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NCEF News summarizes and provides links to news stories about educational facilities nationwide. Links to older articles may no longer be active.
New Schools Turning Green: Massachusetts Schools Using Geothermal Heat, Solar Panels and Energy-saving Technology
Dick Lindsey,
Berkshire Eagle
February 27, 2010 MASSACHUSETTS: Monument Valley Regional Middle School in Great Barrington is a quintessential example of a "green" public school building in Massachusetts. The 81,315-square-foot building in the Berkshire Hills Regional School District has motion-sensored classroom lights, recycled carpeting, an interior covered with environmentally friendly paint, and more than twice the insulation required. The $15.5 million project completed in August 2005 also has 88 solar panels that now produce $15,000 worth of electricity each year - or more than 13 percent of the $115,000 spent to power the building, according to school district officials. But what sets Monument Valley apart from most green schools - new and renovated - is the geothermal heating system. Water pumped from a large underground aquifer activates the 63 heat pumps throughout the school. After the water circulates through the system, it's returned to the aquifer 350 feet below the surface. The renewable energy source heats 95 percent of Monument Valley at an annual operating cost of nearly $32,000 - a nearly 40 percent savings over using natural gas estimated at $54,000. Monument Valley far and away meets the requirements and guidelines of a "high-performance green school" put forth by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, or SBA. The SBA - the main state funding source for public school projects - expects new or renovated buildings to be well insulated, have an energy-efficient heating/cooling system, and be constructed with nontoxic material creating a safe learning environment. Furthermore, the SBA encourages building reuse rather than new construction as part of its green school philosophy. Pittsfield is currently working with the SBA to develop plans for the future use of Pittsfield (built in 1930) and Taconic (constructed in 1969) high schools; both are in need of energy upgrades such as new heating and ventilation systems. "Whatever we build, we want to be cutting edge - from the materials used to the design," said Pittsfield School Superintendent Howard "Jake" Eberwein III. While solar panels and geothermal heating are the glamour of green energy concepts, common sense and good architectural practices are the true foundation of a sustainable school. " Orientating a building with more windows facing south to utilize sunlight and fewer windows on the north side to better insulate the school" is one aspect of green construction, said West Stockbridge architect Dana Bixby. Bixby founded the local steering committee for the U. S. Green Building Council and designed the $3.65 million new facility for the Montessori School of the Berkshires. The nearly complete 9,200-squarefoot complex in the Lenox Dale section of Lenox will use 14 green concepts including "solar walls." The exterior walls are designed to absorb the sun's energy, pre-heating fresh air for the ventilation system. Bixby noted the new Montessori school is being designed to accommodate future installation of solar panels - when school officials can secure grant funds. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, or MTC, has been a major funding source for public and private buildings incorporating alternative energy technology for the first time. Berkshire Hills obtained a $500,000 MTC grant to pay for the solar panels and invested $300,000 of its own money for the geothermal heating system. Jobs Bill May Boost School Bond Sales, Bank of America Says
Catarina Saraiva,
Business Week
February 26, 2010 NATIONAL: Municipal bond sales for transportation and school construction may rise if the U.S. House of Representatives passes the Senate’s job-creation bill, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said. Programs such as the taxable Qualified School Construction Bonds and Qualified Zone Academy Bonds may see a “marginal increase” if representatives approve a version of the Senate’s jobs bill that will let local governments get a 45 percent subsidy on the interest costs after issuing the bonds, strategists led by John Hallacy wrote in a note. The qualified bonds, which provide tax credits to investors, have been less popular than Build America Bonds, which give 35 percent federal interest subsidies on taxable issues for public works. More than $78 billion of BABs have been sold since April, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Issues of the qualified school bonds totaled $2.6 billion out of a possible $11 billion last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The jobs bill will allow those bonds “to be issued in the direct subsidy format with funds being paid to the issuer in the same manner as for BABs,” Hallacy wrote. QSCBs and QZABs in Senate Jobs Bill
Peter Schroeder,
Bond Buyer
February 25, 2010 NATIONAL: The Senate easily approved a $15 billion jobs package that would allow the several types of tax-credit bonds to be issued as direct subsidy bonds, as well as extend the surface transportation law and put nearly $19.5 billion into the highway trust fund. Senators voted 70 to 28 to approve the bill, which now advances to the House. Lawmakers in the House approved their version of jobs legislation in December, which would extend the Build America Bond-style subsidies to just two tax-credit bond programs — qualified school construction bonds and qualified zone academy bonds. Under the Senate measure, QSCBs, QZABs, qualified energy conservation bonds, and new clean renewable energy bonds could all be issued as direct-payment bonds. In addition, large issuers would receive a subsidy rate of 45% of interest costs and small issuers would receive a 65% rate under the measure. Small issuers would be those that sell less than $30 million of bonds in the calendar year. However, both those subsidy rates would fall below what issuers could receive under the tax-credit bond mode. Current tax-credit programs offer tax credits roughly equal to 70% and 100% of interest costs, depending on the program. New York City Comptroller John Liu complained that the 45% subsidy is far too low. “Approval of a 45% subsidy rather than the original interest-free model will place additional strain on an already overburdened budget,” he said. “QSCBs at a 100% subsidy rate are critically needed not just for jobs, but also for schools and classroom seats that we so desperately need.” In contrast, the House bill would modify the two tax-credit bond programs that can be used to finance school construction and improvement projects, but would give issuers direct payments equal roughly to the credit rate on the bonds. Voters Approve Levies for Washington State School Construction
Benjamin Minnick,
Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce
February 24, 2010 WASHINGTON: A bevy of school levies passed across the state, and that's not only good news for students but also for the construction and design industries. Voters approved $4.66 billion in maintenance and operations levies, along with $507 million in bond issues and $816 million in capital projects. Four districts failed to pass bond issues totaling of $351 million, most of that in the Lake Washington ($234 million) and Marysville ($78 million) districts. [Specific levies are detailed in article.] Green School’ll Get Greener
Melinda Tuhus ,
New Haven Independent
February 23, 2010 CONNECTICUT: Common Ground High School’s 20-acre site on the flank of West Rock State Park may get a new harvest pavilion and a cistern to store rainwater, thanks to a $96,000 grant students at the environmental charter high school won. The students won the money, to draw up a site plan for their school grounds, from a national committee composed of other high school and college students. Sixteen students who worked on the grant formally accepted the award Monday afternoon. Common Ground is more than the state’s only environmentally themed charter school. It’s also a community environmental center, a working farm with both animals and a large organic garden selling produce to the public, and “a laboratory for environmental research, sustainable living, the study of natural and human history, and community-building,” according to its outreach materials. The grant was awarded by the youth advisory board of State Farm Insurance, which handles $5 million in philanthropic funds. It was one of several grants to student-led service learning projects around the country. Common Ground also recently won a $1.5 million state facilities grant to build three new classrooms and a performance/athletic space. The school was founded in 1997 and serves just 150 students from ten area towns. Earthquake Engineers Release Report on Damage in Haiti
Staff Writer,
ANI
February 23, 2010 HAITI: A team of earthquake engineers has released a report on the damage done in Haiti after the mega quake on January 12. The five-person team sent to evaluate damage from the devastating magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti found no surface evidence of the fault that might have caused the quake, but installed four instruments to measure aftershocks and help pinpoint the epicenter. University of Washington civil and environmental engineering professor Marc Eberhard led the team that provided engineering support to the United States Southern Command, responsible for all US military activities in South and Central America. "The poverty of the people combined with the density of population and lack of building codes resulted in the widespread devastation," said Eberhard. A main conclusion is that much of the loss of human life could have been prevented by using earthquake-resistant designs and construction, as well as improved quality control in concrete and masonry work. The authors of the report recommend that simple and cost-effective earthquake engineering be emphasized in Haiti's rebuilding effort. The team provided a ground assessment of places that were worst hit, including the port in Port-au-Prince, the cathedral, the National Palace, the Hotel Montana and the Union School, attended by children of many nationalities. They photographed damage in smaller towns and assessed the safety of hospitals, schools, bridges and other critical facilities. A survey of 107 buildings in a heavily damaged part of downtown Port-au-Prince found that 28 percent had collapsed and a third would require repairs. A survey of 52 buildings in nearby Leogane found that more than 90 percent had either collapsed or will require repairs. "A lot of the damaged structures will have to be destroyed. It's not just 100 buildings or 1,000 buildings. It's a huge number of buildings, which I can't even estimate," Eberhard commented. Chaining School Doors 'Fairly Common' in Texas, Says State Fire Marshal's Office
Diane Rado,
Dallas Morning News
February 23, 2010 TEXAS: Dallas' Samuell High School violated fire codes and created a potential firetrap for students when it chained a school exit door last week, fire officials say. But Samuell's action wasn't unusual. Chaining school doors has become "fairly common," as schools weigh security issues against fire safety concerns, said Kurt Harris, an administrator in the State Fire Marshal's office and past president of the Texas Fire Marshal's Association. In fact, the practice of chaining school doors in both urban and regional schools in Texas "has gotten worse," as school shootings and other incidents have heightened concerns about school safety, Harris said. The issue will be high on the agenda at the annual state fire marshal's conference in the fall, he said. At Samuell, the issue came to a forefront last Thursday, when a fire started in a boys bathroom, apparently from a still-burning cigarette thrown into a trash can. Smoke spread into the hallways and students and staff were told to evacuate the building. But some students trying to get out ran into a chained door, which was later unlocked. There were no injuries at the school of about 2,000 students. Dallas fire officials make annual school inspections and respond to complaints about possible code violations, said Anthony Jacobs, a fire prevention officer for the city. Still, enforcement can be challenging. While some fire officials make surprise inspections, Dallas fire inspectors usually schedule their inspections because of the volume of schools involved, Jacobs said. That means school officials know when inspectors are coming and can remove chains on doors. "Chains on the doors – that is something that changes day by day. One week they may [have chains on doors] and one week they don't," he said. If inspectors see chains on doors, "it's one of the things we take very seriously," Jacobs said. A fine for a violation involving chained doors can vary from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the type of building inspected, the circumstances and the discretion of the judge in the case, said Jacobs. What the Senate Jobs Bill Means for Education (School Construction)
Jennifer Cohen,
Ed Money Watch Blog
February 23, 2010 NATIONAL: The U.S. Senate passed its version of what has come to be known as the “Jobs Bill,” called the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act. The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill (H.R. 2847), called the Jobs for Main Street Act, in December with significant provisions for education. What does the Senate’s bill mean for education? Initial analysis suggests not much. The Senate bill does attempt to make existing tax credit bond programs, including those aimed at school construction, more attractive to investors. The provisions affect the two programs created or expanded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA): the Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCBs) and Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs). It does so by providing an “issuer allowed refundable credit” for the bonds, a benefit previously only allowed for Build America Bonds. Currently, the QSCB and QZAB programs allow schools and school districts to finance school renovation and modernization by providing income tax credits to bond investors in lieu of interest payments. This means that while schools and districts would still have to pay the bond principle, the federal government would cover the interest through income tax credits. The Senate bill would instead provide a payment directly to the school or school district that issued the bond worth up to 65 percent of the interest the schools owes on the bond. This credit can then be passed on to the holder of the bond – typically a bank or other financial institution – as an interest payment. Unlike the existing income tax credits provided in the ARRA, the credits are refundable. In other words, bond holders that do not owe taxes, or whose income tax credits exceed the amount of taxes they owe, can use issuer allowed credits as subsidies, rather than tax credits. In theory, the move to make the tax credits refundable will make QSCBs and QZABs more attractive to investors. Under the current bond programs, investors must owe federal taxes for credits to have any value. The proposed changes mean that investors could still receive the interest payments even if they do not have federal taxes to offset. Energy-Efficiency Loans With Stimulus Money Available to South Dakota Schools
Staff Writer,
Argus Leader
February 23, 2010 SOUTH DAKOTA: A new $2.8 million revolving loan fund for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects is now available to South Dakota schools and nonprofit organizations. The zero-interest loans can be used to install efficient lighting, heating, air conditioning, windows and insulation, or using renewable energy from wind turbines, solar panels and heat-pump sources. The special loan fund for K-12 school districts, state technical schools and non-profit organizations was established with federal stimulus money under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. Loan terms will be up to 10 years and are based on a simple energy savings payback calculation. Priority for loan funding will be based on the amount of capital investment per energy amount saved. Poorly Lighted Classrooms Effect Students Sleep
Thomas H. Maugh II,
Washington Post
February 23, 2010 NATIONAL: Riding in school buses in the early morning, then sitting in poorly lighted classrooms are significant reasons students have trouble getting to sleep at night, according to new research. Teenagers, like everyone else, need bright lights in the morning, particularly in the blue wavelengths, to synchronize their inner, circadian rhythms with nature's cycles of day and night. If they are deprived of blue light during the morning, they go to sleep an average of six minutes later each night, until their bodies are completely out of synch with the school day, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute reported last week in the journal Neuroendocrinology Letters. The finding was made by fitting a group of students with goggles that blocked blue light and discovering that their circadian rhythms were significantly affected. "These morning-light-deprived teenagers are going to bed later, getting less sleep and possibly underperforming on standardized tests," said lead author Mariana G. Figueiro, a sleep researcher at RPI's Lighting Research Center. "We are starting to call this the 'teenage night owl syndrome.' " "This is a nice little preliminary study" that definitely needs to be replicated, said sleep researcher Mary Carskadon of Brown University, who was not involved in the research. "I think the big take-home message probably is that better lighting in the schools is a good idea." Parents and teachers have been complaining in recent years that teens stay up too late at night, then fall asleep in class the next morning and do poorly. The new findings provide a possible explanation for the problem. "This is our first field study," Figueiro said. "We would like to replicate it in larger studies, also for longer periods of time. We would also like to determine if you can see an impact on performance." If the findings are replicated, a variety of solutions are available. Ideally, new schools would be built to allow more natural sunlight into the classrooms. Students could also be exposed to more sunlight outside. Incandescent lights should never be used in classrooms because "they are heavy on yellow and red, and the circadian system is not tuned to those colors," Figueiro said. "You want incandescent light sources in the evening." Some fluorescent lights are also not very good. Most that are currently used produce orange or reddish light, but it is now possible to purchase bulbs that emit more blue.
Massachusetts Issues $30 Million in Tax Exempt Bonds for Perkins School for the Blind Construction
Staff Writer,
Wicked Local Watertown
February 22, 2010 MASSACHUSETTS: MassDevelopment has issued $30 million in tax-exempt bonds on behalf of the Perkins School for the Blind. The School plans to use these funds to finance two phases of construction at its Lower School, which serves children ages six to 14 years of age who are blind or visually impaired. The project, expected to create over 300 construction jobs, includes a new 55,000-square-foot, three-story building for classroom space, clinical space, an auditorium, and gymnasium and renovation of a 98,000-square-foot building. The first phase consists of a new schoolhouse building, which will be connected to the residential cottages by a covered walkway; the demolition of the former preschool house; and site work. The second phase includes a major renovation of the existing Lower School House building and parts of Glover and Potter Cottages into new residential space. “Perkins School has already done so much for its community, teaching trailblazers like Helen Keller and her mentor Anne Sullivan,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver. “MassDevelopment is proud that we can help the nation’s first school for the blind update its facilities and become more accessible to all its students.” The new facility will also be wheelchair-accessible and accommodate the newest adaptive technologies as they become available. “This new school house and the renovated building will be a benefit for our students for the next 100 years,” said Perkins President Steven M. Rothstein. “These new and renovated building will provide more educational opportunities, more independence and more safety for our students and staff.” MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. Rosenwald Schools: Reclaiming a Legacy.
Marian Wright Edelman,
Huffington Post
February 22, 2010 NATIONAL: From 1913 to 1932, nearly 5,000 "Rosenwald schools" were built in 15 states, mostly in rural Southern communities. These schools were built specifically to educate Black children and by 1928 one in three rural Black schoolchildren in the South attended a Rosenwald school. Their history, and the remaining school buildings themselves, are now being reclaimed and preserved. The schools were named for their primary donor, Chicago businessman Julius Rosenwald. The son of German Jewish immigrants, Rosenwald was a clothier who became the president of Sears, Roebuck, and Company. In 1912, Rosenwald was a member of Tuskegee's Board of Trustees when president Booker T. Washington came to him to suggest donating funds specifically for building Black schools. Most Southern states provided little public funding to adequately educate Black children, and many rural communities had no schools for Black children at all. After a successful test group of six Alabama schools, in 1917 Rosenwald established the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, and the School Building Program remained one of the foundation's primary missions until Rosenwald's death in 1932. The Rosenwald Foundation provided seed grants for school construction and required communities to supplement the grants with public funds and support from local citizens. Black residents were usually the driving force behind bringing a Rosenwald school to a community with fundraising a community-wide undertaking. Though most communities continued the practice of supplying Black schools with worn-out books and second-hand materials, the schools themselves set a new standard in the rural South. Rosenwald schools were built to uniform design plans that mandated simple, clean-lined buildings with large windows and plenty of natural light. Many counties copied some elements of their designs for new White schools. Once built, the schools often became central hubs and gathering places for the Black community. In the second half of the twentieth century, as schools consolidated into larger districts or students began integrating into previously White schools after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, many Rosenwald schools were abandoned or demolished. In some communities the buildings were kept up and found new life as Head Start classrooms, senior citizen centers, or in other community uses. As recognition of their historic importance began to grow, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the schools to its list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2002. Today its Rosenwald Schools Initiative works to preserve remaining Rosenwald buildings across the South. Utah House Kills 'Green' Schools Recommendation
Brandon Loomis,
Salt Lake Tribune
February 22, 2010 UTAH: Utah lawmakers have rejected a call to build and certify "green" schools that are energy efficient and have a clean learning environment. Rep. Mark Wheatley, D-Murray, proposed the resolution to encourage Utah schools to build or retrofit to the standards of a "silver" certification by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design [LEED] program. Doing so could save each school up to $100,000 in energy costs every year, he said. The certification also assures appropriate lighting for school work and healthful indoor air quality, he said. "It gives children a head start for a healthy, prosperous future," Wheatley said. But critics said building to those standards is expensive, and the Legislature shouldn't encourage a program that likely would lead school districts to ask the cash-strapped state for construction money. "We need to be really careful here," said Rep. Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace. "We're asking [schools] to create a fiscal liability." Resolution opponents said they have heard of LEED certification adding 20 percent or more to the cost of buildings, a figure that Wheatley disputed. Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork, opposed the resolution, HJR20, and said schools can add insulation and other energy-saving improvements without committing to the full cost of LEED certification. Democrats argued that the energy efficiency would make certification a cost saver rather than a liability, but the measure was defeated 47-21 in the House. Los Angeles Charter Schools Fail to Make the Grade in Accessibility for Disabled Students
Connie LLanos,
Contra Costa Times
February 22, 2010 CALIFORNIA: None of the 29 Los Angeles Unified charter schools examined in a study met state and federal standards aimed at making campuses accessible to disabled students, and some even lacked wheelchair-friendly bathrooms and walkways. The study by a federally appointed independent monitor also revealed that the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, which determines whether schools are compliant with these laws, is not making proper inspections. An independent monitor was appointed in 2003 to oversee a federal consent decree imposed on the school district to improve special education services. An earlier report by the monitor also blasted LAUSD charter schools for enrolling fewer disabled students overall and fewer with severe disabilities than traditional schools. "This is part of a larger issue ... and that is whether charter schools, which are a growing proportion of schools in LAUSD, welcome and are accessible to students with disabilities," said Independent Monitor Fred Weintraub."Our studies have shown that is not currently the case and we're looking to the district to improve the situation." Charter schools, which are publicly funded but operate independently from the district, are an increasingly popular option for parents of L.A. Unified students. Currently, LAUSD has 151 charter schools within its attendance boundaries - more than any other school district in the country - and it could see more than a dozen new campuses open next year. Charter school operators and supporters were quick to question the findings of the report and denied that charter schools on the whole were not accessible to students with disabilities. "As far as making sure all children have access to charter school facilities there is no entity more committed to that than the charter community itself," said Jed Wallace, president of California Charter Schools Association. "We are not complacent on this, and if there is an instance or two where something has to be addressed we will help schools." But Wallace said he did not believe that all 29 schools were out of compliance. Blissfield, Michigan Schools Seeking $12 Million Upgrade in Bond Vote; Using Stimulus Bonds
David Frownfelder ,
Daily Telegram
February 21, 2010 MICHIGAN: Energy efficiency and student safety are the impetus behind the nearly $12 million bond issue facing Blissfield Community Schools district voters. Voters are being asked to approve a measure that will levy up to 2.49 mills for 15 years to finance $11,993,750 in construction at the district’s three school buildings. School officials said owners of a house with a taxable value of $50,000 would see their property tax bill increase by $124.50. In the summer of 2009, the Blissfield schools were approved to borrow up to $15 million in school construction bonds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) — the federal economic stimulus bill. The bond issue would be used to repay the ARRA funds. Moellenberndt explained that the bonds allow qualifying schools to borrow up to $15 million at interest rates as low as 0 percent over a 15-year term. Because they are bonds and sold on the open market, the rate could vary based on market conditions. School bonds approved in November sold at an interest rate between zero and 1.25 percent, with most being between 0.50 percent and 0.75 percent, according to Moellenberndt. ARRA encourages the district to use as many local contractors as possible on the work, Moellenberndt said. School district officials have been meeting with a number of local contractors and have found a great deal of interest and expertise in doing the work. “That’s the point of the stimulus plan, to help local companies,” he said. Fayette, Kentucky Schools Going Green With New Projects
Jim Warren,
Herald Leader
February 21, 2010 KENTUCKY: Fayette County Public Schools wants to paint some green on the Bluegrass with two upcoming construction projects. The school district says it will emphasize earth-friendly technology to reduce energy use and promote environmental sustainability at its new Locust Trace Agri-Science Center on Leestown Road and the new elementary school planned for Keithshire Way. Green concepts also will be integrated into the education experience at the facilities, district officials say. Mary Wright, the district's chief operating officer, said the two projects should be the most environmentally friendly facilities the district has built. And green technology figures to be part of district plans from now on, she said. "We want to be more environmentally conscious, and a number of interested community groups have come to us and offered support in that regard," Wright said. "So, we're looking at utility usage, building design, curriculum planning and the impact of things like the new stormwater fees. It's all part of trying to take a more global approach." Here are some of the green provisions being considered: buildings at both sites will be oriented to welcome morning sunshine and shade out harsh late afternoon sun, reducing power needs for lighting and cooling. Special ICF walls will provide high-insulation values; Keithshire Way will "harvest" and "manage" daylight to supplement its standard electrical lighting. Automatic sensors in classrooms and other areas will turn lights off or on as needed, saving energy; rainwater from roofs at Locust Trace will be collected and stored for irrigating soil and watering livestock. A deep well will supplement drinking-water needs. Livestock waste will be controlled. The overall goal is for the farm to "sit lightly on the land." Op-Ed: Falling Further Behind
Bob Herbert,
New York Times
February 19, 2010 NATIONAL: One section of the Maytown Elementary School in rural Maytown, Pa., was built in 1861. Another section was built in the late-1920s. There’s a time clock in the ancient gym that was donated by the class of 1946. This is a school that could use an update. No, scratch that. It needs to be replaced. Shelly Riedel, superintendent of the Donegal School District, which includes Maytown, told me that teachers can’t mount smart boards in their classrooms because of the asbestos “encapsulated” behind the walls. The asbestos is not dangerous as long as the walls are not disturbed. The electricity is not particularly reliable. A teacher who is using, say, an overhead projector has to check to make sure that other teachers are not using similar devices at the same time as that might cause an outage. There is no air conditioning. And there is no money right now to replace the school, which has an enrollment of 237. You can travel the United States and find comparable, or worse, conditions in schools throughout the country. It’s part of the overwhelming problem of maintaining and modernizing American infrastructure. It’s hard to even get good data on the physical condition of the nation’s schools. But Lawrence Summers, President Obama’s chief economic adviser, has said that 75 percent of the public schools have structural deficiencies and 25 percent have problems with their ventilation systems. The Donegal district is planning to build a bare-bones regional high school with money from its general budget. The existing school, which was built in 1954, has many problems, including a sewage system that saw its best days when names like Eisenhower and Kennedy were on the mailbox at the White House. The proposal for the new high school does not even include an athletic field for the kids. Getting the nation’s schools up to date is an enormous problem, but it’s only a small part of the overall infrastructure challenge. Schools, highways, the electric grid, water systems, ports, dams, levees — the list can seem endless — have to be maintained, upgraded, rebuilt or replaced if the U.S. is to remain a first-class nation with a first-class economy over the next several decades. And some entirely new infrastructure systems will have to be developed. But these systems have to be paid for, and right now there are not enough people at the higher echelons of government trying to figure out the best ways to raise the enormous amounts of money that will be required, and the most responsible ways of spending that money. And there are not enough leaders explaining to the public how heavy this lift will be, and why it is so necessary, and what sacrifices will be required to get the job properly done. Treasury Assistant Secretary, Tennessee Secretary of State Tout Benefits of Recovery Act School Construction Bonds
Press Release,
U.S. Department of the Treasury
February 19, 2010 TENNESSEE: As part of an effort to mark the one year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) and highlight the local impact of Recovery Act programs, Treasury Assistant Secretary for Management and CFO Dan Tangherlini joined Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and other local and school officials in Maryville, Tenn. to break ground on the construction of a new school funded with nearly $19 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds. Created by the Recovery Act, these school bonds help state and local governments obtain low-cost financing for much needed public school improvements and construction. Tennessee was allocated more than $184 million in school construction bonds for 2009, and to date the Tennessee State School Bond Authority has approved $177 million in bond issuances for 25 projects across the state. "This opportunity for Maryville is a credit to the state legislature recognizing and seizing upon an opportunity to create low-cost funding for this much needed project," said Secretary Hargett, who serves on the Tennessee State School Bond Authority. "It took less than a year to go from the state legislature's authorization to today's groundbreaking celebration. It is refreshing to see government at all levels come together working for the most affordable option, and we owe taxpayers nothing less." The Recovery Act included $22.4 billion for Qualified School Construction Bonds nationwide for 2009 and 2010. Investors who buy these bonds receive federal income tax credits in lieu of interest, allowing state and local governments to obtain financing without incurring interest expense. States and localities may directly issue the bonds on behalf of eligible schools or provide school districts with the authority to issue the bonds within the state. Tangherlini and Hargett visited the site of the future Coulter Grove Intermediate School, which, when completed, will educate students in grades four through six in a modern 155,000 square foot school. Maryville City Schools purchased property and made plans to begin construction on the new school in the fall of 2008. However, the project was put on hold when economic conditions made the bond market unfavorable, and the school district was unable to secure financing for the new school. Using $18,760,000 in Qualified School Construction Bonds, the construction of the new Coulter Grove Intermediate School will now be completed. L.A. Schools to Sell $1.75 Billion of Bonds for School Construction
Brendan A. McGrail,
Business Week
February 18, 2010 CALIFORNIA: The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest after New York, plans to sell about $1.75 billion of bonds today to fund what is described as the largest school construction program in the U.S. More than two-thirds of the offering will be taxable Build America Bonds, totaling $1.25 billion, making it the largest such sale since the Bay Area Toll Authority sold $1.3 billion in October. The issue, which also will include tax-exempts, accounts for 23 percent of this week’s expected total sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Part of the voter- approved general obligations will be used to refinance debt. Voters in Los Angeles, which faces a $212 million deficit this fiscal year, have authorized $20 billion of school bonds since 1997, half of which have already been issued, based on a preliminary statement for the securities dated Feb. 3. That, coupled with $8 billion of state matching funds, brings the total of the district’s construction and remodeling plans for 131 new schools to $28 billion. Last year, the district sold $1.65 billion in a similar mix of tax-exempt and taxable debt. “The size should be manageable for the market because of the lack of supply,” said William O’Connor, president of O’Connor & Co. Securities Inc., a municipal underwriter in California. “There really isn’t any competition in California” for a large issue at present, he said. The amount of tax-exempt paper may be $400 million or more, O’Connor said, which would make it the first tax-exempt sale of more than $250 million in California since November. “This is a good market to be pricing a municipal issue,” he said. Ann Arbor, Michigan Company Uses Grant to Help Schools Save and Make Energy
Julie Edgar ,
AnnArbor.com
February 18, 2010 MICHIGAN: Educating a new generation about power sources that are cheap, clean and renewable is the overarching mission of Energy Works Michigan of Ann Arbor. The company, a subsidiary of Ann Arbor's Ecology Center and Recycle Ann Arbor, won a $3.5 million grant last summer from the Michigan Public Service Commission to assist up to 60 K-12 schools throughout Michigan in making their buildings more energy efficient through mechanical updates, lighting and weather stripping, and in some, creating energy with solar- and wind-based systems. The grant extends to teacher training and campus computer kiosks that record how much energy is generated and stored with the installations. So far, Energy Works is contracting with about 50 public and private schools, providing engineering and energy assessments by architects and engineers. Those that make energy improvements are eligible to receive a $5,000 rebate from the company, says Emile Lauzzana, Energy Works' project director. Some schools are also tapping grants offered through incentive programs of utility companies like Consumers Power and DTE Energy. The kind of project a school chooses depends on finances and the age and size of the facility, but energy efficiency "is the most cost-effective, low-hanging fruit to save money for schools," Lauzzana says. "If the facility has major efficiency improvements or it's a newer facility, we encourage them to participate in renewable energy program." Cost savings are difficult to measure, but with simple updates of mechanical systems, lighting controls and lights and application of seals around windows and doors, schools can easily save 20-30 percent on electricity and heating bills, says Lauzzana. For an averProjects are planned for the spring in Detroit and surrounding suburbs, Port Huron, Grand Rapids and the Upper Peninsula.age-size school building, that means $30,000 to $50,000 savings annually.
Recession Doesn’t Slow Pickens, South Carolina School Building Boom
John Staed ,
Independent Mail
February 18, 2010 SOUTH CAROLINA: An ambitious Pickens County school building program is creating a construction boom in the county, but it is overshadowed by state budget cuts that threaten to cause employee furloughs or worse. The building program dates to November 2006, when the board approved a $315 million plan. It was started before the economic recession, and the cost has grown to $365 million, according to most-recent budget figures. The construction continues as the school district expects more cuts in state revenues of between $5 million and $10 million for this fiscal year, meaning possible employee furloughs, larger classes, fewer programs and more. The building program is being paid for through a bond issue, which is separate from funds used for daily operating expenses, such as paying for books and salaries. Missy Campbell, executive director for financial services, said a bond can only go for specific uses, in this case school construction and renovations. She said she often answers the question about using the bond money for other purposes. “That’s a common misperception,” she said. The cost for the construction plan at one time ballooned to more than $400 million, but cuts made by the previous superintendent reduced that figure. Julie Thompson, a spokeswoman for the school district, said square footage was reduced and amenities — such as a mock courtroom at Pickens High — were eliminated to save money. Alaska Governor Parnell Seeks Plan for Rural School Construction
Alex Demarban,
Tundra Drums
February 17, 2010 ALASKA: Rural lawmakers hoping the governor requests more than $300 million to replace or renovate several schools made their case during a three-village swing with the governor through a chunk of Southwest Alaska. In an interview with the Drums, Gov. Sean Parnell said he'll work on putting a plan together, but it won't be easy and could take several years. In Parnell's state-of-the-state speech last month, he said he would "work to resolve school construction issues," particularly for rural schools. But he had made no such requests in his proposed capital budget. That's in part because of the enormity of the problem, which is complicated by the 13-year-old Kasayulie lawsuit the state and plaintiffs need to settle, he said. Fixing the top 11 schools on the list of 35 will cost the state about $330 million, but will go a long way toward resolving that lawsuit, said Hoffman. Those 11 schools are all in Western Alaska with predominately Native student populations. The rest of the schools on the list generally have much smaller needs and will cost the state significantly less, about $80 million total. In the Kasayulie lawsuit, a State Superior Court judge ruled in 1999 that Alaska's system for building and maintaining schools violates the state constitution's equal protection clause and discriminates against rural Alaska. Urban areas can pay for school construction by issuing bonds, with voter approval, allowing them to qualify for a 70-percent state reimbursement. Poor rural areas with their low property values lack the authority to issue bonds or the ability to pay them off. Instead, they must wait for the Legislature to put up all but 2 percent of the cash. The Legislature has reduced the construction list, spending an average of about $60 million a year since 2001, enough for about one to two new schools a year, said Sam Kito III, school facilities engineer for the state. Most of that money went for rural school construction, he said. But the list was long, and many villages have made do with the same school year after year. Parnell said his next step is convening state financial experts, including from entities such as the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., to consider financing options. "(We'll) see if we can't work to put together a plan that makes sense," he said. Any plan to build or renovate rural schools must also settle the Kasayulie case, Parnell said. That will involve the state's legal experts and support from the Legislature. "I don't intend to spend a lot of money on school construction without resolving that litigation in the process," he said. "For me it's an overall package that requires a lot of people's involvement." Bristol, Connecticut Officials Say Speeding School Construction Plan Could Save Millions
Don Stacom,
Hartford Courant
February 17, 2010 CONNECTICUT: Speeding up construction of two long-planned, 900-student schools could save city and state taxpayers more than $25 million over earlier estimates, school officials say. Two building committees recently received updated cost projections for architects and engineers and have concluded that the city stands to save substantially if it builds the schools now, during a deep recession in the construction industry, instead of waiting. "This could save millions and millions of dollars," Superintendent Philip Streifer said. Switching the pace would be dramatic. Just a year and a half ago, the city deliberately slowed engineering and design work so it could put off paying its share of the construction costs for as long as possible. At the time, school officials cautioned that extra financing costs and inflation could drive the project budget from $105 million to as high as $132 million if the timetable were stretched as far as possible. The state has agreed to pay roughly 73 percent of the price, but educators fear that letting the project languish for another couple of years could endanger that commitment. And if the state, suffering its own financial troubles, pulls the plug on the 73 percent agreement, there's little chance of locking in new funding at that same level, they said. Edgar, Wisconsin Voters Say Yes to $7.6 Million School Construction Project; First Time Since 1994
Charles Menchaca,
Wausau Daily Herald
February 17, 2010 WISCONSIN: After a long, tough fight, voters approved a $7.6 million building project for the Edgar School District, their first time doing so since 1994. Seven-hundred and six voters, or 53 percent, approved a ballot measure to ease overcrowding in the school district by renovating multiple areas of the school building and building two additions, one for gyms and the other for six to eight classrooms. Votes against the measure: 629. The district this year will apply for stimulus money as a zero-interest partial source of funding for the building project. Lacke said the federal government will give $120 million to Wisconsin school construction projects approved in referendums this month and in April. Without stimulus money, residents will have to pay an additional 48 cents per $1,000 of property in 2010. The cost would increase to 98 cents per $1,000 of property in 2011, and then $1.42 for each of the next 13 years until the debt is paid. Edgar resident Craig Manecke said he is willing to pay more in taxes because students deserve to have a better school than the one they attend. Nebraska State Senators Tout Building High Performance Green Schools
Chris Dunker,
Beatrice Daily Sun
February 17, 2010 NEBRASKA: When it comes to producing high performance students, Sen. Ken Haar said it begins with creating high performance schools. Haar, the author of LB 1096, an act for schools to adopt the High Performance Schools Initiative, said one of the jobs of the Legislature is to educate the citizens. The High Performance School Act would allow schools to become more energy efficient and utilize a more natural environment - saving tax dollars through eliminating energy and water costs and creating a better environment for education. “High performance school buildings produce high performance kids,” Haar repeated. “It’s not about buildings, it’s about students and teachers. In high performance buildings, or green buildings as some people sometimes say it, you see students performing better on test scores, there is less absenteeism, and there are healthier and happier students.” “High performance buildings save energy immediately, water immediately and taxes over time,” Haar said. Schools who choose to become high performance buildings also create jobs, the senator said. “You can’t outsource construction or retrofitting,” Haar said. “It creates local jobs and uses local supplies from local suppliers and loans from local banks.” Beatrice Public Schools business manager Chris Nelson spoke in support of LB 1096 at the Education Committee. “For the past 15 years, Beatrice Public Schools has been initiated in a number of energy saving projects,” Nelson said. “We’ve used different methods to pay for those, including no-interest loans through the Nebraska State Energy Office and we’ve purchased it through our general operating fund. The results from our efforts have resulted in energy use that is low.” Nelson said a legislative approach will open doors for schools to receive grants and low-interest loans to create a better atmosphere for student learning and is essential as schools across the state look to eliminate expenditures. By entering into a contract as a High Performance School, Nebraska public schools are eligible to receive grants from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, as well as grants and loans from funds allocated to the Nebraska Energy Office and the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. “The opportunities that are presented in LB 1096 are presented at a critical time for schools,” Nelson said. “During the last 19 months, we’ve seen three electric rate hikes in our district alone.” “Additionally, we’re entering a period where school finances will be severely tested and funds for any facility enhancements will be difficult to come by,” Nelson said. He added the provisions of the bill provide “flexibility” to schools looking at construction projects to improve overall efficiency. $10 Million Stimulus Grant to Install Solar Energy Panels on 90 Florida Schools That Serve as Emergency Shelters
Jeff Schweers,
Florida Today
February 17, 2010 FLORIDA: The Florida Solar Energy Center is getting a $10 million grant to install solar energy panels on 90 schools that also serve as emergency shelters around the state. The center, at the University of Central Florida campus in Cocoa, received the grant from the state to implement the SunSmart School and E-Shelters project. The money is part of the $126 million that Florida received in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money for alternative energy projects. The solar energy center will ask schools around the state to submit bids for installation of 10-kilowatt photovoltaic panels that would generate enough energy to power an average home's air-conditioner, he said. "It's more of a demonstration project, more proof of concept," he said. Fenton's goal is to accumulate enough data to convince the state to put larger, 110-kilowatt solar panels at all 1,800 emergency centers around the state. The Solar Energy Center has already installed smaller 2- to 4-kilowatt panels in about 55 schools around the state, including Edgewater Jr./Sr. High on Merritt Island. The savings potential could be enormous, Fenton said. High schools spend an average $500,000 a year on electricity, but demonstrations have shown schools with solar panels cut 7 percent off their electric bill, he said. "The dream is to have all schools with photovoltaic panels," he said. "Kids would more than make up for the savings, and schools would be saving more than what you paid for the (panels) plus you'd have a place to go in an emergency." In Florida District, Less Sales Tax Funds for School Construction and Maintenance
Jeffrey S. Solochek,
St. Petersburg Times
February 17, 2010 FLORIDA: The Pasco County School District's income from the Penny for Pasco sales tax, approved in 2004, hasn't been the same since the first two years of collections. Single-month revenue saw its high point in December 2005, at $1.48 million. The following year saw the tax money peak at $14.44 million. Since then, the annual revenue has declined to a point where the district's chief financial officer, Olga Swinson, told the School Board that she is "hoping" that the district will bring in the $12 million she budgeted for the 2009 calendar year. Things haven't looked good. Through October, the district had collected just $7.9 million, and October marked the single lowest month for collections of the Penny for Pasco: $717,626. November showed some signs of life, with an increase to almost the same amount as November 2008. "The positive point is, we're still collecting money," construction department accountant Mike Williams told the board. The upshot, though, is that there's little money available for any additional construction and maintenance projects that the district has in its sights. The majority of the new schools and additions promised with the Penny for Pasco are either complete or in the works. But the remainder of the tax revenue is dedicated to repaying the debt incurred when the district bonded the anticipated income. "I don't see much gap to do additional projects," Swinson told the board. Funds OK'd for Geothermal System for Tennessee Elementary School
Randall Higgins,
Chattanooga Times/Free Press
February 16, 2010 TENNESSEE: Park View Elementary School is getting a big boost from the state to install an energy-efficient geothermal system. Geothermal heating involves a system of underground wells and pipes built to take advantage of the heat inside the earth. Several schools in the Cleveland city system have geothermal heating. Bradley County will receive $221,000 from the state's Energy Efficient Schools Initiative, said Johnny Mull, the county school system's energy manager. Of that amount, $183,500 has been approved to fund a geothermal system at the new school being built on Minnis Road. Last year the state Legislature set aside $90 million from lottery funds for statewide school energy needs, Mr. Mull said. Bradley County will buy the geothermal equipment and be reimbursed by the state, he said. "Utility costs continue to rise at rates that concern me," Mr. Mull said. "Us going geothermal is something I am very proud to see, because I think it will lower those costs tremendously. Obviously the front-end cost for geothermal is more." The rest of the county's money from the initiative will be used for lighting and other items such as more efficient kitchen equipment, Mr. Mull said. The county school system began its energy conservation about a decade ago, saving millions of dollars since then, officials said. Three years ago the school board agreed to a loan to install energy-efficient lighting. Budget manager Rick Smith said the school system pays $141,000 a year. "This spring will be our third payment of $141,000," Mr. Smith said. "We will have four years to go." Mr. Mull said the lights have cut the school system's lighting costs by about a third. Study on the Impact of Light on Teenagers' Sleeping Habits Has Implications for School Design
Staff Writer,
Science Daily
February 16, 2010 NATIONAL: The first field study on the impact of light on teenagers' sleeping habits finds that insufficient daily morning light exposure contributes to teenagers not getting enough sleep."As teenagers spend more time indoors, they miss out on essential morning light needed to stimulate the body's 24-hour biological system, which regulates the sleep/wake cycle," reports Mariana Figueiro, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Program Director at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center (LRC) and lead researcher on the new study. "These morning-light-deprived teenagers are going to bed later, getting less sleep and possibly under-performing on standardized tests. We are starting to call this the teenage night owl syndrome." In the study just published in Neuroendocrinology Letters, Dr. Figueiro and LRC Director Dr. Mark Rea found that eleven 8th grade students who wore special glasses to prevent short-wavelength (blue) morning light from reaching their eyes experienced a 30-minute delay in sleep onset by the end of the 5-day study. In addition, the schools are not likely providing adequate electric light or daylight to stimulate this biological or circadian system, which regulates body temperature, alertness, appetite, hormones and sleep patterns. Our biological system responds to light much differently than our visual system. It is much more sensitive to blue light. Therefore, having enough light in the classroom to read and study does not guarantee that there is sufficient light to stimulate our biological system. "According to our study, however, the situation in schools can be changed rapidly by the conscious delivery of daylight, which is saturated with short-wavelength, or blue, light," reports Dr. Figueiro. Throughout her research, Dr. Figueiro has repeatedly come face-to-face with the enormous concern of parents over teenagers going to bed too late. "Our findings pose two questions: "How will we promote exposure to morning light and how will we design schools differently?" says Dr. Figueiro. The study findings should have significant implications for school design. "Delivering daylight in schools may be a simple, non-pharmacological treatment for students to help them increase sleep duration," concludes Dr. Figueiro. Green Schools Resolution Advances in Utah
Cathy McKitrick,
Salt Lake Tribune
February 16, 2010 UTAH: A joint resolution that would encourage the state Board of Education and Utah's school districts to build environmentally friendly and energy-efficient schools narrowly passed out of the House Government Operations committee on a 5-3 vote. Rep. Mark Wheatley, D-Murray, is sponsoring HJR20 to provide "more than just a gentle nudge" for school planners to consider having new construction meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. By doing so, Wheatley said construction costs could increase 2 to 3 percent but annual energy savings would add up to about $100,000 per year -- which equates to pay for two starting teachers, 5,000 new books or 200 computers. In addition to overall cost savings, the new buildings would be better ventilated and therefore reduce the incidence of asthma, allergies and colds in students and teachers. Susan Kuziak, of the Utah Education Association, spoke in support of HJR20. "There are buildings, older and some newer ones, where you get what's called sick-building syndrome," Kuziak said. "A good, healthy environment is important to quality education." While resolutions do not carry the weight of law, Kuziak urged HJR20 to pass "to encourage people to try to accomplish better things." The resolution cleared the committee with three lawmakers voting against it. HJR20 now advances to the House floor for further discussion.
Charter Schools Moving to More Traditional Venues
James Vaznis ,
Boston Globe
February 15, 2010 MASSACHUSETTS: Boston Renaissance Charter Public School is moving, the latest in a wave of charter schools across the state investing millions of dollars in new facilities to better accommodate their educational needs. In many cases, charter schools are moving out of less-than-ideal classroom settings: storefronts, church basements, or community centers. Their ascendancy to sparkling new locations represents an evolution from high-flying entrepreneurial start-ups to established institutions of success, the sort of Wall Street darlings of the education sector. Renaissance, at the corner of Arlington and Stuart streets, is moving several neighborhoods away to Hyde Park, where a $39 million complex is under construction. “Getting out of here will be a true blessing," said Roger Harris, the Renaissance superintendent and chief executive officer who has nightmares about trying to evacuate students if there ever were a fire at the current location. “It’s a great building for a business, but for kids it has a number of drawbacks." The projects are a pricey endeavor for these independently run public schools, more so than for traditional schools. Charter schools must rely on fund-raising and loans because state law prevents them from raising local property taxes to pay for construction projects and from receiving money through the state’s school-construction reimbursement program. “We have to raise every single penny," said Kevin Andrews, president of the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, which represents the state’s charter schools. “We can’t rely on taxpayers." The pace of construction in the charter school sector should quicken even more with last month’s enactment of a state law that calls for a dramatic increase in the number of charter schools in Boston and other cities. Gaining new facilities, of course, will be contingent on the new charter schools proving their academic worth - a hard-traveled path that still challenges some charter schools. The state has shut down a handful of failing charter schools over the last decade. Erica Brown, executive director of City on a Hill Charter Public School, recalled the momentous day a few years ago when her school began renovating an old parochial school outside of Roxbury’s Dudley Square, followed shortly thereafter by construction of an addition. “We put our stake in the ground and said we are a permanent part of the city," said Brown, whose school previously operated out of a YMCA. Created under the state’s 1993 Education Reform Act, the approximately 60 charter schools statewide operate under five-year agreements with the state - creating a precarious situation for raising money for a building project. To convince donors and lenders of long-term viability, charter schools ideally need to show an academic record so strong, such as years of high MCAS scores, that renewals with the state appear to be formalities. Charter schools are not eligible for state construction money because the state had an extensive waiting list to reimburse local school districts for construction projects at the time the first charter schools opened, said Andrews, who also is headmaster of Neighborhood House Charter School in Dorchester. Neighborhood House completed a $20 million project about four years ago that involved converting an old Jewish convalescence center and constructing a three-story wing. Yet as charter schools embark on these big projects, their detractors - including many traditional school district and city leaders - accuse them of stockpiling money at the expense of children in regular schools. Every time a student leaves a hometown school district for a charter school, the district loses thousands of dollars in state aid. Charter schools also receive less than a $1,000 per student from local districts for their facilities - an amount the state ultimately reimburses to school districts. But districts may be compelled to help charter schools establish more suitable locations. The state law enacted last month includes a provision that encourages districts to lease or sell vacated buildings to charter schools, to avoid a financial penalty for closing schools that were built with state money. In other cases, school districts might simply need the money, even if it benefits a competitor. Metro Detroit Schools Ask Voters to OK Funds for Upgrades to Take Advantage of Stimulus Bonds
Candice Williams, Shawn D. Lewis, Valerie Olander,
Detroit News
February 15, 2010 MICHIGAN: A handful of Metro Detroit districts are asking voters to approve bond proposals Feb. 23 for everything from technology upgrades to security improvements to revamped athletic facilities. The districts' officials say they understand they are asking for money in tough financial times, but they press the importance of the upgrades. Berkley School District administrators say their buildings are outdated and cramped, and they are seeking a $167.6 million bond proposal, or an increase of 4.27 mills. The bond would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $213 a year. The district serves about 4,600 students, and the average age of its school buildings is 67 years old. Simeck said the district will take advantage of the Build America Bonds program, which uses federal dollars to offset some bond interest costs. "Also, interest rates are extremely favorable," he said. "This means that fixing things now will give us a great bang for our buck." Mike Baker, 44, who has three children in the district, supports the bond. "It's never a good time to ask taxpayers for more money, but in this case, there are definite advantages to doing it now," said Baker, who has lived in the district for 15 years. "Interest rates are at historic lows, construction prices are down, and in addition, we can take advantage of federal stimulus dollars to pay down the bond cost." Pinckney Community Schools will ask voters again for a $59.5 million bond that was narrowly defeated in November. The bond would pay for building improvements at each school, replace a 50-year-old athletic facility and upgrade technology. Superintendent Dan Danosky said the request is returning to voters so quickly because the first $15 million of the bond can be issued interest-free through the federal stimulus program, which would save the district about $375,000 in interest per year over the next 15 years. "The bonds have to be sold by June or else we lose it," Danosky said. Approval would extend the district's debt levy of 7.55 mills for about 10 years. The bond would be fully paid off by 2037. The owner of a $100,000 home pays $377 annually for the existing bond. Hartland Consolidated Schools is seeking a $28 million bond for improvements at every school building, including safety features for the entrance at two elementary schools, technology upgrades and 27 new buses to maintain its 70-bus fleet. Voter approval would mean the existing 7.6 mill-levy would be extended for five years, until 2035. The owner of a $100,000 home pays up to $380 yearly for the existing bond. "The tax rate remains the same but for five years longer," said Scott Bacon, assistant superintendent. About $7.8 million of the bond would be spent on supporting technology infrastructure, interactive classroom systems and new equipment enabling the district to remain on a five-year replacement schedule, Bacon said. Education Was Also Leveled by Quake in Haiti
Marc Lacey,
New York Times
February 14, 2010 HAITI: Haiti’s best universities are in wreckage, their campuses now jumbles of collapsed concrete, mangled desks and chairs, and buried coursework. Hundreds of professors and students were entombed, although the exact number of dead is complicated by the fact that class lists and computer registries were also wiped out by the quake. At St. Gerald Technical School, workers going through the wreckage with heavy machinery came across a classroom in which dead students were still at their desks. At Quisqueya University, much of the multimillion- dollar renovation work that had just been completed was shaken to bits. Joseph Chrislyn Bastien, 25, an engineering student, peered into a foot-high crevice of concrete where one could see shoes, books and flattened furniture. “This was a classroom,” he said. The obliteration of higher education is expected to have longstanding effects on this devastated country, where even in the best of times a tiny percentage of young people went on to college. The country’s main nursing school is gone, as is the state medical college. The science building at the state university has been ripped open, and the teacher’s college teeters on its side. There are already plans to revive Haiti’s universities using tents or temporary structures until more permanent structures can be built. And some early signs have emerged that Haiti’s damaged university system may be rebuilt better. At Quisqueya, Evenson Calixte, the assistant dean of engineering, said all students would be required to study geology from now on so that they understood earthquakes. There will be a particular focus in the curriculum on building codes, he said. It was arguably a shortage of educated professionals in Haiti that ensured so much of Haiti would collapse. “There’s a total lack of qualified architects, urban planners, builders and zoning experts,” said Conor Bohan, an American who founded the Haitian Education and Leadership Program, a scholarship program for students with top grades but few resources. “People were living in substandard housing in places where they shouldn’t have been.” Haiti’s educators hope that international rebuilding efforts ensure that universities are able to bounce back. “How are you going to have a critical mass of people to run the country if you don’t invest in the next generation?” asked Mr. Marcelin, the sociologist, who is also the founder of the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development, a consortium of universities that operate in Haiti. “If the international community overlooks this, we will spend our lives dependant on experts from the outside.” School Construction Era Ending in Wyoming?
Staff Writer,
Billings Gazette
February 12, 2010 WYOMING: When the state took over construction of school buildings several years ago, it also stepped in to help the poorer school districts with their existing bond issues. A bill to authorize the state to pay off the bonds and end the program has received the unanimous endorsement of the House Education Committee. House Bill 56 is sponsored by the Legislature’s Special Committee on School Facilities. Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, a member of that committee, said the bill applies to any bonds issued before 2001. Still in the program are schools at Riverton, Pine Bluffs, Newcastle, Mountain View and Wheatland. The school districts involved have been refunding the bonds over and over again and that makes no sense, Harshman said. The bill does not affect a school district’s ability to issue bonds for school enhancements, like artificial turf, which the Wyoming School Facilities Commission does not pay for, Harshman said. The bill now goes to the floor of the House for further action. A Move to 'BABify’ Programs
Peter Schroeder and Audrey Dutton ,
Bond Buyer
February 12, 2010 NATIONAL: Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee unveiled a draft of bipartisan jobs legislation that would “BABify” four tax-credit bond programs by allowing issuers to receive Build America Bond-type direct payments instead of providing investors with tax credits. Qualified school construction bonds, qualified zone academy bonds, qualified energy conservation bonds, and new clean renewable energy bonds could all be issued as direct-payment bonds under the 361-page draft bill. The measure also would extend a number of tax provisions that either have already expired or would soon expire. Under the tax-credit bond proposal, large issuers would receive a subsidy rate of 45% of interest costs and small issuers would receive a rate of 65% of interest costs. The draft defines small issuers as those that sell less than $30 million of bonds in the calendar year. That proposal would provide a smaller subsidy than one found in the jobs bill the House passed in December. That bill, which would only “BABify” QSCBs and QZABs, would provide subsidy payments roughly equivalent to the credit rate on the bonds, with the goal of the credits equaling 100% of interest costs. Cincinnati Public Schools Sues Buyers of Vacant School Who Intend to Open Charter School
Ben Fischer,
Cincinnati Enquirer
February 11, 2010 OHIO: The Cincinnati school board sued the people who bought vacant Roosevelt School in South Fairmount at auction in June 2009 because they intend to create a charter school there, in violation of the sale contract. The move could open a new front in the long-running political battle over Ohio’s charter schools, In a suit filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, the district is asking a judge to rule that Roger and Deborah Conners, son and mother, can only use the property for commercial development. Also, CPS is asking for an injunction to prevent Roger Conners from pursuing his plan to open a charter school at the site. “Clearly we believe they violated the terms of the agreement,” said CPS spokeswoman Janet Walsh. According to the lawsuit, the nine CPS properties up for auction would be sold on the condition that they not be used as classroom space. The Conners bought Roosevelt for $30,000, and agreed to the conditions. But the agreement notwithstanding, the restriction contradicts Ohio public policy, said Maurice Thompson, director of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law at the conservative Buckeye Institute, who is representing the Conners. The center, along with other charter school advocates, will challenge the restriction’s legality in a separate lawsuit soon, he said. Under state law, school districts usually must offer charter schools an opportunity to buy property before it heads to the open market. However, the law applies to property “suitable for use as classroom space,” and CPS said that school facilities regulators have deemed that Roosevelt is not, something Conners and Thompson dispute. State law is unclear on what is required for a building to be exempt from the obligation to offer it to a charter school. In October, a City of Cincinnati zoning examiner signed off on Conners’ plans. Conners said he expects to spend nearly $300,000 to renovate the building. Kids at Schools Close to Busy Roads Breathe More Pollution
Judy Fahys,
Salt Lake Tribune
February 10, 2010 UTAH: Most Salt Lake County kids attend school in areas that aren't terribly close to major roadways. But the 7 percent who do are more exposed to the pollutants linked to asthma, heart problems and a host of other maladies associated with dirty air, says a new study from the University of Utah. "There's an adverse outcome for kids who go to these schools and play in these schoolyards" close to busy roads, said William M. McDonnell of the University of Utah. McDonnell, a professor in the U.'s schools of law and medicine, shared the results of the study. Along with co-authors Phoebe B. McNeally of the geography department and Sean D. Firth of the pediatrics department, he previewed a presentation they will give in April at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's first-ever symposium on environmental justice. The trio emphasized that their findings really raise more questions than they answer. "We haven't assigned any particular risk to any particular school," he noted, explaining that the potential health impacts can be inferred from a growing body of air-pollution studies. What they did learn came from an analysis of the proximity of schools to different types of roads. The researchers mapped the schools, drew a 500-foot circle around each and classified them according to the busiest nearby road. Roads with the highest speed limits -- those with greater than 50 mph and presumably the highest traffic -- were close to 7 percent of the county's 349 schools. Roads with 31-50 mph speed limits and moderate traffic represented nearly 12 percent of the schools, and 81 percent of the schools were surrounded by roads with 30 mph speed limits or less. "The vast majority of these [schools] are in residential areas, which is good," McDonnell said, noting that children spend about 30 percent of their time at school or in schoolyards. "But there are certainly some inequities." The group also considered socioeconomic factors, based on census data. They found that the schools in the areas of greatest poverty and least education were the ones that were most likely to be in the high-traffic areas. And schools nearest the least busy roads are located in neighborhoods with the highest percentage of high-school graduates and the lowest percentage of households in poverty. The researchers said they hope to expand on this initial work, possibly studying schools throughout Utah or looking at areas of more concentrated pollution. Perhaps further study will help answer a key question: Would it be worthwhile for Utah to adopt a law like California's that limits the construction of new schools close to major roadways? Some Public Schools Reopen in Haiti
Staff Writer,
Education Week/Associated Press
February 10, 2010 HAITI: Many public schools in Haiti reopened last week for the first time since the Jan. 12 earthquake, but most stayed closed, even in outlying provinces where damage was minimal. And in the capital, schoolchildren will likely be on the streets for months, government officials warned. The government said last week it expected most provincial schools to reopen by Feb. 8—instead of Feb. 1 as anticipated by many families. Anne Rose Bouget, a primary school teacher in the southwestern city of Les Cayes, said schools reopened there with more students than usual because some 300,000 people fled Port-au-Prince, the capital, after the quake. Most of Haiti’s schools are damaged or destroyed. Many teachers are dead. And the students now often live in squalid camps. “With everything that has already happened in the past few years—the floods, hurricanes, unrest—these children cannot afford to lose more time outside school,” said Berdadel Perkington, 40, a teacher giving an impromptu math lesson to a group of children outside the collapsed National Palace. “The children are in shock and they are traumatized,” said Marie-Laurence Jocelin Lassegue, the minister of culture and communications. “Some of them have lost their friends, their parents. It’s like the end of the world for some of them.” Kent Page, a spokesman for UNICEF, the United Nation’s children’s agency, said children need to get back to class so they have a sense of normalcy. “None of us like being out of school,” said Ludmia Exiloud, 14. “We miss our studies. There’s nothing to do.” But schools—reopening them, restaffing them, restocking them, relocating them—are just one of many urgent priorities in the country. The Ministry of Education—its own building destroyed—is still assessing damage. In the long term, UNICEF hopes to boost overall school enrollment. Child-welfare groups say just over half of all school-age children in Haiti don't attend school, though even the poorest of families try to send at least one child to class—hoping he or she will someday earn enough to support extended family. California Adopts Nation’s First Statewide Green Building Code
Andrea Ward,
Architectural Record
February 09, 2010 CALIFORNIA: In a unanimous January 2010 decision, the California Building Standards Commission approved “Calgreen” as the first mandatory statewide green construction code to be adopted in the United States. “The code will help us meet our goals of curbing global warming and achieving 33 percent renewable energy by 2020, and promotes the development of more sustainable communities by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving energy efficiency in every new home, office building or public structure,” said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the January 2010 announcement. Scheduled to take effect in January 2011, Calgreen was developed from voluntary green building standards enacted across the state in 2008. It establishes a mandatory baseline for all new buildings statewide, with optional tiers that local jurisdictions can incorporate for higher levels of performance. The baseline will require all new buildings to reduce water consumption by 20 percent; divert 50 percent of construction waste from landfills; use low-emitting materials; separately meter indoor and outdoor water use (nonresidential only); and submit to mandatory inspections of mechanical system equipment to ensure that it continues to achieve design performance (nonresidential buildings over 10,000 square feet.) According to the California Air Resources Board, these provisions should reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions by 3 million metric tons carbon equivalent by 2020. Draft Jobs Bill Would Treat Some Tax-Credit Bonds Like BABs
Peter Schroeder ,
Bond Buyer
February 09, 2010 NATIONAL: A draft version of a Senate jobs bill widely circulated Tuesday included provisions that would allow several tax-credit bonds to be treated like Build America Bonds through the end of 2010, with issuers receiving a direct subsidy payment from the federal government instead of providing investors with a tax credit. According to the 362-page draft, which was dated Feb. 9 and titled the “Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act,” the following tax credit bonds could be issued as direct subsidy bonds: new clean renewable energy bonds, qualified energy conservation bonds, qualified zone academy bonds, and qualified school construction bonds. The document also includes an additional wrinkle in that it would grant small issuers a subsidy boost on the bonds. Under the proposal, any issuer that sold less than $30 million during the calendar year would receive payments equal to 65% of interest costs, while larger issuers would receive 45% payments. Because the draft does not include a provision to make BABs permanent at a 28% subsidy rate, as the Obama adminstration proposed in its budget last week, one lobbyist cautioned that this may not be the final version of the bill. When a jobs bill is introduced in the Senate, it would come on the heels of jobs legislation the House passed in December, which included provisions that would allow QSCBs and QZABs to be issued as BABs. Although this Senate draft would apply to twice as many tax-credit bond programs as the House bill, it would offer a more meager subsidy. The House bill would offer subsidy payments at roughly the credit rate of the bonds, which is intended to cover 100% of interest costs.
Makeshift Schools Popping up in Haiti's Tent Cities
Kathleen McGrory,
Miami Herald
February 08, 2010 HAITI: With schools in Haiti's capital city closed since last month's catastrophic earthquake -- and unlikely to open for several months -- informal classes have begun springing up in the streets. "The children are traumatized," said René Michel Longchamp, who gives lessons to the kids living in tents inside Haiti's national soccer stadium. "As a teacher, I'm obligated to work with them. I want things to feel as normal as possible." The older children play games and read Bible verses; the youngest children review colors, shapes and numbers. And even in the wealthy suburbs, parents are hiring out-of-work teachers to privately tutor their children for upcoming state exams. "Our entire education system is suffering," said Micheline Augustin-Pierre, co-director of the collapsed Ecole Guatemala. "It will take a long time to rebuild it." More than 80 percent of the 5,000 schoolhouses in Port-au-Prince were destroyed or significantly damaged in the Jan. 12 earthquake. Last week, some primary and secondary schools outside of the capital city opened their doors to students for the first time since the quake. But the Ministry of Education says schools in Port-au-Prince and other areas affected by the earthquake won't open again until March. And some educators say even that is a lofty goal. In the meantime, makeshift schools are springing up in the encampments that shelter children and their families. Small Oregon Schools Benefit From Stimulus Energy Grants
Jeff Barnard ,
CBOnline
February 08, 2010 OREGON: The worst recession in 70 years is turning into an energy-saving boon for tiny and remote rural schools in Oregon as well as the state's poorest people. Federal economic stimulus money is paying for new energy-efficient lights and windows in schools that have not been modernized since they were built after World War II, and in houses and apartments where people struggle to pay their utility bills. Nationwide, the Obama administration has dedicated $5 billion to weatherizing low-income housing and $3.1 billion to energy upgrades in public buildings under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Oregon's share is $38 million a year for three years for weatherizing low-income housing and $42 million a year for three years for energy upgrades in schools and other public buildings. Stimulus-funded energy projects have been slower to be realized than, say, highway paving projects, but that is because the paving projects were already planned, while many of the energy programs had to be designed from scratch, said Brian Shipley, deputy chief of staff to Gov. Ted Kulongoski. About 200 schools and other public buildings will benefit from stimulus projects, said Oregon Department of Energy spokeswoman Ann Grim. That works out to 87 jobs created, and 306 jobs retained, under spending formulas. Though major grants have been awarded, such as $1 million for geothermal energy development at Lakeview schools, many of the first projects coming to fruition have been at small rural schools. Long Creek School District in the Blue Mountains south of Pendleton is typical. Founded in the 1890s, its best days were in the post-World War II timber boom. The last lumber mill in town shut down about 8 years ago. The school now has about 75 students, so small they have to team up with two other schools to field one eight-man football team. Even with just six teachers and a few other staff, the school is the biggest employer in the town of 200 people. With a federal stimulus grant of just $18,673, Long Creek leveraged about $50,000 to install energy-efficient fluorescent lights controlled by occupancy sensors. Their local utility gave a matching grant, and they sold off $20,000 worth of business energy tax credits for $12,000. The lights are saving them about $7,500 on a power bill that typically runs $45,000 a year, said Roy Durfee, who doubles as principal and superintendent — savings that are helping them keep one of their six teachers. "We would have had to delve into some pretty tough reserves to keep that teaching position going another year," said Durfee. "This way we're able to do that without any real challenge." Lighting contractor Keith Williams drove over from the Willamette Valley town of Creswell to do the job, hiring a couple local electricians from the surrounding area. This is his first stimulus-funded job, and he hopes to land two more at small schools in Eastern Oregon. It is not a big part of his business, but he sees it as making a big difference for small rural schools. "Everybody is looking at stimulus (to see) where that job is being created now," he said. "You've created three jobs to get a project on a short-term basis. But on a long-term basis you saved a job. That's a different way of looking at it." L.A. to Sell $1.75 Billion of Bonds to Fund School Construction
Christopher Palmeri,
Business Week
February 08, 2010 CALIFORNIA: The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest after New York, plans to sell as much as $1.75 billion of bonds in mid-February to fund a school construction program called the largest in the U.S. About a third of the offering will be conventional tax- exempt debt and two-thirds taxable Build America Bonds, said Timothy Rosnick, the district’s controller, who called the overall project the biggest of its kind. The federal Build America program gives state and local governments 35 percent interest subsidies to sell taxable debt for public works. The sale “should go over well,” said Robert MacIntosh, chief economist at Boston-based Eaton Vance Management. “Yes, it’s California, but it is its own entity,” he said, referring to the school district. Taxable Los Angeles school securities due in 2034 last traded in a $1 million block Feb. 4 at a price-to-yield 6.33 percent, while comparable Build America debt issued by the state offered an average 1.4 percentage points more in yield that day, according to data compiled by Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and Bloomberg. The yield difference between the two issues has widened more than 0.2 percentage points in large block trades since the end of October. Voters in Los Angeles, which faces a $212 million deficit this fiscal year, have authorized the sale of $20 billion of school bonds since 1997, half of which have already been issued, based on a preliminary statement for the securities dated Feb. 3. That, coupled with $8 billion of state matching funds, brings the total size of the district’s construction and remodeling plans, involving 131 new schools, to $28 billion. The bonds will be priced Feb. 17 and 18, said Jean Marie Buckley, whose Sausalito, California-based Tamalpais Advisors Inc. is the district’s financial adviser. Some children in Los Angeles attend school in the summer, when others are on vacation, because of a shortage of classrooms, Buckley said. “They’re trying to get it down to a two-semester school year, just like when you were a kid,” she said. Standard & Poor’s assigned an AA- rating, the firm’s fourth highest, to the new issue and reaffirmed the same rating on the district’s $9.7 billion outstanding general obligation debt. Gabriel Petek, a San Francisco-based S&P analyst, said revenue to pay the interest on the bonds comes from a special property- tax levy that district voters approved. The tax is collected by Los Angeles County and paid directly to bondholders, Rosnick said. “We don’t ever see the money,” he said. “There’s really nothing the state or the district can do to change the flow.” Last year, the district sold $1.65 billion in a similar combination of tax-exempt and taxable debt. Opinion: Project Funds Aplenty; None for Springfield, Illinois School Construction
Editorial Writer,
State Journal-Register
February 07, 2010 ILLINOIS: The Springfield School District’s dilemma about how to pay for new high schools and other construction projects provides a good example of the consequences of Congress’ decision last year to slash the federal stimulus package. There isn’t a single dollar for the district in last year’s $29 billion state capital improvements bill. Why didn’t the district get anything at the same time hundreds of school improvement or construction projects elsewhere in Illinois were funded? As a result of the cuts to the federal stimulus, the Springfield School District lost out on $6.4 million in funding in 2009, while Ball-Chatham lost $239,700, according to an analysis of proposed stimulus spending produced by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization. The stimulus was supposed to staunch the budget pain felt by state and local governments by eliminating the need for tax increases that could exacerbate the recession. It also was supposed to take care of neglected infrastructure. The state capital bill was passed for similar reasons and also could have provided funds. The bill contains hundreds of millions of dollars for hundreds of other school districts, charter schools and private and religious schools. The money will be spent on items like new school construction, renovations and improvements, new science labs, athletic fields and locker rooms. But here in Sangamon County, taxpayers may be asked to vote for a 1 percent countywide sales tax. The catalyst for the tax increase is the Springfield School District’s $230 million plan to build a new Springfield High School, rebuild Lanphier High School, renovate parts of Southeast High School and other capital projects. Such a tax increase would bring the sales tax within Springfield’s city limits to a whopping 9 percent. The sales tax in Chicago is 10.25 percent and will drop to 9.75 percent later this year. At this time a year ago, the U.S. House and Senate were about to pass competing versions of the much-criticized economic stimulus package. The House bill contained $16 billion for the construction of new schools. The Senate bill contained nothing. Self-important senators insisted the compromise bill be brought below $800 billion, an arbitrary figure plucked out of the sky. Members of Congress seemed to think that the $792 billion bill, instead of, say, a $1 trillion piece of legislation, would somehow provoke less outrage. Politics mattered more than getting the right mix of spending and tax cuts to get the economy going again. At the behest of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, all of the funding for school construction was cut from the final version. A weak compromise allowed states to use money that they received to stabilize their budgets to instead repair existing schools. There was no money for new school construction, despite $127 billion to $268 billion worth of need nationally, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. Needless to say, the state won’t be giving the Springfield School District a cut of its stabilization money for construction. But it could have given the district a cut of the education spending in the capital bill. Obviously, the $6.4 million Springfield schools missed out on from the feds wouldn’t have built a new high school. But the district has other capital costs, such as upgrading heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at elementary schools. Every dollar from such state and federal capital programs is one less the district would have had to spend from its reserves or to ask for from local taxpayers. School construction is an excellent way to stimulate economic growth because it provides construction-related jobs. New school buildings will be used for decades and are a one-time federal expense that doesn’t need continued funding. Of the $580 billion in non-tax cut stimulus funds, $251 billion has not been spent. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama and Congress are talking about a new jobs bill. They either should review the spending remaining in the original stimulus bill and make school construction a priority or include it in any new jobs bill. Former Broward County, Florida Inspections Supervisor Warned About Building Safety issues
Megan O'Matz,
Sun-Sentinel
February 06, 2010 FLORIDA: If the Broward School District had listened to Charlene Rebecca Blackwood instead of firing her, could some of its construction department problems have been solved a long time ago? Some think so. "She was a prophet. What do they do to a lot of prophets? Try and silence them," said community activist Charlotte Greenbarg, president of The Broward Coalition, a group of condo and homeowner associations. The school district disagrees, calling Blackwood a bully to her co-workers and an ineffective leader — characterizations she vehemently denies. In November, after a four-year legal battle, the School Board agreed to settle. It awarded Blackwood $217,500 in back pay and attorney fees, and its own legal fees totaled $145,000. The settlement comes during a severe budget crisis when the district has had to cut teachers, electives, supplies and renovations. Her saga began more than a decade ago when, as a senior supervisor of building inspectors, she began complaining that new schools were opened despite "life safety" code violations. That contractors were allowed to walk away without fixing problems. And that leaky school roofs were being repaired improperly, leading to mold and mildew. She warned that some schools that doubled as hurricane shelters had equipment on the roofs, such as air conditioners, that were not properly secured and posed a hazard in a storm. The district took steps to fix the problem, but Blackwood said it dismissed other issues, such as opening schools prematurely. Today, years after they opened, scores of schools still are operating without documents showing they meet code. "They didn't want an effective building department," Blackwood said in a recent interview. "They wanted to neutralize the inspectors so the contractors could not be interfered with in doing their construction. Whether it was bad or not, they didn't care." Recent internal audits back up some of her concerns. They show inflated construction costs, overbillings, and millions of dollars wasted to fix mistakes in building designs. Mississippi Schools Eye More Stimulus Bond Money
Elizabeth Franklin,
Hattiesburg American
February 06, 2010 MISSISSIPPI: Hattiesburg Public School District wants to take advantage of a second round of the Qualified School Construction Bonds program funded through federal stimulus dollars. School board members voted to apply through the Mississippi Department of Education for a second school construction bond. The district received a $3 million school construction bond in the first round. The stimulus-driven initiative allows districts to borrow money to use for construction, rehabilitation or repair of public school facilities. Frank Aderholdt, the district's director of financial services, said money received in the first round is now being used for roof work, repairing the running track and parking lot improvements. If approved in the second round, the district plans to use the funds for similar projects. The funds have to be used on school construction projects in compliance with federal standards. Carrollton, Georgia Schools to Participate in Qualified School Construciton Bond Program
Laura Camper,
Times-Georgian
February 05, 2010 GEORGIA: The chief operating officer for Carrollton City Schools told the Board of Education the system should receive final approval from the Georgia Department of Education to participate in the Qualified School Construction Bond program in the next couple of weeks. “We did get preliminary approval back in December,” said CEO Steve Spofford. The school system applied for permission to sell $8 million in construction bonds, which were created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to build a two-story, 32-classroom wing on the middle school, renovate all the bathrooms at the high school and renovate the gymnasium. The state has a $250 million share in the Qualified School Construction Bond program, but it’s not money that has been given to the state. The schools borrow the money by selling the bonds through the program, but rather than paying interest on the bonds the investors get a tax credit provided through the ARRA. The money can be borrowed for up to 16 years and the system can decide when during that time to start paying the money back. But once it does start it must make equal payments into a sinking fund until the debt is paid in full. “It really becomes a no-brainer,” said Steve Spofford, who has been handling the application process for the system. “The beauty of that is that not only do we get ... zero interest, all the money that we put in the sinking fund during that time, whenever we start paying it back, we get all the interest that’s attached to it. So, it’s money that we’re paying back, but while it’s sitting in the sinking fund, the interest is coming back to us.” The school system has already approached the Development Authority about selling the bonds and received the go ahead. The rest of the process should move along quickly, he said. For the program, the school system was required to fund projects that had not already been started and could be completed within three years. That means it has to move pretty quickly. The system has been working on plans for its projects – a $500,000 renovation of the high school bathrooms, a $2 million renovation of the gymnasium and a $5.5 million addition to the middle school. “We’ll have those (plans) ready to submit to the state as soon as they give us the official approval,” Spofford said. The cost of the projects are a little inflated because the system must follow federal guidelines in the Davis-Bacon Act. The payroll requirement of the act could add as much as 20 percent to the final costs, but the system is estimating it will be closer to 15 percent. It’s still a good deal because the sluggish economy has driven down the cost of construction, Spofford said. Before it starts any projects, the system will hold public meetings to gain public input about the projects. It will also have to go back before the Development Authority to get final approval. Then it’s a matter of issuing the bonds. Mississippi Schools Eye More Federal Stimulus Bond Money
Elizabeth Franklin,
Hattiesburg American
February 05, 2010 MISSISSIPPI: Hattiesburg Public School District wants to take advantage of a second round of the Qualified School Construction Bonds program funded through federal stimulus dollars. School board members voted to apply through the Mississippi Department of Education for a second school construction bond. The district received a $3 million school construction bond in the first round. The stimulus-driven initiative allows districts to borrow interest-free money to use for construction, rehabilitation or repair of public school facilities. Frank Aderholdt, the district's director of financial services, said money received in the first round is being used for roof work, repairing the running track and parking lot improvements. The funds have to be used on school construction projects in compliance with specific federal standards. Aderholdt said district authorities would be notified sometime later this year if its request was approved. Multiple Stimulus Aid Streams Flow to Ed Tech
Michelle R. Davis ,
Education Week
February 05, 2010 NATIONAL: State education officials and local school districts are working to use technology money from the federal economic-stimulus package to develop initiatives that do everything from consolidate data systems to create high-quality digital content for school laptops. But much of the $650 million in stimulus funding for Enhancing Education Through Technology—the federal government’s main educational technology program—has yet to trickle down to districts. Some schools instead are looking to other pots of money in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 2009 stimulus law, to shore up their technology investments more quickly. Several pots of federal economic-stimulus money are open to states and districts for educational technology. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: $650 million for Enhancing Education Through Technology program (As of Jan. 15, the department reported that states had spent only $25.4 million of that money.); $250 million for statewide longitudinal-data systems; some money for technology available under the $13 billion in Title I stimulus aid; some money for technology available under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which is receiving $11.3 billion in stimulus funding. DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE AND AGRICULTURE: $7.2 billion for programs to expand telecommunications, including broadband access, to rural areas. Oregon School District Announces Sale of Qualified School Construction Bonds
Justin Much,
Statesman Journal
February 04, 2010 OREGON: The Dallas School District announced the sale of $8.6 million in "Qualified School Construction Bonds" on Jan. 28. The bonds will provide for capital expenditures needed to maintain district school facilities. The district was one of the first in Oregon to participate in the program, gaining access to low-cost borrowing that extends property tax dollars. District voters approved the bond last fall.
Green Schools Go Beyond Recycling
Jenn Savedge,
Mother Nature Network
February 04, 2010 NATIONAL: There is a new trend popping up across the nation in schools that are not only "going green" they truly are green...from their passive solar heating to their intense environmental coursework. And rather than limiting environmental education to an occasional workshop or class project, these schools lace environmental themes into every aspect of their curriculum. These green schools, as they are being called, go beyond recycling and tree planting to teaching kids about problems like sooty air, environmental legislation, and social justice. Some schools, like The Urban Assembly School for Green Careers, a high school in Manhattan, New York, focus on teaching hands-on skills like installing insulation and solar panels to prepare students for entering the work force after graduation or pursuing college degrees in fields like engineering. And while all of the green schools discuss broad topics like recycling and global warming, many also focus is on local issues that directly affect the students and their families, like contamination of a local waterway or the razing of low-income housing. The Green Charter Schools Network, based in Madison, Wisconsin, says it has counted about 200 green charter schools nationwide. According to New York's Department of Education, at least 11 traditional and charter green schools at varying grade levels have opened in the last six years in that state alone. Lexington, North Carolina Schools Working on Stimulus-Funded Projects
Staff Writer,
The-Dispatch
February 03, 2010 NORTH CAROLINA: The Lexington City Board of Education received an update on school projects that will be paid for through U.S. Qualified School Construction Bonds, part of the federal stimulus package. The money will be used to add two classrooms at Southwest Elementary School and to renovate a former shop area at Lexington Middle School. Bids are scheduled in the upcoming months for both projects. Southwest’s project is planned to be finished by Christmas break and is estimated at $590,000. The LMS renovations include the creation of classrooms, restrooms and storage areas for the Jacket Academy calculated to cost $335,000 and be finished by mid-August. The academy is housed in mobile classroom units now. School Opens Outdoor Classrooms
Staff Writer,
BBC News
February 03, 2010 WALES: A Welsh primary school says it is set to become one of the greenest in the country with the opening of the first of three outdoor classrooms. And the eco makeover of the eight-acre site at Edwardsville primary near Merthyr Tydfil is not just about recycling and compost bins. Free range chickens, a mini market garden, and an orchard are all planned. Deputy head teacher Jonathan Rigby said: "Children should know how to grow food, how to harvest it and cook." He added: "It's about preparing the next generation to be more self-reliant, children will learn the skills that many say will be needed in a world where energy is in short supply and more food will be grown locally." The school is already recognised as an example of good green practice and over the last five years it has had over £100,000 in grant funding which has paid for the outdoor classrooms, environment and development projects, the permaculture design and a gardener. A low-maintenance mixed fruit and perennial vegetable garden has already been planted at the school. At the centre there is what looks like a house for hobbits but is actually an eco-play shelter made from locally sourced materials. These include cob, a traditional building material made of sub soil and straw, lime rending and a living sedum roof. Some pupils at Edwardsville already have weekly lessons in horticulture, linking into other subjects including maths, history, geology, biology and ecology. The outdoor classroom design incorporates permaculture principles - a way of working with nature to create a super-productive landscape. Consultant Michele Fitzsimmons has been working closely with the school on the design. She said: "The design is a mixture of unusual food plants which can be foraged freely by the children, for example edible honeysuckle, conventional vegetable growing and flowering plants to increase the beauty of the playgrounds and provide food for insects. "As well as this I have also designed in playing opportunities which are centred on free imaginative play and move away from overly-constructed and designed play - the idea being that free play is essential for children to learn social skills and also offers a complete break from the more constructed learning activities in the classroom." Children will also be able to collect eggs and observe the chickens in an area planned. Many Schools Outdated and Overcrowded in Northern Virginia School District
Julia O'Donoghue,
Fairfax Connection
February 03, 2010 VIRGINIA: The Fairfax County School Board has set a goal of renovating school buildings every 25 to 30 years, but in reality, most schools are waiting approximately 40 years before their physical plants receive an upgrade. School Board members unanimously approved a capital improvement plan Jan. 21 that included many school renovation projects several years overdue. When Franklin-Sherman Elementary’s renovation project gets underway this year, it will be the McLean school’s first total facilities overhaul since it was built in 1952. Freedom Hill Elementary, which opened in Vienna in 1949, is scheduled to undergo its first "full renovation" in 2010 as well. It is not clear yet when a building like West Springfield High School, originally built in the 1960s and approximately 100 students over capacity, would see an upgrade to its physical plant, though a renovation is unlikely to get underway any time during the next decade. With little help from the Commonwealth of Virginia, the school system relies almost entirely on the Fairfax County government for money to complete new school construction, building additions and renovations. Both school staff and county government officials agree that the county has been generous when it comes to school building funding. But what the county can afford to do is simply not enough to keep up with the demand for renovations. Currently, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors issues bonds annually for $155 million worth of school capital projects. The system’s staff said it would need approximately $225 million per year to ensure an overhaul of each facility every three decades. By contrast, School Board member Dan Storck (Mount Vernon) has said that Montgomery County, Md. spends approximately $100 million more per year on school construction than Fairfax, even though the suburban Maryland school system has 30,000 fewer students. An increase in student enrollment has also put extra pressure on Fairfax’s limited school construction funding pool. The school system has seen enrollment grow by 8,500 students since the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, gaining 3,300 students from September 2008 to September 2009 alone. The boom in the student population is expected to continue, with an estimated 11,500 more students in the school system in the fall of 2014 than were enrolled in this past fall. An increase in students means that Fairfax schools must use more of its construction funding to build new schools and to add extra wings onto older school buildings. Some elected officials are looking at ways to address the school system’s capital needs. The school system’s capital funding is supposed to fall from $155 million to $130 million annually in 2012, but Supervisor Patrick Herrity (R-Springfield) has proposed keeping the school construction and renovation dollars at their current level. But keeping the school facilities’ funding elevated means that other county facilities would have to go without renovations and some other government buildings are also in dire need of repairs, according to Fairfax County executive Tony Griffin. Herrity has also suggested the school system try to "fast track" some of its construction and renovation projects during the current down swing in the economy, when the price of building material is lower and construction companies are hungry for work. Setback for Ohio School District: Old Buildings Can't Fit Into New Design
Deborah M. Dunlap,
Columbus Local News
February 03, 2010 OHIO: The Whitehall City School District received a major blow this week to plans for the construction of the new high school building. Operating under the pretext that the district was permitted to incorporate the current auditorium, gym and auxiliary gym in its new construction plans, as promised to voters in 2008, the district said it was blindsided when it learned that the three areas cannot be included in the new design. Superintendent Judyth Dobbert-Meloy held a hastily called special board meeting Monday, Feb. 1, to inform board members of the change, spelling out the ramifications -- including the possibility of additional costs. Throughout the levy campaign in 2008, district officials said they were told by voters over and over that they wanted to keep the auditorium and auxiliary gym, in particular, which would not be replicated in the new high school design. Because part of the funding for the district's five new schools is coming from the state through the Ohio School Facilities Commission, the state dictates the basic requirements for the new builds. Under the state commission, new school buildings do not include a dedicated auditorium, but a combined cafeteria and auditorium. A new gym would be included in the new design. The district's current auxiliary gym, which was built around 1990, won't be paid for in full until 2013. Dobbert-Meloy called this week's news a setback. The district called in two of its contracted architects to discuss alternatives with board members, who were clearly upset with the news. The commission said the district can keep the three facilities, but they must be separate from the new construction. After the new high school building is finished and approved by the state, then the district is free to connect the two in some way. "That's a good thing," Dobbert-Meloy told board members. "We'd have the benefit of the new building with the existing space in the back." But she said the state's suggestion does not come without its own challenges. First, by keeping the existing auditorium, gym and auxiliary gym, architects are left with a much smaller space on which to build the new high school, said Charles Nelson, an architect with Legat & Kingscott who has been working with the district. In fact, the new building would need to be much closer to South Yearling Road than previously anticipated, possibly extending farther north toward the district's administration building as well. The new building would need to be two stories, possibly three, in order to fit in all the needed academic space. Excess Lottery Money Will Allow Tennessee Schools to Get Energy Upgrades
Maria Giordano,
The Tennessean
February 02, 2010 TENNESSEE: The Williamson County School District was among 20 school districts to receive a grant through the Energy Efficient Schools Initiative. Williamson County recently received $59,125 out of the $665,834 it has been awarded. The grants are to be used for various projects that improve energy efficiency, including lighting, heating, air conditioning and kitchen equipment, said Sandy Cunningham, an EESI program coordinator. County school officials are staging their grants, which is a smart way to use the money, Cunningham said. "They can spend that in any facility, whether it's the bus garage, the central office or a school," Cunningham said. Lawmakers developed the initiative in 2008 with about $90 million in excess lottery money, Cunningham said. Kindergarten through 12th-grade public school districts can apply for the money to improve equipment in an effort to become more energy efficient. School districts are often forced to avoid upgrading to more energy-efficient equipment, Cunningham said. The grants allow districts to assess where the need is most warranted. The $8 million funneled to districts so far has been calculated to result in $1.8 million in annual power savings. The amount of carbon dioxide reduced as a result of these projects is calculated to be 13,600 tons. University of Minnesota, an Early BAB User, Goes Back for Seconds
Yvette Shields,
Bond Buyer
February 02, 2010 MINNESOTA: The University of Minnesota, one of the first borrowers to use the Build America Bond program last spring, enters the market with $36 million of fixed-rate, new-money bonds that will again tap the federal stimulus program. New Jersey School District Considers No Flush Urinal Technology
Robert Kopacz,
Independent Press
February 02, 2010 NEW JERSEY: Sanitary porcelain technologies are no laughing matter when it comes to the environment. Here’s why. Even adults tend to smirk and giggle a bit when discussing, ahem, “sanitary porcelain” but, when one looks at their ecological impact, there is not much to smirk and giggle about. The traditional urinal in a men’s or boy’s room subject to high traffic can consume thousands of gallons of water a year. At the Jan. 27 meeting of the Watchung Board of Education, Charles Neiss, Chairman of the Board’s Grounds and Buildings Committee, reported on the results of investigations and tours of nearby facilities, and specifically “no-flush” urinal technology that may just save the district thousands of gallons in water bills each year. The investigations were part of a state-mandated and board approved long term facilities plan for the School District. Part of the district’s plan calls for renovations to several of the rest rooms in Valley View Elementary School, which are in need of renovation. In furtherance of the plan two years ago to focus on green goals wherever possible, the Board Committee asked the architect for the project, Kellen Chapin of Chapin Architectural Services for recommendations on how to make the rest room renovations greener. As it turns out, the humble urinal in its traditional design is one of the most ecologically unfriendly installations in the men’s restroom. At the outset, the committee expected the “green” solution would be in the form of so-called gray water (the waste water from hand washing, for example, re-used to flush toilets and urinals). But, according to Chapin, those solutions are only cost effective for new construction, where the technology is fully integrated into a larger building or complex of buildings. He immediately recommended the no-flush technology. The concept of a waterless, no-flush urinal challenges perceptions of those who think that the inability to flush will lead to all types of sanitary and aesthetic problems. Mr. Neiss and other committee members were at first hesitant. “With no flush we immediately had a concern that there would be aesthetic and cleaning issues,” noted Neiss. “From what we observed, at the two facilities we looked at, that’s not the case,” said Neiss, adding that he toured the Willow School in Gladstone and the Meadowlands where the technology had been implemented. According to Neiss, a visit to the Willow School, an avante garde private school that uses numerous green technologies, saved 45,000 gallons of water per urinal, per year, through the use of no-flush urinals, a significant savings for any owner that wishes to save both money and the planet at the same time. Two technologies have been developed around the no-flush concept, one involving oil in the P traps of the urinals, and the other a replaceable cartridge technology. Neiss noted that the committee is currently favoring the oil-based solution based on the committee’s perception that it is the more ecologically and economically friendly of the two solutions. In addition to the no-flush technology, the renovations are expected to implement other green solutions, such as motion sensor light switches, fluorescent bulbs, and stall elements made from recycled materials. At a Haiti School's Reopening, a Lesson in Sharing
Mitchell Landsberg,
Los Angeles Times
February 02, 2010 HAITI: The school's owner clashes with post-earthquake squatters who have no place to call home. Nearby, young students eagerly wait to regain one normal aspect of their lives. Monday was the first day that schools in Haiti could reopen after the earthquake, which was centered near the capital, Port-au-Prince. The entire national school system -- already among the poorest in the world -- had been shut down, although schools in much of the country were not directly affected. Most schools in Port-au-Prince are eyeing a March restart, at least those that can find a safe place to hold classes. An estimated 70% to 80% of the schools in the capital were damaged or destroyed, and no one is yet sure whether the rest are safe to enter. David's school, known as Plein Soleil (Full Sun), was supposed to be the exception. But nothing is easy in Haiti these days. Plein Soleil is an all-boys elementary school, opened in 1992 by a French couple, Michel and Francoise Vaillaud, to serve a unique population: Children who live in a shantytown in a narrow ravine that runs through some of the city's most affluent neighborhoods. The school was designed by two Haitian architects who relied on internationally accepted building codes, and was built with both strength and flexibility in mind, the better to withstand Haiti's frequent hurricanes, and, as it turns out, an earthquake. The school rode out the January quake with only a few hairline cracks in its concrete floor. After an inspection, Michel Vaillaud decided it was sound. Although the Haitian government had said that no schools in Port-au-Prince could reopen, Vaillaud said he spoke to Education Ministry officials Sunday and got the go-ahead. Only about half of Haitian children attend primary school, according to UNICEF; the numbers drop sharply among higher grades. According to the international organization Save the Children, only 2% of Haitians graduate from high school. On Monday, David, who is in fourth grade, showed up for school at 7 a.m., a half-hour early. He was eager, he said, because all he had been doing was sitting around in a tent. "I miss all my teachers and the work that I used to do, what I used to learn," he said. He had an air of sadness, exacerbated by a welt under one eye. David said he and his mother were home when the quake struck, and they dashed out of their house before it went down. The school was not quite as he had left it. A group of people who had lost their homes, perhaps a couple of dozen, had taken over the playground. They had been camping there since shortly after the quake. To prepare for the resumption of school, Vaillaud had asked them to leave. They refused. They offered a compromise: They would stay away during the school day, as long as they could sleep there at night. Vaillaud said no. Illinois School District Shows Off New STEM Labs
Jenna Haskitt,
Niles Herald Spectator
February 01, 2010 ILLINOIS: A mix of visiting teachers, college representatives and architects for schools visited Niles North High School to learn more about District 219's new Science Technology Engineering Mathematics labs built last summer. The STEM labs were carved out of existing space at Niles North and Niles West high schools that were remodeled. The labs are identical at each school in terms of the equipment. The only difference is Niles West is more of a rectangle shape and Niles North's lab is square. The STEM Inquiry and Research class is a non-traditional class. It's a hybrid class where the students and teacher meet face-to-face every day, but the content is online. It's a self-pacing, multi-level course that can be repeated. "I like it a lot more here because I'm getting more in-depth attention and I feel like I'm freer to do more of anything that I want. The limitations that I would have in a regular classroom aren't really presented. We have tons of equipment that helps you get very specific results," sophomore Haley Bubley said. The lab has micropipettes, a vortex mixer and incubators. The class has many benefits including improving the way students learn and think.
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National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities at the National Institute of Building Sciences 1090 Vermont Ave., NW Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20005 · Toll free: 888-552-0624 · 202-289-7800 · www.ncef.org Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education |
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