NCSF Recommended Guidance for PK12 Facilities Covid Relief Funds Released
/On March 30, 2021 the National Council on School Facilities released their recommendations on COVID relief funding for school facilities. The recommendations represent best practices in educational facilities management and have been identified and vetted during weekly webinar presentations and discussions with state and district stakeholders. The recommendations are:
States should allocate at least 1% of their state reservation funding toward state level functions related to school facilities.
Districts should allocate at least 15% of their federal Relief and ARP funding (excluding 20% for learning loss) for healthy school facilities.
U.S. Department of Education and State Departments of Education should encourage district flexibility in the facility uses of federal funds.
States and districts should engage their staff and communities in setting priorities for healthy facilities-related improvements.
Where local communities identify facilities improvements for healthy environments that exceed the 15%, the U.S. Department of Education and States Departments of Education need to make clear that districts can spend in excess of the recommended 15% allowance for healthy facilities-related improvements.
Districts and states must be accountable for equity and advancing healthy school facilities by publicly reporting data on the scope, schedule, and amount of federal funding for healthy facilities improvements.
School districts should use federal funds to supplement their FY2018 levels of operations and maintenance of plant.