Voter support for the bond funding would provide part of the total $1.7 billion Elk Grove says it needs to make general upgrades to its schools — including patching roofs, providing updated technology and keeping air conditioners running — and support some new construction. The funds would also help build several new campuses to accommodate the nearly 14,000 additional students that are expected in the district in the next 10 years, according to officials at a February school board meeting.

The proposed plan would require homeowners in the Elk Grove district to pay $38 per $100,000 of assessed property value annually, according to the Sacramento Bee. The average residence would pay approximately $96.52 annually, said Robert Pierce, Elk Grove Unified School District’s associate superintendent of facilities and planning.

According to Pierce, many in the community believe that Elk Grove Unified is a new district, but the average district school is about 20 years old. Major updates to sports fields, libraries and school offices are greatly needed. The district plans to devote all bond money received to improving and repairing existing schools, but its ability to use funds exclusively for repairs relies on the statewide initiative passing. If the initiative does not pass, the funds would have to support projects deemed essential for the community, which includes new school construction. Upgrades for the existing campuses would be put on hold and would be completed as the district is able.
Community members have mixed feelings on the statewide initiative, as some believe it is a “money pit,” according to the Sacramento Bee, while others feel if the updates are needed, the district should provide them.

If the $9 billion proposed initiative passes, $3 billion would go toward new K-12 school construction and an additional $3 billion would support modernizing existing K-12 campuses. The initiative would also provide $2 billion to community colleges, $500 million to career technical education facilities and $500 million to local private schools.

Elk Grove Unified has determined there is a need for an additional 10 elementary schools and one new high school in the next decade, according to Pierce’s statement at the February board meeting. The total cost of these schools would be approximately $634 million.
 

The post Elk Grove Unified School District Seeks Construction Funds appeared first on School Construction News.

Per state regulations, certain school upgrades cannot be funded by the state, causing the board to instead seek local funds. However, the state has already agreed to pay for a replacement school that will cost an estimated $25 million or more. The upgrades to Hall Elementary School, which are not funded by the state, would include a larger cafeteria and gymnasium as well as additional security devices, play structures and an outside learning space.

The Board of Education is also aiming for LEED certification, according to Portland Press Herald. The planned locally funded improvements will enhance education delivery, energy efficiency and security for students and staff as well as reduce costs associated with storm-water management, according to a memorandum from a Portland Board of Public Education meeting in November.

Biddeford, Maine-based architecture, engineering and planning firm Oak Point Associates laid out the recommended upgrades as well as estimated local expenses during the November meeting. One of the first items recommended were classroom security upgrades that would allow designated staff members to initiate lockdown procedures electronically. The security enhancements would be coordinated with district emergency management policies and with first responders, according to the memorandum.

Other potential upgrades include adding a middle school-sized gymnasium that would also be used by the community as well as the elementary school; improvements to the road leading to the school that would include the installation of a new water main; sod installation on the athletic fields to allow the grass to be used for not only athletics but for recess and after school activities; adding additional play structures to create better outdoor learning spaces; and creating operable partitions for general classrooms.

Many of the upgrades are focused on making the new elementary school a place for the community and not just for the students. During the November meeting, a parent on the building committee stressed the importance of building a larger gymnasium for both community and student purposes. State Representative Richard Farnsworth agreed with the Hall Elementary School parent, adding that the school will be used for the next 50 years and it will be a true community center for the surrounding area, according to the Portland Press Herald.
 

The post Portland School Board Recommends Upgrades to New Elementary appeared first on School Construction News.

Per-pupil spending for the nation reached $10,700 during fiscal year 2013, a 0.9 percent increase from 2012, but varied heavily from state to state.

The findings come from a report by the Census Bureau titled Public Education Finances: 2013, which provides figures on revenues, expenditures, debt and assets (cash and security holdings) for the nation’s elementary and secondary public school systems. The report, released annually, includes statistics on spending — such as instruction, student transportation, salaries and employee benefits — at the national, state and school district levels.

“These statistics provide researchers, policymakers and the public with a picture of the nation’s public school system education revenue and spending,” said Stephen Wheeler, an analyst with the Census Bureau’s educational finance branch, in a statement. “These data are used in a variety of important economic measures such as the Department of Education’s Title I Grants and the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ gross domestic product measure.”

Areas that spent the most per pupil in 2013 were New York ($19,818), Alaska ($18,175), the District of Columbia ($17,953), New Jersey ($17,572) and Connecticut ($16,631). Areas that spent the least per pupil included Utah ($6,555), Idaho ($6,791), Arizona ($7,208), Oklahoma ($7,672) and Mississippi ($8,130).

Expenditures by public school systems totaled $596.3 billion in fiscal year 2013, up 0.5 percent from the prior year. This breaks a three-year trend of decreasing total expenditures for elementary and secondary education. Public education expenditure categories include instructional spending, support service spending, capital outlay and other spending. Total school district debt increased by 3.2 percent, from $402.2 billion in fiscal year 2012 to $415.2 billion in 2013.

Expenditures for instruction amounted to $321.3 billion (60.6 percent) of total current spending. Instructional salaries are the largest expenditure category for public elementary and secondary education, which accounted for 34.9 percent or $208 billion. Expenditures for support services amounted to $181.7 billion, a 1 percent increase from the prior year. Expenditures on student transportation were $23.4 billion, a 1.2 percent increase from 2012 figures. Revenue contributions from all sources to elementary and secondary education revenue amounted to $597.9 billion, up 0.6 percent from the previous year.

The post National Public School Spending Up Slightly appeared first on School Construction News.

“School districts are being forced to consider bad options, including class-size increases, cuts in educator positions and the discontinuation of programs while Gov. Hogan withholds this crucial funding,” said MSEA President Betty Weller in a statement. “Educators, parents and elected officials from both parties are urging the governor to move swiftly and release this funding to make sure that it can help our students and avoid negative consequences for our schools.”

The campaign included a relaunched website, which was first introduced in February after Gov. Hogan proposed cutting $144 million from public schools. The state’s general assembly restored $132 million of those cuts, but Gov. Hogan still needed to release the $68 million that comes from the Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI), according to MSEA.

A broad, bipartisan coalition of educators, parents, school board members, superintendents, county officials and state legislators held local events after the end of the legislative session to urge Gov. Hogan to release the funding. The funds go to 13 jurisdictions, including Baltimore, where the cost of education is higher than in other areas of the state.

However, in mid-May, Gov. Hogan announced he would not release the $68 million. He instead plans to direct a portion of the money to the state pension fund. Maryland currently faces $18.7 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. The governor said ignoring the problem would be irresponsible.

For weeks, the teachers union, education advocates and many Democratic lawmakers demanded the governor fully fund the GCEI.

“In Carroll County, they are talking about increasing fees on parents for sporting programs, and in Montgomery County, they are talking about a reduction in 300 teaching positions. In Baltimore City, they are talking about fewer summer programs,” Sean Johnson, director for the MSEA, told Baltimore news station WBAL-TV.

State law requires record funding for education each year. The governor’s budget included $6.1 billion in K-12 funding and $318 million in school construction money. The General Assembly passed an emergency bill mandating fully funding the GCEI. Gov. Hogan said he would let that bill become law without his signature.

"We understand there are enough votes to override the veto, and it’s not worth putting people through the protracted battle with Legislature over the issue. We’ll find some way to comply with this unreasonable mandate next year," Gov. Hogan said in a statement.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake disagreed with the governor’s decision.

"I am disheartened that Gov. Hogan has chosen not to provide this basic funding for schools in Baltimore City and across the state of Maryland. Given how the needs of our children have been highlighted by the events of the past few weeks, I hoped that the governor would have agreed with the General Assembly that these dollars are critical for expanded educational opportunities," Rawlings-Blake said in a statement.

The post Maryland Education Advocates Pursue State Funding appeared first on School Construction News.

Rep. Karen Castor Dentel, D-Maitland, a former educator, and Rep. Joe Saunders, D-Orlando voiced their opposition to the plan at a press conference in Orlando on June 16. In her address, Castor Dentel urged Gov. Scott to veto the expansion immediately.

“This last-minute legislation further undermines our public school system by allowing children to attend schools with no way of knowing what or if they are being taught,” Castor Dentel said. “In a year when we have record revenue, the Legislature chose to give our public school dollars away to private schools before fully funding the public ones where over a million children attend. It is up to Governor Scott to right this wrong and stand up for the children of our state and veto this bill.”

“We have a constitutional obligation to fully fund our public school system,” added Saunders. “This legislation bleeds critical resources out of our public schools and redirects those tax dollars into private organizations with a track record that’s sketchy as best. As a lawmaker, my job is to help the public understand the best use of our scarce resources and this isn’t it.”

Meanwhile, a number of other groups including parents and private school advocates have lent their support to the bill. Rep. Daphne Campbell, a Democrat from the state’s 108th district in north Miami-Dade, wrote in the Miami Herald that the expansion gives children “legitimate learning options,” noting it is an alternative for those students who tend to struggle the most in education.

“The news about the program is uniformly good,” Campbell wrote. “Their standardized scores show us they are achieving the same gains academically as students of all incomes nationally; the public schools most affected by the loss of students to the scholarship are themselves showing impressive academic gains; and the scholarship is small enough, $4,880 this year, that it saves tax money that can be spent on traditional public schools.”

Florida lawmakers approved the expansion with a 70-44 vote on May 2. With Gov. Scott’s support, the bill would increase scholarship amounts beginning FY 2016-2017 and widen the scholarship recipient income bracket, allowing students from families with household incomes of up to $62,000 to qualify for partial assistance. It would also require schools to submit testing data to Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute for comparison and analysis.

Scott, who has praised the program for providing options to Florida families and dramatic savings for taxpayers, received the largely GOP-supported expansion proposal earlier this month. He must approve or veto the measure by June 28.

More information about the Florida Tax Credit Scholarships Program may be found at http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org/information/ctc/.

Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program for 2013-2014
• Students participating: 59,674
• Schools participating: 1,414
• Average scholarship value: $4,663
DATA SOURCE: Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice

The post School Choice Fight Continues in Florida appeared first on School Construction News.

“The protection of students, educators and school employees is of the utmost concern to me, members of the General Assembly, parents and communities across the commonwealth,” Corbett said. “Students who do not feel safe while in school are unable to learn, which will negatively impact their academic performance.”

Through the School Police Officer/Resource Officer grant program, $3.9 million was awarded to 81 schools and municipalities across the state for the placement of officers in schools. Scarnati authored the legislation to create the program, which Gov. Corbett signed into law with the state’s 2013-14 budget.

“Today we are seeing firsthand the positive impacts that the school safety grant program is having within our communities,” Scarnati said. “Ensuring that students and teachers feel safe in their learning environments is a crucial part of helping children to learn and succeed. Across Pennsylvania, each school’s safety needs are unique, which the program recognizes by allowing local school officials to determine how best to use the grants to protect our children.”

The grant program allows eligible schools and municipalities to receive up to $60,000 for a school resource officer and up to $40,000 for a school police officer. These officers will be largely responsible for providing law and safety training to school staff, students, parents and school community members, including school-based human services staff from community-based organizations. They will also be expected to assist other law enforcement officers with outside investigations concerning students and act as a liaison with juvenile probation.

Corbett also announced the award of $2.6 million to 110 public schools through the Safe Schools Targeted Grant. According to a release issued by the governor’s office, this funding will be used to establish and implement programs to prevent and reduce school violence. The funding will help schools reduce unnecessary disciplinary actions and promote an environment of greater productivity. It will also provide for staff professional development using research-based violence prevention and classroom management programs, and enhance antiviolence efforts.

Each school was awarded up to $25,000 to implement or expand programs that focus on conflict resolution or dispute management, school-wide positive behavior support, school-based diversion programs, classroom management and research-based violence prevention programs that address risk factors.

As a part of this new funding, school staff will also be trained in the use of positive behavior supports, de-escalation techniques and appropriate responses to student behavior that may require immediate intervention.

In the 2013-14 state budget, funding for the Safe School Initiative was increased from $2 million to $8.5 million, allowing more schools to have access to safety funding. Corbett’s proposed 2014-15 budget preserves the $6.5 million increase for the Safe School Initiative line item.

“Schools across the state must be safe havens so students are ready to learn, ready to grow and ready to succeed,” Corbett said. “I remain committed to working with the General Assembly to ensure that all students have access to a safe and secure learning environment.”

The post Pennsylvania Invests in School Safety appeared first on School Construction News.

SB No. 475 authorizes the Department of Administrative Services commissioner to enter into grant commitments for 21 new school construction projects, totaling $180.7 million. It will also reauthorize and change grant commitments, due to cost and scope changes, for nine previously authorized projects.

Though the bill will primarily fund standard expansion and renovation projects, it also mandates that projects integrate the school safety infrastructure standards (SSIS) introduced by the School Safety Infrastructure Council (SSIC). The council, which was formed following the assault on Sandy Hook Elementary in 2013, issued the SSIS in January 2014.

However, under the newly approved bill, the commissioner may waive the requirement to meet the SSIS if it is determined that the applying school made a good-faith effort to address the standards, and that compliance with the standards would be infeasible, unreasonable or excessively expensive. It also authorizes the commissioner to require any town or regional board of education applying for a school construction project grant to conduct a safety assessment of the project to measure compliance with the SSIS. The town or regional board must use either an assessment tool the commissioner designates or an alternative the commissioner determines, which must provide a comparable safety and security assessment. 


The SSIS include surveillance upgrades, improvements to school entry points and the development of emergency notification systems. A panel of police officers, educators, engineers and state leaders collaborated on the new requirements, which will apply to all new school construction approved for funding by the legislature after June 2014.
“If the events of the recent past have taught us anything, it is that state government must use its collective resources more wisely and with greater purpose,” the commission wrote in their February 2014 report. “By tying state school construction investments to local compliance with widely agreed upon security standards, state government can help achieve the goal of more secure schools through the use of preventative infrastructure design techniques.”
State school security funding also received a boost from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy earlier in the year when the governor announced the dedication of $10 million in school security grants, and the expansion of funding eligibility to all public schools.

“Providing safe learning environments for our students and educators is a basic responsibility of state and local governments,” Malloy said in the January funding announcement.

The governor also secured $21 million to support school security projects in 111 schools districts in 2013. However, that first round of funding was open to district-run community and magnet schools only.

The post Connecticut Funds School Construction, Security appeared first on School Construction News.

Currently, publicly funded early childhood education programs across Louisiana vary greatly, and lack a consistent set of student expectations. To remedy this, the department selected 15 districts in April 2013 to participate in a year-long early childhood education pilot program, intended to solidify standards and increase ease of enrollment.

These first round pilot parishes have already made great strides in early childhood education through training staff in the Birth to Five Early Learning Development Standard, and instituting both the CLASS professional development tool for teachers and the Teaching Strategies GOLD child development assessment. These schools have also worked to identify all children up to age five in their community in need of education services.

This second pilot program will further help Louisiana in unifying its various programs. It is also a key step in implementing Act 3 of the 2012 Legislative Session requiring the state to reform its fragmented system. "No longer can we accept radically different standards for student learning depending on the program or funding stream," said State Education Superintendent John White. "We are thrilled with the results of the pilots to date…they are well on their way to unifying the system so that childcare is working hand in hand with pre-K and Headstart."

According to White, presently only half of Louisiana children entering kindergarten are able to recognize the letters of the alphabet, or count to 20. “Changing this starts with unifying our expectations for all students, “ said White. “By applying to participate in the second round of pilots, communities have the opportunity to begin this important work prior to the 2015 statewide expansion.”

Louisiana education leaders have long been pushing for improved early childhood programming. The fall 2012 report “Early Childhood Risk and Reach in Louisiana”, published by the LSU/Tulane Early Childhood Policy and Data Center, examined a variety of contributors to childhood success, as well as the state’s existing programs. According to the report, 55 of the state’s 64 parishes scored high on at least one of 11 risk factors related to poor early childhood outcomes, and more than 111,000 children live in the 31 parishes identified as either Moderate-High or High Risk.

However, according to Geoff Nagle, director of the Tulane University Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, “The report shows that almost all parishes, regardless of their current risk ranking, have strengths from which to build and vulnerabilities that need to be addressed.”

Parishes selected for Round 2 of the Early Childhood Network Pilots will receive between $80,000 and $350,000 in training and implementation funds. Electronic copies of the RFA have been made public on the www.louisianabelieves.com, and applications will be accepted through Jan. 22, 2014. Round 2 Network Pilots will be made public in March of 2014. The state plans to have programs in place that will serve all eligible four-year-olds by July 2015

The post Education Program Expands in Louisiana appeared first on School Construction News.

Council President Darrell Clarke and fellow member Blondell Reynolds-Brown introduced the bill that would allow district schools to raise money through ad sales. On Dec. 3, the City Council largely sided with Clarke and Reynolds-Brown, and gave the bill their preliminary approval. However, Councilman Dennis O’Brien opposed the bill, preferring to keep school funding issues in the realm of state lawmakers.

Though the bill has drawn opposition from education groups and parents who warn against marketing directly to children, Reynolds-Brown described the plan as supplying much-needed revenue. “Imagine, like in California, a West Philadelphia football field paid for by Nike,” she said.

The renewed ad sales plan would allow both illuminated and digital advertisement on school property, while still barring ads for tobacco and alcohol within 1,000 feet of schools. According to Brown, advertisements for unhealthy foods may also be restricted. The bill called for a planning commission to deliver implementation regulations within 45 days of the effective date of the ordinance.

Though the council has approved the bill, the district’s School Reform Commission will ultimately decide its fate. Fran Burns, the district’s chief operating officer, was quoted as saying that, although the bill had advanced in the council, that move “does not guarantee execution.” Burns added in a statement, “While we remain impartial to how revenue is generated, we acknowledge this idea as a way to generate income from nontax revenue.” If the commission does green light the bill, it could also apply stricter advertising standards.

Both Clarke and Reynolds-Brown had individually pushed similar legislation in the past. “Last spring, I introduced a measure to advertise on school buses, and we ran into some hurdles, so we’ve been in conversation with the school district,” said Reynolds-Brown in October. “Parallel with that, Council President Clarke had an interest in putting advertisements on school buildings, so we’ve collapsed the two into one.” In 2004, officials also floated a plan to auction off naming rights to a newly built district school, but the plan never came to fruition.

Philadelphia is not the first school district to consider selling ad space, a method that has proven financially successful in several other communities across the country. After Texas lawmakers trimmed more than $5 billion in education funding and grants from their 2012 budget, multiple districts began the practice, offering ad space in newsletters, school buses and sports stadiums.

In 2012 New Jersey schools also turned to ad sales after budget cuts put a squeeze on their operations, while schools in Colorado even made headlines for putting ads at the bottom of student report cards. Meanwhile, Idaho, Minnesota and several other states have also supplemented their budgets with various ad sales. During the Dec. 3 meeting, Brown also referenced New York City schools, which have added roughly $6 million to their annual operating budgets by placing ads on the sides of school buses.

The post Philadelphia Schools Move Toward Advertising in Schools appeared first on School Construction News.

The recession is suddenly pushing states to consider more drastic, creative, or unusual tactics in an attempt to keep funding for higher education from reaching historically low levels, when adjusted for inflation. This has led states to consider everything from raising taxes to changing rules about who can attend their schools.

The problems with education funding seems even more glaring this year, as President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped many states backfill their education funding gaps, inserting the one-time funding in the place where tax revenues used to be. States were able to use these funds to varying degrees over the three-year period from 2009 to 2011, but the amount of funding was already being outpaced by rising costs in the time between 2010 and 2011. During that period, stimulus funding went down while general costs went up, as is always the case, due to inflation. Now that the stimulus funding is mostly spent, colleges are faced with the full brunt of their economic troubles.

Though the economic downturn has clearly exasperated the problem, the hole in education funding is linked to a much more basic economic truth. The demand for higher education has gone up and the federal government has not increased the supply of funding at a rate that in any way comes close to matching the increased number of prospective customers. In a nutshell, this means education is becoming more expensive. If demand goes up and supply stays relatively the same it drives the price of education up. While more people want a service, there is about the same amount of supply available, and this means people begin outbidding each other to get at the limited resources, leading to a massive increase in price in this case. This has led to a dual effect, where state and local governments must contribute more to education costs, while simultaneously charging students more, because federal funding is functionally decreasing.

One tactic many states and colleges are currently turning to is a greater emphasis on attracting students from other states to attend their universities. This is because attending a college in a state other than the state considered to be the student’s permanent address is far more expensive. Students who go to a school in their own state get an in-state discount for tuition and neighboring states often offer discounts to each other’s residents as well. Some states embraced this strategy a while ago, with the University of California drastically increasing the amount of out-of-state and international students admitted into its system over the last three years.

The debate on this strategy has not ended however, as state Senator Michael Rubio (D-Shafter) is currently trying to build support for his California Students First Act, which would cap the amount of non-resident undergrads enrolled each year at 10 percent of that year’s total admissions. The University of Colorado has taken the opposite approach, as its cap currently sits at 33 percent of admissions. North Dakota has taken the concept even further, with more than 50 percent of students at two of its major universities coming from outside the state. The University of North Dakota at Grand Forks and North Dakota State University have both exceeded that rate, at 55 percent.

The average out-of-state enrollment rate for all higher education institutions in the country stood at 19 percent in 2010. There is also currently a debate on the topic in Michigan, where Business Leaders for Michigan, a nonprofit made up of business executives and education officials, is arguing for increased enrollment of students from other states. Michigan currently lags far behind the national average, with 9 percent of its students coming from other states.

While trying to attract students who must pay more than their peers is becoming a more popular solution, it is not solving the problems with higher education funding on its own. The largest change in most universities is still a general increase in the cost for all students to attend college. The price of attending college is going up, the expectation that jobs require a degree from a higher education entity is not slowing down, but the average paycheck is not keeping up with the increased cost of receiving an education. This lack of balance has led the total amount of student debt in the nation to exceed $1 trillion.

Students are also taking more time to complete college, with many finding it difficult or near impossible to get into all their required classes within four years, which increases the cost of higher education and extends the period of time students are in school, instead of focusing solely on their careers and paying down their debt.

The issue has come to the forefront in Nevada, where only 36 percent of students earn their four-year degrees within six years, the worst rate in the contiguous United States, with only Alaska ranking worse in that statistic overall. The problem extends even further, as less than 11 percent of full-time community college students in the state graduate with a two-year degree within three years of enrolling. Not only is Nevada failing to get its students through the higher education experience, it is also struggling to keep students living in the state after they graduate. Economic problems in the region have led to an exodus of college graduates. The state ranks last in the nation in terms of the proportion of people between ages 25 and 34 who have a college degree.

The Nevada System of Higher Education, the organization that oversees state-supported universities and colleges, has proposed a unique solution to this problem. The organization has called upon political leaders to reform the state’s higher education system by refocusing funding metrics. The proposal calls for rewarding schools based upon how many credits students complete, compared to the current system, which funds colleges based on how many students they enroll. This plan would also include financial incentives, which would encourage higher education institutions to concentrate on specific fields like natural resources, engineering, biological and biomedical sciences, architecture and nursing.

Ohio Governor John Kasich has proposed a similar approach, asking officials at two- and four-year institutions to work together to identify a better system for divvying up higher education funding. Like leaders in Nevada, Kasich emphasized that any new system for determining funding levels should put a premium on graduating students, instead of enrolling them.

Stimulus Funding Impact on Higher Education Budgeting
Combined Budget for All States in 2010: $138.5 Billion
Total Amount of Stimulus Funds Spent in 2010: $4.5 Billion
Combined Budget for All States in 2011: $143.8 Billion
Total Amount of Stimulus Funds Spent in 2011: $2.8 Billion
Source: State Higher Education Executive Officers

Amount of Funding from State and Local Governments Per Year
1986: $31.4 Billion
1996: $47.8 Billion
2006: $77.0 Billion
2008: $88.8 Billion
Source: State Higher Education Executive Officers

The post States Search for Higher Education Funding Solutions appeared first on School Construction News.