Toolkit to help realtors enhance their knowledge and understanding of the public school system so they can become involved in improving their schools and communities. A section on Issues in Public Education includes the following topics: the benefits of green schools; walkability and safe routes to school; school building and siting; teachers living where they work; and how schools are funded. Section two shares examples of realtors and realtor associations around the country that are playing an active role in engaging local students and improving local schools by serving on school boards, volunteering at local schools, donating their time to community-wide efforts to improve schools, and advocating for local school-related initiatives.

Compiles best practices from the literature pertaining to Smart Growth and K-12 schools, translated into eleven performance-based criteria. The Report Card describes these criteria, then provides four or five options for addressing each of them. The options then correspond to a letter grade that permits a local community to assess its efforts. 24p.

Advocates for walkable routes to school, emphasizing the global climatic and health effects of greenhouse gasses, such as those generated by motorized vehicles.

Emphasizes creation of neighborhoods and schools that can adapt to changing demographics through mixed development.

Examines how California's massive and ongoing investment in school construction could better advance the shared goals of school improvement, sustainable urban growth, and equal opportunity. The brief is organized in five parts: 1) a framework for how smart growth principles could help guide school facilities investments, 2) how the $82 billion in bond revenues are being distributed to California's various regions, 3) how a lack of coordinated planning is placed in sharp relief to where people live to how far they travel to jobs, 4) the benefits of high-quality school facilities that accrue to students and teachers, and 5) state policy makers, local educators, and city planners could exercise influential policy levers more wisely. Four communities that are grappling with these challenges in innovative ways and constructing smart schools that build from smart growth principles are highlighted throughout this report.Explores California's current $82 billion school construction investment as an opportunity to advance educational quality and lift local communities. The report urges incorporation of smart growth principles into school facilities construction, more accountability from the State Allocation Board, and investigation into how facility improvement have improved achievement. 37p.

Discusses the EPA's first-ever federal guidelines for locating school facilities that encourage high-performance schools, stress the importance of locating schools near populations and infrastructure and promote schools as diverse centers of communities. They urge communities to consider children's ability to walk to school, access to public transportation and how to locate schools away from potential environmental hazards.

Traces the evolution of school siting standards, explains factors currently influencing school facility location decisions, and identifies what local and regional planners could contribute to school siting decisions. The author's research discovered that different groups use very different definitions of community school. Smart growth proponents advocate community schools that are small and intimately linked to neighborhoods, while school facility planners expect community schools to meet the needs of entire localities. She recommends that individual communities consider the tradeoffs associated with different school sizes and make choices that meet local preferences for locations within walking distance of students, potential for sports fields, school design, and connections to neighborhoods. State school construction and siting policies should support flexibility for localities.