School Facilities News from Across the Nation

State Agency Spotlight

New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority Seeks New Executive Director

Our colleague, Martica Casias, Executive Director of the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority is retiring and the Authority is seeking her replacement. We will miss Martica's involvement with the National Council and her experience and knowledge of school facilities issues she provided to members. It is a very fast turnaround as applications are due Nov. 3rd. See the Executive Director job description by clicking here. Please apply for the Executive Director Job Announcement at this link: www.nmpsfa.org/orangehrm/symfony/web/index.php/recruitmentApply/jobs.

Colorado State Board of Education Approves 65 Grants for School Construction Projects Valued at Over $665 Million

“The Colorado State Board of Education approved a total of 41 Building Excellent Schools Today school construction grants and another 24 emergency grant requests to resolve ventilation and filtration issues related to COVID-19. The BEST grants total almost $623 million in school construction projects, using nearly $297 million from the Capital Construction Assistance Fund. The projects in schools throughout Colorado range from roof and boiler replacements to constructing entire school buildings.” Read News Release.

Texas Education Agency Proposing to Revise School Facilities Standards

Texas Education Agency (TEA) is proposing to establish updated school facilities standards and new safety and security standards for school facilities constructed on or after July 15, 2021. The standards reflect recommendations from a school facilities standards advisory committee convened by the Texas Association of School Administrators and from other stakeholders providing input and public comment. See the proposed standards. For questions on these standards please reach out to Jim Moore at the Texas Education Agency, jim.moore@tea.texas.gov.

NCSF Welcomes Idaho as a New Member State

The National Council on School Facilities is pleased to announce that the State of Idaho has joined NCSF as a member state. Guy Bliesner, School Safety and Security Analyst for the Idaho Office of School Safety and Security is the representative.

If your state is not a 2021 member of the National Council please learn more about membership at: www.facilitiescouncil.org/members

Collaboration and School Recovery

Idaho representative to NCSF, Guy Bliesner, wrote an article published in Campus Safety, "For Schools to Recover from COVID, Collaboration Will Be Key." Guy argues that, "The lessons learned from our COVID-19 experience indicates the need for wider collaboration. We will need to engage a much more diverse group of professionals with wider expertise to help us address the changed circumstances and new reality in schools." Please share your thoughts regarding Guy's article with him at:Guy.Bliesner@dbs.idaho.gov

Arkansas Master Plan 2020 Training Videos

The Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation has developed a Master Plan Web Tool and a short training video series to assist districts in preparing and submitting their Master Facilities Plans. The short training video series shows the functionality of their Master Plan Web Tool and what should be included in the master plan upload. By law, school districts in Arkansas must submit via the web tool a comprehensive six-year facility improvement plan and keep updated.

Alaska Develops Construction Standards Feasibility Study and Cost/Benefit Analysis Tool

The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development is required to “periodically update regionally based model school construction standards that describe acceptable building systems and anticipated costs and establish school design ratios to achieve efficient and cost-effective school construction." The Department released a feasibility study and a cost/benefit analysis tool to provide the State:  1) systems-based construction standards, 2) a school construction cost model, and 3) efficiency ratios for school design.

Maine Requests School Enrollment Size Data

School enrollment sizes are challenges for rural states in particular. Thanks to a request from the School Construction Programs Division at the Maine Department of Education to NCSF, states can easily see the average and median size of their K-12 public schools by locale and grade levels. View the Dashboard.

Maryland Facilities Management Webinar Series

The State of Maryland's Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) hosted a series of webinars to provide facilities management information to stakeholders and the general public.