JERSEY: For many New Jersey students, Tuesday was the first day of school, and it served as a reminder of the litany of problems, big and small, never addressed by a troubled statewide school construction program that abruptly canceled more than 200 school projects this summer after running out of money for them.

LOUISIANA: Sixteen Jefferson Parish public schools are usable, eight have isolated damage and six have major damage from Hurricane Katrina, according to the first assessment by school system officials. The assessments are cursory and won’t be verified until extensive inspections are made. The other 54 schools have yet to be examined.

NATIONAL : Education Secretary Margaret Spellings telephoned the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama state school superintendents and other top Gulf Coast educators, offering broad federal assistance to stricken schools and universities. The federal government will ignore deadlines facing school systems in gulf states on some federal financing programs, Ms. Spellings told the educators, and the government will cut through red tape and be flexible on other educational questions, she said in an interview.

LOUISIANA: Before Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans submerged in up to 20 feet of water, school facility planners and city officials were already looking at ways to renovate or replace many of the district’s famously rundown schools. Now, according to one architect there, the district has an opportunity for a new start. The New Orleans district has been nationally known for its decrepit facilities, many of which have had severe problems with mold, termite damage, and violations of health and safety codes over the years. Few had up-to-date wiring for technology, air conditioning, or accessibility for students with disabilities. "The schools in New Orleans were considered to be among the worst in the country in terms of state of repair," Stephen Bingler, the founder and chief executive officer of Concordia Community Planners and Architects, a New Orleans-based firm, said. It will likely be several months or more before schools are back in order in New Orleans and other areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Facility planners said that the water damage and other de-struction would require that many schools be rebuilt or completely refurbished.

When buildings are inundated with water for days, and possibly weeks, as could be the case in New Orleans, enormous problems with mold and mildew, in addition to structural damage, are likely, several facility planners added. New Orleans and other districts caught up in the storm’s wide swath are "going to face a lot of need for temporary housing, and they’re going to be challenged to be creative in how they look at redevel-opment of their school systems," said Lee Burch, a senior vice president and education practice leader with 3D International, a Houston-based construction firm.

NATIONAL : With school buildings torn apart, buses underwater, and offices washed away, school districts trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina will have to start by figuring out where they’ll get the money. As estimates of damages from Katrina mounted, it was unclear just what sort of insurance coverage districts in the hardest-hit regions of Louisiana and Mississippi actually had. Equally uncertain was whether the cost of their repairs would be picked up chiefly by insurance companies, the federal government, or state and local taxpayers. One concern, insurance experts said, was that the damage from flooding to schools in New Orleans may be covered by insurance only minimally, or not at all.

NATIONAL : Colleges and universities across the country, including many in Greater Boston, are opening doors to students whose schools have been left uninhabitable by Hurricane Katrina. Some are offering the opportunity to enroll in classes, while others are providing housing and laptops. Up to 100,000 students attend colleges in New Orleans, and a total of about 175,000 are enrolled in southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, the American Council on Education estimated. Many now find themselves without homes or schools and have returned to their hometowns and uncertain futures.

NATIONAL : School districts already struggling to meet the high costs of fuel are bracing for a rising tide of red ink in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the yet-untold damage it dealt to oil production along the Gulf of Mexico. Overnight, fears of $3-per-gallon fuel for school buses has given way to nightmares of having to pay closer to $6 per gallon—as some communities have already seen—if the nation’s fuel supply is severely damaged for a long period of time.

NATIONAL : Examples of the impact on schools from previous hurricanes and other natural disasters include Hurricane Charley in 2004, Hurricane Floyd in 1999, Northridge Earthquake in 1999, Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and Hurricane Camille in 1969.

NATIONAL : Thousands of children displaced by one of the most destructive natural disasters ever to strike the United States will be back in school soon, sometimes as far as 500 miles away from home. Whether their own schools are flooded in New Orleans or missing roofs in Biloxi, Mississippi, many students will find a spot in a classroom in the town where they’ve landed. Some 48 hours after Hurricane Katrina left the Gulf Coast, districts in the same or neighboring states started enrolling the storm’s refugees, as school officials across the South responded to the massive emergency migration caused by the devastating storm. The open-door policies were among many steps taken in an effort to bring some sense of normal life to students, parents, and educators after Katrina left hundreds of schools in Louisiana and Mississippi closed indefinitely.

While school officials are willing to accept evacuees as students, they face many logistical problems, such as finding temporary classroom space and hiring teachers to handle the influx of students. In Jackson, Miss., state officials were talking about the possibility of converting an abandoned K-Mart store into a temporary school. But they don’t know if they will need to do that until the survey of the damage is completed. Once they have helped displaced students find temporary schools, officials in Louisiana and Mississippi will set to work figuring how long schools will be closed. Initial reports from Mississippi suggest many schools, along with casinos, hotels, and other structures, were leveled. According to the Web site of television station WLOX in Biloxi, the walls of Harrison Central 9th Grade School in North Gulfport collapsed, the roof blew off St. Martin High School in Pascagoula, and, at the very least, the elementary schools in Harrison County saw significant damage to their roofs. In New Orleans and five districts near it, schools remained flooded along with other buildings. Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimated that it would take a month simply to pump floodwaters out of the city. Until then, school officials will not be able to provide an assessment of the structural damage done to their buildings.

LOUISIANA: Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard urged school systems across the state and elsewhere to quickly find a place for roughly 150,000 public school students displaced by Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in the New Orleans area as officials said recovery efforts will consume months. Administrators of various private schools around New Orleans, meanwhile, began mapping plans for "alternate placements" for their students, making Web site appeals for information about where families are temporarily living. Archdiocese of New Orleans school officials are discussing options for displaced families but haven’t yet released details, a spokesman for the Diocese of Baton Rouge said. It was not immediately clear how many parochial and private school students will need to seek new school placements. Picard said 23 percent of the region’s public school students were severely affected by Katrina, noting that once flood waters recede it may be found that some schools no longer exist.

Federal education officials said they expect Congress, as part of an emergency supplemental spending bill covering hurricane relief costs, will tackle funding issues resulting from the disaster. For example, they must decide whether districts taking extra students will get extra per-capita financing that is generated based on enrollment, and whether districts losing students because of the hurricane should lose money. Louisiana and Mississippi education officials already have told the U.S. Education Department they face unprecedented costs in repairing or replacing damaged buildings, and Picard said he hopes that the federal government will provide a major infusion of money for building needs. The superintendent said federal emergency management money is available for 75 percent of the cost of adding portable buildings to serve displaced students, and that federal officials may be persuaded to waive the 25 percent local match.

LOUISIANA: Rebuilding New Orleans could cost "at least" $75 billion, a leading expert warned. That would make Katrina and her deadly aftermath by far the most expensive disaster in American history. U.S. Census data shows there were 215,000 housing units in New Orleans. To rebuild 150,000, or 70 percent, at $150,000 a home would cost $22.5 billion. But that figure may be low. Streets, sidewalks, new sewers, telephone and electrical lines and other basic infrastructure, add 33 percent on top, or $7.5 billion. Shops, dry cleaners, restaurants, gas stations and other small commercial buildings across the city: "at least another $10 billion." Renovating and refitting the downtown high-rise office blocks? That's $100 per square foot, for 25 million square feet: $2.5 billion. The hotels? At $50,000 a room for perhaps 50,000 rooms, that's another $2.5 billion. Schools, hospitals, fire and police stations across a city of 500,000 people: at least $5 billion more. That takes the total to $50 billion. But the expert warns: The bigger and more urgent the project, the faster the costs rise. Think Big Dig . . . times six. Labor and raw material costs would rise sharply, Dixon says. There's gouging and fraud. "And then there's all the things we haven't even thought of. If we've found $50 billion in costs, the actual total will come to $75 billion, easy," he says.

LOUISIANA: Rebuilding New Orleans could cost "at least" $75 billion, a leading expert warned. That would make Katrina and her deadly aftermath by far the most expensive disaster in American history. U.S. Census data shows there were 215,000 housing units in New Orleans. To rebuild 150,000, or 70 percent, at $150,000 a home would cost $22.5 billion. But that figure may be low. Streets, sidewalks, new sewers, telephone and electrical lines and other basic infrastructure, add 33 percent on top, or $7.5 billion. Shops, dry cleaners, restaurants, gas stations and other small commercial buildings across the city: "at least another $10 billion." Renovating and refitting the downtown high-rise office blocks? That's $100 per square foot, for 25 million square feet: $2.5 billion. The hotels? At $50,000 a room for perhaps 50,000 rooms, that's another $2.5 billion. Schools, hospitals, fire and police stations across a city of 500,000 people: at least $5 billion more. That takes the total to $50 billion. But the expert warns: The bigger and more urgent the project, the faster the costs rise. Think Big Dig . . . times six. Labor and raw material costs would rise sharply, Dixon says. There's gouging and fraud. "And then there's all the things we haven't even thought of. If we've found $50 billion in costs, the actual total will come to $75 billion, easy," he says.

NATIONAL : Public officials and educators reached out to offer classroom space to students whose public schools and colleges and universities were shut down by Hurricane Katrina. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas invited students from Louisiana and Mississippi left homeless by the hurricane to enroll in any of his state's 7,000 public schools. Some Texas school districts reported that they were already receiving inquiries from storm refugees, state officials said. Cecil J. Picard, the Louisiana state superintendent of education, urged school districts that were largely unaffected by the storm to enroll homeless students. Louisiana has 727,000 children in public schools, and Mr. Picard said the storm had displaced 135,000 of them. He urged teachers displaced by the storm to apply for work in the districts where they have taken shelter, and called on businesses and churches to provide temporary classrooms.

TEXAS: Educators statewide started scrambling to find classroom space, supplies and teachers for the roughly 10,000 evacuee students who are expected to enroll in Texas schools during the weeks and months that it takes to rebuild New Orleans and other communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Houston-area schools could see the largest influx of refugee students. About 5,000 school-age children are expected to move into the Astrodome, and thousands of other Louisiana youngsters are already settling in at Houston hotels, shelters and homes.

NATIONAL : Top federal education officials said that they would streamline the bureaucratic process for states and school districts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, pledging to issue waivers as needed from key requirements in the federal No Child Left Behind Act as they reached out to state leaders to determine their needs. Raymond J. Simon, the U.S. deputy secretary of education, and other federal education officials offered few details on other types of assistance, but made clear they stood ready to offer states various types of support in dealing with huge numbers of displaced students and destroyed or damaged schools. But they provided little information on how many schools or students have been affected by the hurricane, which is expected to be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

NATIONAL : The schools devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and those trying to help them, will be given leeway in complying with a federal law that aims to raise education standards. U.S. education leaders said that they will consider broad requests for relief from states in the overwhelmed Gulf Coast, meaning schools could get significantly more time to raise yearly test scores or to ensure that all their teachers meet federal qualifications. An estimated hundreds of thousands of displaced students will attend school in a different district, if not a different state, as the school year begins. Education officials also pledged to relax rules on college aid, including timelines for students to pay their loans.

As the storm's fallout became clearer, officials in schools and colleges in states such as Georgia, Kansas, Ohio, Virginia, and Tennessee pledged to enroll displaced students. In response, the Education Department told school chiefs in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas that they could expect fast relief. State leaders are still figuring out what kind of help they will seek, but they are expected to jump on the department's offer to consider waivers under the No Child Left Behind Act.

MISSISSIPPI: Most schools from central Mississippi on South are closed, with several — including some in the Jackson area — canceling. And it's uncertain when Gulf Coast schools could even begin to assess damage, never mind reopen for classes. Jackson, Rankin County and Clinton canceled classes the rest of the week, partly because power is off at many schools, but also because school officials are concerned about fuel for buses and getting through on roads still covered with debris. Madison County, Hinds County, Canton and Pearl schools are closed today, and officials say they are evaluating day by day, again depending on electrical power. State Superintendent of Education Hank Bounds said restarting classes is not a priority, especially when many schools are used as shelters in the aftermath of the hurricane. "Right now, opening of school is a very distant issue," Bounds said. Bounds said he spoke to the superintendent who replaced him in Pascagoula, Wayne Radolfich. "They have unbelievable damage. ... I can't imagine they (Coast schools) will have electricity within a month." Department of Education officials will "start doing preliminary things, like locating portables and getting in place to make certain we can do damage assessment," he said.

NATIONAL : Even as schools across eastern Louisiana are closed—some of them indefinitely—local and state officials are laying plans to assure that students have classrooms to go to as soon as possible. Districts throughout the state that remain open are telling families who have evacuated to their areas to register children in local schools while the regions hit hardest by the storm work to reopen their schools. Meanwhile, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has assigned members of her staff to marshal the state’s resources to help continue education for students in temporary shelters and in districts taking on a wave of long-term evacuees from the floods caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Elsewhere in the storm-ravaged region, schools were closed throughout southern Mississippi, which bore the brunt of the storm but hasn’t suffered flooding of the magnitude of eastern Louisiana. Gov. Haley Barbour said that emergency workers had cleared the roads to reach the Gulf Coast region to survey the damage and address the needs of people there. In Alabama, which was on the eastern edge of Katrina’s path, two of the biggest school districts were closed Tuesday. Both Baldwin County and Mobile County schools were shuttered and without power.

ALABAMA: County schools suffered more damage from Katrina than from mid-September's Hurricane Ivan, said Tommy Sheffield, executive director of facilities for the school system. At Chastang Middle School in Mobile's Trinity Garden community, the outer layer of the roof "peeled off like a can of sardines," Sheffield said, but the building appeared to have remained structurally sound. He said water damage is likely. Sheffield said contractors have already been assigned to work on schools damaged by Katrina, but he did not know when the schools would reopen.

FLORIDA: How expensive is it to build new schools today? Officials are speeding up a new Palm Beach Gardens High to keep the cost from exceeding $92.5 million. When it opens in August 2008, a year early, the 2,500-student school will be the priciest campus ever in the county. Then, early next decade, a new Lake Worth-area high school is expected to cost $102.7 million while the bill for a new Riviera Beach high school will hit $106.6 million. These projects are the chart-toppers in the school district's new $1.7 billion construction program for the next five years. The School Board last week reviewed the plan and the sources of money to pay for it. School construction costs are rising at least 5 percent a year, while prices for building designs are rising about 2 percent per year, Facilities Chief Joseph Sanches said. But between January 2004 and January 2005, the price of steel is up 46 percent and copper is up 22 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "We're seeing significant price increases throughout all construction services," Sanches told board members.

Since 1998, the school district has opened, replaced or renovated more than 60 schools. About the same number of major projects is scheduled between now and the end of the 2009-10 school year, along with several building additions, remodeling jobs, and technology updates. Four factors continue to fuel the building spree: an annual influx of about 5,000 new students; a schedule of modernizing campuses that are more than 35 years old; a policy of preventing overcrowded schools; and the state's class size reduction law that requires more classrooms in order to serve smaller groups of students. Funding for the plan comes from loans, property taxes, state sources and the sales tax, schools Treasurer Leanne Evans said. The half-percent sales tax runs through 2010, but administrators say they would consider seeking an extension if demand for new schools keeps up.

NEW JERSEY: With its gangs, police shootings and struggles to modernize, Newark seems to have enough problems. Now it has one more. Dewey Street used to be a proud middle-class neighborhood, a chamber of peace and quiet in Newark's gritty heart. But last year when the state cleared out tracts of land to build a school, most of the families were driven away. And now that the money for the school has evaporated, more than three dozen lots sit abandoned, one after another. "The state has created a monster," said Newark's mayor, Sharpe James. "We now have a concentrated, abandoned front in the heart of Newark. And I've been asking: If you don't have enough money to build a school, then why you do have enough money to bring down a neighborhood?" The state agency facing that question is the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation, an ambitious program built for speed. It was established three years ago to bring new schools to the state's poorest districts, but recent investigations have exposed millions of dollars wasted on excessive bonuses, exorbitant fees, and design errors.

NORTH CAROLINA: With the state lottery proposal in limbo and school needs booming across North Carolina, lawmakers are suddenly looking at a new way to pay for new classrooms: local sales taxes. After resisting the idea for years, the state House voted to give 46 counties the right to raise their local sales taxes one-half percentage point to build public schools and expand community colleges. The affected counties are those from which legislative representatives asked for the power. In each one, the commissioners would have to endorse the idea first. Then the voters would be asked to approve the increase in a local referendum. Where adopted, shoppers would help pay for schools every time they bought something other than food. The hike would boost the combined state and local sales tax to 7.5 cents per dollar in all those counties where it passed except Mecklenburg, where the rate would rise to 8 percent.

Across North Carolina, building public schools and community colleges is mainly a county responsibility. Counties usually rely on their property tax to pay for it. But local property taxes -- although fairly low when compared nationwide -- are unpopular with many voters. And smaller and poorer counties have less valuable property to tax. So fast-growing urban counties and rural counties alike sought the power to boost their sales tax, although it hits poorer residents harder than property taxes do.

NORTH CAROLINA: With the state lottery proposal in limbo and school needs booming across North Carolina, lawmakers are suddenly looking at a new way to pay for new classrooms: local sales taxes. After resisting the idea for years, the state House voted to give 46 counties the right to raise their local sales taxes one-half percentage point to build public schools and expand community colleges. The affected counties are those from which legislative representatives asked for the power. In each one, the commissioners would have to endorse the idea first. Then the voters would be asked to approve the increase in a local referendum. Where adopted, shoppers would help pay for schools every time they bought something other than food. The hike would boost the combined state and local sales tax to 7.5 cents per dollar in all those counties where it passed except Mecklenburg, where the rate would rise to 8 percent.

Across North Carolina, building public schools and community colleges is mainly a county responsibility. Counties usually rely on their property tax to pay for it. But local property taxes -- although fairly low when compared nationwide -- are unpopular with many voters. And smaller and poorer counties have less valuable property to tax. So fast-growing urban counties and rural counties alike sought the power to boost their sales tax, although it hits poorer residents harder than property taxes do.

ILLINOIS: South Elgin High School, a $53 million facility that was mothballed for a year as Unit School District 46 struggled with a financial crisis, opened its doors. The opening of the 380,000-square-foot campus was postponed because the district could not afford to run the building, said Kris Houser, a spokeswoman. As district officials struggled to reduce a $40 million deficit, budget cuts prevented them from hiring staff to run the school. To address its budget problems, the district cut $20 million in expenses, partly by laying off staff, including first-year teachers, Houser said. "Now that the district is back on its feet again, we're able to staff the building and operate the utilities for a building of that size," Houser said.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : When school opens in Washington, students at more than 100 public schools will be greeted by spruced-up classrooms, thanks in large part to an extra $6 million that the mayor and D.C. Council budgeted for long-neglected maintenance projects. Across the city, walls have been plastered, lights have been replaced, restrooms have been deep cleaned and leaks have been fixed -- in some cases for the first time in years. In a system long plagued by aging facilities and bureaucratic bungles on opening day, this summer's performance has been encouraging, said some parents and organizations that monitor the schools. Still, many of the city's 147 public schools need major renovations.

MASSACHUSETTS: More than 30 percent of students at five Boston schools suffer from asthma, far higher than the statewide average, according to a study by the state Department of Public Health that provides the most detailed portrait ever of the burden the respiratory ailment imposes on children in Massachusetts. Authors of the report predicted it will yield important clues to help solve the riddle of asthma, which so far has eluded easy explanation. The public health agency plans to use the findings to investigate whether environmental factors at schools and surrounding neighborhoods are responsible for high asthma levels. Researchers will examine the quality of air inside schools and their proximity to highways and industrial plants.

FLORIDA: Instead of individual desks, areas in the intensive reading class at Wharton High in New Tampa are tailored to tasks students perform. The format is becoming more common. Fewer teachers are opting to set up classrooms with long rows of individual desks. They say a less- rigid layout stimulates students and holds their attention. The traditional approach was to assign students to seats alphabetically. Students with vision or behavior problems were often placed near the front, and talkative friends were separated. Now teachers often place students in the most productive work situation. Students do written exercises and group work at large tables. A station of computers lets the class use software and online programs. Another table lets the teacher work one-on- one with students. The most unusual spot in the classroom may be the "living room." The space features couches, comfortable chairs, a coffee table, a rug and even a lava lamp.

Most educators agree that classroom layout contributes to student success. Configuring different classroom layouts is standard in teacher training. The guidebook given to new teachers in Hillsborough County features tips for classroom setup and offers sample layouts. Renalia DuBose, Hillsborough's director of training and staff development, said unusual layouts are more common because teachers aren't as afraid to take chances. "There was a time when it was believed that a quiet class was a class on task," DuBose said. "But the research shows you need that discussion and interaction between students. Teachers aren't afraid anymore to group their students." Although more teachers are veering from traditional classroom seating, don't expect to find recliners replacing desks anytime soon. Some subjects, such as math, are more easily taught in a traditional format. Also, some classrooms are too small for elaborate designs.

OHIO: When 45,000 people move into Butler and Warren counties in less than five years, who pays to build new schools for new children? Debate over whether the burden should be borne by all taxpayers, landowners, builders and developers or the newcomers themselves is likely to be lively this fall when hearings on impact fee legislation begin in Columbus. Ohio Rep. Jon Peterson introduced a bill in June that would allow school districts, townships and county governments to levy impact fees against new development areas — effectively putting some of that burden on the newcomers and those in the real estate industry. It's an approach to local funding dilemmas supported by the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, the Ohio Township Association and local school boards, but one that is strongly opposed by developers and the home building industry.

NEW YORK: Under a law that Governor George Pataki is expected to sign, New York state schools would be required to purchase, either on their own or through state contracts, environmentally sensitive cleaning products to maintain their facilities. Environmentally friendly cleaning products have been proved to perform just as well as their traditional, chemical-based counterparts and for about the same price, experts say. The so-called green cleaning products are more biodegradable, contain fewer toxins, are less volatile and usually require less packaging.

When he proposed the "green clean" law for schools, Pataki cited EPA statistics showing that, nationally, more than 32 million pounds of household cleaning products are poured down the drain each day and that indoor pollution costs more than $50 billion in the United States for health care, absenteeism, lost production and lost revenue. The new legislation would take effect Sept. 1, 2006, to allow schools to deplete their existing cleaning and maintenance supply stocks and implement the new requirements in the procurement cycle for the 2006-07 school year. Stephen Boese, the New York director of an organization called Healthy Schools Network, said that contrary to what many people believe, green cleaning is not expensive.

MARYLAND: As principal of one of two new schools in Prince William County, Lisa Gilkerson has spent the run-up to Glenkirk's opening day fixing numerous last-minute details related to the education of about 850 students. She has been hiring and training teachers, meeting parents and even unloading huge printers. But she also has spent time preparing the school for its wider audience: Gainesville and its Scout troops, homeowners associations and club groups that want to borrow the school on weekends or after school. A vast majority, if not all, of Prince William's 82 schools allow community groups to rent space, said Don Mercer, the school system's director of risk management. Dozens of schools, he said, allow churches to use their classrooms, gyms and cafeterias for a fee. The school system received about $500,000 last year from the arrangements, Mercer said, most of which was spent to pay custodians to open and monitor the buildings and to cover utility fees. Any profits financed playground improvements or equipment, he said.

CALIFORNIA: When San Diego voters approved a $1.51 billion bond measure in 1998, the school district promised to modernize 161 campuses, rebuild three and deliver 13 new ones. Seven years later, the district has completed most of the renovations but is mired in construction delays at a number of new school sites. At existing schools, the bond has paid for roof replacements, new paint and a long list of additions: 90 libraries, 153 playgrounds, 35 science buildings, 14 classroom buildings, 110 lunch court shelters and 68 offices. Now the district is shifting its focus to building new schools. Most of the new school projects are behind schedule and over budget because of winter's heavy rains, environmental cleanups and reviews and problems with prefab classroom manufacturers. Declining enrollment has eliminated the need for one of the new schools. Rising costs for land, labor and construction material have made the remaining 12 schools much more expensive than anticipated.

NEW JERSEY: John F. Spencer, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation, the troubled agency responsible for billions of dollars of school construction, said that he plans to resign in September to take a job in New York. Spencer has overseen the state program, criticized for mismanagement, for two years.

INDIANA: Heeding the recommendations of a recently completed security assessment, Valparaiso Community Schools is planning a deluge of changes to increase safety across the district. From visible additions, like increased police presence and security cameras, to more discreet changes, like staff training and the formation of a security policy review committee, several new measures are being put into place to help ensure the safety of the corporation's 6,000-plus students. The changes are the result of an assessment conducted by Ken Trump, the nationally-known president of Ohio-based National School Safety and Security Services. Before writing the final report, Trump and his colleague conducted 155 interviews, visited all of the district sites, facilitated a community meeting for input, and reviewed all security-related documents in place at VCS.

INDIANA: Heeding the recommendations of a recently completed security assessment, Valparaiso Community Schools is planning a deluge of changes to increase safety across the district. From visible additions, like increased police presence and security cameras, to more discreet changes, like staff training and the formation of a security policy review committee, several new measures are being put into place to help ensure the safety of the corporation's 6,000-plus students. The changes are the result of an assessment conducted by Ken Trump, the nationally-known president of Ohio-based National School Safety and Security Services. Before writing the final report, Trump and his colleague conducted 155 interviews, visited all of the district sites, facilitated a community meeting for input, and reviewed all security-related documents in place at VCS.

NATIONAL : The U.S. Department of Education announced five grantees for the Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Grant program. Together, these grantees will serve approximately 48,000 students in 120 charter schools in California, Delaware, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. Under this program, funds are provided on a competitive basis to public and nonprofit entities to leverage other funds and help charter schools obtain school facilities through such means as purchase, lease, and donation. Grantees may also use grants to leverage funds to help charter schools construct and renovate school facilities.

Despite the popularity of charter schools with parents, teachers and the public, these distinctive public schools face barriers. A high percentage of new charter schools point out that inadequate facilities have impeded the implementation of their charters. Unlike traditional local education agencies, charter schools generally lack the ability to issue general obligation bonds backed by property taxes, and they are often considered to be credit risks by lending institutions. "Charter schools must be able to grow and expand wherever the demand is greatest," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "We must not allow a lack of space to become a barrier to parents and children stuck on long waiting lists. These grants will help communities open up new spaces to charter schools so that charter schools can open their doors to new students

LOUISIANA: A state district judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit filed by three parents of students who attended the now-closed Chalmette Christian Academy. The parents claimed the children were made ill, one seriously, by mold at the school. In a ruling, 34th Judicial District Judge Manuel Fernandez approved the request from the parents to certify their suit as a class action including all students who attended the school during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years. Fernandez, however, refused to include school employees and others who occupied the school as part of the class. Fernandez said the evidence concerned only exposure to mold by students, not nonstudents, and pertained only to exposure during those two school years.

NEW JERSEY: The New Jersey agency responsible for building schools in the state's neediest districts has hired a chief financial officer and made most of the other changes the Governor's Office mandated after a blistering critique of the agency this year. An agency spokesman said all 10 parts of the overhaul, including expanding the agency's board and altering its audit schedule, should be completed by mid-September. Some changes await only the board's approval. Under orders from the state Supreme Court, New Jersey had dedicated $6 billion to refurbish or replace schools in the neediest districts and $2.6 billion to help out other districts. The Schools Construction Corporation was created three years ago to streamline the process, but a state probe found it mostly added bureaucracy and wasted money.

ILLINOIS: Hours away from Chicago, cornfields here stretch undisturbed as far as the eye can see -- almost. Near Bureau Valley High School, a wind turbine stands 30 stories high, its three 76-foot blades tracing lazy circles on the blue Midwestern sky. Running since January, the $1.1 million turbine is the first in the state to power a high school and is projected to save the school $100,000 in annual electricity costs. "That's two teachers' salaries a year," said Keith Bolin, the hog farmer and school board member who first proposed the turbine five years ago. Built almost 200 yards from the school on land the school owns for agricultural production, the turbine harnesses one of western Illinois' greatest natural resources: wind. Since January 22, the turbine's computerized records show that it has produced 646,397 kilowatt-hours of energy for the school and consumed only 2,715 for itself. Besides providing Bureau Valley with a clean, renewable source of energy, school officials hope the turbine will also help the district -- and other poor districts like it -- ease financial pressures. But for the humble hog farmer with a dream, the road from vision to reality was long.

FLORIDA: Broward schools are closer to offering all students the same educational facilities, equipment and classes than they've been since minority parents filed a lawsuit in 1995. Still, there's room for improvement, according to a new report. In two areas -- textbooks and disciplinary actions -- more information and analysis were needed to determine if goals were being met. While technology, school media centers and athletic facilities still need work, the district has solutions in sight. About 90 percent of schools meet the current technology standard. That means four computers and Internet access in every classroom; laptops for teachers; and printers for every other classroom. But a new standard is being developed that would distribute computers according to student population. Helping with that is a $68 million program to put 40,000 new laptops in classrooms. That will reduce the need for students to go to a computer lab or media center, the report says.

FLORIDA: Florida officials are broadly interpreting a new law that requires background checks for thousands of school district contractors who have access to campuses, according to new guidelines by the Florida Department of Education. District leaders in Miami-Dade and Broward counties said the new guidelines will require a massive mobilization to fingerprint construction workers building additions, and sports officials and vendors selling yearbooks and class rings at school -- all before the law goes into effect September 1. Some school district leaders fear that strict new security regulations will cost an exorbitant amount of time and money. Across the state, thousands of those workers will be required to submit fingerprints to the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

CALIFORNIA: For a glimpse of its future, the Vista Unified School District just needs to take a drive down Interstate 5. Torrey Pines High School has examples on an architectural alternative that the Vista district will use at five campuses it plans to build in the area over the next several years: modular buildings. Torrey Pines High is one of a few schools south of Los Angeles that have been built with prefabricated modular buildings made to resemble traditional construction, but that are significantly cheaper, school district officials have said. Modular buildings became an issue for Vista Unified after the school district announced that large portions of its new schools will be built with modular construction. Critics of the district say the use of modular buildings to save on construction costs is proof that the district has mismanaged the money the district raised through a 2002 school facilities bond ---- an allegation those same critics have been leveling for months. But district officials say it's just smart use of the district's dwindling bond resources.

NATIONAL : While traditional schools have served their purpose for decades, new models of teaching and learning have come on the scene. To prepare students for an evolving information-based society, architects are designing innovative schools to support these changes. Designers are replacing traditional classrooms with "studios" that contain storage areas for long-term projects and spaces for individual, small-group and large-group work. There is a push to build smaller schools, with smaller class sizes. When redesigning large school buildings, architects reconfigure schools into "neighborhood groupings" and remove corridors to make more spaces for learning. Designers also consider factors such as energy-efficient spaces that maximize the use of sunlight and have good indoor air quality. Getting away from centers of technology like the audiovisual storage closet from decades past, results in improvements right at the teacher's fingertips, such as classrooms with ceiling-mounted LCD projectors. As portable electronics enable students carrying handheld PDAs and wireless laptops to learn anywhere, at anytime, the question arises as to whether the school building itself could become obsolete.

NEW JERSEY: Lawyers for the state's poorest children yesterday asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to order more funding for a $6 billion school construction fund that has nearly run out of cash. The action by the Education Law Center in Newark came just two weeks after the Schools Construction Corporation -- which is overseeing the program -- announced it was putting more than 200 school projects on hold because it didn't have the money to build them. The SCC has been beset by allegations of waste and mismanagement since it announced it was running low on funds and could build less than half the schools needed by the state's poorest 31 districts. Acting on a long-standing suit by the law center, the Supreme Court ordered the state in 1998 to replace "crumbling and obsolescent" schools in the poorest districts. The law center asked the court to order more money because it said state education officials were failing to respond to the huge shortfall. "We really felt compelled to go to the court," said David Sciarra, executive director of the law center. "Everyone knows we have a problem. At the end of the day, more resources are required, and yet we've had no action." The law center and some of its supporters in the Legislature argue that allowing the program to grind to a halt will cost the public even more money. In legal papers filed yesterday, the law center estimated that every year of delay could cost the state $40 million to $60 million in additional funds. It argues the 1998 court order means every pending school must eventually be built.

FLORIDA: The Broward County School Board approved a $2.9 billion construction plan that will renovate old buildings and add hundreds of classrooms in the next five years. But the plan still could change because it doesn't consider the full cost of reducing the number of students per classroom as required by Florida law. By 2010, Florida law says there cannot be more than 18 students per class in pre-K to grade three, 20 students per class in fourth to eighth grades, and 25 students per class in high school. If Broward cannot reduce class sizes by using co-teachers, it would have to spend another $50 million to $70 million to build 525 more classrooms.

FLORIDA: The Broward County School Board approved a $2.9 billion construction plan that will renovate old buildings and add hundreds of classrooms in the next five years. But the plan still could change because it doesn't consider the full cost of reducing the number of students per classroom as required by Florida law. By 2010, Florida law says there cannot be more than 18 students per class in pre-K to grade three, 20 students per class in fourth to eighth grades, and 25 students per class in high school. If Broward cannot reduce class sizes by using co-teachers, it would have to spend another $50 million to $70 million to build 525 more classrooms.

ILLINOIS: A study of comprehensive plans from five communities in the 68.6-square-mile district suggests Oswego Community Unit School District 308 may need as many as 58 new schools to handle residential growth and surging enrollments during the next 20 to 25 years.

NEW JERSEY: Concern that children are being overexposed to pesticides in an environment presumed to be safe — their schools — has prompted U.S. Rep. Rush Holt to introduce legislation to place federal restrictions on pesticide use at, and near, schools. Exposure to pesticides can leave children more susceptible to learning and behavioral disorders, asthma and certain childhood cancers, he warned. Rep. Holt's legislation, the School Environmental Protection Act (H.R. 11), would require local educational agencies and schools to implement integrated pest management systems to minimize the use of pesticides in schools, and provide for notification of the use of such chemicals.

CALIFORNIA: When public school students return to class August 29, many will find freshly painted hallways, better floors, new roofs, ceilings, wiring, windows, science labs, or even new buildings, thanks to a record amount of school construction this summer, officials said. The school district is spending about $90 million to refurbish campuses throughout the city and even build a few more schools. As school district facilities chief Tim White put it, "Ninety-million bucks at one time is a pretty big chunk to bite off." And it's by far the most the district has ever spent on renovation and construction during one summer, White said. This summer's construction boom is due in part to the fact that the district has tightened up its notoriously lax system for awarding contracts, approving work and paying invoices. Four or five years ago, contractors often started work without approval from the school board or a signed contract. On top of that, the district often failed to pay its bills once work was done.

ALABAMA: It's been a year since the Jefferson County Commission voted to raise sales taxes in the county to finance more than $1 billion in school construction. It's been eight months since the county issued bonds and banked the proceeds to pay for the construction. Yet, officials of the 12 school systems in Jefferson County still don't know if they will see a dime of that money. Many, in fact, have drawn up school construction plans, only to have to put those plans on hold. The reason: lawsuits challenging the legality of the 1-cent sales tax increase and the bonds issued by the county. Those suits, filed earlier this year, have been combined into a class action. They contend the commission didn't have authority to issue bonds and should have instead distributed the tax money directly to the school systems.

The sooner this matter is resolved, the better. School systems are in limbo. Those school systems have plans for the money ranging from Jefferson County's $350 million to Midfield's $11.5 million. Many of the building projects on the school systems' wish lists are more than wishes; they're necessities. Many schools are crowded and need expansions, while others are old and need to be replaced. Jefferson County school officials, for example, hope to build or renovate 15 schools, including some originally built in the 1920s and 1930s. Birmingham, meanwhile, has 12 new schools as well as renovations and additions on hold because of the cloud over the bond money.

CALIFORNIA: You can throw away a beanbag chair. You can hock your lava lamp on eBay. It's a little harder to shake off the design hangover when the fad is embedded in the 1970s architecture of your neighborhood public school. Loft, or open-space, schools went up everywhere in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Chula Vista Elementary School District built eight of them. The schools' few internal walls divide them into warehouselike pods shared by three or four teachers and perhaps more than 100 students. With the benefit of 30 years' hindsight, open-space schools look more like the public education analogue of bell-bottom pants and feathered-back hair – groovy styles at the time, campy relics. As school districts throughout the county renovate these decades-old campuses, open-space schools are going the way of the eight-track tape.

MICHIGAN: One of the fastest growing Jewish day high schools in the country is seeking site plan approvals from West Bloomfield Township to build a permanent facility through renovations and building an addition to the Jewish Community Center. The school has been operating out of temporary modular units attached to the community center. When the school opened six years ago, there were about 50 students, and officials project that more than 200 will fill classrooms this year, said Howard Dembs, who is overseeing the proposed $9 million project. "Having a high school in a building that already houses a gymnasium, locker rooms, swimming pools, running tracks, galleries, a museum, and a lot more will create a lot of synergy between the center and the academy. "We think it's going to be a win-win situation," he said. The plans call for renovating the second floor of the community center to create 26 classrooms. Space will also be carved out for a media center, lounge, administrative offices, and storage and utility areas. A new two-story addition will also be built, which will provide an entrance for the academy. Part of the new entrance addition will be a new loop drive that will provide an area for buses and other vehicles dropping off students. There also will be nine new angled parking spaces. Additional work will include creating a small courtyard, 6,476 square feet of new basement space for storage, 6,412 square feet of main floor conference space and a 6,300-square-foot chapel, according to township Planning Commission reports.

NEW JERSEY: Officials of New Jersey’s Schools Construction Corporation officially delivered the hard facts long feared by participants and customers–that the state’s mandated $8.6-billion public school construction fund is tapped out and would only finance completion of 59 more projects. That leaves 300 others in limbo. SCC released the news and the list of lucky projects July 27. The agency claims factors such as status of design and land acquisition, existing health and safety risks, overcrowding, and lack of past construction progress in a district affected project selection. Several non-SCC state officials also participated. "It required much more than construction judgement," says SCC Chairman Alfred C. Koeppe. The 59 listed projects represent a $1.4-billion investment of remaining agency funds. The announcement sent shockwaves through New Jersey public school districts as officials realized that projects–designed, conceived or promised–might never be built. SCC and its schoolbuilding mission began in 2000 in response to a 1990 state supreme court decision that required New Jersey to boost school construction spending in its 31 poorest school districts. The legislature earmarked $8.6 billion for the long-term project, which also included some state funding for work in wealthier districts.

NEW YORK: New York City's experience opening 53 small high schools as part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's effort to remake public education in New York is being watched by districts nationwide that are following its lead in creating small schools as an antidote to alarming high school dropout rates. The hope is that schools with fewer than 500 students will create a more intimate learning environment, improving attendance and achievement by making it easier to identify students' needs.

More than a month after the school year ended, there are few hard statistics on the new small schools. But anecdotal evidence suggests better numbers than at the large, failing schools that small schools are replacing - admittedly not a high bar to clear, since the four-year graduation rate at those schools was 35 percent. Across the city, the small schools labored against innumerable obstacles. Chief among them were location and facilities problems, staff turnover, and students' extremely low academic skills, which hit some schools particularly hard. Nearly 70 percent of the students started the year performing below grade level, often far below, in math and reading.

New York City spent about $29 million to start the new schools in 2004-5, and will spend $31 million to open 52 more small schools this coming year. In addition, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated more than $100 million to create the schools. All the small schools must have a community or cultural organization as a partner, a requirement intended to bring in additional money and resources as well as to give the private sector a stake in the schools' success.

VIRGINIA: Amy Johnson is on a crusade against mold, and she is determined to keep pressing Stafford County officials about the organisms she believes have sickened her 7-year-old and other children and employees at Grafton Village Elementary School. Johnson is among a small group of Stafford parents who have been meeting since spring to discuss mold, which the parents believe is responsible for their children's nosebleeds, asthma and headaches -- symptoms that they said disappear during the summer, when school is not in session. County officials began conducting tests at Grafton Village in 2003 after teachers refused to work in the building because of mold growing on corkboards, a concrete ceiling, and textbooks. Officials hired professional testing and special cleaning services, but test results in June showed that mold levels are still slightly elevated. The tests also indicated the presence of low levels of pesticides banned decades ago. Although school and health officials said they believe the issue is under control at Grafton Village, the questions Johnson and other parents have raised are the subject of a national debate about mold's relationship to health problems ranging from asthma to infertility. Parents at two of Stafford's 16 elementary schools -- including one in which mold was found in the basement -- are demanding testing and more information.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : Two District public charter schools will participate this fall in a D.C. Board of Education experiment allowing such schools to lease space in underused regular public school buildings. But charter school advocates, who have been fighting for a year for the collocation plan to help relieve a space crunch, aren't celebrating. With dozens of regular schools underenrolled, the advocates had hoped to have a large selection of sites. But only 10 buildings were offered, and just five of those facilities were ultimately approved for collocation. Moreover, only two of the seven charter schools that sought the space succeeded in getting leases. In the other cases, the school board opted to give the space to a city agency or community group instead of a charter school, even though collocation rules give charter schools preference over other applicants.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : Two District public charter schools will participate this fall in a D.C. Board of Education experiment allowing such schools to lease space in underused regular public school buildings. But charter school advocates, who have been fighting for a year for the collocation plan to help relieve a space crunch, aren't celebrating. With dozens of regular schools underenrolled, the advocates had hoped to have a large selection of sites. But only 10 buildings were offered, and just five of those facilities were ultimately approved for collocation. Moreover, only two of the seven charter schools that sought the space succeeded in getting leases. In the other cases, the school board opted to give the space to a city agency or community group instead of a charter school, even though collocation rules give charter schools preference over other applicants.

FLORIDA: Hoping to save $525 million in unexpected construction costs, Broward County Superintendent Frank Till asked Gov. Jeb Bush to overturn a new state policy that will penalize districts if they don't add thousands of classrooms by next year. Last month's decision by the Education Department tells school districts they can no longer add teachers to crowded classrooms -- a practice called co-teaching -- in order to lower the student-teacher ratio.

By 2010, Florida classrooms must be capped at 18 students from pre-kindergarten to the third grade, 22 students in grades 4 through 8, and 25 per class in high school. Hundreds of new schools have opened across the state as districts try to comply, but so far they haven't been able to build fast enough to accommodate the growing student population. At about $100,000 per classroom, the new state policy will force districts to spend several billion dollars more than expected. If the policy stands, districts will have one year to make space or suffer the consequences. In the past, districts that failed class size targets were forced to spend money on buildings instead of other expenses such as teacher salaries.

WYOMING: It's the largest public project in Wyoming history: more than $1 billion in court-ordered school construction. And it's getting even pricier because of shortages of contractors, materials, and laborers. Blame supply and demand. With relatively few contractors for so many school projects, bids aren't as low as they would be with lots of contractors competing for just a few jobs. Many types of building materials worldwide have been short in supply and tall in cost. And laborers? Many who might otherwise be pounding a hammer at a school site are instead mucking around in Wyoming's booming gas fields, where they can make more money.

CALIFORNIA: The Los Angeles Board of Education unanimously agreed to ask voters to approve a multibillion-dollar bond measure on the November special election ballot. This will be the fourth time since 1997 that the nation's second-largest school system has gone to taxpayers for help in funding the district's ambitious school construction and repair project, intended to relieve severe overcrowding in classrooms. Voters have approved more than $9.5 billion in three previous bond measures, including one less than 1 1/2 years ago. When completed in about seven years, the building program is expected to have opened an estimated 185 schools that will provide enough desk space to end involuntary busing for students, return all campuses to traditional, two-semester calendars and limit enrollment at middle schools to 2,000 students.

MASSACHUSETTS: Reading fire officials will send a bill of about $11,000 to an asbestos removal company whose workers allegedly moved chemicals from a laboratory at Reading Memorial High School, triggering a full-blown hazardous materials alert last week. The reaction is an example of how increased sensitivity to the potential dangers of chemical contamination can now lead to sophisticated response and costly results for what in the past may have been handled as a simple mistake. No one was harmed by the improperly packed chemicals, but the call from the high school led to a costly hazardous materials response. The $11,000 figure does not include expenses incurred by the school system and state hazardous materials workers. Those expenses could push the bill over $20,000.

HAWAII: Hawaii public schools maintained high marks in an annual quality survey of overall school facilities and improved their showing in fire safety inspections, the Department of Education said. All but two schools earned a passing grade in the facilities inspections -- the same as last year -- while just four schools failed to measure up in the separate fire safety assessments. Those inspections are conducted each fall by teams of school stakeholders including administrators, parents and teachers. The fire inspections, carried out by county fire inspectors or area fire companies, found that 252 out of the 256 schools had no safety violations this past school year, up from 196 the previous year. Both inspection efforts excluded most of the state's 27 public charter schools. There are 285 public schools in the state.

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey's money to build and fix schools in the state's poorest communities is about to run out. The state Schools Construction Corporation approved a plan to spend the final $1.4 billion in the fund on 59 building and renovation projects. Some 350 projects that the state Education Department determined to be necessary are now in the lurch. It will be up to lawmakers to find more money to meet the state Supreme Court's landmark 1998 requirement that the state pay to build or upgrade schools in 31 poor communities. Five years ago, the Legislature approved $8.6 billion for school construction. Of that, $6 billion was earmarked for projects in the poor communities, which include big cities such as Newark and Jersey City and smaller towns such as Millville and Burlington City. Since then, the fund has been used to pay for building, renovating or expanding 30 buildings. An additional 43 are now under construction. Progress has been slow and the costs were far higher than expected on the projects, which are managed by the Schools Construction Corporation. The SCC, a state agency created in 2002 with the promise of building schools more efficiently, has not lived up to those expectations. A media report this year found that the schools projects managed by the SCC cost 45 percent more than new schools in the suburbs over the same period. A special state investigation into the SCC this year found waste and the potential for fraud. But many education officials also say the costs were higher than expected in large part because buying land and cleaning up environmental problems is so expensive in cities.

ARIZONA: Better living without chemicals. That's the goal of a movement that aims to reduce pesticide use in Arizona schools. Backers of the movement liken its spread to that of a wildfire, claiming that after two years, 33 percent of Arizona's students go to class in schools with reduced or no pesticide use. But the phenomenon is more like a slow-release chemical. Ten of the state's 200-plus school districts are part of a growing coalition dedicated to getting rid of bugs without using pesticides. Although those districts account for about one-third of Arizona students, many of the schools within them have yet to practice the no-spray philosophy. In some cases, school managers are still experimenting with alternative techniques. In others, money and manpower are a hindrance to breaking with long-standing practices that typically involve routine spraying.

TEXAS: While residential construction in the East Texas area can be quoted as low as $40-$50 per square foot, architectural firms are giving local schools estimates more in the ballpark of $110 per square foot. What accounts for the disparity between the building costs between residential homes and educational facilities? Superintendent Marvin Beaty said it's due to the amount of traffic flowing through a school building, requiring sturdy and expensive materials, and the capacity to cool large spaces. Architect Mike Leinback said the difference in costs is mostly all the little things. "For one, we have to abide by the International Building Code," he said. "So we have to design for things like fire sprinkler systems and alarm systems. We also have to take into account that an air conditioning system, for example, is much more difficult to deal with in a large building like a school than a house. Generally, you have one A/C per house, but in a school, you need control of the temperature in each classroom, in part to defray energy costs and in part to accommodate kids. So in a school building, you have a rooftop unit atop each classroom. Maintenance-wise, that makes sense, because you don't want to shut down an entire wing if one unit goes bad." "There are also certain regulations that have to be followed from the International Conservation Code," he said. "That deals with extras like bi-level lighting (having two light switches, each controlling half the lights) put in place to help defray the energy costs. Leinback said educational facilities also had to concern themselves especially with the Life Safety Code, which addresses safety features such as lighted exit signs, which he said can cost about $100 each, and emergency exit issues, like emergency lighting. "Another thing is a plumbing code, which stipulates how many fixtures you have to have based on occupant load," he said. "Suddenly, you put 600 kids on a campus, and that's a lot of toilets."

NEW YORK: The number of children poisoned by pesticides at school has jumped in recent years, according to a new study that measured the casualties of haphazard spraying in and around classrooms. The rate of American children being sickened by pesticides at school jumped 39% in four years, from 5.6 out of every million students in 1998 to 7.8 per million in 2002, researchers said. That doesn't count the untold number of children who may not know they were exposed to pesticides at school or don't suspect pesticides caused their sickness, said Dr. Walter Alarcon of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Using reports from three national toxic surveillance programs, Alarcon's team tracked 2,593 people who got sick after being exposed to insecticides, disinfectants, bug repellents and weed killers at schools. "Pesticide exposures at schools continue to produce acute illnesses among school employees and students in the United States, albeit mainly of low severity," said Alarcon, whose findings appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

ARKANSAS: Arkansas public school administrators and concerned citizens got a briefing about public school building standards that will become state law later this year. "The biggest thing in establishing the standards is the type of instructional methods which are being used (and then) making recommendations for increasing student achievement," said Dave Floyd, Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation director. "Educational programs drive the standard. (We want to) provide adequate classrooms, update science labs, art and music standards and computer labs." The main theme of the hearing was concerns about the individual districts and their responsibilities. Floyd ensured concerned school administrators that there would be plenty of time to comply with the standards and that the requests of the committee will not be unreasonable. "Each district in the state will develop a 10-year master plan (for complying to the new standards), which is due on February 1, 2006," Floyd said.

The original committee was formed after the 2002 Arkansas Supreme Court's decision stated educational facilities were inadequate and unequal and violated the states constitutional guarantees of free, adequate, efficient and equal public education for the children of Arkansas. After the decision, a task force was formed to report to the Joint Committee. The task force and Joint Committee are responsible for defining what an adequate school facility looks like for elementary, middle, and high schools and for making recommendations for providing equal schools and facilities for all districts in Arkansas.

ARKANSAS: Arkansas public school administrators and concerned citizens got a briefing about public school building standards that will become state law later this year. "The biggest thing in establishing the standards is the type of instructional methods which are being used (and then) making recommendations for increasing student achievement," said Dave Floyd, Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation director. "Educational programs drive the standard. (We want to) provide adequate classrooms, update science labs, art and music standards and computer labs." The main theme of the hearing was concerns about the individual districts and their responsibilities. Floyd ensured concerned school administrators that there would be plenty of time to comply with the standards and that the requests of the committee will not be unreasonable. "Each district in the state will develop a 10-year master plan (for complying to the new standards), which is due on February 1, 2006," Floyd said.

The original committee was formed after the 2002 Arkansas Supreme Court's decision stated educational facilities were inadequate and unequal and violated the states constitutional guarantees of free, adequate, efficient and equal public education for the children of Arkansas. After the decision, a task force was formed to report to the Joint Committee. The task force and Joint Committee are responsible for defining what an adequate school facility looks like for elementary, middle, and high schools and for making recommendations for providing equal schools and facilities for all districts in Arkansas.

NATIONAL : American children may be exposed to pesticides at school more often than their parents realize, a new study suggests. Researchers reporting in the July 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association say they found 2,593 acute pesticide-related illnesses associated with exposure in schools occurring between 1998 and 2002. Just last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that roughly 90 percent of Americans carry pesticides in their bodies, the health risks of which are largely unknown. In this latest study, both students and school employees were affected, and school pesticide use wasn't always to blame. In about 30 percent of the cases, pesticide drift from adjacent farmland was the source of the exposure. To gather the data for this study, the researchers used three national pesticide surveillance systems: the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks (SENSOR), the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) and the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS).

CALIFORNIA: A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ruled that the Los Angeles Unified School District can proceed with its plans to demolish most of the historic Ambassador Hotel and build a $318-million campus. The Los Angeles Conservancy and a coalition of local organizations had filed suit after the school board voted in October to build a facility for 4,200 kindergarten through high school students on the 24-acre property where movie stars, politicians and royalty once mingled and where Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. The suit contended that the district had failed to comply with requirements of state environmental quality laws.

ILLINOIS: Chicago Public Schools plans to move a small military academy from its campus to a shuttered elementary school--a decision that has another small school there questioning the district's commitment to remaking troubled schools. District officials say the move will give Phoenix Military Academy its own building while increasing enrollment to 600 students each at the three small high schools that remain at the former Orr High School campus. The fact that student enrollment is going to increase has exacerbated an already tense situation at the campus' Mose Vines Preparatory Academy. Some parents and teachers are in a standoff with the principal over staff turnover, discipline, class scheduling and what they see as a lack of community collaboration. By design, small schools are supposed to offer an alternative to large and impersonal neighborhood schools, where violence, dropout rates, truancy and academic failure remain intractable problems. Small schools also offer choice and specialized curriculum in intimate settings, where teachers and parents are active leaders in a school's direction. Enrollment typically is capped at 500 students.

VIRGINIA: For 13 consecutive years, Loudoun County residents have agreed each November to let the county take on millions of dollars in debt to build and renovate schools. But parent Paige Bagis is worried that the 14th year may not be the charm. In an effort to give voters more say, the Board of Supervisors decided to ask residents separately about each of eight planned school projects scattered across the county. In years past, voters faced only two questions on their local bond referendum, one for all school projects and one for other county projects such as community centers and fire stations. Bagis said she fears the new method could raise the odds that voters will vote no or choose not to vote on needed projects, especially those far from their neighborhoods.

Voters will also be asked about building two other elementary schools, a middle school and a high school and renovating three older schools. Supervisor Lori L. Waters said during the board's discussion that by letting residents vote on projects separately, they will have a better opportunity to have their voices heard. She suggested that if some projects do not pass, residents might be sending a message to the School Board.

FLORIDA: Developers who want to build new housing in Martin County will be asked to contribute land or money to the School District for construction of new schools. "We are facing a lot of need for new schools," said J. Lisle Bozeman, a school facilities planner. "Land is very difficult to get and very expensive in this county now, and school construction costs are going up tremendously." Consequently, the School District has started soliciting "contributions of mutual benefit" from all housing developers, Bozeman said. The developers benefit because good schools are a major selling point for new subdivisions. The program is voluntary, but developers who do not agree to contribute might have a harder time obtaining the required "letter of no objection" from the School District, Bozeman said. The amount of the contribution requested is linked to the number of homes in each new development. A similar program is under way in St. Lucie County, Bozeman said. And a new state law requires that schools be in place to serve new housing.

OHIO: Dayton Public Schools officials are looking for a name for the new high school scheduled to open in 2008. And, like most school districts, they're always looking for more money. Throughout the country, school systems facing money shortages are considering taking the road paved by athletic facilities and entertainment venues: They are naming their schools for any company that will show them the money. Some are negotiating with businesses willing to pay at least 51 percent of the school's construction costs. In New Jersey, a school system is auctioning off naming rights to its schools on eBay. A Texas school district is offering ad space on its middle school roof. In Michigan, two school playgrounds were named after home builders in exchange for financial consideration.

So far, Dayton has been content to take the more traditional route of naming the new school after a famous person. Among the names mentioned have been former Ohio Gov. James M. Cox, Olympic star Edwin Moses, and actor Martin Sheen. Currently, sentiment is leaning toward naming the school for the late Supreme Court justice and civil rights leader Thurgood Marshall.

WASHINGTON: A preliminary report commissioned after Arbor Heights Elementary students complained of mysterious headaches, colds, and other illnesses found mold in carpets, on wallboard, and under portable classrooms at the school. A recent investigation conducted by an independent air-quality consultant discovered mold in at least three rooms and a "moldy odor" in the library, psychologist's office, and a few rooms. Although mold and water damage was found in the school, the interim report indicates that the problem is not as bad as parents feared. Seattle Public Schools already has begun repairs to address some of the problems raised in the report and has authorized more money to pay for a final study, a spokesman said.

NEVADA: A $14.5 million building some Clark County School District critics called lavish and a waste of money could end up turning a profit for the district. Within weeks of closing a deal to buy the building, the district received offers of $15 million and $18 million to sell. The Clark County School Board will consider how best to use the building, bought this spring, including the possibility of selling it and taking the profit. "There was a lot of criticism when we bought the building, but it's looking like we got a good deal," Rulffes said. "I don't know that they (the School Board members) even want to sell but it's nice to know there's real interest out there." Some School District observers have questioned whether the building, which includes a top-floor executive suite outfitted with leopard-print carpeting and textured wallpaper, was too lavish for a public agency. But most School Board members and district staff have defended the purchase, saying it would be impossible to build a similarly sized structure or rent equivalent office space for anywhere near the purchase price.

PENNSYLVANIA: The new two-story, 270,000-square-foot stone-and-brick high school building in Moon will employ green design principles, a practice becoming more standard in new construction. Green buildings incorporate energy-saving features and often recycled and nontoxic materials. Thus, they are healthier for their inhabitants and the environment. They also help preserve another type of green, money, as they're designed for maximum long-term flexibility in their use and reuse, thereby promoting a longer life for the building.

Zelienople-based Foreman Architects and Engineers, who specialize in school construction, have listed four pages worth of green design aspects in the project. Such elements range from using locally produced brick to recycled material for ceiling tile to using a gym floor supplier that employs replanting programs to replace the lumber stock it harvests. Each room will have a sensor that will turn out the lights automatically if no one is inside. Another sensor in each room will turn off the outside air flow to unoccupied rooms, cutting back on heating and cooling costs. Carbon dioxide monitoring will be used to determine and maintain air ventilation rates in the building. More windows and skylights offer daylight, reducing the level of energy needed for lighting, increasing occupant productivity and reducing absenteeism.

NEW YORK: As terrorist attacks in London provide a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities of an open society, New York State is preparing to take the safety of its public schools to another level, drawing up guidelines that could make “chem-bio” decontamination exercises as routine as fire drills for the state's public school students. Specialists who helped New York area school children cope with grief and fear after 9/11 are now grappling with ways of exposing children and teachers to new procedures to deal with chemical and biological attacks. The challenge, they say, is to create a system to respond to an attack without causing undue trauma or backlash from parents, teachers, or local school districts. The effort is to move the state’s public school classrooms beyond the safety concerns that grew out of classroom violence and Columbine-style incidents of the 1990s, and past the crisis counseling that followed the 9/11 attacks, and into a full-fledged environment of preparation for sophisticated terrorist attacks.

Current training focuses on what first responders call "shelter-in-place" plans – blueprints meant to move children out of classrooms and into secure areas of the school in case some heavily armed person or group enters the building. That’s just fine for a Columbine situation, but with bio or chem weapons, there is the opposite problem – not keeping them safely in the school, but getting them out of a decontaminated building.

NEW YORK: As terrorist attacks in London provide a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities of an open society, New York State is preparing to take the safety of its public schools to another level, drawing up guidelines that could make “chem-bio” decontamination exercises as routine as fire drills for the state's public school students. Specialists who helped New York area school children cope with grief and fear after 9/11 are now grappling with ways of exposing children and teachers to new procedures to deal with chemical and biological attacks. The challenge, they say, is to create a system to respond to an attack without causing undue trauma or backlash from parents, teachers, or local school districts. The effort is to move the state’s public school classrooms beyond the safety concerns that grew out of classroom violence and Columbine-style incidents of the 1990s, and past the crisis counseling that followed the 9/11 attacks, and into a full-fledged environment of preparation for sophisticated terrorist attacks.

Current training focuses on what first responders call "shelter-in-place" plans – blueprints meant to move children out of classrooms and into secure areas of the school in case some heavily armed person or group enters the building. That’s just fine for a Columbine situation, but with bio or chem weapons, there is the opposite problem – not keeping them safely in the school, but getting them out of a decontaminated building.

INTERNATIONAL: Children need safe learning environments, yet schools, which often serve also as emergency shelters, have collapsed in even moderate earthquakes. OECD countries have agreed that governments in earthquake-prone countries should take steps to prevent such occurrences, including improved controls on school design. An "OECD Recommendation Concerning Guidelines on Earthquake Safety in Schools", approved by the OECD’s governing council, sets out principles and elements for possible action programmes. Under a new OECD peer review process, governments will assist each other in formulating and implementing policies for improved earthquake safety in schools. The experts agreed that improvements in the design and construction of schools can often be made quickly and at reasonable cost that would significantly lower the seismic risk to schools and help prevent further injury and death.

WASHINGTON: Recent tests show that about 60 percent of new drinking fountains in Seattle's public schools -- installed to reduce the levels of contaminants in water -- have themselves failed to meet the district's standard for lead contamination, raising the possibility that more extensive repairs may be needed. The district replaced 250 school drinking fountains over the past few months, after systemwide water tests last year found that about one-quarter of fountains overall had elevated levels of lead. Ron English, a school district attorney overseeing the testing and repairs, said the new fountains were retested and more than half had lead levels exceeding the district's limit of 10 parts per billion, twice as stringent as the 20 ppb "action level" set by the Environmental Protection Agency. About 30 percent of the new fountains exceeded even the more lenient EPA standard.

Ed Schwartz, a member of an advisory committee overseeing the testing and repairs, is concerned about whether the measures being taken are adequate. "The pipes are old and corroding, even if they don't show high in lead," he said. Richard Maas, co-director of the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina-Asheville and a national water expert, said it's not surprising that the new fountains would still show elevated lead levels, since the contamination is more likely coming from lead solder and leaded brass in the main pipes. Obtaining a clear picture of the level of contamination would require testing all water outlets again, not just those that were fixed, he said, since results typically fluctuate by as much as 25 percent.

MARYLAND: Maryland public schools are entering a mini-building boom, fueled by nearly $250 million in state construction funds announced this month. That sum is about double the amount approved a year ago, said state officials, and the highest in five years. The state's two largest school systems -- Montgomery and Prince George's counties -- will receive the largest amounts under the plan approved by the General Assembly and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Each of the other 22 systems also will get a share. "Building new schools and modernizing existing ones is a critical component to giving our students a first-class education," Ehrlich said in a statement.

School construction is heavily vetted in Maryland. Local officials submit proposals each fall to the Interagency Committee on School Construction, which is led by the state School Superintendent. Other panelists are the state general services secretary and state planning secretary. A new state law this year added to the panel members appointed by the state Senate president and state House speaker. The committee screens the proposals and sends the Board of Public Works -- which is composed of the governor, state comptroller and state treasurer -- a list for approval. Then state lawmakers appropriate funding. After a final review by the construction committee, the executive branch distributes the money.

OHIO: Spurred on by student input and future savings, more colleges are keeping the environment in mind when they build new facilities, experts say. Each residential house in a new complex at Case Western Reserve University has a kiosk that will display statistics on the building's energy use. Oberlin College has a wireless monitoring system in four residence halls and plans to expand the system. Cleveland State officials said the school will save about $300,000 in energy costs with a geothermal heating and cooling system in the new $14 million administrative center and graduate studies buildings, which are expected to be completed next year.

The U.S. Green Buildings Council is receiving more LEED certification applications from colleges, spokeswoman Taryn Holowka said. The council has certified 231 buildings nationwide since it began the voluntary process five years ago and another 1,900 are seeking certification, she said.

ARIZONA: Poor school districts statewide are struggling with leaky roofs, mildewed showers, and fire-code violations seven years after the state drew up a plan to ensure that they would receive equal funding for new buildings and the money to maintain them. The Students FIRST legislation in 1998 created a building-renewal fund to maintain buildings at minimum standards. Since 1999, the state has spent $2.4 billion building new schools and fixing up old ones. But school districts have received only a fraction of the building-renewal dollars they are required to receive. The Legislature cast aside a court-ordered funding formula laid out in the state Constitution and shorted school districts hundreds of millions of dollars they are due.

District officials and lawmakers agree on the reason for the lack of money: Legislators have raided the Students FIRST building-renewal fund, used for maintenance, to balance the budget and concentrated their efforts on such high-profile programs as all-day kindergarten or English-learning. This leaves districts with having to take money from other areas, such as salaries, to make up for not getting repair funds.

MAINE: One large school is more economical to build than several smaller ones for the same number of students, according to a report presented to the Maine Board of Education. As enrollment decreases, the square-footage cost per student increases, according to the analysis which is the first of its kind in recent history for Maine. "With limited state resources available for capital construction, encouraging consolidation in order to build larger schools is in the best interest of the state's expenditure for capital construction projects," the report states. It confirms what state construction experts have known intuitively for a long time: Schools with smaller enrollment require more square feet per student because core areas such as gymnasiums, hallways, libraries and bathrooms don't decrease at the same proportional rate as the number of students. Written by two architects from firms in Portland and Auburn and two former superintendents who are consultants for the Maine Department of Education, the report includes data from recently built school projects in the state as well as national information. "We have known that it's more economical to build bigger schools, but this study clearly documents that because it's based on factual data," said Scott Brown, director of school facilities programs for the Maine Department of Education.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : A continuing battle between a well-established private preschool and its neighbors is similar to what has happened in many communities in Northwest Washington as wealthier and younger families have moved in and increased demand for school services. Over the last five years, at least a dozen private schools in the District have sought either to expand their facilities or to increase their enrollment. One wants to add a library and classroom building and another wants to enlarge its athletic fields. Yet some of these elite schools have run up against the same kind of "not in my back yard" opposition that community groups often direct at dance halls. Neighbors complain about traffic, noise, unenforced parking regulations, and broken agreements.

NEW JERSEY: The Camden Board of Education demanded a place at the table in discussions of city redevelopment plans and voiced outrage with the state's use of school-construction funds for the district. More than one third of the $437 million allocation the state approved for school construction in Camden has been spent, although ground has been broken for just one building, a district official said, citing data from the state Schools Construction Corp. The SCC has spent nearly $184 million in Camden, including $10 million for land, $70 million for a new Catto School, $29 million for health and safety improvements and $21 million for design fees to architects, according to the SCC data. The only new building now under way is the district's Early Childhood Development Center.

Board President Philip Freeman said the district deserves to get a more detailed accounting from the SCC, where the state inspector general earlier this year found mismanagement and overspending at the agency entrusted with expending $8.6 billion for new schools. Dwaine Williams, the city's school construction coordinator, said a portion of Camden's share of the money went into land acquisition to replace green space the district acquired for Catto School. Building costs have risen dramatically since the district put together its capital plan, Williams said. The board also complained that the city's Community Redevelopment Agency has excluded it from choosing school sites and other decisions that affect district operations and its students.

MARYLAND: Maryland public schools are entering a mini-building boom, fueled by nearly $250 million in state construction funds announced last week. That sum is about double the amount approved a year ago, said state officials, and the highest in five years. The state's two largest school systems -- Montgomery and Prince George's counties -- will receive the largest amounts under the plan approved by the General Assembly and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Each of the other 22 systems also will get a share. "Building new schools and modernizing existing ones is a critical component to giving our students a first-class education," Ehrlich said in a statement.

School construction is heavily vetted in Maryland. Local officials submit proposals each fall to the Interagency Committee on School Construction, which is led by state School Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick. Other panelists are the state general services secretary and state planning secretary. A new state law this year added to the panel members appointed by the state Senate president and state House speaker. The committee screens the proposals and sends the Board of Public Works -- which is composed of the governor, state comptroller and state treasurer -- a list for approval. Then state lawmakers appropriate funding. After a final review by the construction committee, the executive branch distributes the money.

FLORIDA: Polk County's aspiring homeowners would have to shell out more than five times the current school impact fee if county commissioners adopt a consultant's recommendation. Fees for apartments and mobile homes would also rise dramatically. The consultant's study ordered by commissioners suggested upping the impact fee on new houses from the current $1,607 for a single-family home to $8,767, an increase of $7,160 -- or 446 percent. School Board member Frank O'Reilly urged county commissioners to adopt the fees and do it soon so Polk can begin catching up on new school construction forced by growth. "Everybody in this county, everybody in this state says growth has to pay for itself," O'Reilly said. "I think it's time." But county commissioners weren't ready to commit to the full increases that were recommended.

FLORIDA: Polk County's aspiring homeowners would have to shell out more than five times the current school impact fee if county commissioners adopt a consultant's recommendation. Fees for apartments and mobile homes would also rise dramatically. The consultant's study ordered by commissioners suggested upping the impact fee on new houses from the current $1,607 for a single-family home to $8,767, an increase of $7,160 -- or 446 percent. School Board member Frank O'Reilly urged county commissioners to adopt the fees and do it soon so Polk can begin catching up on new school construction forced by growth. "Everybody in this county, everybody in this state says growth has to pay for itself," O'Reilly said. "I think it's time." But county commissioners weren't ready to commit to the full increases that were recommended.

CALIFORNIA: Amid mounting concerns over state education funding, the Los Angeles Board of Education is considering asking voters to approve a multibillion-dollar bond, as well as a property tax, on the November special election ballot. Some board members, among other are questioning the idea of again turning to taxpayers less than a year and a half after they approved a school bond in March 2004. If the board moves to place the $3.8-billion bond measure on the ballot, it would be the fourth time since 1997 that the nation's second-largest school system has looked to taxpayers to help fund its ambitious building and repair project aimed at ending severe classroom overcrowding. Voters have approved more than $9.5 billion in three previous school bond measures. The tax initiative, proposed by board member David Tokofsky, calls for a flat $150 charge on all parcels of land — regardless of size or use — within school district boundaries. Money raised from the tax would be spent on reducing class sizes, improving instruction for poor-performing students, and increasing campus security, among other things. Schools Supt. Roy Romer is pushing strongly for the bond, saying it is the final infusion of cash needed to keep the massive construction project on track to reach its goal of ending involuntary busing for thousands of students and returning year-round schools to traditional two-semester calendars. Nearly a third of the bond money — $1.4 billion — would be used to build the last round of new schools, and a similar amount would be spent on repairing existing schools. The remaining money would be spread among several projects, including improvements to the district's computer systems and funding for charter schools.

VIRGINIA: Gone are the days of naming a school for Floyd E. Kellam , Bettie F. Williams or Frank W. Cox . School officials these days worry about maintaining neighborhood identity, pleasing alumni groups, or the potential controversy in naming a school after an individual. As a result, some new school names might be, well, a little short on sparkle.

When a committee of Beach administrators recently recommended the “Center for Academic Achievement” for a new alternative education building, it was met with a resounding thud. "It didn’t strike a bell," said Sandra Smith-Jones , the vice chairwoman of the Virginia Beach School Board. She described the name as "bland" and "just plain." Administrators are reconsidering the name. But don’t expect a drastic deviation from the formula. Most cities prohibit naming schools, or even parts of schools such as gyms or athletic fields, after individuals. School leaders fear that even after someone dies, a previously unearthed skeleton in the closet may haunt a school or will upset residents who think someone else is more deserving.

NORTH CAROLINA: Nearly four years after voters approved $150 million in school bonds, school officials say they expect to still finish in 2006, only a few months behind schedule. Voters approved bonds in November 2001 for construction of four new schools and renovations to 19 others. Part of the money was set aside for buying computer equipment and land and upgrading school utilities. School officials decided which projects to do first by looking at what was needed the most. They also began construction as soon as they could because it has the longest lead times. Construction got started when prices were stable, but a subsequent increase in construction costs put the start time for some projects behind by more than a year. Costs increased so much that school officials recently had to ask county commissioners to give them $12 million to help finish the projects they promised voters they would complete with the money from the 2001 bonds.

CALIFORNIA: The El Monte City School District is well on the way to cutting utility bills by 90 percent at its new central kitchen. "We'll be testing the three Capstone turbines over the next three weeks," said Barney Path, president of PathEnergy and the energy consultant for the district. Path explained that the three natural gas turbines will each generate 60 kilowatts of electricity to power the huge kitchen facility. "In addition, the excess heat from the generators will be used to run absorption coolers to operate the huge freezers in the building," Path said. The co-generation should save the district considerable expense at the central kitchen, which will prepare 12,000 lunches and 5,000 breakfasts every day. Under construction for the past two years, the $5 million facility will eventually feed 18 schools and five Head Start programs.

ARIZONA: About 350 students will ditch books for laptops this fall as the Southeast Side district opens the state's first all-wireless, all-laptop public high school. Students still will go to class and teachers still will create lesson plans, but textbooks are making way for electronic and online articles. Next door, in the 60,000-student Tucson Unified School District, workers are installing 300 Smart Boards in high-school math and English classrooms before school starts this fall. The high-tech white boards integrate multimedia presentations and Internet capabilities, replacing the overhead projector and chalkboard. Students and teachers can write on the board just like a whiteboard, and the handwriting translates to text. Both moves are steps in the right direction, experts say, but not nearly close to where schools should be in 2005.

COLORADO: Stories of leaky roofs, broken fire alarm systems, wells contaminated by inadequate sewer systems, red-tagged heating systems, asbestos contamination, floors collapsing from dry rot and all manner of neglect fill a 264-page report by the Colorado Department of Education for the committee allocating the grant money from the state's Capital Construction Grant Program. This year, the legislature appropriated $5 million for the capital construction fund, a small amount in the face of an estimated $5.9 billion to $10 billion in unmet needs.

The problem stems from the method used for financing school construction. Districts must approve general obligation bonds to be repaid through property taxes, but state statute limits the amount that can be borrowed to a maximum of 20 percent of the property valuation in the district. Forty percent of the school districts in the state are so poor that if they approved bond issues for every penny available to them, it would not provide enough money to build a single school.

NEVADA: With local and federal fire investigators searching for the cause of a blaze at Roy Martin Middle School, Clark County School District officials are evaluating 65 other campuses that are without complete fire sprinkler systems. Of Clark County's 301 campuses, 14 lack any type of sprinklers and 51 have partial systems, said Paul Gerner, associate superintendent of facilities for the district. All new buildings that have been added to the district since 1984 have sprinkler systems, Gerner said. State statute requires fire protection in public buildings. The requirement for sprinklers varies by the age of the building, its square footage, number of stories, and whether other safety measures have been taken.

COLORADO: A building so unstable that Holly School District officials are considering using cables to hold it together; a new heating and ventilation system to protect students from fumes and extreme temperatures in an Ellicott School District building; and new plumbing in the Sanford School District, where cafeteria walls have absorbed so much water they are crumbling. These are among the 27 projects for schools that a state Capital Construction Grant Program committee is recommending the state fund out of a settlement approved by the state legislature five years ago. The state received applications for 131 projects, totaling about $41 million. But the legislature approved only $5 million in spending for the year. That amount has been a source of frustration for committee members and school advocates around the state. The legislature agreed to fund $190 million over 11 years. And this year, $20 million was supposed to be made available. But with the recession, funding has been limited. The funds were the result of a lawsuit filed against Colorado in 1998 by parent John Giardino, claiming state funding for school construction was inadequate. Meanwhile, the November ballot includes a referendum that, if passed, would fund the balance in the Giardino suit.

CONNECTICUT: Though problems controlling the new building's temperature irked some teachers and parents at Burr Elementary School this past year, the United Illuminating Co. and the Connecticut Building Congress have honored the school for its energy efficient design, saying that taxpayers will reap long-term benefits from the facility. Burr was one of three K-12 schools in the state that earned awards. New Haven's John S. Martinez Elementary School took first place, while Burr School and Truman Elementary School in New Haven were each given an award for merit. The awards focused on conservation measures such as highly efficient heating and cooling systems, energy efficient lighting, premium efficiency motors, and an energy efficient building envelope.

ENGLAND: The chaos caused by the terrorist bombings in the heart of London on July 7 prompted some schools in the area to close for the rest of the week, while others chose to stay open in a bid to avoid further disruption. One primary school, located about 100 yards from the Ald Gate East railway station where the first bomb exploded while school was in session, was evacuated. The 250 students there walked to other primary schools in the area under the supervision of police and their teachers. The children’s parents were notified that they had been transferred to the other schools. "By closing schools, we’d have to call parents out [of work]," Ian Comfort, the chief education officer for the City of London school district, said, noting that more than 300,000 adults enter central London each day to work. "What we’d be doing [by releasing students] is driving up the level of chaos. By keeping students in the building, they are safer."

Mr. Comfort pointed out that London has experience dealing with terrorist activity because of the Irish Republican Army bombings of the 1980s. Since then, school emergency plans have always accounted for the possibility that schools could be terrorist targets. Most schools in London have gates surrounding their buildings, and closed-circuit television cameras on the gates monitor people coming and going, Mr. Comfort said. Some schools have metal detectors and security officers on campus, but he pointed out that those measures are primarily put in place to deal with student violence, not potential terrorist attacks.

ENGLAND: The chaos caused by the terrorist bombings in the heart of London on July 7 prompted some schools in the area to close for the rest of the week, while others chose to stay open in a bid to avoid further disruption. One primary school, located about 100 yards from the Ald Gate East railway station where the first bomb exploded while school was in session, was evacuated. The 250 students there walked to other primary schools in the area under the supervision of police and their teachers. The children’s parents were notified that they had been transferred to the other schools. "By closing schools, we’d have to call parents out [of work]," Ian Comfort, the chief education officer for the City of London school district, said, noting that more than 300,000 adults enter central London each day to work. "What we’d be doing [by releasing students] is driving up the level of chaos. By keeping students in the building, they are safer."

Mr. Comfort pointed out that London has experience dealing with terrorist activity because of the Irish Republican Army bombings of the 1980s. Since then, school emergency plans have always accounted for the possibility that schools could be terrorist targets. Most schools in London have gates surrounding their buildings, and closed-circuit television cameras on the gates monitor people coming and going, Mr. Comfort said. Some schools have metal detectors and security officers on campus, but he pointed out that those measures are primarily put in place to deal with student violence, not potential terrorist attacks.

VIRGINIA: The Loudoun County school system is preparing to open a $26 million, five-story, brick and glass administrative headquarters in Ashburn -- a symbol, school officials say, of the county's suburban transformation and commitment to government services. But its multimillion-dollar price tag also has drawn criticism from taxpayers concerned that the school system is paying too much for offices when it is building schools and hiring hundreds of teachers to accommodate growth. The new building will replace the school system's Leesburg headquarters, located in a converted school built in 1925. School administrators have complained for years about crowding in the building, which is hemmed in by narrow roads and a historic cemetery.

Loudoun is not the only school system in the Washington region looking for new space for its administrative staff. In December, Fairfax County officials will move into a recently purchased 210,000-square-foot office building, with enough land to build another similarly sized building next door. In Montgomery County, a school official said the district is looking for sites that could replace its main offices in a former Rockville high school.

VIRGINIA: The Fairfax County School Board is poised to consider a multi-million dollar plan that would transfer 17 vacant school sites and administrative centers to the Board of Supervisors — clearing the way for the sites to be preserved as parks, or converted into public facilities and affordable housing, or sold off to real estate developers. In return, the school system hopes the Board of Supervisors will increase its annual $130 million spending limit on school construction and renovations. "If we can raise our spending limit, we'd be able to increase the pace of new school construction and renovate our existing schools faster," said Dean Tistadt, assistant superintendent for facilities and transportation.

Originally, the school system planned to sell off its surplus properties to developers. Fairfax County school officials knew that many of their vacant school sites were too small to accommodate modern school facilities. At least ten administrative centers throughout the county were set to be consolidated into the school system's new $160 million headquarters. Calling the plan "Classrooms for Kids," the school officials would have dedicated the profits from the surplus property sales toward building new schools and renovations. But a community backlash near a few the surplus properties convinced the school board to scrap Classrooms for Kids and find another way. "We realized we didn't want to be in the real estate business," said a school board member.

ALABAMA: Residents and elected officials want specific plans before stepping forward to support an estimated $276 million plan for renovations and construction of Montgomery County, Alabama, school facilities. Parent Gwendolyn Sankey said she is not against directing hundreds of millions in tax money to improve facilities, but she does not want to see school officials throw the money away. "It's important our kids are in an environment that is safe and the teachers are in an environment that they can teach," she said. "Throwing money at the problem is not going to solve it unless they do the right thing." Sankey and elected officials want specifics about a facilities study released to the public. The study was conducted by William DeJong and contains several options for each building in the district. DeJong suggested building some new schools, closing some, and performing major renovations on others. The study has options for local officials and residents to decide choose from. The next step will be community forums. School board members said information from the forums will be used to develop a direction for the district's building plan.

CALIFORNIA: San Dieguito High School Academy, a campus with a patchwork of buildings of various colors, styles, surfaces and sizes, may get its most unusual addition yet. The district invited hundreds of architects to enter a competition for designing a new theater. A 10-member jury of students, community members, professional architects, and Principal Barbara Gauthier will pick the top design from among five finalists. Such competitions are common in the private sector and some government agencies, but they're rare for public schools. The school district is paying $25,000 for a competition adviser to coordinate the contest and $10,000 for each finalist to create a design. The adviser, San Francisco-based Bill Liskamm, is an architect and environmental planner who has overseen sixty such competitions, but this is his first public school project.

Steve Ma, director of business services for the San Dieguito Union High School District, said this competition is a smart investment. "We're spending a lot of money up front so we can have it done successfully later," said Ma. "We're looking for some unusual architectural designs." The complex will cost about $8 million. The district has half the money, and school officials hope to raise the additional $4 million through grants, corporate sponsors and community donations. Fundraising events will be organized soon. The community can view the finalists' designs at the beginning of the school year, and the public can critique the plans at a forum. The jury will then view presentations from each firm and rank the projects.

CALIFORNIA: Santee High School in tough South Los Angeles will become the first completely new high school built in 35 years in the city. It's part of the biggest ongoing school construction project in the United States and stands as a symbol of revival for the nation's second-largest district. Yet Santee, built upon the contaminated site of an old dairy, also symbolizes the challenges the Los Angeles Unified School District faces in building environmentally safe schools in an area where contamination and earthquake faults cut through the earth. Last month, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control said the school's developer used tainted rubble as backfill beneath the school. The material contained varying levels of PCBs, lead and other potentially toxic chemicals. Tests later determined the rubble posed no threat, but the situation has stirred bitter memories of past environmental fiascos. The most notorious occurred at Belmont High School five years ago, when the district spent $270 million on what became the nation's most expensive public school campus. Its doors, however, remain closed because it was built atop explosive pockets of methane gas and an earthquake fault just west of downtown.

In the Los Angeles district, where enrollment has reached 746,000, families in heavily minority communities have pushed for decades for new classrooms to help eliminate year-round classes and ease violence attributed to overcrowding. But after construction began in the mid-1990s, several highly touted projects became environmental albatrosses. School officials noted Santee is just one of more than 160 new campuses in the works as part of a $14.6 billion school construction and renovation project funded through bonds. Superintendent Roy Romer acknowledged that each of the sites has the potential to be a toxic land mine but added the district has opened 17 new schools in less than five years and will complete nearly 40 more by year's end. All have been cleared by state environmental officials.

FLORIDA: New safety features on roads and sidewalks leading to the new Atlantic Community High School should be ready for students when classes start in August, city and school district officials say. After reviewing studies by state and county traffic engineers, the city unveiled a multipronged plan aimed at protecting students who will walk or ride bicycles to the high school. There will be new traffic signals, crosswalks, and -- a rarity for intersections near high schools -- crossing guards. The city is sharing the safety program's cost with the county, state, and school district. Officials expect motorists and pedestrians should have no trouble adjusting to the new procedures.

ARIZONA: Parking lots will go unpaved. Athletic fields will be dark at night. Shade will be sparse. An all-weather track will be missing. When Dysart Unified School District's two new elementary schools and third high school open in Phoenix's West Valley, students will get less than they were promised due to skyrocketing construction costs fueled by the Valley's building fever. Costs for steel and cement have gone up more than 50 percent in recent years, and districts across the Valley are racing to complete projects before the costs rise even more.

The increases are forcing officials to make tough choices: Decide which projects need to be done now and which can wait for more money. In turn, the loss of planned amenities worries parents. Some districts are resorting to the ballot box or other ways to confront the cost increases. Kyrene Elementary School District in Tempe will ask voters to approve a bond issue and a budget override. Mesa is delaying renovations. And the Cave Creek School District is building a middle school early, in anticipation of continued increases in costs.

NATIONAL : Even as tuition skyrockets at many U.S. universities, enrollment is keeping pace, creating larger student bodies that are less inclined to accept cramped and aging dormitories. To accommodate and lure students with top-quality housing stock built faster and more economically, schools are embracing private developers as partners. Public universities facing cuts in state funding already are on the bandwagon, and private schools also are seeing more benefit in the privatization approach.

NEW YORK: In what state health officials call the first cleanup of its kind in the state, a school district in Westchester County is planning to remove soil next to an elementary school in Yorktown Heights because the soil is contaminated by PCB's from caulking in the school's windows. Dr. Daniel Lefkowitz requested tests on scraps of caulk left after maintenance at French Hill Elementary School, where his son, Evan, is a student. The tests found PCB's at 350 times above the federal limit. The cleanup at French Hill Elementary School, which will cost the district about $100,000, was prompted by a parent who had scraps of the caulking tested and found PCB's at 350 times above the federal limit. Soil around the school also showed evidence of PCB contamination, though at lower levels. PCB's, or polychlorinated biphenyls, which were banned in 1977, have been linked to developmental problems in children. School officials have fenced off parts of the school outside near many of its windows and are seeking bids from contractors to clean up the contaminated soil. They hope the work can be completed by the time the children return in September. A spokesman for the State Department of Health said the cleanup was the first the agency was aware of involving PCB contamination from caulk.

COLORADO: When Durango school officials sent an $84.5 million bond measure to voters in 2002, they said they needed the money to fund capital projects intended to ease overcrowding, repair and modernize classrooms and prepare for growth. That growth has not happened: The district had 107 fewer students last year than it had in 2002, and it expects another dip in the coming school year. This contrasts sharply with predictions made in 2002 of 1 percent annual growth through 2012. The district predicted that by 2005, 5,138 students would occupy school desks in 9-R. However, the district now projects enrollment of 4,493 full-time students for the coming school year. The figure takes into account that some pupils, such as those attending kindergarten, are not full-time. Durango voters passed the bond measure with 62 percent approval. It allowed the district to expand space dramatically, adding 45 percent more square feet to district buildings, spokeswoman Deborah Uroda said. Riverview Elementary School moved into a new building. "Our schools were outmoded and overcrowded," Uroda said. "And as long as we were going to do the amount of work we were going to do to keep our schools safe and operating, it was financially prudent to plan for future growth, even knowing what we know today." Oil and gas companies pay 60 percent of local property taxes, Uroda said, and making the improvements while the industry remains a strong presence saved taxpayers money.

COLORADO: When Durango school officials sent an $84.5 million bond measure to voters in 2002, they said they needed the money to fund capital projects intended to ease overcrowding, repair and modernize classrooms and prepare for growth. That growth has not happened: The district had 107 fewer students last year than it had in 2002, and it expects another dip in the coming school year. This contrasts sharply with predictions made in 2002 of 1 percent annual growth through 2012. The district predicted that by 2005, 5,138 students would occupy school desks in 9-R. However, the district now projects enrollment of 4,493 full-time students for the coming school year. The figure takes into account that some pupils, such as those attending kindergarten, are not full-time. Durango voters passed the bond measure with 62 percent approval. It allowed the district to expand space dramatically, adding 45 percent more square feet to district buildings, spokeswoman Deborah Uroda said. Riverview Elementary School moved into a new building. "Our schools were outmoded and overcrowded," Uroda said. "And as long as we were going to do the amount of work we were going to do to keep our schools safe and operating, it was financially prudent to plan for future growth, even knowing what we know today." Oil and gas companies pay 60 percent of local property taxes, Uroda said, and making the improvements while the industry remains a strong presence saved taxpayers money.

TEXAS: Anticipating an increase in students and decrease in their ages, school resource officers and Richardson School District administrators have beefed up safety plans. Security systems, including cameras, went online at all Richardson high schools last year. The district's old Crime Stoppers program was revived and recharged. A second officer was assigned to the largest of the schools. Richardson School District has hired its first safety coordinator, who will begin work this month. Some measures have already paid off. Video recorded by the cameras has helped identify offenders, including three accused of setting off fire alarms, a felony.

FLORIDA: Spurred by the kidnapping, rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, Florida is requiring public schools to fingerprint construction workers, salespeople, architects, and perhaps tens of thousands of school volunteers. The cost could run well into the millions. In Palm Beach County, thousands of contract workers may need the new screening, at $82 each. Fingerprinting volunteers alone could cost nearly $2 million. The St. Lucie and Martin school districts, with 4,000 volunteers each, could pay more than $250,000. During the course of a normal day, a dozen people may do business with a school. When a school undergoes a major renovation project, add 50 or more construction workers, engineers, architects and managers. Soon, they may have to submit to ink-stained fingers to lay the first brick.

CALIFORNIA: Some San Diego middle and high schools are getting renovations years earlier than expected because soaring property values are allowing school officials to take out construction loans ahead of schedule. South County voters approved Proposition BB in 2000, authorizing Sweetwater Union High School District to borrow $187 million raised through the sale of bonds to pay for renovations at 20 schools. South County property owners pay the money back through an annual surcharge of as much as $26.92 per $100,000 of assessed property value for 25 years after the sale of the last bonds. Sweetwater scheduled its borrowing based on when the tax money would come in to meet loan payments. The last bond sale was originally projected for as late as 2016, with construction to end two years later. But the real estate boom essentially allowed Sweetwater to borrow and pay back everything at once, and it finished selling bonds late last year. District officials now say they plan to finish construction in two years, 11 years ahead of the original plan.

ILLINOIS: Running out of money and one day from turning financial control over to the state, Gavin Elementary District 37 found itself back in the black with $7 million in bond proceeds after settling a lawsuit filed by a citizens group. The money, frozen by the group's temporary restraining order in January, is now available to repair Ingleside's Gavin Central School, which has cost the district about $1.5 million in engineering and legal fees since the building was closed in March 2004 due to cracked wooden roof trusses. The district still has a $5 million breach-of-contract suit over the trusses against the school's builders, Boller Construction and Legat Architects, both of Waukegan. Opened in 1996, the $6.5 million school was days from demolition when four new school board members were elected in April on a platform of repairing the building. "I've always offered to make the repairs at no cost to the school district," said construction company chief executive Bob Boller, who attended the board meeting. "I've done that from day one, and I'm here to say that today." Though there was agreement to seek repairs, there was no consensus among board members and parents about Boller doing the work.

INDIANA: In essence, Indiana law gives school corporations a credit card to build bigger and better facilities – with few rules and almost no limits. And taxpayers end up paying for items that go beyond what our students need to succeed. Governor Mitch Daniels has rightly turned up the heat on school boards and superintendents for their Taj Mahal projects, but the real culprit is long-standing state policy that has encouraged this building boom. Why wouldn’t a school district want new classrooms and sports stadiums when an easy mechanism exists to issue bonds, incur debt and bill property taxpayers? The issue has been in the spotlight since January when Daniels imposed a freeze on new school construction borrowing. In May, he announced stricter guidelines the Department of Local Government Finance would follow in deciding whether to approve capital projects.

PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia schools chief Paul Vallas said the district's extensive, $1.8 billion renovation and building projects would create schools that are welcoming, light-filled, and able to adapt to evolving educational needs. Vallas spoke at the culminating event of the Franklin Conference on School Design, a civic engagement project sponsored by the Inquirer editorial board and the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Urban Research.

Several hundred people met to discuss three designs produced by the project - for a new high school in Logan, a high school focused on science in Center City, and an elementary school in West Philadelphia. The designs were devised in a daylong collaboration of architects, educators, experts and residents in a forum called a charrette. Vallas said that the charrette model - and the underlying principles of creating welcoming, healthy, flexible and interactive schools - is a desirable way to get community input to the design process. "The vast majority of these projects haven't even entered the design phase, so we have an opportunity to apply these principles to the new projects," he said. Some groups have complained that the district, in its breakneck schedule to renovate, expand or build schools from scratch, has not taken enough time to think about how the buildings should reflect both educational and community needs.

TEXAS: When Bexar County students head back to school in August, some of them will walk through the doors of the three biggest, most expensive examples of the phenomenal growth on the North Side. This school year, three new high schools, built for a combined price of $162 million, will open in North Bexar County.

Stevens High School looks more like an upscale mall or a community college and cost about $66 million to build. The corridors are wide and open to the second story. Banks of skylights allow sunlight to stream into the building. The main hallway is so vast, it's difficult to see from one end to the other. Steele High School is an architect's dream, with contemporary lines, redbrick walls both inside and out, walls of windows and steel-railed balconies and staircases. Where the interior walls aren't brick, they're painted bold shades of green, purple and orange. Wagner High School, a $58 million state-of-the-art facility, was carefully planned to appeal to the community and will have a student-run banking program, complete with an automated teller machine onsite, and a student-operated child care facility for faculty and staff members' preschool children.

FLORIDA: Faced with more children pouring into classrooms every year, Volusia County and other Florida school districts are searching for ways to keep up with growth. But the choice some are making -- tacking on thousands of dollars in impact fees to the cost of new homes -- is increasingly becoming a legal and political battleground. Home builders have launched legal challenges and lobbied state lawmakers to try to rein in impact fees that they argue are unfair and make it harder for working families to buy homes. Volusia County is at the center of the fight, with local builders hoping to convince a state administrative law judge next month that the county has improperly boosted its school impact fees by more than $4,300 a home. But school officials say they are pinched as they deal with massive growth, a shortage of money and a constitutional requirement to shrink class sizes during the next five years. They say increased impact fees have been the only place they can turn for millions of dollars to build and expand schools.

INDIANA: Governor Mitch Daniels believes that Indiana spends too much on school construction, and now he believes he has the numbers to prove it. But a report that shows Indiana leads the nation in the percentage of school spending on long-term debt is as nebulous as the governor’s accusation.

The report the governor cites depends on misleading comparisons. Because schools in some other states have other sources for construction dollars, they don’t have to borrow to build. Indeed, the same report can be used to counter Daniels’ argument. It shows a national average of 9 percent for total school dollars spent on buildings; Indiana spent just 7 percent. The governor is right to take aim at excessive spending by some school districts. But his shotgun approach misses the mark and should anger anyone familiar with the struggle many school districts face in meeting ever-increasing costs with fewer dollars.

NATIONAL : After decades of inertia, American colleges and universities have begun to recognize that they have lagged behind the corporate world in tackling energy conservation and efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, and trash generation, and many are taking new steps to minimize their environmental "footprint." They are driven by everything from the rising cost of natural gas to student activism, and the consequences can be significant for local air pollution as well as energy markets.

NATIONAL : After decades of inertia, American colleges and universities have begun to recognize that they have lagged behind the corporate world in tackling energy conservation and efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, and trash generation, and many are taking new steps to minimize their environmental "footprint." They are driven by everything from the rising cost of natural gas to student activism, and the consequences can be significant for local air pollution as well as energy markets.

NATIONAL : If you live near a major airport, your children might have a harder time learning to read and memorizing their spelling lessons than if you resided in a quieter area, a new study has found. In the largest study of its kind, Stephen Stansfeld of the University of London's Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry and colleagues found that near-constant noise not only increased stress in youngsters but also made learning more difficult and impaired their memory. "This effect is significant," Stansfeld said. "In practical terms, aircraft noise might have only a small effect on the development of reading, but the effect of long-term exposure remains unknown." The study suggests that schools shouldn't be built close to airports and urges officials who decide such things to give "a wider consideration of the effect of environmental stressors on children's cognitive development."

CALIFORNIA: The Roseville City Elementary School District has opted out of a plan calling for union-only construction policies in the building of its schools. The policies are part of a larger agreement between the district and a development company that will build new schools.

Project labor agreements have been controversial throughout the state because they do not allow nonunion contractors to bid on or participate in projects. Supporters of project labor agreements say the pacts allow skilled union workers to get jobs in their own cities and that they ensure a higher quality of work. In addition, they prevent workers from striking or engaging in other delays, they say. Critics say the agreements cost agencies money because they limit the number of contractors who can bid on the project. Critics also disagree with the premise that nonunion laborers can't deliver quality work.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : The number of D.C. public charter schools will grow from 42 to as many as 61 over the next year, making a shortage of affordable buildings even more acute, according to charter school advocates. Over the past few years, the District's real estate boom has heightened competition for space among the independently run schools, pushing up prices and putting many properties out of reach. With 11 charter schools opening this fall and eight having won initial approval to open in fall 2006, charter advocates say city officials must quickly come up with a solution to the space problem. Pressed by members of the D.C. Council and Congress to address the problem, the D.C. Board of Education approved a plan in April to allow charter schools to co-locate in 10 underused traditional public school buildings. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey has said he plans to complete a master facilities plan in December, and charter officials are hoping that his study will result in more school system buildings becoming available.

PENNSYLVANIA: A recent workshop brought more than 20 top design professionals from the Philadelphia region together with students, teachers, and other citizens to brainstorm ideas on how to design the schools of the future. The workshop, called a "charrette," was cosponsored by The Inquirer Editorial Board. The volunteers worked in three teams to generate ideas for three potential school sites being considered by the School District of Philadelphia. [Article links to 5 additional articles: "Visions for Better Schools;" "Small, Bright and Functional;" "A School to Heal the Land, Lift a Community;" "A Plan to Convert Some Old Offices into a Center for Science and Community;" and "Participants."

NEW JERSEY: Two years ago, architects for a new school in Long Branch offered district officials a 50 percent discount to re-use the building's blueprints for a nearly identical school they were about to construct in the town. But the Schools Construction Corporation, the state agency managing school construction in Long Branch and 30 other needy communities, turned down the offer and put the new school project out to bid. The firm that offered the discount, Tomaino & Tomaino, won the new bid for $1.5 million -- double its cut-rate offer. Yesterday, spurred by a recent state Inspector General's report that assailed it for waste and mismanagement, directors of the Schools Construction Corporation voted to re-use school designs whenever possible. Officials said the new policy should cut design costs in half. The board also agreed to charge architects for design mistakes that end up increasing the cost of school projects by at least 2 percent. In her report, Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper said $22.9 million of change orders had been attributed to errors and omissions, and recommended adopting a policy to seek reimbursement of those costs.

The policy shifts come after the SCC has already spent $465 million on architecture fees. "We would expect to save about 50 percent of the design cost through the re-use of the design on another site," said Jack Spencer, chief executive officer of the SCC. Vineland architect Bruce D. Turner, president of American Institute of Architects New Jersey, said the SCC changes appeared reasonable. "We understand we have to be sensitive to the issues that are important to taxpayers," he said. The new policies are the latest in a series of sweeping reforms developed since February, when a Star-Ledger analysis showed the six schools built by the SCC since 2002 cost, on average, 45 percent more than 19 schools built without SCC involvement at the same time. The analysis found that the SCC paid it architects fees that are almost double the industry standard.

INDIANA: Education leaders should take seriously the concern that Indiana is pouring its money into buildings. While the quality of education in Indiana must improve, resources are finite. Hoosiers have been generous when it comes to paying for their children's schools, yet much of the money has been directed toward buildings and staff benefits, not classroom instruction. There is evidence that school districts in Indiana are prone to erecting big buildings (27 percent larger than the national average) and expensive buildings (46 percent higher costs than the national average). A federal study released this week found that Indiana leads the nation in the percentage of school dollars dedicated to paying off long-term debt. The conclusion is that Governor Mitch Daniels is on target in insisting that school districts cut back on their building binge. School districts need to listen to the governor's call to place less emphasis on developing state-of-the-art buildings and more on growing world-class scholars.

MONTANA: Kalispell school trustees and officers of the performing arts board came to a meeting of the minds in a hastily called school board session when a straw vote showed unanimous support for incorporating the long-proposed Glacier Performing Arts Center into the new Glacier High School. But that moral support must be backed by private financial support ranging from $11.1 million to $15.3 million, which must be promised by the middle of July. The partnership which started stewing when art center supporters first broached the subject with the school could amplify arts education for the high school and provide a university-quality performance hall for the high school. The arts center board proposes a 1,300-seat performance hall and 250- to 300-seat flat-floor theater, with amenities suitable for traveling Broadway productions, Glacier Symphony and Chorale performances, and rock concerts, as well as intimate evenings of acoustic guitar, poetry readings or black-box theater productions. Even though the performing arts board and high school building committee members have put in long hours working with CTA Architects to craft this proposal over the past week to dovetail with tight high school construction deadlines, the critical work is just beginning.

GEORGIA: Coweta County voters approved a record $130 million sales tax-for-schools plan, which is expected to alleviate overcrowding in the small but fast-growing school system. Like many metro Atlanta counties, Coweta is experiencing rapid development. Since 2000, the population has grown 18 percent to more than 105,000 residents, placing it among the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties. Today, half of the public schools are over capacity, including four of five middle schools and all three high schools. Next year, enrollment in the school system is expected to top 20,000 for the first time.

INDIANA: Indiana leads the nation in the percentage of school spending to pay off interest on long-term debt, fueling criticism that too much money in the state is going toward new buildings instead of instruction. A new federal report says Hoosier taxpayers spent more than 7 cents of every school dollar on debt interest, much of it connected to school construction. Governor Mitch Daniels has said many schools are engaged in a multimillion-dollar building binge of fancy football stadiums and sprawling schoolhouses. "We have been building very expensive schools in this state, far beyond what is going on elsewhere," the Republican governor said when asked about the study. "While we all want our kids to learn in fine facilities, it is consuming dollars that could be in the classroom." The National Center for Education Statistics, a federal clearinghouse, doesn't separate construction debt interest from other types of borrowing in its spring report. Indiana education officials argue that the state's $694 million share of interest includes borrowing to cover pay for retired teachers. They also warn against comparing states, which vary in the way they pay for school construction projects.

In January, the governor announced a freeze on new school-construction borrowing, which he replaced last month with strict state guidelines for building projects. The state approved $540 million in school construction spending in 2002. Last year, the number swelled to $931 million. In the same period, the state's student enrollment grew less than 2 percent. State education officials link the school construction growth largely to antiquated buildings -- many of them dating back 50 years. Schools today share pools, gymnasiums and other facilities with the public more than they used to, educators add. But Indiana tends to build big. Its school buildings are 27 percent larger than the national average and construction expenses are 46 percent higher, according to national data obtained by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.

NEW YORK: Schools will have to use nontoxic cleaning supplies under a bill that gained final legislative approval. The Assembly passed the measure, which applies to public and private schools in New York state. The bill extends Governor Pataki's recent executive order to reduce toxic fumes by cleaning supplies in state agencies. The measure could be an initial added expense to make the switch to "green" cleaners. But Claire Barnett of the Healthy Schools Network said routine purchases should become less expensive. The Healthy Schools Network says New York's 4,800 schools have significant problems with indoor air pollution. The group says source control of toxic materials used indoors is the cheapest and most practical way to improve air quality.

NEW YORK: Schools will have to use nontoxic cleaning supplies under a bill that gained final legislative approval. The Assembly passed the measure, which applies to public and private schools in New York state. The bill extends Governor Pataki's recent executive order to reduce toxic fumes by cleaning supplies in state agencies. The measure could be an initial added expense to make the switch to "green" cleaners. But Claire Barnett of the Healthy Schools Network said routine purchases should become less expensive. The Healthy Schools Network says New York's 4,800 schools have significant problems with indoor air pollution. The group says source control of toxic materials used indoors is the cheapest and most practical way to improve air quality.

CALIFORNIA: A new fund started doling out money in Los Angeles to help charter schools there overcome their biggest barrier to growth: finding affordable facilities. A coalition of nonprofit organizations and financial institutions announced that they had cobbled together a $36 million fund from a mix of public and private sources to pay for buildings to house five to seven charter schools in disadvantaged communities. The Los Angeles Charter School New Markets Loan Fund was made possible by a federal tax-credit program aimed at spurring investment in low-income communities. Known as the New Markets Tax Credit Program, run by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the program is being used around the country to shake loose money for charter schools. Word of the fund comes two years after the federal government authorized Excellent Education Development, or ExED, to find investors to take advantage of the income-tax credits in the Los Angeles area. Schools benefiting from the new fund will be able to borrow money at below-market rates, thanks in part to the tax credits lenders receive under the federal program.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : One of Washington's most shameful educational aspects is the state of disrepair of its school facilities. A 1996 report by the Government Accountability Office urged school officials to pay closer attention to everything from roofs, heating and cooling systems, and walls and doors to electrical and plumbing systems and basic safety codes. The report jump-started a collaborative effort to modernize and build anew schools for the 21st century. A coalition of parents, teachers, and other stakeholders spent the 1999-2000 school year drawing up plans to prioritize the rebuilding efforts, deciding which schools would be renovated, which ones would be modernized and which ones would get entirely new buildings. Suffice it to say, the D.C. Board of Education failed to turn those plans into reality. That is one reason why it's so interesting to hear school officials again broach the school-inventory subject. So what's the plan? Well, like much of what school authorities address, there is no precise plan. But the board and the superintendent at least agree that there are two dozen school buildings that should closed or consolidated, and leased or sold. The money from the new revenue (and savings on energy, repairs and security) would then be used to upgrade other schoolhouses.

OHIO: Lawmakers trying to keep Ohio's multibillion-dollar school construction program on track turned to a familiar source of extra money as they balanced the upcoming state budget. A joint House-Senate committee emptied a fund used to spend the state's settlement with major tobacco companies and used it for schools and other purposes instead. The surprise move tapped all $216 million dollars that the Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Trust Fund would have received over the next two years. It also comes on top of $352 million that lawmakers have taken in tobacco payments the past three years to keep the budget balanced. The maneuver was one of several last-minute changes that overshadowed the more far-reaching aspects of the budget, including an update of Ohio's Depression-era tax system and a half-cent reduction of the state income tax.

KENTUCKY: Increased construction costs are an expensive problem for a growing school district such as Boone County, Kentucky where new students arrive almost daily. The district just awarded a $13.2 million bid for a new elementary school scheduled to open in 2006-07. That's slightly more than the cost of Camp Ernst Middle School, which will open in August and is about 50,000 square feet larger than the elementary school. "We're trying to open a high school in 2009 that was projected to cost $36 million and now we're maybe talking $50 million," said Assistant Superintendent Mike Hibbett. "I don't know how we're going to afford that. We're going to be put out of business." Hibbett said construction companies say the sharp increase is because of rising costs in concrete mix, roofing insulation, and steel."They're padding bids mostly for the steel," said Hibbett. "Steel prices are going up on a weekly basis." The cost of the new elementary school, which had seven bidders, came in about 17 percent higher than projected. But before that, there were probably two dozen projects in a row where costs came in $10,000 to $100,000 below district estimates, Hibbett said.

VIRGINIA: While Charlottesville schools have been made more accessible since the Americans with Disabilities Act was established in 1990, a new survey has pointed out areas for improvement, including a lack of wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. "By and large [the schools are] in good shape. We have available ready-access to every major public location," said Lance Stewart, facilities maintenance manager. "At this point, we’re at the stage where we’re just fine-tuning the schools and taking it to the next level."

Tom Vandever, executive director of the Independence Resource Center, and Joe Szakos, executive director of the Virginia Organizing Project, began surveying the schools in November, measuring doors, checking chairlifts and making sure wheelchairs can roll in and out of rooms. The project initially focused on Walker Upper Elementary, to ensure it was ADA-compliant, but officials decided to broaden the survey’s scope to the entire school system - partly because of parental complaints. The most common problem is the lack of wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, Vandever said. Though there is one on each floor at the schools, Vandever said it would not be difficult to make almost all bathrooms wheelchair-accessible. Doorways must be at least 32 inches wide, thresholds (where the floor meets doorways) must be less than half-an-inch tall and there must be 60 inches of turning space to allow wheelchairs to move in bathrooms. Padding over the pipes beneath sinks is also needed to prevent hot water from burning legs. These are all guidelines that keep schools ADA compliant.

PENNSYLVANIA: All it took was seven forums, 300-plus public-spirited citizens, hours of animated dialogue, and an untold number of oatmeal raisin cookies and lemon squares. The Inquirer Editorial Board joined with the Institute of Urban Research at the University of Pennsylvania to ask Philadelphians what they'd like to see emerge from their school system's ambitious $1.6 billion program of school renovation and construction. This project in civic dialogue, called the Franklin Conference on School Design, resulted in the list of Philly-flavored "principles" for good school design. The conference aimed for a marriage of expert knowledge and citizen values. Participants heard experts in design and education speak about best practices and cool design ideas being tried at schools around the land. Some schools have been designed with public input in ways that enhance their use as centers of community. Other schools have designs that nurture growing educational trends toward collaborative learning and real-world experiences for students.

PENNSYLVANIA: Design principles concerning schools as welcoming places that are safe and secure, encourage interactions, flexible and adaptable spaces, healthy, smart and green, and are designed through the involvement of broad public input.

CALIFORNIA: The Los Angeles Unified School District will not be required to excavate contaminated backfill used at the city's newest high school after preliminary test results determined that the relatively low levels of toxic substances pose no public health threat.

VIRGINIA: The Arlington School Board approved a memorandum of understanding with the county that clears the way for a synthetic grass field at the Washington-Lee High School stadium. The new turf, which lasts about 10 years and is more durable than natural grass, will allow for more use of the field and require less maintenance, officials said. The county will spend about $700,000 to install the turf and $225,000 to install "dark sky" lighting that will focus more light on the field and less on the houses that surround it. The school system will be responsible for maintaining the field.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : The new chairman of the Senate subcommittee on the District praised Mayor Anthony A. Williams for "making dramatic improvements" in the city's finances but demanded that local leaders do more to improve conditions in deteriorating public schools. Closing underutilized school buildings should be a top priority, Senator Sam Brownback told Williams and other city leaders. "We need to get more resources into fewer physical plants," Brownback said, comparing the D.C. school system to "what's going on with military facilities around the world." Some schools should be repaired and modernized, Brownback said. "Other ones, we're just going to have to move on." Brownback and Senator Mary Landrieu stressed the importance of closing underused facilities and using the savings to renovate surviving schools and help raise student scores. They appeared to dismiss pleas from city leaders for more federal dollars for school renovations, saying the system's $1.1 billion budget should be sufficient.

Williams, D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp and School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey all agreed that Brownback's advice was on target. "We need to right-size our district, and that might mean closing some schools," Janey told reporters immediately after the hearing. Janey said he intends to develop a master plan for school facilities by the end of the year.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : The new chairman of the Senate subcommittee on the District praised Mayor Anthony A. Williams for "making dramatic improvements" in the city's finances but demanded that local leaders do more to improve conditions in deteriorating public schools. Closing underutilized school buildings should be a top priority, Senator Sam Brownback told Williams and other city leaders. "We need to get more resources into fewer physical plants," Brownback said, comparing the D.C. school system to "what's going on with military facilities around the world." Some schools should be repaired and modernized, Brownback said. "Other ones, we're just going to have to move on." Brownback and Senator Mary Landrieu stressed the importance of closing underused facilities and using the savings to renovate surviving schools and help raise student scores. They appeared to dismiss pleas from city leaders for more federal dollars for school renovations, saying the system's $1.1 billion budget should be sufficient.

Williams, D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp and School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey all agreed that Brownback's advice was on target. "We need to right-size our district, and that might mean closing some schools," Janey told reporters immediately after the hearing. Janey said he intends to develop a master plan for school facilities by the end of the year.

FLORIDA: The cost of building a new home in St. Lucie County could inch up nearly $2,000, or close to 62 percent, if the school board gets its wish. St. Lucie County School Board members approved a consultant's recommendation to hike educational development fees from $3,061 to $4,956 per single-family home, a measure that would raise the county's fees nearly 64 percent above the state average. The extra money would be funneled into building more schools, which are in short supply for the rapidly growing district. Impact fees, paid by developers to cover infrastructure costs for new homes, would contribute anywhere between $250 million and $450 million, according to the district.

WASHINGTON: Work crews will spend the summer fixing mold and asbestos problems at Seattle Public Schools. Crews plan to replace about 1,600 ceiling tiles and pieces of plasterboard at Nathan Hale High School after a leaky roof led to mold growth. They also will try to get rid of pooled water under a classroom at Arbor Heights Elementary School after earlier attempts failed. Many other schools could be added to the work list as the district completes a survey measuring the quality of indoor air at its nearly 100 schools. The survey, launched in March, attempts to pinpoint water leaks and mold problems as well as measure carbon-dioxide levels. So far, 62 schools have been tested and about one-third earmarked for closer inspection. Of 11 schools revisited by experts, two were deemed to require immediate attention. The district removed mold from the two schools — High Point Elementary and Washington Middle School — and plans further work to fix the water leaks that led to the problems. Inspectors are also keeping an eye out for asbestos, which is generally removed from schools when it starts degrading or fraying. Asbestos, once used in insulation and tiles, is slowly disappearing from schools because buildings are constantly being upgraded and replaced.

NEW JERSEY: Only half the school-construction work set for New Jersey's neediest districts will be completed with the $6 billion set aside for them, the chief executive of the state's school-construction agency told the Assembly Budget Committee yesterday. John F. Spencer testified that his New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. had begun managing the $8.6 billion program without the proper expertise and with unrealistic construction cost estimates. "The money was significant, but it was never enough to deliver all the required state mandates that are needed in the Abbott districts," Spencer said, referring to the 31 districts designated for special attention. Of the $8.6 billion, the Legislature allocated $6 billion to meet a 2000 state Supreme Court mandate that New Jersey fix up schools in the 31 districts. Other districts were eligible to apply for the remainder. The school-construction agency did not have a chief financial officer or board members with construction or financial backgrounds, Spencer said. Nor did its program include money for tenant relocation, site cleanups, historic preservation, demolition, administrative costs, land acquisition, or inflation.

RHODE ISLAND: Education consultants hired by the city have recommended closing Underwood School for the coming school year and moving the students to the city's five other elementary schools, saving $1.08 million in school operating costs. Berkshire Advisors has been studying the school system since February, interviewing administrators, teachers, parents, community leaders and elected officials, as well as touring the schools. The consultants were highly critical of the condition of the city's school buildings, with the exception of the new Thompson Middle School. "They are worse than any of the schools in Washington, D.C., which has a reputation for bad schools," said Maureen Costello-Shea, a Berkshire manager. Costello-Shea said that was the assessment of Mary W. Filardo, president and founder of the 21st Century School Fund that is based in Washington, D.C. Filardo is an expert on school system facilities. "We've studied the schools in Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles and other urban districts, and all of the elementary schools here are in the worst physical condition we've seen," said Costello-Shea, speaking for Berkshire.

SOUTH DAKOTA: Around the country, Indian tribes are frustrated by what they say are inadequate federal funding and long delays in replacing aging buildings at the 184 schools supported by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. About 48,000 students attend BIA day schools and boarding schools on or near 63 Indian reservations in 23 states. The BIA directly operates about a third of those schools; the rest are run by tribes with BIA funding. The federal government not only takes a long time to replace schools, but also fails to maintain them, said Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians.

The Bush administration has said the situation has improved in recent years. In 2001, 35 percent of BIA schools were in good or fair condition, with the rest in poor condition. But spending planned through next year will leave 65 percent in good or fair shape, the administration said. The BIA, which has a school construction budget this year of around $260 million, reported that funding was approved for 34 replacement schools between 2001 and 2004, and nine of those projects have been completed and opened.

MICHIGAN: Community groups across the city are making last-ditch efforts to save a handful of the 33 school buildings slated to close this summer, holding rallies and enrollment drives, as well as bringing back alumni to stump for their cause. But their efforts may be in vain.

WYOMING: Lawmakers likely will be asked to increase school-construction funding next year due to rising costs of building materials. Jim "Bubba" Shivler, director of the state School Facilities Commission, said Gov. Dave Freudenthal has agreed to support a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in dollars per square foot. Shivler said higher costs for materials like wood and steel are driving up bids. Recent bids for three elementary schools in the Afton area were more than $200 per square foot, far above the architect's estimate of $120 per square foot, he said. Under current guidelines, the state allows $165 per square foot overall for new schools. The commission might have to become involved in design work earlier, along with the contractors, Shivler said. "We need to do that before they sell it to the public," he said. Besides a recommendation to allow more state funding per square foot, Shivler also wants to give contractors more flexibility to modify architects' designs to save the state money.

INDIANA: The numbers Indiana state officials used to rebuke educators for building extravagant schools show northeast Indiana projects in the past two years mostly meet the national standard, except for some costlier high school additions. County-by-county averages released by the Department of Local Government Finance showed additions in four counties exceeded newly established cost-per-square-foot parameters set by the department. For instance, three additions constructed in Allen County averaged $15.4 million – or $362 a square foot. In Kosciusko, two additions averaged $20 million – or $427 a square foot. When new school buildings were constructed, districts fared much better. But school officials in those areas say the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

ARIZONA: Higley school officials didn’t hit the state’s pocketbook hard — they socked it. The Arizona School Facilities Board paid the highest real estate price this month in its seven-year history of funding land purchases for public schools — in the Higley Unified School District. The 50-acre cornfield on Higley Road, scheduled to become the district’s next high school in 2007, cost the state $11 million — half of its 2005 budget for land purchases.

Neither state nor school officials were surprised. "We are not the anomaly," said Higley Superintendent Joyce Lutrey. "I think that is today’s reality. I think the fact that ours is the most expensive is because it is the most recent." Developers typically donate land to school districts which softens the blow to the state’s budget, according to facilities board spokeswoman Kristen Landry. But in 2004, the state had to purchase three of seven properties for new schools; four were donated.

PENNSYLVANIA: For generations, schools throughout the country have grappled with how to improve safety and sanitary conditions in bathrooms, which typically go without direct supervision, and often bear the brunt of student anger and frustration in the form of vandalism. Schools use various methods to improve conditions: Controlling access by keeping bathrooms locked. Maintaining logs of student use. Posting monitors outside the door. Painting over graffiti quickly. Now, Philadelphia School District officials say they have more plans in the works. The district is designing a new bathroom prototype that will be easier to clean and maintain, chief executive Paul Vallas said. The bathrooms, which will feature seamless flooring to cut down on waste and odor absorption and concrete block walls with an epoxy finish, will be rolled out in newly constructed schools first and eventually become part of renovation projects. Also, the district in September will launch a Student Conservation Corps in every school to spur students to take more responsibility for beautifying and maintaining their schools, Vallas said. Schools will post signs in bathrooms, cafeterias and classrooms defining good care-taking.

PENNSYLVANIA: For generations, schools throughout the country have grappled with how to improve safety and sanitary conditions in bathrooms, which typically go without direct supervision, and often bear the brunt of student anger and frustration in the form of vandalism. Schools use various methods to improve conditions: Controlling access by keeping bathrooms locked. Maintaining logs of student use. Posting monitors outside the door. Painting over graffiti quickly. Now, Philadelphia School District officials say they have more plans in the works. The district is designing a new bathroom prototype that will be easier to clean and maintain, chief executive Paul Vallas said. The bathrooms, which will feature seamless flooring to cut down on waste and odor absorption and concrete block walls with an epoxy finish, will be rolled out in newly constructed schools first and eventually become part of renovation projects. Also, the district in September will launch a Student Conservation Corps in every school to spur students to take more responsibility for beautifying and maintaining their schools, Vallas said. Schools will post signs in bathrooms, cafeterias and classrooms defining good care-taking.

FLORIDA: Higher impact fees to help build schools in Pasco County have an unlikely ally: the Pasco Building Association. Unlike five years ago, when builders tried one stall tactic after another in an attempt to derail county adoption of its first-ever school impact fee, the acquiescence this time came relatively peacefully. "We support the ordinance," Robert Williams, the association's lawyer, said Tuesday. "It's the cost of doing business. We understand that." The comprehension may have been slow in coming, but it certainly is welcome. Of course, the altruism likely comes with an ulterior motive. The Pasco Building Association still wants the county to switch collection methods. It advocates a system known as capacity fee assessments, essentially a 10-year assessment paid by the home buyer, instead of a one-time upfront charge due before a new home can be occupied. That debate, however, is down the road.

The builders' support, as stated by Williams, came just before the County Commission voted 4-0 to boost the school impact fees by about 155 percent: from just less than $1,700 to $4,314 for a single-family home. Increasing land values, higher posthurricane prices for concrete and steel, and greater than expected growth in the number of Pasco school-age children are driving the jump. The district has collected more than $30-million in Pasco's impact fee revenue over the past four years.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Third graders at Columbia University's elementary school may never know the painful sound of fingernails scratching on a chalkboard. That's because the dust-covered board that normally would be the focus of their classroom has been replaced by a giant, touch-sensitive computer screen. All across the country, chalkboards are being ditched in favor of interactive, computer-driven whiteboards that allow students and teachers to share assignments and display a wide range of learning materials from web pages to video clips. Interactive whiteboards can be found in more than 150,000 U.S. classrooms, adopted by schools in New York, San Diego, Miami-Dade County, and the rest of the nation's 25 largest school districts. The technology is also growing internationally, with a presence in 75 countries.

WYOMING: A group of Wyoming building contractors called for the state's School Facilities Commission to take another look at its guidelines on the cost of building new schools. The contractors also recommended that they be given more flexibility so they can modify architects' designs and save the state and school districts money. They emphasized that the cause of the jump in school construction costs is Wyoming's remoteness and the hike worldwide in the costs of steel, wood, concrete, and other building materials.

"We're here to tell you it's not us. The price has been going up severely and it's outside our control," a contractor said. The one thing contractors can control is labor costs, and, they said, they have maintained flat wages for the past few years to remain competitive. Wyoming costs are higher than other states because of its remoteness and lack of locally manufactured materials. "Most of the national figures come from very populated areas in the South and the coasts, where labor and materials are more readily available." a contractor said. "They don't put up with the weather problems that we do. We deal with wind and snow and cold year around. We just want the public to know we are doing everything we can to keep costs down."

MARYLAND: After three months of deliberation, the Harford County Council approved legislation imposing an impact fee of $6,000 on new single-family homes to help pay for school construction. The legislation dictates that the fee on a single-family home would be increased to $7,442 on July 1 next year and rise to $8,269 on July 1, 2007. For a townhouse or duplex, the fee starts at $4,200 and jumps to $5,148, then $5,720, over the next two years. For all other dwellings, including mobile homes, the fee starts at $1,200 and rises to $1,473 next year and $1,637 in 2007. The fee is paid by homebuilders when obtaining a building permit. Typically, such costs are passed on to the homebuyer in the form of higher prices.

IDAHO: Lawyers for a group of Idaho school districts and the state are preparing for what they hope will be the final answer to who is responsible for fixing broken school buildings. The lawsuit has been going for more than a decade, with school districts claiming the state is responsible for ensuring kids have a safe place to learn. But the state - represented by the Attorney General's Office - says it's actually the local school districts that ought to be making the local financial decisions. Idaho is the only state that provides no direct support for public school construction and still requires a two-thirds majority to approve local construction bonds.

FLORIDA: After false starts and backtracking, the Broward School Board is poised to create a committee to study a sales tax, bond issue, and other sources to pay for teacher raises and a major expansion of classroom construction. The proposals on the table include a half-cent sales tax increase that would raise $130 million, or a new $350 million bond issue to take effect after the district pays off its current bond issue two years from now.

The driving force is a series of expensive state mandates such as the class-size reduction amendment approved by voters in 2002. Board members and union leaders say they don't expect more money from the state for such mandates, citing recent funding cuts. Three weeks ago the district's budget staff unveiled a five-year plan for building and renovating schools that still ran $514 million short of what they said will be needed to cope with the class-size amendment.

NEVADA: Some Clark County School District critics have suggested that the purchase of a 66,645-square-foot building for a new headquarters building was too costly and included unnecessarily lavish touches such as marble floors in the lobby and private bathrooms for several offices, but an architect says the district's purchase was a good deal.

CALIFORNIA: According to public and confidential records obtained by The Los Angeles Times, the L.A. Unified School District failed to inform regulators that its handpicked developer had violated the district's environmental specifications by using hundreds of cubic yards of fill from a stockpile contaminated with carcinogenic PCBs and high levels of harmful petroleum byproducts. In fact, records show, school officials failed to tell state environmental regulators that the fill was already in the ground when the regulators ordered the school district not to use it. LAUSD officials kept mum for two years, despite a state law requiring school districts to notify regulators whenever contaminants are detected at a school construction site, records and interviews show.

School district officials are now scrambling to test the potential toxicity of the fill used under the administration building at the 19-acre site, a month before the campus is supposed to open as the city's first new comprehensive high school in three decades. Community leaders, stung by the revelation that the school district withheld information about the tainted debris, say that no matter what the tests show, they want the district to remove the contaminated material, which also lies under the gymnasium.

ILLINOIS: Up to nine schools near O'Hare International Airport will share $12.5 million in sound-insulation funding this year to reduce aircraft noise in the classrooms, officials said. The Federal Aviation Administration will fund $10 million and Chicago will provide $2.5 million, according to the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, a city-suburban partnership.

OHIO: Last month, John Carr met with fellow school construction bosses from Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, and Cleveland to discuss the worrisome issue of high steel costs. Carr, chief construction officer with Dayton Public Schools, said the cost increases have caused delays in the school's $627 million rebuild project. He has had to have plans redesigned to find areas where builders could replace steel with less expensive materials. Prices for steel products used in construction are up roughly 40 percent, industry sources say. The price dipped slightly in April, but area builders say it shot back up in May. Steel is vital building material and is used for structural framing, concrete reinforcement, drywall, doors, ceilings, and fences and gates.

OHIO: Last month, John Carr met with fellow school construction bosses from Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, and Cleveland to discuss the worrisome issue of high steel costs. Carr, chief construction officer with Dayton Public Schools, said the cost increases have caused delays in the school's $627 million rebuild project. He has had to have plans redesigned to find areas where builders could replace steel with less expensive materials. Prices for steel products used in construction are up roughly 40 percent, industry sources say. The price dipped slightly in April, but area builders say it shot back up in May. Steel is vital building material and is used for structural framing, concrete reinforcement, drywall, doors, ceilings, and fences and gates.

FLORIDA: Broward's school construction chief pledged that ongoing summer building projects -- nearly 400 new classrooms and one new elementary school -- will be finished in time for the 2005-06 school year that starts in nine weeks. South Florida's recent downpours would normally cause headaches for construction officials, but Deputy Superintendent Mike Garretson said the school district is still on track, despite problems earlier this year getting needed building permits. Having the classroom additions ready will help Broward meet the third year of class-size reduction requirements, sparing the district financial penalties from the state. Broward met the requirements in 2003 and 2004.

WYOMING: The lack of contractors and construction workers is driving school construction prices higher than the national average, a Wyoming state official said. Some school construction prices are 15 to 25 percent and even 50 percent higher than commission estimates, James "Bubba" Shivler, director of the Wyoming Schools Facilities Commission, told the Joint Appropriations Interim Committee. Shivler said he's seeing prices for building new schools reach more than $200 a square foot. The facilities commission allows about $165 a square foot for total project costs.

Wyoming has "hit the wall" with finding contractors available to do the jobs, Shivler said. The work force is spread thin because of well-paying jobs available now in the oil and gas industry, he said. Shivler said some school projects are getting only one or two bids. "We'd be excited if we got three," he said. Commission staffer Dave LaPlante said there was only one bidder on a school project four days ago. The commission contacted some contractors who said they didn't bid because they already had enough work or that they couldn't get subcontractors to do the earth work, he said. "There is just no help out there," LaPlante said.

MICHIGAN: Those who care about whether public school students are learning in gleaming, new state-of-the-art buildings with all the extras or are studying in antiquated, drafty, leaky buildings that have not been updated in decades will be interested in a new study by the Citizens Research Council. The study examines public school building needs and the vast disparity between poor, usually urban, districts and wealthy suburban districts in Michigan.

The CRC reports that the current value of all public school facilities, including athletic facilities, in Michigan is around $32.6 billion. But the CRC also estimates that to replace or renovate inadequate schools, taxpayers would have to spend another $8.7 billion. The CRC offers a list of suggested solutions, including tweaking the state's School Bond Loan Fund to extend the repayment period and forgive interest payments, and establishing state per-pupil foundation grants for capital projects to state subsidies for districts with low per-pupil taxable values but high local property tax rates.

RHODE ISLAND: Imagine solar panels on school roofs and city workers driving electric hybrid cars. A resolution will be submitted to the Providence City Council that will require the city to draw 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010. If approved, the resolution would create an energy task force that would study ways to develop renewable energy in the city or buy it elsewhere. The initiative coincides with a plan to start an energy efficiency program in the School Department. By turning off lights, regulating heat and air conditioning, and educating teachers and maintenance workers about energy efficient practices, there are estimates the city will save $900,000 a year. Some of that savings can help pay for renewable energy, which is more expensive than fossil fuels.

ARIZONA: When Chandler High School's 2,750 students return for the 2005-06 school year, they'll find their 84-year-old campus will have been transformed. Some of what will be new: a 50-meter swimming pool, a Technology and Industry Building, a locker-room facility, athletic fields and tennis courts, grandstands and a press box at the football field, a renovated auxiliary gym, and twice as much parking. The project was funded with about half of a $60 million bond package approved by voters in 2002. The campus will be 50 percent larger, expanded to 60 acres from 40. Almost 90 homes were demolished to make way for the expansion.

FLORIDA: A plan to tear down and replace a 35-year-old Palm Beach County elementary school in 2011 is too long of a wait according to parents and community leaders. Complaints about the campus include allegations of standing water between portable classrooms, collapsing ceiling tiles and flooding, repeated roof leaks, mold in closets and classrooms, and insufficient classroom space and parking for parents during dismissal.

Clifford O. Taylor/Kirklane Elementary in Palm Springs is No. 1 on a 2003 Palm Beach County School District survey of 13 schools that should be replaced because of age and deteriorating conditions. But Kirklane is not included in the School District's $1 billion construction program for the next five years. Nor is the project being funded by the half-cent sales tax that county voters approved in November. Administrators cite other promised jobs that are in line before Kirklane.

MINNESOTA: The scrawled warning on a bathroom wall, the menacing voice on the phone, overheard threats of an angry teenager, a mailed note promising mayhem -- all have put dozens of Minnesota school leaders on the spot this spring. What to do? Evacuate the building? Cancel classes? Alert parents at once? Shut down the district? Keep kids and teachers in locked classrooms while officers and dogs check things out? Responses have varied from threat to threat, district to district, and not every decision has found favor with parents.

OHIO: The report that a young man carrying two guns had briefly entered Riverside Elementary School in North Toledo last week raised questions for many concerned parents. Why were some of the exterior school security doors unlocked? And why aren't there security cameras? Toledo Public Schools, the region's largest district with just under 33,000 students, has cameras and security doors installed at all of its high schools and junior high schools. But a review conducted by The Blade before the incident found Riverside among 20 elementary schools without a surveillance system. Some of those buildings, including Riverside, also lack security doors that can be opened with a buzzer from the main office. District officials told the newspaper that they intend to phase in installation of cameras and security locks over the next several years. The financially troubled school system simply cannot afford to do the work all at once, they said.

IOWA: Des Moines school officials have proposed sweeping changes that would relocate more than 3,000 students, close six buildings, and add a $25 million career and technical center to revamp a 10-year school renovation plan squeezed by shrinking sales tax revenue. Besides closing five elementary schools, the plan calls for selling the downtown Central Campus and spreading its specialized programs around the city. In addition, it allocates no renovation money to 22 schools - a major change from the outline presented in 1999 when voters approved a local option sales tax for the project.

The proposal comes midway in a 10-year plan to update and build schools. Polk County voters in 1999 passed a 1 percent sales tax, with proceeds going toward school construction. The 10-year tax has generated nearly $76 million to renovate or rebuild 14 of the district's 58 school buildings. An additional $18 million went toward needed repairs; other projects are either under way or were scheduled to begin this summer. But rising construction costs and a decline in projected sales tax revenue means the district faces a $200 million gap between the cost of completing projects and how much money the tax will generate.

NEW JERSEY: State officials have halted work on a $28 million elementary school in Trenton after discovering that fill dirt used at the site contains petroleum products. The state agency responsible for building schools, the Schools Construction Corporation, stopped work at the Martin Luther King/Jefferson Elementary School on Trenton's north side. Tests showed that dirt used as filler in the school was mixed with ground-up asphalt. Such material contains petroleum products and PCBs, according to Joe Seebode, an official with the Department of Environmental Protection, and needs special approval from the state to be used as filler. The 800-student school was supposed to be finished by September 2006, but officials say the delay in construction will set the project back by about six months. The problems at the Trenton school are the latest in a long line for the beleaguered Schools Construction Corporation. Earlier this spring, the state's inspector general harshly criticized the agency in a report, alleging mismanagement and possible conflicts of interest.

NEW JERSEY: State officials have halted work on a $28 million elementary school in Trenton after discovering that fill dirt used at the site contains petroleum products. The state agency responsible for building schools, the Schools Construction Corporation, stopped work at the Martin Luther King/Jefferson Elementary School on Trenton's north side. Tests showed that dirt used as filler in the school was mixed with ground-up asphalt. Such material contains petroleum products and PCBs, according to Joe Seebode, an official with the Department of Environmental Protection, and needs special approval from the state to be used as filler. The 800-student school was supposed to be finished by September 2006, but officials say the delay in construction will set the project back by about six months. The problems at the Trenton school are the latest in a long line for the beleaguered Schools Construction Corporation. Earlier this spring, the state's inspector general harshly criticized the agency in a report, alleging mismanagement and possible conflicts of interest.

CALIFORNIA: Nonprofit youth groups that play ball and hold meetings after hours on fields and in facilities owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District may have to start paying usage fees under a plan that opponents worry will force some community groups to reduce services. Currently, the district issues about 2,850 permits annually to youth groups, representing about 55,000 free uses of school facilities. State law allows school districts and parks and recreation departments to recoup utility and supervision costs, though they're not allowed to make a profit.

NORTH CAROLINA: Video surveillance could be instituted in Craven County, North Carolina, middle schools and electric door locks installed on front doors if the Board of Education determines these security measures are needed. A preliminary estimate put the cost of 16 cameras at about $26,000.

While the measures are designed to protect children, some research indicates the extra security can impact some students in a negative way. Researchers at East Carolina University are studying post-traumatic stress disorders in children after natural disasters and have looked at their reactions to restrictive environments meant to ensure their safety, said Carmen Russoniello, director of ECU's psychophysiology and biofeedback laboratory. There is a line that can be crossed between protectiveness and creating an "atmosphere of fear" that makes children become hypervigilant, Russoniello said.

NEVADA: The Clark County School District's purchase of a building that it sought as its possible new headquarters has drawn a handful of critics who say it's overly posh, has inadequate public parking, is too far away from other district administrative buildings, and could end up costing much more than the $14.5 million purchase price if remodeled to handle School Board meetings. Superintendent Carlos Garcia said the decision to buy the 66,645-square-foot building was based on "prudent business practices." "We saved the taxpayer a lot of money," Garcia said, adding that it would cost the district about $20 million to construct a similar building.The building has large offices, suites with kitchens, a marble floor foyer, and furniture worth an estimated $500,000. "We bought it (the building) as is. It's not like we put those things in there," Garcia said. It will help relieve a crowding problem in one of the fastest-growing school districts in the nation and reduce the high cost of leasing office space, district officials said.

WYOMING: For the Wyoming School Facilities Commission, the forecasting business is particularly essential and troublesome, given that student head counts dictate the size of future school construction. With a $1.1 billion financial package for building and renovating schools, the state doesn't want to overbuild or underbuild. [Part of a 5-part series on Wyoming's new school facilities system.]

WYOMING: The Wyoming School Facilities Commission is in need of some changes, Superintendent of Public Instruction Trent Blankenship says. In a letter to Governor Dave Freudenthal, Blankenship asked that the governor step in to help improve public perception of the commission and address concerns he has heard from school districts throughout Wyoming."Throughout this state, there is a pervasive misunderstanding of the roles of the commission, the chairman and the director," Blankenship wrote. "There is frustration at the loss of local control, micromanagement and the closed nature of decisions." Commission Director James "Bubba" Shivler said the superintendent's concerns came as a surprise to him.

The School Facilities Commission serves as a government mechanism to oversee school construction projects designed to bring all schools in line with a Wyoming Supreme Court mandate for equity. The commission includes full-time staff, including Director Shivler, as well as commissioners, including a chairman, who make decisions about school facility guidelines and construction plans. The director and chairman are appointed by the governor, but Blankenship also appoints some commission members and is a commissioner himself.

MONTANA: The Bozeman School Board should ask taxpayers to approve $55.5 million in bonds this year to fix up the high school, build a new middle school, and buy land for a second high school, a study team concluded. If approved, the plan would set up both the high school and elementary districts for decades, said Gary Lusin, the co-chairman of the Bozeman High School Facilities Team that was comprised of 22 teachers, administrators, School Board trustees, community members and students. Schools can be built cheaper than the cost proposed, Lusin said, but the team planned everything to be built at institutional grade, the highest quality of construction so it lasts and is the most energy efficient, saving money in the long run.

TEXAS: San Antonio School District voters rejected a plan to revamp eight high schools and expand prekindergarten classrooms, unwilling to swallow a price tag of $399 million and the highest tax rate in the county.

The district's most serious problem is that its aging buildings, which include the state's oldest schools, went for years without any serious maintenance or upgrades. Trustees hoped they had gained residents' confidence through two major successful construction efforts that were monitored by a citizens oversight committee. Supporters, including a coalition of parent groups, had argued that the bond would allow the district to take advantage of state funds that pay for about half of the school construction program. Opponents criticized the fact that some repairs weren't completed under the 1997 bond, which sought to address problems at 92 of the district's 94 schools. And the 2001 bond should have focused on bringing buildings up to snuff rather than adding music and athletic facilities.

WYOMING: In some school districts, there are too many buildings and not enough students to fill them. When that happens, downsizing and reconfiguration are in order. As Wyoming's school population continues to dwindle, the end result for a lot of school districts around the state will be the closing of school buildings. But who decides which schools will be condemned, closed and/or demolished and which schools will stay open? And how do they make that decision? [Part of a 5-part series on Wyoming's new school facilities system.]

NEW YORK: Is Jamaica High School 217 sinking? The Jamaica school has a sort of little San Andreas fault, most obvious in the basement. There, a long hallway section of the cinderblock wall has cracked horizontally near the floor, leaving a gap big enough to slide a thick marker through to the other side. Unpatched zig-zag fractures run floor to ceiling in storage rooms. The floor, no longer a flatland, dips and rises slightly. Officials say the problem does have an explanation - the building is settling - but they still have a mystery on their hands. Settling happens more commonly in new buildings; JHS 217 is 50 years old. Also, parts of buildings usually don't sink and move at different rates, resulting in big cracks, experts said. The school engineer ordered the crevices to be patched and inspections done every three months until the city's School Construction Authority looks deeper into the problem and fixes it permanently.

WYOMING: Under the state's new school funding model set by the Wyoming School Facilities Commission, districts must get their routine and major maintenance funds from a general pool. Funding for routine maintenance -- daily janitorial costs -- is based on square footage and is included in the "block grants" each district spends at its own discretion. "Major" maintenance -- those necessary upkeep fixes such as repairing foundations, reroofing buildings, anything that costs $200,000 or more -- is based on square footage and enrollment. For now, districts with "extras" say they are spreading the maintenance butter a little thinner, but still covering everything. They say the state should remain flexible as it transitions into the new funding models. [Part of a 5-part series on Wyoming's new school facilities system.]

WYOMING: Under the state's new school funding model set by the Wyoming School Facilities Commission, districts must get their routine and major maintenance funds from a general pool. Funding for routine maintenance -- daily janitorial costs -- is based on square footage and is included in the "block grants" each district spends at its own discretion. "Major" maintenance -- those necessary upkeep fixes such as repairing foundations, reroofing buildings, anything that costs $200,000 or more -- is based on square footage and enrollment. For now, districts with "extras" say they are spreading the maintenance butter a little thinner, but still covering everything. They say the state should remain flexible as it transitions into the new funding models. [Part of a 5-part series on Wyoming's new school facilities system.]

WYOMING: Park County School District 1 is getting a new high school, but it's not as big or as nice as it would have gotten before the Wyoming School Facilities Commission was created. For various reasons, including a clash with the Legislature's special committee on school capital construction over the costs of the new high school, the Powell project did not become a "pipeline" school and instead came under the school standards set by the School Facilities Commission. A "pipeline" school is a project that was started before the Wyoming Supreme Court mandated that school construction and maintenance is a state responsibility. [Part of a 5-part series on Wyoming's new school facilities system.]

WYOMING: Before Wyoming's School Facilities Commission was formed, decisions about school buildings were completely in the control of local school boards and the communities that elected them. But these days, all building plans must be approved by the state entity, from the choice to remodel or rebuild to the design and cost of new projects. Such changes to the process of school construction have caused some backlash throughout the state, where a number of school districts are lamenting their lack of control over their own educational space. However, not all school districts in the state have found fault with the new process. [Part of a 5-part series on Wyoming's new school facilities system.]

WYOMING: Uinta County School District 6 is one of a handful around the state seeking local enhancements under Wyoming's school facilities laws. According to state law, the School Facilities Commission is responsible for setting minimum adequacy guidelines for school buildings and the state is responsible for funding construction and maintenance for those facilities. However, statute also allows local school districts to use a portion of their reserve funds or seek local bond issues to go above and beyond the standards. [Part of a 5-part series on Wyoming's new school facilities system.]

HAWAII: Schools could see plans for classroom renovations and electrical upgrades pared and some major projects postponed after the Hawaii Department of Education's repair and maintenance budget fell $25 million short of what had been requested. The DOE is scrambling to reprioritize its project list, since it now will have only $75 million to work with, rather than the $100 million it says is needed annually to keep up with wear and tear at its 280 schools. The reduced budget — down almost $50 million from last year — also will make it unlikely the DOE will be able to reduce the number of backlogs on projects schools have been requesting for years. In fact, officials say it will be a challenge just to keep the backlog from growing.

IOWA: Declining sales tax revenue and rising constuction costs have slowed renovations on schools in Polk County. A $200 million gap exists between the cost of completing projects and how much money the tax will generate in Des Moines. That's not to say the condition of many of Des Moines' school buildings hasn't greatly improved since the 1 percent tax went into effect in July 2000 . They have. The district's oldest schools and those in the poorest condition were either demolished and replaced with sparkling, air-conditioned facilities or were extensively renovated and expanded. Midway through the 10-year life of the add-on sales tax, nearly $76 million in sales tax revenues has been used to renovate or build new 14 of the district's 58 school buildings. Another $18 million went toward critical repairs such as fixing leaking roofs and creating a central production kitchen. Other projects are either under way or scheduled to begin this summer.

MISSOURI: St. Louis school district is turning its air-conditioning program back on this summer, a year after it put the program on ice amid concern about installing systems at schools that might close and spending too much money on change orders. About half of the district's 92 schools operate without air conditioning. That's a problem from late spring through summer school and into the fall months. And with classes beginning in August this year, students could be in for even more scorchers in the classroom. The money will come from the first of two bonds that voters approved over the past five years. The first bond, an $80 million issue, has paid for air conditioning at 29 schools, plus the five projects that will start this summer. About $95 million of the second bond, approved for $120 million, will pay for up to 35 additional schools.

OHIO: The Ohio School Facilities Commission agreed to help pay for a new middle school inside the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The state agency, which has never helped fund this type of facility, gave the Akron school district approval to move forward. "This is a very unique building," said a spokesman for the commission. "It's wonderful that Akron can come up with a concept that allows us to do something a little different."

The new magnet school will be built partly inside the National Inventors Hall of Fame in downtown Akron, with an addition in the courtyard between the museum and the Akron Health Department. The building will house 500 students in grades 5 to 8 who will be accepted through open enrollment. The facility will be a combined venture of the district, the museum, the University of Akron, and the city of Akron.

TEXAS: All over East and Central Austin, elementary school populations are flat or declining, even as outer-fringe schools are bursting with children. Of AISD's 74 elementary schools, 19 are already below 75% capacity, nearly all in central locations. Demographic projections suggest that several will likely shrink further. When most schools on the fringes are full to overflowing – a dozen are at 120% of capacity – these numbers are striking.

On the one hand, the numbers tell a story of gentrification: Lower-income families move to the suburbs to buy double the house for half the price, and are replaced by childless couples, empty nesters, and middle-income families with one child or two, rather than three or four. They also tell a story of sprawl: Inner-suburban school populations plateau when neighborhood kids grow up and younger families choose neighborhoods even further out. Of course, housing trends involve dozens of factors (apartments, for example, usually pump out a fresh batch of kindergarteners each year no matter what neighborhood they're in) so the story they tell will always be complex. Overall, however, their story is one of center-city schools scrambling – even competing – for students.

ARIZONA: Schools are walking a tightrope between protecting students and detaining them under lockdown conditions for so long that their physical well-being becomes a concern. Recent incidents highlight the widely varying standards schools use in determining when a lockdown is necessary and when to sound the all-clear.

COLORADO: Colorado House Minority Leader Joe Stengel wants Colorado voters to consider a national conservative-backed measure to increase classroom spending by diverting money from buses, buildings and lunches. He is beginning a drive to put a referendum on the 2006 ballot that would require school districts to spend 65 percent of their funding on teacher salaries and other classroom expenses. The movement is being pushed in several states, including Arizona, Louisiana and Minnesota, by a group called First Class Education, which is backed primarily by Patrick Byrne, the multimillionaire chairman of Overstock.com Inc.

COLORADO: Colorado House Minority Leader Joe Stengel wants Colorado voters to consider a national conservative-backed measure to increase classroom spending by diverting money from buses, buildings and lunches. He is beginning a drive to put a referendum on the 2006 ballot that would require school districts to spend 65 percent of their funding on teacher salaries and other classroom expenses. The movement is being pushed in several states, including Arizona, Louisiana and Minnesota, by a group called First Class Education, which is backed primarily by Patrick Byrne, the multimillionaire chairman of Overstock.com Inc.

INDIANA: School construction projects will face tough new state guidelines designed to stop what Governor Mitch Daniels said has been excessive spending on school buildings in Indiana. The guidelines, which are effective immediately, call for districts to rein in project costs and justify school buildings with price tags above a national average. Officials from the Department of Local Government Finance, which approves school construction borrowing, also will zero in on projects that put sports before academics. Daniels said schools are getting too big and too expensive, and they need to stress instruction, not construction. He said state officials will be flexible and will hear schools out if they can make a good argument. School construction is primarily paid for by local property-tax payers.

School officials have several concerns. They say the new guidelines, which include a recommended cost per square foot, are arbitrary. They say this additional state scrutiny takes away control from elected school boards. The new guidelines could threaten the competitive bidding requirements, which require school boards to take the lowest, most appropriate bids, school officials say. And they question whether Indiana really has bigger, more expensive facilities than the rest of the nation.

KENTUCKY: The Kenton County school system wants to be a "green" leader in Kentucky with the construction of a new, environmentally friendly Twenhofel Middle School in Independence. District officials are taking steps to have the building certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. If the district is successful, it will be the first school system in Kentucky with a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the council.

Kentucky education officials are promoting the use of energy-efficient designs and systems in school buildings, but they aren't wholeheartedly endorsing Kenton County's approach, in part because of the costs. The energy-saving and conservation features of the new school added nearly $60 to the square-foot costs, pushing the expense of the building to about $200 a square foot. Officials expect to offset those additional upfront costs with operational savings over the life of the building.

Mark Ryles, director of the Kentucky Department of Education's Division of Facilities Management, said the department is supportive of environmentally friendly buildings but that it also must weigh the cost. While other school districts are incorporating some of the features in the new Twenhofel into their buildings, Ryles isn't urging them to adopt all of the design elements that earn LEED certification. Constructing buildings that qualify for such certification can add from 1 to 8 percent to the total costs of a building, according to a U.S. General Services Administration report.

OHIO: The Gorham Fayette Local Board of Education decided to ask district voters for nearly $5 million to replace a school building that officials said might become contaminated with a suspected carcinogen. District leaders worry that contaminated groundwater from the former Fayette Tubular Products Inc. plant, about 50 yards north of the school, might allow trichloroethylene to vaporize into classrooms at the current building housing grades 5 through 12. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which tests air in the school four times a year, and the Ohio Department of Health have said the current levels are safe. Superintendent David Hankins said the levels are considered safe for adults in the short term, but that the long-term effects on adults and effects on children are unknown. Fifth-graders were moved out of Room 131 after repeated tests found a detectable level of trichloroethylene in the air. The addition, built in 1998, will not be paid for until 2021. The cost of building a new school for the district's 525 students - including those who now attend the district's Franklin Elementary - is estimated at $19 million. Of that, the Ohio School Facilities Commission would pay about $14 million if the district could raise roughly $5 million.

LOUISIANA: A proposal by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to create a new school district composed of 20 of the city's worst-performing public schools was as bold as it was impassioned. In his State of the City address, Nagin called for construction of high-tech school buildings with no more than 15 students per class and easy access to city health clinics, playgrounds and after-school learning opportunities.

But crucial decisions lie ahead, such as who would govern the new district and how the city would pay for new buildings or school renovations. The first hurdles would seem to be legal and political. Barring a change in state law, the mayor lacks the authority to run schools, and asking the School Board voluntarily to cede control to City Hall seems an uncertain strategy, given the board's past resistance to any erosion of its authority.

The mayor decided to take on as many as 20 schools because he felt that if the new district resulted in a good geographical cross-section of schools that had been successfully turned around, it would help attract businesses to the city and result in the graduation of a larger number of skilled workers to fill existing jobs. The mayor has been talking with educators, university presidents, business people and private firms about what makes a successful school and how other cities have formed partnerships with schools to improve student achievement. Steven Bingler, a principal of Concordia Architects in New Orleans, said he first met with Nagin and Superintendent Tony Amato in February to educate them on how school design can affect student achievement. Since then, he has had several meetings with Nagin and the leadership of the New Orleans Education Foundation. Bingler said his company has done extensive research that shows parental and community involvement is the key factor to improving student success. His company designs schools and creates master plans that incorporate both school and community functions. For instance, at one school the gym may serve as a community center at night and on weekends. At another, the auditorium may become a weekend performing arts center. Students may also use city health clinics or nearby city playgrounds. The result is shared facilities and services at a lower cost.

CALIFORNIA: California vastly underestimates the extent of severe crowding in its public schools and leaves many urban districts ineligible for precious state building funds, according to a report released by two advocacy groups. The state says that about 1 million students attend "critically overcrowded schools," but the report pegs the figure at more than 1.5 million — a quarter of California's public school enrollment. The study, by the research group PolicyLink and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, faulted the state for using a narrow definition of overcrowding that fails to consider many schools, particularly those serving low-income and minority students. The report also criticizes the state for making it difficult for districts with such schools to qualify for special state construction money.

MARYLAND: The O'Malley administration backed away from its plan to take control of city money used for school construction, saying it reached an agreement with school officials that will give it more oversight of how such dollars are spent. The agreement calls for two city employees to help the school system manage renovation and construction projects. The city will also devote two of its weekly meetings with senior school staff every month to monitoring capital projects. School officials had opposed the city taking over about $90 million in city bond money approved for school construction. But they said they could live with the new agreement.

NEW JERSEY: The state agency in charge of building schools in New Jersey's neediest areas has set August 15 as the completion date for overhauling its operations in response to criticism about mismanagement and possible conflicts of interest. Acting Governor Richard J. Codey accepted Jack Kocsis' resignation as chairman of the agency, the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation, and replaced him with business leader Alfred C. Koeppe. The actions came less than three weeks after the state's inspector general gave Codey a scathing report on the construction agency. He ordered the agency to comply with all 10 of the report's recommendations, which ranged from minor procedural changes to considering closing branch offices. Under the new timetable, the agency will hire a new chief financial officer by the end of May, and halt the use of private contractors for many jobs by the end of July. The agency, which manages the state's $8.6 billion school-construction program for 31 districts designated for special aid and helps pay for new buildings elsewhere, plans to devise guidelines by June 22 on how to choose sites for new schools. By August 15, the agency said, it will have written procedure manuals for all its divisions.

FLORIDA: Broward school officials plan to spend more than $1.2 billion during the next five years to build new classrooms and renovate deteriorating campuses. That includes building 18 schools and 61 classroom additions, plus more than 165 large-scale renovations. The $1.2 billion would be paid for primarily with taxes from rising property values and loans using the district's property holdings as collateral.

An additional $500 million might have to be raised to satisfy a recent constitutional amendment to limit the number of students in each classroom, administrators warned the School Board. Without more money, administrators outlined worst-case scenarios ranging from students attending high school a minimum of five years to putting many schools on a year-round schedule. To come up with the $514 million, the school district could seek a sales tax increase or attempt to renew for an additional 20 years a 1987 school construction bond program that currently is winding down. Both the sales tax and bond program renewal would require voter approval.

CALIFORNIA: Two years ago, a group of residents in Golden Hill won a battle to prevent the San Diego Unified School District from building an elementary school in a neighborhood canyon. The project received community support only after school officials agreed to downsize and move it to the southeastern edge of the canyon, a more level, less scenic spot than originally proposed. Now residents say they are fighting the district again as it pursues a plan to build a playing field on property immediately west of the new school. District officials say a field was always planned for the second phase of the school construction and that all new schools have playing fields. But Tershia d'Elgin, a member of Friends of 32nd Street Canyon who wrote two grants for funding to restore a streambed that runs through the canyon, said she and other members of the group feel duped. She said filling the canyon to build a field would destroy the stream's hydrology and create radical water quality and flooding problems. Depending on the size of the field, it would also make the restoration project challenging, if not impossible.

They see the canyon as an ideal outdoor laboratory for the new elementary school. The canyon is home to the threatened plant communities of chaparral, coastal sage scrub and riparian woodland and such creatures as the California gnatcatcher, as well as foxes, coyotes, hawks, swallows and butterflies. But the principal of the new school wants his students to have a grass field where they can run and play kickball. Juan Roma said the play area planned for the new school, scheduled to open in January 2006, seems small.

NEVADA: The Clark County School District says it can save $500,000 a year by managing its mammoth construction program rather than relying on the state. Rose McKinney James, lobbyist for the district, told the Senate Finance Committee that the district has its own independent construction department that can perform the same duties that the state Public Works Board and the state Fire Marshal's office currently handle in relation to the district's construction. James urged passage of Senate Bill 274 to eliminate the requirement the school district go through the two state agencies.

NEVADA: The Clark County School District says it can save $500,000 a year by managing its mammoth construction program rather than relying on the state. Rose McKinney James, lobbyist for the district, told the Senate Finance Committee that the district has its own independent construction department that can perform the same duties that the state Public Works Board and the state Fire Marshal's office currently handle in relation to the district's construction. James urged passage of Senate Bill 274 to eliminate the requirement the school district go through the two state agencies.

MICHIGAN: Poorer Michigan school districts are not providing the facilities students need, despite high tax rates, while richer districts often exceed the needs of students with low tax rates, according to a study. The study calls on the state to step in and fill the gap by either taking responsibility for school upkeep or offering more financial assistance to struggling districts.

"The unmet need in the Michigan public school system is just less than $9 billion. It can be met with an investment of just under $500 per pupil," said report co-author David Plank of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University. "The scale of the problem is really manageable." Under the current school funding system, school districts such as Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham can provide safe and modernized school buildings and athletic resources with relatively low school tax rates because property values are so high. In districts like Detroit, Inkster, and Clintondale, however, property values are far lower, leaving the districts to struggle to provide safe learning environments despite higher school tax rates.

NEW JERSEY: The size of some big city high schools presents educators with myriad problems, from students missing classes without being noticed to high dropout rates to low test scores. New Jersey officials said they would begin a pilot program aimed at offering four large schools the chance to devise smaller, more communal environments without altering their campuses. High schools and middle schools in Bridgeton, Elizabeth, Jersey City and Orange - all poor districts with big state budget subsidies - will be divided into small "learning communities." The plan is to keep the high schools smaller, with units of fewer than 300 students, and middle schools with no more than 250. Students in the smaller groups would have many of their classes together and would have some of the same teachers each year. These sub-schools could be based on themes, such as careers or academic interests. Students and faculty alike would have some choice in where they are assigned.

WASHINGTON: Sammamish High School's brand-new $4.5 million performing-arts center contains the only full-scale theater fly loft in the Bellevue School District, a massive orchestra pit, a trapdoor system for the stage, and 450 velvety seats. The venue is on a par with theaters built for professional performing-arts groups, say boosters, with acoustics designed by Cyril Harris, the acoustical consultant for Benaroya Hall in Seattle, and lighting technology comparable to that of the Seattle Repertory Theatre. The new theater is part of Sammamish High's $17 million modernization and improvement project, which also has included redesigning the library and classrooms. The money came from a $327 million bond issue approved by Bellevue School District voters in 2002.

ILLINOIS: An Ingleside (outsdie Chicago) elementary school, condemned last year because of structural defects, was days from demolition when it received a reprieve from a newly elected school board, officials said. Utilities were disconnected, permits were in hand and work was to begin on bringing down the $6.5 million Gavin Central School. "It was imminent," said District 37 Superintendent Margaret Fostiak of the 9-year-old building. "We had the demolition contractor on site, he had his trailer in place." Four new school board members were sworn in, with plans to reverse a course set by the seven-member board in September to build a $9 million facility by August 2006 in place of the school, which was shut after cracks were discovered in wooden roof trusses. The four campaigned on a platform that the school could be repaired for far less money than a new structure would cost.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: A major wireless convergence project has taken Dartmouth's phone, cable, and wireless systems, condensing them into one Wi-Fi network. The project, officials say, keeps students on the forefront of wireless technology and opens up endless educational and teaching opportunities while saving the college millions of dollars. The switch, which started in 2001 and will be complete with the wireless cable rollout this fall, includes the addition of 1,400 wireless access points and 24,000 wired ports across the campus of the 236-year-old college, the first in the country to completely integrate its communications systems into a wireless infrastructure.

COLORADO: A recent Donnell-Kay Foundation survey found that school officials believe it would take $5.7 billion statewide to cover capital school construction needs. The Denver nonprofit last month completed two surveys that attempt to gauge the extent of unmet capital construction needs in the state's 178 public school districts, said Mary Wickersham, director of special projects. One survey was filled out by superintendents and facility managers from 72 districts. Data from a second survey, gathered through on-site visits at 16 schools across the state, found $121.8 million in capital needs, said Wickersham. The foundation estimates it would cost $13,790 per student, compared to the $268 currently provided, to meet all the needs around the state.

Donnell-Kay is also pushing to have the state legislature eventually create a system for assessing needs at each of the state's 1,700 schools and is advocating for a change to the way Colorado funds school-building construction and maintenance. The current system, which is based on property values, "is failing to meet the needs" of schools, she said. Districts can raise property taxes to pay for construction projects. But because the levies are based on property values, poorer districts can't raise as much as their wealthier counterparts.

NEW JERSEY: Through a series of security audits and an initiative to create a continuing education course for teachers on school security and emergency management, acting Governor Codey is hoping to put New Jersey at the forefront of protecting schools from terroristic threats. At the Governor's New Jersey School Security Summit at Rutgers University, Codey announced these initiatives and discussed the need for a proactive stance on school security. In his opening remarks, Codey discussed the state's new security audits of every school. The program, which began last month and will conclude by Labor Day, was implemented to ensure that all public, charter and private schools — 3,758 of them — are using the state's checklist of security measures. Results of the audit will be compiled into a database, which will give state officials the complete, statewide picture of security at New Jersey's schools.

NATIONAL: With an eye toward cost overruns, questionable architectural features, and rising bottom lines, several states are taking a closer look at how districts manage their school construction projects. The increased focus on school construction comes during a time when states and districts often find themselves flush with construction money —- typically the result of voter-approved bonds —- but squeezed in paying for day-to-day operations. In addition, the fluctuating costs of building materials is complicating cost projections.

NEW YORK: One of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's chief strategies for transforming the city's school system is the creation of 200 small schools, including 53 secondary schools that opened in September. But the idea is not new - there was an explosion of such schools in the early 1990's - and a look at this older generation of small schools shows that size itself has not been a silver bullet. There has been no long-term comprehensive study of the outcomes of New York City's early small schools. But interviews with teachers, current and former principals and parents indicate a wide range of results and suggest that even the hallmarks of small schools -- better attendance and graduation rates -- are not guaranteed.

WYOMING: If construction costs keep going up, the state may have to turn to a standardized design for new public schools, the director of the Wyoming School Facilities Commission said. James "Bubba" Shivler said that, as an architect, he does not like prototype or model school designs. "The problem is we're seeing prices over $200 per square foot. We have to be careful because we're not sure the Legislature would be willing to spend that much," he said.

Spurred by the Supreme Court ruling, Wyoming has embarked upon a string of school construction projects that is expected to cost about $1.1 billion. The ruling placed the burden of school construction on the state, instead of local school districts, and that change resulted in creation of the School Facilities Commission. While local school boards still have influence over the design of new schools, the state commission must approve those plans. That oversight has resulted in considerable conflict between local boards and the commission, with some complaining that the state is moving toward a "cookie-cutter" school design that fails to take into account individual community needs and desires.

WYOMING: If construction costs keep going up, the state may have to turn to a standardized design for new public schools, the director of the Wyoming School Facilities Commission said. James "Bubba" Shivler said that, as an architect, he does not like prototype or model school designs. "The problem is we're seeing prices over $200 per square foot. We have to be careful because we're not sure the Legislature would be willing to spend that much," he said.

Spurred by the Supreme Court ruling, Wyoming has embarked upon a string of school construction projects that is expected to cost about $1.1 billion. The ruling placed the burden of school construction on the state, instead of local school districts, and that change resulted in creation of the School Facilities Commission. While local school boards still have influence over the design of new schools, the state commission must approve those plans. That oversight has resulted in considerable conflict between local boards and the commission, with some complaining that the state is moving toward a "cookie-cutter" school design that fails to take into account individual community needs and desires.

MAINE: A central Maine lawmaker wants schools built near town centers. Rep. John Piotti says schools built on the edge of towns foster urban sprawl and rob downtowns of vitality. He's proposing a bill that would encourage schools where sidewalks and sewers already exist. The bill "is designed to make sure state investment in schools is wise investment," Piotti told lawmakers during a hearing before the Education Committee. The measure has the support of several environmental groups, including Maine Audubon and GrowSmart Maine, and seems to match the state's aim of reducing sprawling development. But the bill may conflict with Gov. John Baldacci's push for consolidated schools. And there's concern the measure is impractical for rural Maine, where several towns typically share a school.

CALIFORNIA: The rooftops of 14 schools and administrative buildings in the San Diego Unified School District are turning into solar energy generators. Under a public-private partnership with Solar Integrated Technologies and GE Commercial Finance Energy Financial Services, the district is getting solar panels that double as roofs at no cost. The private partners maintain the solar rooftops for free for 20 years and own the energy generated. In exchange, the district commits to buying the solar power. District officials expect the solar roofs to generate nearly $7 million in savings over the life of the agreement because of reduced electricity costs and costs related to roof repairs, replacement, and maintenance.

MARYLAND: Baltimore school officials agreed in their weekly meeting with Mayor Martin O'Malley to explain how they have spent millions in city-backed bonds on school construction projects. Their answers might determine whether they regain control of such money in the future, city officials said. The O'Malley administration proposed taking control of the $17 million budgeted for repairing school buildings next year. The recommendation was based on the commission's findings this year that the Baltimore City Public School System had not spent about $97 million in approved construction money from the state and city over the past five years. Those unused funds included $38 million in city bonds.

LOUISIANA: A judge ordered Chalmette Christian Academy to postpone any cleanup of mold in classrooms until after the mold can be tested. Parents of three students at the school filed suit claiming that the mold caused the students to suffer chronic headaches, nausea, respiratory allergies, burning sensations in their throats, itchy eyes, fatigue, and other problems. The illnesses were associated with chronic water leaks, clearly visible mold, offensive odors, and "general deterioration" of the school building, the suit said.

MONTANA: With subdivisions come more students, and with taxpayers reluctant to pay for additional growth, Florence-Carlton School District officials are hoping to design a fair method of charging developers an appropriate mitigation fee for new subdivisions that are impacting their already overcrowded school system. Under current subdivision regulations, school districts in Ravalli County propose a voluntary mitigation fee - and if county commissioners agree with the amount, the developer is assessed the fee when the subdivision is approved.

With the passage of the Montana Senate Bill 185 during this legislative session, the door has been opened for counties and other municipalities to assess all types of impact fees, including school fees, to fund necessary capital improvements. The bill clarified for county officials that they could move forward on impact fees, which had been previously challenged in the courts.

NEW JERSEY: The state school construction money spigot has been turned off, and Hudson County school officials are beginning to worry about a drought. A desperately needed athletic field in Union City has been put on hold, progress to build an elementary and middle school in Jersey City has come to a grinding halt, and Hoboken school officials watched helplessly as a resolution to purchase land for a high school/elementary school/athletic field complex in their city was bounced from the agenda of the state agency in charge of financing the deal. These delays all result from a moratorium imposed last month on the state's Schools Construction Corporation that keeps it from entering into any new contracts amid charges the agency has wildly overspent on construction projects. In a scathing report, Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper accused the agency of having weak internal systems to control spending and made 10 recommendations for the agency to implement before new construction can more forward.

WASHINGTON: Thanks to an influx of money from the Legislature, the sale of a piece of property, and lower-than-expected costs to repair water pipes, Seattle Public Schools will be able to save roughly $9 million next year, district administrators announced. But the district still must deal with a $25 million shortfall in its capital budget, which pays for school construction, renovation and maintenance projects, and upgrades. That's in addition to the projected $20 million shortfall for the district's operating budget.

MARYLAND: Mayor Martin O'Malley moved closer to reasserting city control over Baltimore's public schools yesterday by taking partial oversight of school construction projects. The five-member Board of Estimates approved the mayor's proposed $2.3 billion budget for fiscal 2006 with one critical caveat - that the city's Department of Public Works, not the school system, manage the $17 million in city bonds budgeted for school construction needs for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The mayor's proposed budget, which must be approved by the City Council, would also give his administration control over $90 million in bonds for school construction over the next six years. The debate over giving more power to city government revealed increasing tensions and miscommunication between O'Malley and schools chief Bonnie S. Copeland, who is resisting the administration's latest effort to take more power.

RHODE ISLAND: Five years after Pawtucket handed its historical armory over to the group that plans to transform it into a high school and performing arts center, work has finally started on the building. But concerns over fire safety put up a temporary roadblock to the $3.8-million project, delaying the start of construction for more than a month. Architects had to obtain 18 variances from the state fire code before the city fire marshal would agree to issue a permit for the arts center and high school. In three cases, the issues were so contentious that the request for a variance had to be decided by the state's Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review. In each case, the board was asked to decide whether to allow architects to preserve the historical character of the building or require that the structure be altered in a way that would bring it completely up to code.

KANSAS: While the possibility is remote that Basehor-Linwood school officials will propose a bond issue this calendar year, it remains a certainty that a new school construction question will be put before voters in the near future. And when that time comes, school officials will face an uphill battle in gaining voter approval for funds earmarked for new school construction, if history is any indication. Since 1990, a year after unification between the Basehor and Linwood school districts, patrons have rejected six of seven school bond issues put before them.

KANSAS: While the possibility is remote that Basehor-Linwood school officials will propose a bond issue this calendar year, it remains a certainty that a new school construction question will be put before voters in the near future. And when that time comes, school officials will face an uphill battle in gaining voter approval for funds earmarked for new school construction, if history is any indication. Since 1990, a year after unification between the Basehor and Linwood school districts, patrons have rejected six of seven school bond issues put before them.

MICHIGAN: A handful of possibly endangered salamanders is slowing plans for a new high school in Ann Arbor. The seven amphibians are believed to be smallmouth salamanders, considered an endangered species in Michigan. Environmental activists and two residents who live near the site of the proposed school are suing the school district. They say any clearing or building would destroy the breeding area and habitat. School officials have questioned whether the salamanders are even entitled to legal protection because they could be hybrids. Meanwhile, the salamanders are living at the Detroit Zoo.

NEW JERSEY: Acting Governor Cody signed an executive order aimed at ending waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer money in the state agency spending at least $8.6 billion building schools. But even with Codey's signature, money to cash-poor school districts covered by the Abbott vs. Burke funding-equity case remained locked up as the state inspector general continues her work. Codey's order implements reforms demanded in a preliminary report last week by Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper, who is looking into operations of the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : The D.C. Board of Education for the first time approved a comprehensive plan to lease space to charter schools, and D.C. Council members proposed to double the school system's construction budget if additional steps are taken to shed excess space. Charter school advocates hailed the move, saying it would provide long-overdue relief for the independently run schools, many of which are in tight quarters because of surging enrollment.

D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp introduced legislation that would provide the school system with an extra $100 million to repair and modernize buildings -- doubling the amount it was to receive next year -- if school officials make additional progress on using space more efficiently. The school system has been steadily losing enrollment for years and, according to one recent independent study, needs only 10 million of the 16 million square feet it has at its 145 schools. Cropp's measure, which anticipates an increase in tax revenue for the next fiscal year, would direct the city's chief financial officer to allocate $10 million in new revenue toward debt service on general obligation bonds for new schools and libraries. That amount would finance $100 million in capital improvements, she said. But the proposal would require that school officials, in spending the money, give priority to "co-location" projects -- improvements at schools willing to share space with charter schools, public libraries, or recreation centers. Another priority would be projects that make regular school buildings more accessible to special education students.

FLORIDA: It's going to cost $78 million more than originally expected for the Manatee County School District to meet classroom construction demands over the next five years, school officials said. The increase can be attributed to soaring construction costs and the building demands placed on the district by the state's class-size amendment. The district's five-year capital plans calls for building six new schools and renovating or totally rebuilding three existing schools and constructing additions to eight schools. The original costs for those projects was $200.9 million.

MISSISSIPPI: Archeologists are combing over 150 acres of land slated for three new Desoto County Schools. The state of Mississippi halted the construction of the schools after a tip call revealed the land should be marked for an archeological excavation. Preliminary findings proved the tip genuine when scientists found bone fragments, pottery shards, and other evidence of a 1200 year old Indian village. The complete excavation process could take some time, but a preliminary report will be sent to the state at which point the government will decide whether or not to proceed with the plan. So far Desoto County has been cleared to continue with the project around the piece of land in question.

CALIFORNIA: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that charter schools are key to improving education in California and announced plans to make it easier for failing campuses to convert to charters. Speaking at the opening of Accelerated Charter School's newly expanded 130,000-square-foot campus, Schwarzenegger called the school in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods "a great model, not only for schools in Los Angeles and California, but for the rest of the nation."

The modern Accelerated School campus includes 36 classrooms that will serve 1,050 students. It offers a rooftop basketball court and amphitheater, a library, and community health center. Students learn in air-conditioned classrooms and have access to flat-screen computers. School officials plan a professional development center to train teachers and an early childhood development center. Funding for the $50-million campus came from voter-approved school construction bonds, state grants, private donations, and a $10-million grant from the Annenberg Foundation — the largest ever made to an L.A. Unified school. The school sets high expectations for all of its students. Teachers are evaluated based on student performance. Parents and school staff members are deeply involved in curriculum implementation, campus governance and school decisions.

WYOMING: Planning a Mercedes-Benz-class school when the state will only pay for a Buick is how some State Facilities Commission members described a conflict between the state and the Cheyenne school district. District and commission officials have been at odds for about two years over the cost estimates for the new high school, to be called South High. District officials say the project can't be built for the $117-per-square-foot cost allowed by the state commission guidelines. The district estimates the school will cost $53 million to $55 million. The School Facilities Commission budgeted $34 million in the district's five-year plan. The commission director, James "Bubba" Shivler, acknowledged he has "issues" with the district's plan, given that Spokane, Washington, built a school for 1,800 students plus a stadium for $29 million. The new two-story high school in south Cheyenne will have 1,300 students. If the state agrees to pay for the higher-cost school, it could set a precedent and jump the total cost of repairing old schools and building new ones to $1.1 billion, Shivler warned. Shivler said the mandate from the Wyoming Supreme Court was clear -- to build adequate, efficient and cost-effective schools.

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey's way of making sure its poorest school districts were not overwhelmed or wasteful as they embarked on $6 billion worth of school-building projects turned out to be wasteful itself, the Codey administration has concluded. Acting Governor Codey said he would make sweeping changes to the state's School Construction Corporation and implement all 10 recommendations from the state inspector general's damning report on the agency presented to Codey.

WASHINGTON: Washington state legislative negotiators reached a compromise on a $3.2 billion state construction budget — including money that will go toward school construction and building a new prison. The plan now heads back to the Senate and House, where it's expected to pass handily. It will then go to the governor. The K-12 construction plan is $217 million more than the current level. It provides an average of 40 percent of a district's construction and remodeling costs, a significant improvement over the current matching program. Money will also go toward modernizing schools, emergency repairs, and to help new buildings meet the "green building" environmental and efficiency standards recently signed into law.

CALIFORNIA: The acrimony that once divided teachers union supporters and detractors on the Sacramento City Unified School District board has returned. But this time the dispute over organized labor is brewing in a different segment of the work force: construction. School trustees are scheduled to vote on a proposal that would allow only construction companies that hire through unions, or offer union-style conditions, to bid on construction projects of $500,000 or more. The district's current practice is to hire the lowest responsible bidder. Proponents of such agreements -- referred to as both a "project stabilization agreement" and a "project labor agreement" -- say they ensure high-quality work, prevent construction delays and provide an opportunity for students to learn job skills through apprenticeships. Opponents say the agreements lead to higher costs because fewer companies are eligible to bid.

CALIFORNIA: The acrimony that once divided teachers union supporters and detractors on the Sacramento City Unified School District board has returned. But this time the dispute over organized labor is brewing in a different segment of the work force: construction. School trustees are scheduled to vote on a proposal that would allow only construction companies that hire through unions, or offer union-style conditions, to bid on construction projects of $500,000 or more. The district's current practice is to hire the lowest responsible bidder. Proponents of such agreements -- referred to as both a "project stabilization agreement" and a "project labor agreement" -- say they ensure high-quality work, prevent construction delays and provide an opportunity for students to learn job skills through apprenticeships. Opponents say the agreements lead to higher costs because fewer companies are eligible to bid.

NEW JERSEY: The agency in charge of New Jersey's $8.6 billion school construction program is crippled by glaring gaps in oversight and accountability that have led to millions of dollars in questionable spending, according to a preliminary assessment by the state's inspector general. Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper's report finds that the state agency supplements its 270-person staff with 22 temporary workers hired under a contract that pays them triple what comparable state workers would earn, has paid local governments a total of $67 million for school building sites that were already publicly owned and covered back taxes on some of the properties, approved $22.9 million in extra construction costs made necessary by architectural design errors but failed to seek reimbursement from the architects responsible for the added costs, paid its top officers thousands of dollars in "inappropriate" bonuses in 2003 and 2004.

Cooper recommends 10 changes that she says should be implemented before Codey lifts a suspension of school construction work he imposed at her request last month. In addition, she said the agency should suspend its land acquisition program until it can "undertake an extensive review to establish appropriate guidelines for selection of property suitable for school construction."

NEVADA: McCarran International Airport is donating 23 walk-through metal detectors,worth an estimated $200,000, to the Clark County School District. McCarran recently updated all of their checkpoints with new state-of-the-art metal detection equipment. But the detectors they replaced are still in good condition and can be used by the school district, which will use them for major sporting events and other activities that draw large crowds to area high schools, but not for screening students as they come to class each day, Darnell Couthen, spokesman for the Clark County School District, said.

MINNESOTA: Although Red Lake's high school had an emergency response plan in place, teachers and students weren't warned after Jeff Weise shot his way into the building last month, school officials said. While the emergency plan calls for warnings to be broadcast over the school's intercom, that warning never came, and officials aren't sure why, said the school district's acting superintendent. Federal officials investigating the shootings said earlier this week that the school's disaster plan helped save lives. But interviews with school officials and others indicated that initiative on the part of individual teachers - not the formal response plan - helped protect faculty and students.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : For years, D.C. leaders have avoided raising the sensitive topic of closing or consolidating schools, remembering the protests from students, parents and teachers when the school board shuttered seven buildings in 1996, the most recent round of closings. But the idea has reemerged and gained momentum in recent weeks because of the school system's continuing financial woes and the chronic space needs of the city's fast-growing public charter schools. City and school officials say that reallocating school space is no longer a question of if, but when.

Superintendent Clifford B. Janey offered a list of 18 regular public schools that could lease unused space to charter schools and are being considered for closing. Janey said he wants to move on the issue next year, after developing a "master education plan" that would outline the academic needs of the system, examine population shifts, and guide such decisions as whether to introduce a K-8 grade configuration citywide.

The vast majority of schools in the 61,700-student system -- 113 of 145 -- lost enrollment last school year, according to the 21st Century School Fund, a nonprofit organization specializing in school construction issues. At this point, the school system needs only 10 million of the 16 million square feet it has at all its schools, according to a new study prepared for Mayor Anthony A. Williams by 21st Century School Fund and the Brookings Institution. The report also said about 37 schools are operating at 65 percent or less of their capacity. Moreover, the report found that the charter schools, which are independently run and exempt from such requirements as hiring union workers, spend far less for school renovations than the regular system does -- $101 a square foot, compared with $352 a square foot for traditional schools.

ILLINOIS: Chicago's impoverished West Side will be home to a new $50 million high school that for the first time will combine high-achieving college prep kids with students interested in vocational training. The new building would hold two schools -- one for 700 college prep kids selected on the basis of test scores and grades -- and another for 700 vocational education students, City Hall sources say. Under the current plan, the two groups of students would share a common gym and lunchroom but otherwise operate independent of one another. The concept puts under the same roof a widely popular college prep program for elite high achievers with more job-oriented vocational education programming that Mayor Daley has championed since his 1995 takeover of the city public school system.

MARYLAND: Eager to try out her first camera, Kayla DeRusha looked around her school halls for something to shoot. Her snapshots, simple but bleak, show an ancient bathroom sink, a tangle of outdated computer wiring, and a crumbling classroom floor at City College. In one picture, a teenage girl sits, huddled in her winter coat, in front of a broken heater. In another, two signs: "Library" and "Closed." It is one of 50 black-and-white portraits of life in Baltimore's public schools that make up a revealing documentary exhibit. Taken by schoolchildren who were taught basic photography and given point-and-shoot cameras, the pictures chronicle the disrepair and neglect in Baltimore's public schools. There are photographs of broken toilets, lead-contaminated fountains, desolate playgrounds. Yet scattered among them are moments of joy, photos that capture the resilience of inner-city children determined to learn even in dismal surroundings. Several students focused on inspiring teachers; others, vivid art murals or science projects. One snapshot shows a long list of college acceptances posted on a bulletin board at City College, known for its academic rigor and distinguished alumni.

Adam Levner and Heather Rieman dreamed up the project two years ago. The two amateur photographers figured the best way to illustrate the often obscure debate over funding inequities would be through the eyes of schoolchildren. Their idea reflects the growing popularity of children's photography as a form of documentary.

MASSACHUSETTS: The Massachusetts Department of Education has told 14 cities and towns it won't pay $11 million of their school building costs because they paid more interest than the state permits on construction loans and purchased a slew of unauthorized items, including floral arrangements and a pickup truck. Some of the communities, trying to avoid raising taxes or cutting budgets to cover the unexpected bills, protest the findings, saying state rules for reimbursement were unclear and the state waited too long to crack down on spending. The findings, contained in audits by the state Department of Education, reveal a state building program that awarded billions of dollars over a decade, with little state oversight. The audits of the 14 communities' school projects offer a peek at the work confronting the newly established Massachusetts School Building Authority, which said recently it would audit more than 600 school construction projects over the next 18 months. The authority approved the findings in recent weeks, and the communities became aware of what they would have to pay during the last several months.

GEORGIA: Many of metro Atlanta's newer elementary schools house around 1,000 children, and its high schools can be bigger than some colleges. Most school systems have similar capacities for new middle and high schools, but elementary school sizes vary widely. Frank Petruzielo, Cherokee County schools superintendent, said 1,200 is the maximum capacity for elementaries there. DeKalb County strives for a capacity of just 750 to 1,000. "Once you have more than 1,200 in a building, it becomes extremely difficult to personalize the education," Petruzielo said. The superintendent, who came to Cherokee more than seven years ago from a high-growth school system in South Florida, set the capacity for new construction. "With the extraordinary growth in Georgia . . . we decided to err on the side of bigger rather than smaller," he said. "I couldn't see building schools for 600 and then having 70 or 80 portables," he said. "The cafeteria isn't big enough, the media center, and the hallways are not wide enough for a population that is double." Cherokee's school designs allow for crowding. The 1,800-capacity high school can accommodate 2,000 youngsters. "Nearly all the schools can accommodate more kids than those numbers represent," Petruzielo said. "We've tried desperately to build the full prototypical design and try to get the maximum return on investment. We resist the temptation to purchase portables when a better alternative is a permanent situation." That's especially important this school year, when the price of portable classrooms has increased from $30,000 to $42,000 each, Petruzielo said. And that doesn't include about $10,000 each for utility hookups and covered walkways.

FLORIDA: Hurricane-battered and run-down, the whitewashed little schoolhouse harks back to a time when two things defined a town: a church and a school. But time might be running out for Kenansville Elementary School, one of the state's last one-teacher schoolhouses when it closed in 2003. Years of neglect have left the structure uninhabitable, and Osceola County school officials say the best option might be to demolish the 88-year-old building. But to members of this tightknit ranching community 63 miles south of Orlando, the schoolhouse is a symbol of their heritage. Descendants of the two men who built the school in 1917 still live here, and many others recall the days when cow paths acted as shortcuts to school and a Christmas concert brought the entire town to the second-floor auditorium.

NEW YORK: Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx has eight floors, seven gymnasiums, a football field and a planetarium. But there is one place off limits to its more than 3,000 students: the six-lane swimming pool, which has been dry for more than a decade. Flanked by empty bleachers, coated with dust, and dimly lighted by a few fluorescent bulbs, whose dull buzzing noise substitutes for splashing and cheering, the pool evokes an aura of eerie loneliness. Within the New York City public school system, though, the troubled Truman pool represents a trend. Of the 50 swimming pools tucked inside the city's 1,200 school buildings, 10 are in unusable condition. For the swimming enthusiasts of the city public school system, the empty school pools are a sad spectacle, hollow symbols of lost opportunities to combat obesity, to provide summer job training in a city that has had to import lifeguards from Europe in recent years, and to entice that subset of students who just may love the water even if they hate everything else about high school.

NEW YORK: Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx has eight floors, seven gymnasiums, a football field and a planetarium. But there is one place off limits to its more than 3,000 students: the six-lane swimming pool, which has been dry for more than a decade. Flanked by empty bleachers, coated with dust, and dimly lighted by a few fluorescent bulbs, whose dull buzzing noise substitutes for splashing and cheering, the pool evokes an aura of eerie loneliness. Within the New York City public school system, though, the troubled Truman pool represents a trend. Of the 50 swimming pools tucked inside the city's 1,200 school buildings, 10 are in unusable condition. For the swimming enthusiasts of the city public school system, the empty school pools are a sad spectacle, hollow symbols of lost opportunities to combat obesity, to provide summer job training in a city that has had to import lifeguards from Europe in recent years, and to entice that subset of students who just may love the water even if they hate everything else about high school.

FLORIDA: Kicking off an aggressive construction plan to address massive overcrowding district-wide, the Miami-Dade School Board voted to approve a five-year, $3 billion school-building plan -- only part of which it can pay for without a new funding source such as a new local tax. Over the next five years, the construction plan calls for 42 new schools, the replacement of 18 existing schools, additions at dozens more and renovations at nearly every campus in the county. Combined with other building projects already approved, the package will create 118,000 new seats by 2009 -- enough to eliminate Miami-Dade's overcrowding epidemic and address projected growth of the school-age population. Funding from local and state governments, however, will only cover around two-thirds of the anticipated costs, district staff said. The remaining $1 billion would need to come from a new source, the most obvious being a bond issue backed by a voter-approved tax increase.

PENNSYLVANIA: Citing poor performance by some union workers and the need for greater efficiency, the Philadelphia School District plans to hire private companies to clean some schools and manage many large cafeterias. Although officials say no jobs would be lost, the district has upset union leaders by advertising for private firms to bid on cleaning 22 large high schools, which are currently manned by more than 220 workers. Paul Vallas, district chief executive, said he was prompted by lack of cleanliness in the schools and chronic absenteeism among union workers.

MARYLAND: The Baltimore school board voted to spend a third of the school system's $9 million rainy-day fund to cover an unforeseen rise in energy costs. The cost of heating oil has increased from less than a dollar per gallon last school year to $1.44, school officials said.

MICHIGAN: Following an education trend that smaller is better, Governor Jennifer Granholm wants to offer zero-interest loans to some districts to build new, smaller high schools of no more than 500 students. The new schools would be catalysts for districts to develop more effective teaching environments. The smaller schools would not replace older high schools, but rather share student bodies that generally do poorly academically. The new schools could be new buildings or renovated structures, such as old middle schools. The loan program is part of Granholm's plan to create 30,000 construction-related jobs with state loans and bonds to improve state roads, schools, housing, and nursing homes.

MASSACHUSETTS: While schools have long been aware of the dangers of working with chemicals such as 2, 4-dinitrophenol and mercury, recent incidents show how easy it is to lose track of laboratory materials, sometimes decades old, according to area science teachers. Past practices, such as ordering chemical substances in bulk and keeping them in separate storage closets, fostered a system that sometimes allowed schools to become unwitting harborers of hidden hazards. Old substances in science labs often aren't found until teachers do major cleanups, such as after the departure of a longtime teacher, or when school supplies have to be moved. Compounding the problem is a lack of guidelines from the state Department of Education instructing public schools on how to store and dispose of chemicals and how often to take inventory, according to science teachers.

MISSISSIPPI: The recent destruction at Mize Attendance Center may have some parents of school-aged children concerned about the structure of schools, and builders say there is no way to completely "tornado-proof" any facility. About 650 students at the Smith County school escaped injury when an apparent tornado ripped the roof from one of the buildings during storms that whipped through much of the state.

Architect David Landry, who has designed numerous Pine Belt schools, said the schools he designs are built to standards of structural strength. "People think about holding the building up, but we also think about holding the building down, which we also have to take into consideration when we design the building," he said. He said buildings in the Pine Belt should be constructed to withstand speeds of 100-110 mph. "With the wind speeds you have in tornadoes, it's virtually impossible to design a building to withstand it," he said. "You can have a tornado come through with winds in excess of 200 mph."

Some school administrators, however, are more optimistic about the buildings they are responsible for. Their school buildings are periodically inspected and safety upgrades are performed. Older buildings are probably not as safe as newer ones because codes have changed over the years. However, if a building is properly maintained, it should have an unlimited life span. The only thing a school can do to prevent danger to the children is to have early warning systems.

NEW JERSEY: Patterson's troubled school district has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for faulty construction plans, an internal audit shows. Its facilities department, now the subject of federal grand jury hearings, is said to have paid for construction-planning services never authorized by the Board of Education. Contracts for those services were awarded without being competitively bid and were not completed by licensed design professionals.

NORTH CAROLINA: The amount of money Brunswick County receives from the state to build new schools each year would likely triple under the revenue formula approved by the North Carolina House as part of a proposed state-run lottery. But that's still not enough to fund the construction of a single school, much less the three Brunswick County needs to alleviate overcrowding at several of the county's middle and elementary schools. Lottery proponents estimate the state would net at least $300 million in funds from a lottery for education. The legislation says half of that money would go toward new school construction, with the rest to college scholarships for the needy and other educational purposes that haven't been identified yet. The $150 million of anticipated revenue for school construction would go in a public school building fund that was established in 1987 with corporate taxes. That fund typically has about $60 million available each year for capital projects at the state's school districts. It is divided according to each district's student population. If lottery revenues meet expectations and could be allocated for the 2005-06 school year, Brunswick County would receive about $1.7 million for capital projects, or about $150 per student. But building a school costs more than 10 times that amount.

MARYLAND: Johns Hopkins University unveiled its newest security initiative yesterday: 24 cameras that can alert Hopkins officials to suspicious behavior, ranging from fights to falls. The machines were originally developed for the U.S. Department of Defense and have been installed along the university's north-south corridor. The $500,000 network is part of a security upgrade begun by Hopkins after the deaths of two undergraduates this past year. The school has pledged at least $2 million to hire more guards, install more emergency phones, and tighten entrance checks in dorms.

The cameras are perhaps the most high-tech improvement, each capable of swiveling 360 degrees and seeing in the dark for a distance of several blocks. The cameras are programmed to recognize 16 actions, including someone trying to break into a building, hiding behind a tree, or even slipping and falling. The system alerts a dispatcher who decides whether to notify Hopkins security or the police.

CALIFORNIA: A consultant's erroneous advice led the Monterey Peninsula school district to overspend by $3.2 million on some construction projects while $8.4 million in state aid earmarked for other projects went untouched, according to district representatives. And because the district missed deadlines, it did not receive state money to modernize three elementary schools. The multimillion-dollar miscalculation means that the district will likely have to use money from other sources to repay the $3.2 million and downsize some planned projects. District officials did not specify where the money would come from.

CALIFORNIA: A consultant's erroneous advice led the Monterey Peninsula school district to overspend by $3.2 million on some construction projects while $8.4 million in state aid earmarked for other projects went untouched, according to district representatives. And because the district missed deadlines, it did not receive state money to modernize three elementary schools. The multimillion-dollar miscalculation means that the district will likely have to use money from other sources to repay the $3.2 million and downsize some planned projects. District officials did not specify where the money would come from.

FLORIDA: It will be a place where natural light is plentiful, urinals are waterless, and environmental awareness matters most. The first "green" public elementary school -- built and designed for energy efficiency -- is coming to Palm Beach County. And the school, which will be built in the middle of a wildlife sanctuary, could be the first of its kind in Florida. Palm Beach County School Board members agreed to build the $19.9 million elementary school on the grounds of the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center. Clearing the property for the green-themed school ironically will mean uprooting some of the natural wilderness, officials concede. But they promise to pay for the removal of any wetlands or upland vegetation by restoring a comparable amount elsewhere.

To make the project distinctive, the school's construction will follow the strict standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. That means using energy-efficient equipment and designs such as relying heavily on daylight. It also may include waterless urinals, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and environmentally sensitive and recycled building materials.

NEVADA: In exchange for $215,000, Union County's newest high school stadium will be named for a home developer. A local soccer group is contributing another $70,000 to the school's fields around the stadium. According to the sponsorship papers, the soccer group will get first dibs on any fields not being used by the school. These contributions to Porter Ridge's stadium are estimated to represent 10 percent of the stadium's costs.

This is the first corporate sponsorship Union County has entered into since the school board unanimously decided, in 2002, to sell the naming rights for school facilities. At the time, the board was hoping to attract sponsors to help repair Parkwood High School's stadium, where bleachers needed a $500,000 upgrade. In recent years, a handful of schools nationwide have entered into partnerships with businesses. In 2002, Vernon Hills High, outside Chicago, named its football stadium after the paint company Rust-Oleum, which donated $100,000. A Richland County, South Carolina, elementary school is named for a nearby subdivision. Corporate naming, typically associated with professional sports arenas, is something cash-strapped school systems are saying they have little choice but to make. Some critics of corporate naming say that businesses enjoy considerable advertising benefits even though the stadiums are largely paid for by taxpayers.

ALASKA: A plan to spend $337 million in Alaska Permanent Fund earnings on school construction projects is winning strong support in the state Senate. Senators argued the bill is needed to clear the school maintenance backlog and build new schools, especially to relieve overcrowding in the booming Matanuska-Susitna Borough. It's a different story down the hall in the House of Representatives, where leaders in both parties say they have problems with the plan. A dormant alliance that includes right-wing and left-wing activists called Alaskans Just Say No announced, meanwhile, that it is resurrecting itself to fight the proposal. The group noisily battled attempts last year to spend fund earnings on state services.

CANADA: Toronto schools expose children to mold, asbestos, vermin, and other health risks as a result of chronic underfunding, says a report released by a parent group. Andrea Reynolds, who wrote the report based a review of health and safety records from 472 of the Toronto District School Board's 553 schools, said she is stunned by the magnitude of the problem. She found that 16.5 per cent of schools surveyed had exposed asbestos, 33 per cent reported signs of mold, 10.6 per cent reported infestations of vermin such as mice or pigeons, and 90 per cent needed repairs.

Sheila Penny, executive superintendent of facility services for the Toronto District School Board, said the issues of air quality, asbestos and mold management are dealt with on a regular basis. She said her staff has a long-term asbestos-management plan and a no-tolerance policy on mold, and that they will be looking into other concerns raised in the report, including widespread ceiling tile damage and broken door locks. The board has a backlog of $774-million in major infrastructure repairs awaiting funding from the provincial government. A recent funding announcement promised $175-million in infrastructure repairs, but the backlog is expected to grow to $1.4-billion over the next four years.

MARYLAND: A small trashcan fire at Westminster High in December was extinguished in a matter of minutes, but the debates it sparked have persisted for months. In the weeks after someone set the fire in the second-floor boys' restroom of the three-story school, parents complained about the school's emergency evacuation policy, which requires students unable to evacuate on their own to be moved to the nearest smoke-free stairwell, where they and an adult are expected to wait for firefighters. After consulting with fire experts, however, school officials have decided to stick with their long-standing practice of moving disabled students to stairwells for evacuation by firefighters.

NORTH CAROLINA: There's going to be less money available to build new schools and renovate old ones in Wake County. School administrators released new figures showing that because of rising costs, they're facing a $59.6 million shortfall in their construction program --$14 million greater than the shortfall they had estimated March 1. School administrators attribute the rising costs to higher prices for materials and to the large amount of construction work on the market. To bridge the gap, they recommend taking money from projects approved by voters in the last bond referendum and paying for them from the next one.

NATIONAL : Colleges around the country are touting their recreation centers, or plans for them, as a way to stand out in the competition for applicants. There's plenty of evidence that students pay attention when a campus builds or upgrades its recreation center, which typically includes basketball courts, swimming pools, running tracks and, in recent years, rock-climbing walls, specialized training, nearly limitless weight equipment, Internet connections, and late-night hours. According to the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, 333 of 700 colleges and universities are building or expanding recreation centers, or plan to soon. The trend is the latest in recent years in which universities attempt to attract students with perks like dormitories with suites, private bathrooms, and cable television. Other enticements have included allowing pets on campus and campus libraries that have snack bars, comfy seats, and 24-hour operations.

WASHINGTON: Schools, universities, and other public buildings in Washington State would have to be built to meet energy efficiency, water conservation, and other environmental standards under a bill that, if signed by Governor Christine Gregoire, would make Washington the first state in the nation to have such a "green building" law.

Green buildings have been built all over the country in the past few years using a standard called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED. Introduced in 2000 by the U.S. Green Buildings Council in Washington, D.C., LEED calls for using recycled materials and reducing water and energy use. The Green Buildings Council says green buildings not only reduce utility costs, they ncrease employee productivity, reduce absenteeism, and in schools, improve student test scores.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : The D.C. Board of Education has approved Superintendent Clifford Janey's nearly 640 million dollar plan for replacing or rebuilding seven high schools and repairing more than a dozen other schools with new roofs, heating and air conditioning systems, electrical systems, restrooms, and windows. The plan also calls for modernizing two elementary schools with money that the board will seek through public-private partnerships.

MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts plans to investigate billions worth of school building construction across the state for budgets far beyond the amounts the state originally approved and extravagant spending on routine items. The state plans to audit more than 600 school projects that have been in line for money since 1989. State officials don't have a dollar amount for the construction projects, but said those audited will be from a list of nearly 1,200 projects in the state worth at least $9.2 billion. A new state authority on school construction highlighted several projects it wanted to examine, including an Arlington middle school that nearly doubled in price since the state approved its construction.

The state, which has a long history of troubles with its school construction program, is pushing for audits now because the treasurer's office is preparing to sell bonds this spring to pay for part of the construction and needs to know the projects' actual cost. State officials expect higher overall costs because of what they have already heard about overruns.

MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts plans to investigate billions worth of school building construction across the state for budgets far beyond the amounts the state originally approved and extravagant spending on routine items. The state plans to audit more than 600 school projects that have been in line for money since 1989. State officials don't have a dollar amount for the construction projects, but said those audited will be from a list of nearly 1,200 projects in the state worth at least $9.2 billion. A new state authority on school construction highlighted several projects it wanted to examine, including an Arlington middle school that nearly doubled in price since the state approved its construction.

The state, which has a long history of troubles with its school construction program, is pushing for audits now because the treasurer's office is preparing to sell bonds this spring to pay for part of the construction and needs to know the projects' actual cost. State officials expect higher overall costs because of what they have already heard about overruns.

ILLINOIS: About $220 million in Chicago school construction projects has been postponed indefinitely because of state funding cuts, officials announced at a City Council meeting. The 66 axed projects were planned for this year and next. They include everything from a $225,000 roof replacement to $18.3 million for a new school. But, officials warn, these cuts will be only the beginning if the city schools can't get more state money to close a projected $175 million operating deficit next year. That's because the schools won't have enough cash to make interest payments on money the district hopes to borrow for its capital programs. Next year, the district is predicting an additional $17 million in bond payments.

The district is also cutting $33 million that was earmarked for major maintenance projects--roofs, windows, boilers, electrical upgrades, plumbing systems and masonry repairs--while preserving tens of millions of dollars earmarked for non-emergency projects and construction related to Renaissance 2010 school reforms. The $13 million set-aside to expand Renaissance 2010 was not touched this year and is expected to remain a priority for next year. There's still $32 million committed for a new computer system in 2005. And the district still plans to spend $10 million this year to build new playgrounds, repair pools, expand green space for schools, repave parking lots, replace lockers, and renovate lunchrooms.

MONTANA: Montana would gain centralized control over all local school renovation and construction projects under a proposal being considered by the special legislative committee working to build a new school funding formula. The upside is that schools would receive money directly from the state for renovation and building projects. The downside is that local schools would have to seek approval from the state for all capital construction and renovation projects. The state would decide how much money, if any, it should spend on each project. If the state denies a project, schools will likely be forced to seek redress in the courts.

While the plan would undoubtedly deliver more construction dollars to schools, education lobbyists say the money has too many strings attached. The centralized plan would dictate all construction details down to the local level. For example, the state would tell local districts how many bathrooms and how many auditorium seats their schools will contain, and what the square-footage of the teacher's lounge will be.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : The air quality in most of the 150 schools in the District schools is so bad, parents, faculty members and administrators say, that children simply cannot learn. Dust, grime, mold, and insect infestations combine with malfunctioning heating systems. Indoor temperatures can range from 50 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cornell Brown, the new executive director of facilities management for the District's public schools, said the vast majority of the schools suffer from air quality problems. Mechanical systems are not working properly in about half of the schools and housekeeping is often substandard, Brown said. Indeed, 71 percent of D.C. school buildings are rated "poor" overall, he said. In the District, the problem is widespread. Cornell Brown, the new executive director of facilities management for the District's public schools, said the vast majority of the schools suffer from air quality problems. Mechanical systems are not working properly in about half of the schools, and housekeeping is substandard in many, Brown said. Indeed, 71 percent of D.C. school buildings are rated "poor" overall, he said.

Concern about indoor air quality is growing as new research shows the health dangers from stagnant air that contains mold, mildew, dust, animal dander, radon, asbestos, formaldehyde and other irritants. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, asthma alone accounts for 14 million missed school days each year. The rate of asthma in young children has risen by 160 percent in the last 15 years, and one in 13 school-age children has asthma. Ironically, many of the District's older school buildings were part of an architectural movement to promote good health. The high ceilings, windows that opened,and corner locations for cross-ventilation were seen as elements of a healthy environment. But years of neglect allowed many of the buildings to deteriorate. Water leaks and broken pipes weren't fixed, dust accumulated, windows became stuck, and vents weren't cleaned.

NATIONAL : A nationwide poll of voters (1,000 sample, margin of error +/- 3.1) conducted by two respected national pollsters - The Tarrance Group, a Republican firm, and Lake Snell and Perry, a Democratic firm — found that among projects the government could consider spending tax dollars on, an overwhelming 91 percent of voters surveyed said that "repairing unsafe and dilapidated school buildings" was an important priority. Sixty-six percent rated the issue "very important" and 25 percent "somewhat important." On another question, 77 percent said they agreed with the statement “We are in urgent need of renovating existing school buildings.” Fifty-one percent said they “strongly agreed” while 26 percent said they “somewhat agreed.” High percentages of all demographic groups saw the need for renovating schools; notably, 82 percent of women and 86 percent of Hispanics were in agreement. In addition, the survey found that voters believe state and local governments are not doing a particularly good job of repairing dilapidated school buildings. Only 27 percent positively rate "state and local governments’ ability to repair dilapidated school buildings." In fact, a whopping 11 times more voters rate them "poor" compared to "excellent" on this issue. "The results indicate that school construction and modernization is a big sleeper issue across the nation," said Ron Faucheux, vice president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). "Local, state, and federal officials would do well to keep these expressions of public opinion in mind as they craft budgets, develop issue priorities, and plan future campaigns." The survey was sponsored by the AIA's Center for Communities by Design and the AIA Government Advocacy Team.

FLORIDA: Six months after hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, the Palm Beach County School District has yet to receive any federal money to pay for losses and repairs in excess of $22 million, and new hurricanes could arrive before any dollars do. School district officials fret that they haven't been able to submit any requests for reimbursement, not even for the removal of storm debris, because of strict Federal Emergency Management Agency procedures that regulate how damage is inspected, assessed, and fixed. The district says the tab for permanent hurricane repairs is at $10.3 million and climbing, including roof replacements at 13 schools and on many portable classrooms, and new carpeting and drywall. The rising cost of materials and construction continues to inflate repair costs.

ARIZONA: The Dysart Unified School District is racing against rising construction costs to fulfill a $74 million promise to community members. The money was approved by voters in 2002, when district officials said they would use the funds for school construction and improvement. Included on the list is renovating three of the district's older schools. When the bond was approved, the district's enrollment was about 8,500 students and the cost of construction in the Valley was not yet skyrocketing. Now, three years later, enrollment has surged past 14,000 and construction costs are soaring.

MISSOURI: Some area high schools have turned to artificial turf instead of natural grass for athletic fields as usage demands and maintenance needs increase. The latest plan is in the Rockwood School District, where residents will vote on a bond proposal that includes $2.8 million for artificial turf at four high schools.

The artificial turf business is booming and high schools are major prospects. About 600 synthetic fields have been installed at high schools, universities, parks, and stadiums around the country, according to the Synthetic Turf Council. Installation of artificial turf increased by 18 percent last year from the previous year, the council reports.

CALIFORNIA: It is now a real estate reality that houses located near a school with high test scores get a substantial price bump. When parents consider exactly where their child is going to school, they often get drawn into an obsessive game of calculation and compromise, trying to find their place in the school/real estate matrix. The practice of moving for a child's education has a long history in American planning -- in a sense it was exactly why the early, racially segregated suburbs were invented. But in the Bay Area, where the cost of a lowly hovel starts at $400,000, figuring out where one can afford to live and raise children is particularly thorny. Is it worth paying an extra $100,000 or even $200,000 for a home in a nice neighborhood to get your kid into a good public school?

NATIONAL : The attack at a school at Red Lake, Minnesota is the worst school shooting since Columbine. But even as the nation mourns the tragedy, experts on school violence are calling attention to how much has been learned in the six years since Columbine, and how much better prepared schools can be to avert such disasters - if they have the will, the time, and the resources to do so. Certainly, school guards, emergency plans, and metal detectors can help when violence is attempted. But preventing attacks often comes down to good relationships, listening, spotting warning signs, and persuading students to overcome the hallway code of silence - that it's OK to report threats.

OREGON: High-profile shootings during the past decade have prompted fundamental changes in school architecture. Schools in the area and nationally are being built or retrofitted with a greater emphasis on student safety, using design and technology to help avert tragedies such as the killings by a high school student in Minnesota that left 10 people dead. The office location, classroom door locks, and limited entrances are among the measures to make new or retrofitted schools safer.

OREGON: High-profile shootings during the past decade have prompted fundamental changes in school architecture. Schools in the area and nationally are being built or retrofitted with a greater emphasis on student safety, using design and technology to help avert tragedies such as the killings by a high school student in Minnesota that left 10 people dead. The office location, classroom door locks, and limited entrances are among the measures to make new or retrofitted schools safer.

NEW JERSEY: Many of New Jersey's blue-collar school districts are not reaping the benefits of the state's $8.6 billion for school construction, according to a published report. An analysis undertaken by The Sunday Star-Ledger found that affluent districts have received 24 percent more funding per pupil than other districts. The state's poorest districts - named Abbott districts after a court ruling - qualify for 100 percent state funding of projects. Other districts can have 40 percent of construction costs picked up by the state, but only if local voters agree to pay for the rest. The result is that many middle-class districts have been squeezed because they are not poor enough to qualify for the unrestricted funding or wealthy enough to have voters approve spending more of their own money, the newspaper reported.

WASHINGTON: Students who drank lead-contaminated water in Seattle public schools would not have suffered detectable or lasting health problems, a panel of scientists that reviewed a district water study has concluded. Seattle-based Intertox, which conducted the study for the Seattle School District, said that even under a "worst-case" scenario, the most lead-concentrated water sample collected would not have raised the lead level in a child's blood enough to be considered lead poisoning.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : D.C. Public Schools Superintendent Clifford B. Janey issued a protocol yesterday for removing potentially dangerous chemicals from schools, after a series of mercury contaminations and the revelation that a previous removal effort was incomplete. The nine-page protocol lists more than 200 chemicals including mercury, chlorine, chloroform, ether, hexyl alcohol and nicotine. The protocol was issued to the principals of each of the city's roughly 150 public schools. The school system's Hazmat Removal Team, D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services and the American Association for the Advancement of Science helped create the protocol and will handle the removal and disposal of the materials.

GEORGIA: At least $2.5 million of taxpayer money spent on Fulton County school construction projects may have been "misused," according to a verbal report given to the local school board this week. The misuse may have included money spent on equipment that is now missing, costs that exceeded the terms of approved contracts, unauthorized expenditures of funds and "frivolous and personal expenses" billed to the district, according to a statement released by school officials. School officials would not give any specifics on the alleged misspending and said the audit was not complete.

MINNESOTA: Minneapolis and St. Paul school officials say the shootings in Red Lake probably will not have schools lining up to buy metal detectors or posting armed guards at their front entrances. Instead, educators are dusting off their security plans to make sure they're up to date and encouraging teachers and principals to watch for signs that one of their kids might be about to blow.

Twin Cities schools have been working to improve their security for years. Some of that is the result of the school shootings of the 1990s, culminating at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999. Some were already in the works before that. Many metro-area schools have security cameras and unarmed security officers or adult "greeters" at their front entrances to check out visitors. In many schools, all but the main doors are locked during the school day. Armed police liaison officers have been stationed in high schools for years. Schools practice "lockdowns" in which the halls and bathrooms are cleared, everyone is herded into classrooms, and the classroom doors are locked.

What more can schools do and still be schools? "These are schools, they're not fortresses, they're not barriers," a Minneapolis superintendent said. "Our schools are owned by the public and used by the public. We want to make them secure and still inviting. That's the balance." That said, the district has been loading up on security equipment.

IDAHO: A Southern Idaho lawmaker's attempt to scale back a program designed to subsidize school construction interest costs is meeting with success. The first bill by Representative Scott Bedke of Oakley would have eliminated a third of the state's wealthiest school districts from being able to participate in the bond-interest subsidy plan. Bedke's new bill does that, but it also allows all districts to stay in the subsidy program until January 1st, 2006. That means any bonds passed between now and then still would be eligible. After next year, funding for the subsidy program would no longer come from state lottery profits, which are already earmarked for schools. Instead, it would come from the state's permanent building fund.

NEW JERSEY: Top officials of New Jersey's Schools Construction Corporation are seeking a meeting with the inspector general and the office of acting Gov. Richard J. Codey in an effort to move ahead on projects stalled by a sweeping investigation of the agency. The Codey administration suspended the awarding of new contracts on March 10 at the request of Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper. Cooper is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of spending at the SCC, which oversees an $8.6 billion, state-funded initiative to build and renovate schools Cooper was asked by Codey to look into the spending habits of the SCC after an analysis by The Star-Ledger revealed that new school projects it had overseen since 2002 in the state's poorest districts cost, on average, 45 percent more than schools built by local districts at the same time.

FLORIDA: Students at Miramar's Glades Middle will be in portables for weeks -- and possibly months -- longer than promised because the school board botched the job of picking a firm to build a permanent school. An administrative judge ruled that board members must start their selection process over, delaying Glades again. A losing firm filed a bid protest last fall after the school board chose a politically connected firm to build the $30 million, 2,000-student school. The situation raised questions about how the board awards construction contracts because nearly all the major projects in recent years have gone to two firms. The flap prompted the school district construction department to change the way it selects builders. Under a new process recently approved by the board, a panel of industry professionals and staff will make a single recommendation to the board, which then will vote for or against it.

NATIONAL : Fred Smith supervises the construction of one dozen Las Vegas schools a year to accommodate an annual influx of 12,000 new students. When steel and cement prices soared in 2004, Smith planned accordingly. He dug into his reserves and added $60 million to Clark County School District's $300 million building budget for 2005. But as the next crop of schools goes to bid, Smith faces a fresh predicament: Even as material prices settle at new, higher levels, contractors buoyed by strong demand are continuing to raise their prices. Where a school used to attract seven or eight contractors, now there are one or two.

NATIONAL : Security officials said that the slaughter at Red Lake High School in Minnesota suggests it is practically impossible to ensure total safety for students and teachers without turning schools into fortresses. Jeff Weise, the teenage gunman, defeated most of the security precautions by shooting an unarmed guard who had been manning a metal detector in the school entryway. Although schools across the country have instituted programs to identify potential perpetrators, educators and school counselors said similar incidents could be averted if more attention is paid to finding them.

NATIONAL : Security officials said that the slaughter at Red Lake High School in Minnesota suggests it is practically impossible to ensure total safety for students and teachers without turning schools into fortresses. Jeff Weise, the teenage gunman, defeated most of the security precautions by shooting an unarmed guard who had been manning a metal detector in the school entryway. Although schools across the country have instituted programs to identify potential perpetrators, educators and school counselors said similar incidents could be averted if more attention is paid to finding them.

CALIFORNIA: Antioch Unified School District officials are going with a construction plan that will fast-track the building of a new magnet school and future elementary school. Known as a lease/leaseback construction plan, the method sets a maximum price up-front, bringing the contractor and architect in early to work toward that price range. The leaseback portion is similar to a rent-to-own concept, where the district will pay for the construction in phases as the campus is built.

CALIFORNIA: Through a new public-private partnership, the San Diego Unified School District is about to show the rest of the country just how practical and profitable solar photovoltaics can be. In 1998, the roofs of more than 100 schools in the district were in such ill repair that they were judged potentially unsafe. That year, San Diegans voted to modernize their schools and build several new ones. The district's photovoltaic roofing project, being applied to some Proposition MM schools, deserves national attention.

Working with Los Angeles-based Solar Integrated Technologies, the district is reroofing 15 schools and three administrative buildings with a new kind of solar roofing material. Unlike the propped-up, unsightly solar panels of the past, these modules form the roof itself. Solar Integrated Technologies will install 1 million square feet of the solar roofs free-of-charge and maintain them at no cost to the district for 20 years. The firm will also sell the energy that the roofs produce to the district at about half of current costs. The district anticipates $6.9 million in total cost-savings over 20 years, including electricity cost savings of $1.9 million.

NEW JERSEY: Under fire for signing overpriced agreements with consultants and contractors to build schools in the state's poorest districts, officials with the state Schools Construction Corporation announced plans last month to scale back the role of "project management firms" in overseeing the state's massive $6 billion investment in these districts. The private firms, used as extensions of the SCC office, are involved in all phases of the new school projects, from design to construction, and are typically paid 9.5 percent of the overall construction cost. But since most of these firms have already inked long term agreements with the SCC - in most cases deals spanning the next 10 years - it is unlikely taxpayers will realize any savings from the new policy any time soon.

CALIFORNIA: The Girl Scouts, the PTA and other groups that use school facilities after hours may soon have to pay for the privilege. The Los Angeles Unified School District is considering charging nonprofit groups that use school buildings and athletic fields to help recoup the $6.2 million spent each year to staff and supply school campuses to host after-hours events. Groups say the fees could force them to cancel fund-raising carnivals, athletics practices, and other worthy events. The LAUSD has proposed charging $78 for a permit, plus up to $48 an hour for events. The school district grants 2,850 permits a year to youth groups. The division that manages after-school use has been asked to cut programs to help reduce a budget shortfall.

MASSACHUSETTS: The Center for Campus Fire Safety is leading a campaign to step up parents' concern about fire safety in hopes that their attention will drive more colleges to add sprinklers in student housing. Costly to install but proven to significantly reduce the risk of fire fatalities, sprinklers are standard in new dorms but are not required by Massachusetts law in student housing built before 1975, except in buildings over seven stories and those that undergo extensive renovation. The number of Massachusetts dorms lacking sprinklers is unknown, according to the state fire marshal, but a recent national survey by the National Fire Protection Association found only 35 percent of educational properties across the country that reported fires in 1999 had sprinklers.

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey’s nearly $9-billion-school construction budget for needy districts once seemed more than plentiful. Now, three years into the building program, the agency running it could be out of funds in 2006, five years ahead of time. The shortfall has focused new state attention on the New Jersey School Construction Corporation and how it handles everything from new contracts to change orders.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey is proposing a new school construction plan that would modernize seven senior high schools by 2011, providing them with either new buildings or additions. The proposal, which he said he revised based on comments at several community meetings, marks a shift from a plan he submitted earlier this year to steer funds away from ambitious school modernizations and toward less costly repairs to help more schools. The losers in his new proposal are elementary and middle schools, whose modernization schedules would be put on hold.

At issue is how the school system spends hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvement funds over the next six years. School officials are revisiting a 20-year, $3.5 billion capital improvement plan approved in 2000 because the school system has been receiving smaller-than-expected annual appropriations from the D.C. Council and because some initial projects have cost more than anticipated.

FLORIDA: A major part of Broward County's school construction program has ground to a halt with work on at least 15 campuses in danger of not being ready for the first day of school this August, the district's construction chief warned. A bottleneck in building permits issued by the school system has slowed or stopped work on about $78 million worth of classroom additions at schools needing relief from overcrowding. Most of the projects are modular buildings that are supposed to be ready in July, leaving a few weeks for correcting problems before opening day on August 8. Officials try to finish projects during the summer because of safety concerns and because construction work disrupts playgrounds and parking lots.

NEW YORK: Facing election-year criticism from parents and public officials, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced plans to double the amount of money the city will spend this year to repair and improve school buildings. The extra money would bring the city's contribution toward such projects to $2.6 billion in the fiscal year that ends this summer, fending off cuts to projects like building science labs and fixing broken windows.

ARKANSAS: Four bills that would redefine how public schools are built in Arkansas passed the Senate almost unanimously, with one dissenting vote on one bill. The bills will set up a new division of Academic Facilities and Transportation at the state's Department of Education. That division will oversee, approve, or reject building plans for all 254 school districts in Arkansas. The state boards overseeing that department will set standards. Failure by schools to meet the standards could result in state sanctions as harsh as removing the superintendent or consolidation.

One bill will require each district to write up a detailed 10-year master plan on facilities. Those plans, combined and priority-ranked, will make up the state’s master plan for where an estimated $50 million a year in facilities money will be spent after an initial investment of $150 million over the next two years to handle urgent projects. The state’s master plan will be submitted to regular sessions of the Legislature every two years for approval, and would also require school districts to set aside 9 percent of the money they get from the state under the state’s school funding formula for building maintenance.

ARKANSAS: Four bills that would redefine how public schools are built in Arkansas passed the Senate almost unanimously, with one dissenting vote on one bill. The bills will set up a new division of Academic Facilities and Transportation at the state's Department of Education. That division will oversee, approve, or reject building plans for all 254 school districts in Arkansas. The state boards overseeing that department will set standards. Failure by schools to meet the standards could result in state sanctions as harsh as removing the superintendent or consolidation.

One bill will require each district to write up a detailed 10-year master plan on facilities. Those plans, combined and priority-ranked, will make up the state’s master plan for where an estimated $50 million a year in facilities money will be spent after an initial investment of $150 million over the next two years to handle urgent projects. The state’s master plan will be submitted to regular sessions of the Legislature every two years for approval, and would also require school districts to set aside 9 percent of the money they get from the state under the state’s school funding formula for building maintenance.

WYOMING: The Natrona County School District Board of Trustees authorized a contract to evaluate all school facilities in the district and generate a five-year construction plan. Funding for the project will come from a $175,000 account set aside for evaluations of county high schools and from the district's minor capital projects fund, which will be reimbursed through repurposing of state school facilities money. The evaluation is part of a long-term effort to bring all school facilities up to par throughout the state. Each school district is required to develop a five-year plan annually, to be reviewed and approved by the state's school facilities committee.

MARYLAND: City agencies will begin managing the day-to-day maintenance of Baltimore's public school buildings under an agreement approved by the city's school board that calls for the city to provide an infusion of $3 million. The agreement makes clear that nothing in the understanding "diminishes in any way the authority or responsibility of the Board in managing the school facilities."

FLORIDA: The clinics that serve thousands of kids in some of South Florida's neediest schools may soon get needed financial assistance. Saying the clinics play a vital role in the school system, Miami-Dade schools Superintendent Rudy Crew pledged to find partnerships with private sector groups and scour the district budget to help fund the clinics. The Miami-Dade and Broward school districts provide space to house 20-plus clinics scattered throughout the counties, but currently offer little financial assistance. The clinics -- where nurse practitioner and medical assistants treat illnesses as varied as headaches and asthma attacks -- are operated and funded by community-based organizations that rely on local and federal grants.

NEVADA: Rising construction costs are forcing university officials to make major reductions in building plans as they beg lawmakers for additional money and do what they call "creative financing" to meet the increased need. They are giving up on parts of their original visions rather than risk losing the projects altogether. "Steel (prices) alone jumped up 20 to 30 percent, so that breaks the bank," said Thomas M. Hagge, associate vice president for facilities management and planning at UNLV.

MINNESOTA: One of the first things consulting architect Vaughn Dierks told the Fergus Falls Facilities Task Force when it began its work in September was that a 100 percent consensus had to be obtained on whatever they decided to recommend. The major options the task force had to consider included do nothing, renovate the current school, build a new school on the same site, and build a new school on a different site. With 60-some members from varying backgrounds and differing standpoints, a whole slough of options, and more than 30 hours of presented information and discussion, it may have seemed like an impossible task. But after six months of meetings, the task force unanimously recommended a new school at a new site.

The task force was made up of a wide cross-section of community members, from retirees to 20-somethings, people with children and grandchildren in the system to Fergus Falls transplants, along with business owners, laborers, professionals, clergy, and past and present educators. None were turned away, according to Superintendent Mark Bezek. "I'm confident that the majority of this community knows and cares about what a quality school facility means to the community -- economically and socially. I also believe that most recognize that this is a community-wide responsibility," said one of the task force members.

FLORIDA: The Manatee County School District is considering a creative financing method that plays off the area's extensive growth to speed up construction of three new elementary schools. The assistant superintendent for finance said that the district could borrow against future impact fees the district expects to collect on new home construction. The district would need to borrow about $45 million to pay for the projects and desperately needs more schools to accommodate its exploding student population.

WYOMING: With local control of education slipping away, communities received a major boost in efforts to hold on to old schools thanks to a bill signed into law by Governor Dave Freudenthal. The measure provides funding to help towns convert into community centers those schools ordered to be abandoned or demolished by the state. "This program is designed to help cities and towns keep the traditional role of their school buildings, which have always been a place for people to gather," Freudenthal said. "I believe this is a quality-of-life question for many of our communities, particularly the small towns that have relied historically on school buildings to meet a range of community needs." The Wyoming Community Facilities Program is infused with $7.5 million to provide grants and loans administered by the Wyoming Business Council. Communities, recreation districts and joint powers boards may apply for the money to preserve former school and government facilities that have potential as community gathering places or recreational, swimming, and athletic facilities. The measure was driven by recent Wyoming Supreme Court opinions that hold the state solely responsible for school construction and maintenance funding.

NATIONAL : The use of networked video cameras has given rise to concerns about their security. If such cameras are connected to the Internet, they might be detected by a search engine, and their images viewed, if steps have not been taken to secure them. Parents in Tennessee have brought suit against the Overton County school board over an internet-based surveillance camera system that included the placement of cameras in a school's locker rooms.

MONTANA: Science classrooms in Montana schools have chemicals from A to Z - acetamide to zirconium nitrate - on their shelves and the assortment includes some that are dangerous and perhaps unnecessary, the state Department of Environmental Quality said. The agency released results of a survey that asked schools to inventory their supplies of chemicals. A contractor distributed the questionnaire in August as part of a DEQ effort to have teachers identify unneeded chemicals, and dispose of them lawfully. As a guidepost, two schools produced lists of 120 chemicals commonly used in basic high school chemistry courses, said Bob Reinke, a DEQ hazardous-waste inspector.

DEQ now plans to offer teachers and school administrators a one-day course on lab safety and the proper storage, handling and disposal of chemicals. Reinke said expense is one of the difficulties in disposing of unwanted chemicals. He noted that one school informed him that it received a bid of $8,000 for laboratory cleanup. DEQ is unable to offer cash assistance and the financial burden rests with school districts, he said.

MARYLAND: Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley thought he had come up with an offer that the city school system couldn't refuse: The city would provide $3 million to spruce up school buildings and would assume maintenance responsibility for all school facilities. The additional $3 million is on top of the $207 million the city now contributes to the schools' annual operating budget; it would pay for a "blitz team" that would attempt to make immediate, visible improvements in bathrooms, on floors, and on school grounds, officials said.

The Baltimore School Board, however, has concerns that still need to be ironed out. The cash-strapped school system, which operates independently from City Hall, said it welcomes the city's help but wants to make clear that it has the final say. The city, however, is unwilling to commit additional money without being able to take charge of contracts and employees.

MARYLAND: Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley thought he had come up with an offer that the city school system couldn't refuse: The city would provide $3 million to spruce up school buildings and would assume maintenance responsibility for all school facilities. The additional $3 million is on top of the $207 million the city now contributes to the schools' annual operating budget; it would pay for a "blitz team" that would attempt to make immediate, visible improvements in bathrooms, on floors, and on school grounds, officials said.

The Baltimore School Board, however, has concerns that still need to be ironed out. The cash-strapped school system, which operates independently from City Hall, said it welcomes the city's help but wants to make clear that it has the final say. The city, however, is unwilling to commit additional money without being able to take charge of contracts and employees.

VIRGINIA: When the fire alarm sounds at Frost Middle School, a 15-year-old student watches a parade of classmates march through the hallways and down the stairs. He knows they are heading out the door as he pilots his motorized wheelchair to a classroom where a teacher will be waiting. Fairfax County school officials say the designated room -- with a window, near a stairwell and known to firefighters -- is the safest place for the student and other wheelchair users who happen to be on the second floor. The students disagree and are lobbying school officials to install so-called "evacuation chairs" that will allow them -- with help from an adult -- to get down the stairs and out the door.

In the 3 1/2 years since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, debates such as this one have become more common as governments and private companies focus on improving emergency plans. Hilary Styron of the National Organization on Disability's Emergency Preparedness Initiative said there is no clear consensus on whether evacuation devices or designated safe areas are better. She said the success of any emergency plan depends on proper training.

Dean Tistadt, assistant Fairfax superintendent for facilities and transportation services, said school officials decided that the chair's risks outweigh the benefits. There is concern that staff members or students could be injured during the transfer to the evacuation chairs and that it would be difficult to ensure that enough employees are trained to use the device. Tistadt noted that Fairfax firefighters, who helped develop the district's emergency plans, can be at any school in minutes and know where children in wheelchairs will be waiting. The staging areas, marked with signs inside and outside the building, are equipped with two flags, one to hang out the window and one to hang in the hall. An adult helper has a two-way radio.

LOUISIANA: Two years after a lucrative maintenance contract sharply divided the Jefferson Parish School Board, the contract is again stirring controversy as school officials investigate whether they can break the $10 million deal. A heating and air-conditioning firm that won the five-year contract for work at 33 Jefferson schools is coming under fire from some principals and board members who have assailed the company as unresponsive and its work as shoddy.

ILLINOIS: With most Illinois school districts in deficit spending, state education leaders are taking a renewed look at consolidation as a way to funnel the most money into classrooms. In smaller school districts, state and local tax dollars are at least three times as likely to end up in administrative paychecks than in larger districts. And with schools hungry for money to boost student achievement, consolidating tiny districts could make sense.

In some ways, consolidation may go against one of the rages in education reform these days: small schools. Much research extols the virtues of more intimate settings where students are not lost in a sea of faces and have a sense of connection to their teachers and school.

COLORADO: Seven architecture students at Sterling High School in Colorado designed a new high school as a class project, imagining a school full of the latest amenities, as well as what staff and teachers think works best for them. Their work has gotten the attention of architects at the Neenan Company, the group hired to put together a facility study for the Sterling school board. The architects were impressed with the magnitude of what the students were trying to accomplish, including their interviewing process and research. The architects thought that their design showed they were "in tune" to what the school and community needed and wanted and that they were very creative and thorough in their approach.

PENNSYLVANIA: Relying on stadium revenue in lieu of taxes, Philadelphia School District officials said they would borrow $31 million to modernize classrooms, improve sports facilities, and upgrade security over the next three years. The district, officials said, will receive $2.9 million a year for 30 years from Spectacor Arena, L.P., the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Philadelphia Phillies. It will use that revenue to pay back the bonds. Classroom improvements include technological upgrades, electronic libraries called "cybraries," science labs for 71 seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms, new furniture, video conferencing equipment, and mobile educational carts with laptops. The district also plans to install powerful high-tech cameras outside four high schools that have had security problems in the neighborhood.

PENNSYLVANIA: As part of its Safe Schools Plan, the Lewisburg Area School District is making new efforts to examine the security and safety of its facilities. A group of parents, school board members, and law enforcement personnel are part of a committee looking at safety within the school, Superintendent Mark DiRocco reported at a school board meeting. As part of the plan, there will be a walk-through of all the districts' school buildings. Each school will be assessed on the basis of a security checklist that includes questions about organization, security systems, and alarms and the perimeter, exterior, and interior of the buildings.

FLORIDA: For the past six months, the Charlotte County School District has been replacing nearly a third of its hurricane-destroyed schools with modular campuses. Hurricane Charley devastated six of the district's 20 school buildings, displacing almost 5,000 students -- a quarter of the total -- from their schools. While the district faces a years-long, roughly $200 million rebuilding effort, the construction of the modular schools has been, in its own right, a significant undertaking. Requiring months of planning and scores of workers, the six modular campuses cost $20 million, which the district said will be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The modular campuses, which can be assembled and open for students in as little as eight weeks, will house students for several years.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : The District of Columbia's Cardozo Senior High School was thrown into turmoil again after authorities discovered droplets of mercury in a stairwell, the second time in a week that the potentially dangerous substance was found in the building. This time, mercury contamination was found on the shoes or clothing of 88 students and staff members. Last week, the number was seven. Authorities said that no adverse health effects have yet been found.

MARYLAND: Faced with skyrocketing suburban land prices and crowded schools, Howard County's Board of Education has crafted an unusual partnership to get land for a badly needed new school in Ellicott City. The school board has finalized a deal to acquire 13.84 acres owned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and 8 acres from the YMCA to build a 788-seat elementary school by August 2007. The deal represents a unique partnership between the YMCA and the school system that would allow joint use of the school. The YMCA will use the school's athletic fields when they are not being used for school-sponsored events or when school is not in session, and will have access to the school's parking area during off hours. A private access road and storm water waste management system would serve the school and the YMCA. The YMCA plans to use the proceeds from the sale to renovate and double in size its facility.

GEORGIA: The Philadelphia-based Annenberg Foundation is putting $12.5 million into Mechanicsville in an attempt to revitalize the area. With one year to go on the foundation's five-year grant, there are signs that things may be starting to turn around. New construction dots the neighborhood, including a townhouse development with prices in the high $300,000s. The McDaniel Glenn public housing complex is slated to be demolished. Unemployed parents have taken job skills courses and found work. And Dunbar Elementary has been infused with newfound optimism, punctuated by skyrocketing parental involvement, a new academic program and test scores that are beginning to rise. The school, in fact, is the focus of the program's turnaround efforts. The neighborhood will see fundamental change only when the school improves, said Clara Axam, a former Atlanta school official who is leading the program. "The theory is, if you can change the quality of lives, then you can change everything," said Axam, project director of the Mechanicsville Community Learning Collaborative.

GEORGIA: The Philadelphia-based Annenberg Foundation is putting $12.5 million into Mechanicsville in an attempt to revitalize the area. With one year to go on the foundation's five-year grant, there are signs that things may be starting to turn around. New construction dots the neighborhood, including a townhouse development with prices in the high $300,000s. The McDaniel Glenn public housing complex is slated to be demolished. Unemployed parents have taken job skills courses and found work. And Dunbar Elementary has been infused with newfound optimism, punctuated by skyrocketing parental involvement, a new academic program and test scores that are beginning to rise. The school, in fact, is the focus of the program's turnaround efforts. The neighborhood will see fundamental change only when the school improves, said Clara Axam, a former Atlanta school official who is leading the program. "The theory is, if you can change the quality of lives, then you can change everything," said Axam, project director of the Mechanicsville Community Learning Collaborative.

NORTH CAROLINA: Sampson County, Pennsylvania,is pretty well assured that about $40 million in loans will be coming from Washington to help build schools, says Ed Causey, a federal official from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development program. The money is from a pool of $330 million in disaster relief funds spread over a 16-state area. Considering the relatively small amount of total funds available and the large area of coverage, Sampson County, said Causey, is "very fortunate" to get the $40 million.

CALIFORNIA: South Gate city officials had a dream: to build shopping centers — not schools —on every parcel of undeveloped land to capture the millions of dollars the city believes it loses when residents shop elsewhere. But when the Los Angeles Unified School District embarked on a $14-billion school construction program, city officials were brought back to reality. Through its power of eminent domain, the district has claimed small businesses, blighted industrial buildings and other sites the city wanted for commercial development.

The issue of schools versus shopping centers has parent groups and L.A. Unified on one side and South Gate city government on the other. Business owners have been largely caught in the middle. Everyone agrees, however, on the need for schools. Overcrowding has forced L.A. Unified to use trailers as classrooms, switch to year-round calendars, bus students to less crowded schools, and require some teachers to move from classroom to classroom throughout the day. But for the officials of South Gate, a city that has been plagued by corruption and faces a $6.5-million deficit in the next fiscal year, every acre of land not used for commercial purposes means less money for municipal services such as tree-trimming, pothole repair, and trash pickup.

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey state senators moved quickly on legislation that would create a new state panel to review the spending and policies of the Schools Construction Corporation, set up 31 months ago to manage an $8.6 billion overhaul of public school buildings. "We need to ensure taxpayers' dollars are getting spent wisely," said Senator Shirley Turner, who chairs the committee. "The [Schools Construction Corporation] has plowed through the $8.6 billion in state funding for the school facilities project far too quickly. We need to get in there and make sure the money is going into building schools and not the hands of overpaid professionals."

Lawmakers backing the review panel cited a recent Star-Ledger report that showed the six school buildings erected by the SCC cost, on average, 45 percent more than 19 schools built by school districts during the same time period. The report showed that special project management firms have been paid $216 million -- about 10 percent of all SCC construction spending -- and that those firms and architects have been paid at more than twice the rate school boards pay their professionals.

MICHIGAN: After years of planning and two more of construction, the Detroit School of Arts officially opened for business as one of the most elaborate high schools in the United States. At a cost of about $125 million, the six-story structure of glass and shiny steel features some of the most high-tech computer equipment and amenities available to high school students anywhere, including an 800-seat auditorium, an acoustically designed recital hall, dance, radio, and tv studios, and news media labs. The school is being paid for with a $1.5-billion capital improvement bond approved by Detroit voters in 1994.

NEVADA: The installation of four wind turbines is under consideration for the Clark County School District as a way of turning a natural resource into big savings for the district. According to the school district's associate superintendent of facilities, "there's a lot of red tape" to be negotiated before the turbines could be put in place in the Sierra Vista valley, including getting approval from Nevada Power and the state Public Utilities Commission. One scenario would be for a private company to operate the turbines and sell the district energy at a discounted rate. The four turbines could theoretically produce enough energy to meet half of Sierra Vista High School's annual needs.

Another district conservation plan, to convert the sun's radiation into electricity to power schools, is further along than the wind turbine proposal. Four elementary schools slated for roof replacements could also get solar panels capable of producing 12.5 kilowatts of energy. The panels will be installed provided the district's application with the state's solar energy program is approved. The four schools would be capable of producing as much as 50,000 watts annually, translating into a savings of $250,000 in power bills for the district.

ARKANSAS: Arkansas legislative leaders put together a school facilities package that would take $100 million from state cash reserves, mainly from the General Improvement Fund. The fight for the money has already begun, with most of the appropriations for state agency budgets on hold until a cost estimate for court-ordered improvements to school facilities is completed. The plan would spend $100 million of the state's cash-on-hand in the first year. Another $50 million would go into the plan the second year and be paid from ongoing tax revenues. Local school districts would have to come up with a share of the money in proportion to local property tax wealth. The first two years would concentrate on school buildings in the most dire need of improvement; these tend to be in poorer districts. The long-term statewide average for repair work would be 60 percent local money, 40 percent state.

CALIFORNIA: As school districts in California's urban areas struggle with declining enrollment, many are thinking about regrouping grade levels as one way to mitigate the loss of students and make better use of existing campuses. That structure is common at Catholic schools throughout Silicon Valley, and many parents are open to the concept because they want their children to attend neighborhood schools for as long as possible.

Many large urban school systems -- in New York, Philadelphia and Cleveland, for example -- are in the process of converting their middle schools to K-8 elementary schools. Advocates say students do better academically when they form relationships with school staff over a longer period, and some feel that the minefield of puberty and adolescence is easier to navigate when students are with teachers and peers who have known them since they were young children.

In California, the most common grade configuration is elementary schools for grades K-5, middle schools that serve grades 6-8 and high schools for grades 9-12. About 15 percent of California's public schools are K-8s, and many of them are either magnet schools or located in more rural regions of the state.

HAWAII: Hawaii depends on portable buildings to make up for the shortage of classrooms in crowded public schools with as many as 18,000 students being taught in them every day. But local architects say they don't have to be hot boxes that stifle learning if good design principles are used. Using the principles of green design, they can build a cooler portable that won't need air conditioning. Toward that end, architects, college faculty, state employees and University of Hawaii students gathered last summer to create portable designs for the state Department of Education that are cool, ecologically supportive, and conducive to learning. The group is running its top two designs through a computer simulation program to see how well they disperse heat. They expect to turn over the final plans to the state next month.

ENGLAND: Inside a dingy-looking prefab hut near the Toxteth area of Liverpool, an experiment is determining the shape of things to come; or at least the shape of the world as British schoolchildren will know it. A new teaching system, revolutionary in more than one sense, has been developed and tested in secret. Known as the 360 degree flexible classroom, it challenges the techniques used by teachers down the ages. Instead of simply standing at the front, their teacher, circles them on a curved 'racetrack', occasionally taking up a position on a podium in the centre of the room.

During a typical lesson students sat in sets of four, hunched over large white boards, discussing work and gripping thick marker pens. The white writing boards fit back on to the walls of the classroom so the class's work can be discussed. To see this, the students swivel round on their seats, before swivelling back into a semi-circle around the teacher to examine a diagram. The wall boards can also become screens for computer projections, while the temperature and light in the room are electronically controlled. Mirrors mounted at three points serve as eyes in the back of the teacher's head.

The flexible classroom is one of 10 Design Council learning campaign projects set up in schools around Britain. Constructed last year, it has been in regular teaching use all this term. Now the Design Council hopes the project will influence the way every school is built, ahead of a huge national education investment programme. The government is to spend £5.2 billion on refurbishing and building schools in the first major investment for three decades. On top of this sum, each year over £1bn is spent on furniture, decoration, and maintenance. The Design Council team believe this money should be spent with imagination, rather than just copying the old fashioned classroom blueprint.

CALIFORNIA: Thanks to nearly $277 million from a California school facilities bond measure approved by voters last year, 18 independently run but publicly funded charter schools will be allowed to expand or build campuses. Facilities problems are among the main obstacles to opening and expanding the charter schools, their leaders say. Many charters rent space in churches or vacant commercial buildings while trying to raise money for permanent campuses.

"The bond money means these charters can create a good facility without having to dip into operating funds," said Anita Landecker, executive director of a nonprofit that helps charters write successful applications for the bond funds. "It means they can put more money into their classrooms. It helps put them on a par with traditional public schools" including the many Los Angeles Unified campuses that are opening as part of a $14-billion building program.

CALIFORNIA: Thanks to nearly $277 million from a California school facilities bond measure approved by voters last year, 18 independently run but publicly funded charter schools will be allowed to expand or build campuses. Facilities problems are among the main obstacles to opening and expanding the charter schools, their leaders say. Many charters rent space in churches or vacant commercial buildings while trying to raise money for permanent campuses.

"The bond money means these charters can create a good facility without having to dip into operating funds," said Anita Landecker, executive director of a nonprofit that helps charters write successful applications for the bond funds. "It means they can put more money into their classrooms. It helps put them on a par with traditional public schools" including the many Los Angeles Unified campuses that are opening as part of a $14-billion building program.

MARYLAND: In the O'Malley administration's boldest step yet to improve aging and decrepit schools, the Baltimore Planning Commission demanded that city agencies - and not the school system - take control of city money spent on school construction and called for the closure of under-populated buildings. The commission urged the city to develop within 90 days a plan to close "an appropriate number" of schools within 18 months and to sell those buildings and use the proceeds to fix up the remaining facilities. The sweeping recommendations - made as part of the planning commission's approval of the capital budget for the coming year - followed the acknowledgement by school officials to commission members a month ago that $97 million in approved construction money had gone unspent over the past five years.

LOUISIANA: Energy conservation has paid off for the St. Charles Parish School District. Board members were told that the district's efforts to shave its energy costs have resulted in a savings of an estimated $2 million in the past eight years. In 1995 the district pursued several contractors to determine the best methods for energy savings, finally contracting with Siemens Building Technologies Inc. for $75,000 annually to monitor the district's energy costs and perform maintenance duties. At the time, the district also spent $2 million to modernize lighting and climate-control systems. In a report to the School Board this week, Siemens calculated that the district has saved more than $2 million in energy costs since 1995, including more than $287,000 last year. Siemens' calculations are based on energy costs for the 1995 school year. At that time $1.5 million was budgeted for district energy costs. According to Siemens, 13 of the district's 21 facilities met the company's energy cost projections for 2004.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA : Health officials and hazardous materials teams evacuated the District's Cardozo Senior High School after drops of mercury were found inside the building, and authorities said the school will remain closed for the remainder of the week to be cleaned thoroughly. School officials said that Cardozo did not store any mercury and that they suspect a "prankster" brought it into the building. The droplets were found about 10 a.m. at three places in the school, prompting a screening of more than 600 students that stretched into the evening.

CALIFORNIA: Education officials are examining and documenting the conditions of 2,208 California schools eligible to receive special state funds for building repairs as part of a $1 billion legal settlement. In Williams v. State of California, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged that the state had failed to provide its children with sufficient learning materials, safe and clean school buildings, and properly trained teachers. The state settled the suit in September, establishing new laws and guaranteeing about $800 million for emergency repairs, about $50 million for oversight, and $138 million for new textbooks and supplies. Laws stemming from the Williams settlement say only the most dire problems qualify for the funds: gas leaks, electricity failure, stopped sewer lines, pest or vermin infestations, broken windows. School districts must do the repairs and apply for reimbursement from the settlement funds.

WASHINGTON: Seattle Public Schools administrators are weighing the consequences of shutting schools as one potential cost-cutting option to close the gap between rising expenses and revenues. But short of selling district property — which board members say is off the table — leasing former schools has been far from lucrative for the district. Altogether, long-term property leases bring in only about $1.2 million annually.

A school Board member who describes the district's long-term lease revenue as "a pittance" says the district should renegotiate the leases and think about using assets creatively to support students. For example, the district's central kitchen could be leased during its off-hours to private commercial users, or a developer could be recruited to convert some buildings to dormitories for new teachers. Private schools could be the most obvious potential long-term tenants or buyers of closed public schools, yet the district has been reluctant to provide buildings for its competition.

WASHINGTON: Seattle Public Schools managers overspent their $754 million school-rebuilding program because they weren't told that construction-levy money was coming up $6.5 million short, school-district officials said. The problem, which occurred because managers lacked up-to-date financial information, resembles the school district's financial crisis of four years ago when financial managers failed to match up revenues with expenditures and ended up $36 million in the hole. The overspending adds to the deficit of a construction program already reeling from $10 million in inflation-related cost overruns. As a result, the School Board could scale back or shelve the last three projects. The latest problem occurred in the Building Excellence program, in which two taxpayer-approved levies are paying for rebuilding and renovating 36 schools.

NEW YORK: When the Robin Hood Foundation, a nonprofit agency that fights poverty in New York City, was looking to help the schools, it decided on libraries because a library is the one academic place every child in a school uses. Since 2002, 31 new Robin Hood libraries have been built at some of the poorest elementary schools citywide and they are spectacular to behold, every one different and all worthy of an Architectural Digest spread. The new library at the 110-year-old P.S. 106 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, was built in a fourth floor attic space and features a stairway that leads to two large windows with a perfect view of the Manhattan skyline. The padded stairs double as seats for library classes. But just as important as a beautiful and well stocked space - Scholastic and HarperCollins donated a million books each for the libraries - are the people who run them. Robin Hood required that each new library have a full-time aide and a librarian with a master's in library science.

ARIZONA: Arizona lawmakers are considering a bill that would revolutionize the way schoolchildren are taught and allow Arizona to take the lead in a country where technology is entering the classroom in fits and starts. It would link parents, students, teachers, and state education officials through one seamless, wireless, real-time computer system and bring the latest in software and digital technology to reshape lesson plans and teacher training. But it would cost $1.1 billion in state funds over four years. The initial investment is $132 million of new money in the 2005-2006 budget year, a year when lawmakers are struggling with a deficit some claim is more than twice that amount. The bill would trigger a transition from the current paper and textbook classroom, or "legacy" education, to 500 "eLearning" schools by 2008-2009, when classroom work would be based on software programs and digital media.

FLORIDA: A photograph of a burrowing owl perches in an office cubicle at the Broward school district's construction headquarters -- an inside joke in the form of a mock dartboard. The creatures and their state-protected love nests have turned into a nemesis for construction workers and maybe taxpayers watching bottom lines. Out at South Plantation High School, the smallish birds have forced a year delay and $100,000 in extra expenses to construct a parking lot and regional football field. At nearby Tropical Elementary, part of a playground has been off limits to children for years because of the burrows. A special permit is being pulled so the owls at Tropical could be relocated this summer to build a new cafeteria. "I've said we could build them a million-dollar luxury condo and it'd be cheaper," said a school construction manager.

State law forbids disturbing parents-to-be or their newborns during their mating and nesting period, February through July 10. Banned from frightening them off during the period, work on South Plantation's Regional Athletic Facility ground to a halt last year when the birds moved in and refused to fly the coop.

NEVADA: The goal of Clark County School District officials for the next generation of campus prototypes is a combination of environmental conservation with the latest in crowd control and security. District officials say a new vocational high school will be a model of efficiency. The design calls for high-efficiency lighting and for water, heating, and cooling systems that maximize natural resources. The new vocational high school will be the first of the district's campuses to seek a "silver rating" from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The $3.5 billion 1998 construction program allows for new prototypes to be introduced every four years. Using the current prototypes, the district completed or has under construction 39 elementary schools and 16 middle schools. With bids on school projects up 21 percent for the 2004-05 academic year, district officials say they're struggling to find available contractors willing to meet the budgeted price. The new prototypes will minimize the use of the most expensive materials, such as steel, without compromising safety.

NEVADA: The goal of Clark County School District officials for the next generation of campus prototypes is a combination of environmental conservation with the latest in crowd control and security. District officials say a new vocational high school will be a model of efficiency. The design calls for high-efficiency lighting and for water, heating, and cooling systems that maximize natural resources. The new vocational high school will be the first of the district's campuses to seek a "silver rating" from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The $3.5 billion 1998 construction program allows for new prototypes to be introduced every four years. Using the current prototypes, the district completed or has under construction 39 elementary schools and 16 middle schools. With bids on school projects up 21 percent for the 2004-05 academic year, district officials say they're struggling to find available contractors willing to meet the budgeted price. The new prototypes will minimize the use of the most expensive materials, such as steel, without compromising safety.

FLORIDA: A state-appointed oversight board may be ready to end years of pushing for reform of Miami-Dade school construction, with its chairman and the head of the School Board recommending replacing the controversial board with a less powerful advisory committee. Since its creation in 2001, the oversight board has hammered the district about waste and mismanagement in its school-building and land-buying bureaucracies. The Legislature gave the oversight board power to freeze the district's annual construction funding, and at one point it controlled more than $100 million.