The nation's major city public school districts have substantial construction, renovation, modernization, and deferred maintenance needs because of the age and size of their school buildings, shifting populations, and the need to devote substantial resources to instructional personnel to meet their core academic mission. For instance, the average…

Sanitizers and disinfectants can play an important role in protecting public health. They are designed to kill "pests," including infectious germs and other microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Unfortunately, sanitizers and disinfectants also contain chemicals that are "pesticides." Exposure to persistent toxic…

This report summarizes some of the recent reports on school building needs and describes the initiatives in New York State's budget designed to address them. It also describes the environment in which school building and maintenance decisions are made, with particular attention to factors discouraging or impeding successful strategies for school…

The recent defeat of New York's statewide School Facilities Bond Act did not eliminate the pressing need for additional funds for school capital needs. This report discusses ways in which the state can meet these needs, shows how "backdoor" borrowing is not an acceptable method of financing school facilities needs, and describes methods…

A rural New York school district has a nine-member facilities advisory committee charged to assess all of the facilities for needs of renovation and/or repair and prioritize a five-year plan for facility improvements. (MLF)

The objective of this report is to answer the big questions about whether in the foreseeable future most school overcrowding in New York City will be eliminated and all city children will have class sizes and access to school libraries, science labs, art/music rooms, and physical fitness activities that are the norm for students in the rest of the…

This report makes the case that no one is in charge of protecting children from harmful environmental exposures at school and recommends steps at the federal and in New York State to begin to address this hidden world. With information gleaned from adult occupational health experts, from new national studies and reports, and from the reports of…

The attrition of both new and experienced teachers is a great challenge for schools and school administrators throughout the United States, particularly in large urban districts. Because of the importance of this issue, there is a large empirical literature that investigates why teachers quit and how they might be better induced to stay. Here we…