Long before closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, many Pennsylvania schools faced a different health crisis: unsafe facilities. Crumbling buildings, asbestos, lead, and other school facility health and safety risks plague many schools across Pennsylvania, particularly in low-income districts and those that enroll a high percentage of Black and…

This New York State Education Department bulletin provides guidelines and information on determining state building aid for public school construction pursuant to New York State Education Law: section 3602(6)(1) & (2). Guidelines address state building aid's purpose, eligibility, and formula for aid estimation. Included are guidelines on…

The New York Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) has created a new 3-page blank form to be completed for all school district capital projects involving the construction of new special education space. The new form requires the signatures of the Superintendent of Schools, the District…

In recent years, New York State has encouraged school districts to ensure that their facilities are adequate to educate students by offering financial incentives through building aid formulas. In 1997, legislation was enacted to increase state support for school capital projects by restructuring building aid. The laws of 2000 and 2001 further…

This document reports findings of an audit that examined the New York State Education Department's administration and oversight of school-district construction practices and state building aid. The Department's Bureau of Facilities Planning must approve all school-construction project plans and specifications to ensure that facilities are designed…

This report from the New York State Comptroller's Office details problems with the State's approach to school facilities in recent years, describes why serious physical deficiencies remain unaddressed despite greatly increased spending, and makes recommendations for improvement. The report concludes that state policy for school facilities has…

Generally, construction projects undertaken by school districts in New York State are financed in part by state aid. The Education Department's Facilities Planning unit approves state aid for school-district construction projects outside New York City. This report presents findings of an audit that evaluated whether the Unit management's oversight…

The elimination of student overcrowding--the objective in writing this report and the objective in seeking reforms of the school facilities construction process--must be the top priority for the city in the next decade. The premise of this report is that much of the planning process for building and repairing schools requires fundamental change,…