The Center for Cities + Schools at U.C. Berkeley Provides Technical Assistance on School Reopening

In late August, CC+S published a guidance brief titled, Reopening Schools Safely and Equitably Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.The brief describes how the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads and why mitigation measures are recommended for schools. It argues that it will be more difficult for schools with poor condition facilities to effectively implement the SARS-CoV-2 mitigation measures. As a result, students and staff attending these schools will face greater health risks.

CC+S is also curating tools developed by experts to assist local schools and states in safely and equitably reopening their school facilities. 

Guide for Outdoor Classrooms During Coronovirus-era Reopening

Photo: New York City, 1915, Bureau of Charities, Library of Congress

The North American Association for Environmental Education and the National Wildlife Federation has released, Guide to Advocating for Outdoor Classrooms in Coronavirus-Era School Reopening. 

"The purpose of this Guide is to help energize a large-scale nationwide force of advocates to encourage school officials and educators to apply some portion of the federal reopening funds and other public funding resources being made available to the effective use of outdoor classrooms."

Don't Miss Aug. 27 (3PM ET) Webinar on School Reopening - Straight Talk; Public Health Expert and School Administrators

Cooperative Strategies and the National Council on School Facilities will be hosting a webinar featuring Dr. Lauren Ancel Meyers, Professor of Integrative Biology, at U.T. Austin. She will discuss school reopening considerations with Dr. Julius Monk, the COO at Durham Public Schools and Bill Cooper, the Facilities Director at Milford Public Schools in NH. Dr. Meyers has written extensively on Covid-19 and will discuss Durham and Milford's reopening plans with the COO of Durham PS and Facilities Director at Milford PS.  Dr. Meyers will provide insights into how to interpret each district's local health data when planning for in-person instruction, fielding questions from each district and the audience as time allows. As noted on her UT Austin webpage, Professor Meyers is the Cooley Centennial Professor of Integrative Biology and Statistics & Data Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin and a member of the Santa Fe Institute External Faculty. Here is the link to register.  

NCSF 2020 Annual Meeting Will Be A Virtual Experience

The National Council on School Facilities Annual Meeting this year will take place in a virtual format and will not take place in person. NCSF had partnered with Education Market Association for their EdSpaces Conference, which will be a digital experience. The National Council is continuing to work with ED Market Association to bring important and useful policy, planning, budget and accountability research and practice to state officials through a digital experience. Stay tuned for specifics!

GAO Releases Report on School Facilities and ADA Access

The U.S. Government Accountability Office released this past July, K-12 Education: School Districts Need Better Information to Help Improve Access for People with Disabilities. GAO set out to survey school districts if people with disabilities can access all public school buildings. Their findings of surveyed school districts concluded that two-thirds of school districts had facilities with physical barriers that may limit access. Read the GAO report 

NCSF Provides Direct Links to State COVID-19 School Guidance

The National Council on School Facilities COVID-19 state guidance webpage has been updated with a new Tableau U.S. map to make it easier to access each state's reopening guidance. You can rollover a state to view the information and then click the state to access that state's reopening guidance. We also added each state's department of education COVID-19 website in the right column. See the updated webpage. 

The National Academies of Sciences Releases Report on Reopening Schools

The National Academies of Science released a report on reopening K-12 schools during the pandemic. This report is in part in response to NCSF reaching out to the National Academies for help on planning for reopening our public schools in this public health crises. Kathleen Moore, former Director of Facilities for California, and 2014 President of the National Council on School Facilities was a member of the National Academies Advisory Committee for this report. Read the National Academies news release.

Coalition Calls for $10 Billion for School Building Repairs in Next COVID-19 Relief Package

Forty-three organizations from the [Re]Build America's School Infrastructure Coalition, including the National Council on School Facilities, call for federal funding to modernize our nation's public school facilities, but in the meantime the signatories seek $10 billion for emergency school building repairs and system renewals in the next COVID-19 emergency relief package. They ask that these funds are targeted, so that students and teachers in our high poverty communities can reopen schools safely. Read the letter sent to U.S. representative leaders.

U.S. House Passes the Invest in America Act Which Includes School Facilities

The U.S. House passed the $1.5 trillion infrastructure package, Invest in America Act on July 1st. This bill includes provision for $100 billion in grants to the states for PK-12 public school facilities. This happened, in no small part, because of the hard work state directors did at the NCSF annual meetings working to educate members of Congress and their staff on the facilities issues in the states.The work is not done. It will need to pass in the Senate and be signed by the President to become law. However, a major step has been taken.  

• Read the legislative language from H.R. 2 the K-12. facilities provisions.

• See what each states grant allocations would be.

• Read the BASIC Coalition's press release on the passing of the Invest in America Act.

• Watch Chairman of the House Committee on Education & Labor, Bobby Scott's remarks on the passing of the Invest in America Act and the inclusion of school facilities. 

House Leadership Proposed $130 Billion for School Facilities in Moving Forward Act

Speaker Pelosi unveiled the U.S. House 1.5 trillion infrastructure package called, The Moving Forward Act on June 18th. The infrastructure package includes $100 billion in grants to the states over the next five years for school facilities modernization and construction and another $30 billion in interest subsidized bonds. The states will need to allocate these funds to low wealth and high need districts. 

This happened, in no small part, because of the hard work state directors did at the NCSF annual meetings working to educate members of Congress and their staff on the facilities issues in the states. The work is not done. It is surely likely to pass the House, but will need to pass in the Senate and be signed by the President to become law. However, a major step has been taken.  

The school facilities section of this large bill is called Reopen and Rebuild America's Schools and is intended to help with facilities related costs of reopening. Read Chairman of the Education & Labor Committee, Rep. Bobby Scott's press release. 

Because the grants are to be allocated by states, it will be important for your state to have a plan for implementation early. NCSF will schedule a discussion for state officials on this, as soon as it passes the House--early to mid July.