Through case studies of five states with varying facilities policies, the study presented in "What about the Schools? Factors Contributing to Expanded State Investment in School Facilities" examines the factors contributing to expanded state investment in equitable public school facilities and how those factors can be leveraged to…

The focus of this article is liability of higher education institutions for off-campus housing. In the off-campus housing context, the "assumed duty" theory was determinative in a 2006 Delaware Supreme Court case. A student was assaulted by the boyfriend of another student in the parking lot of off-campus housing. The housing was…

Recent research reveals that janitorial services account for nearly 30 percent of facility budgets, which translates into billions of dollars annually. With janitorial services consuming such a large share of budgets, other industry findings are alarming. Most cleaning systems: 1) have no quantifiable standards; 2) are based solely on appearance;…

Space is both an asset and a burden for colleges and universities. On the one hand, space holds enormous value for institutions; their campuses and buildings are worth, in many cases, hundreds of millions of dollars. Space is the medium in which the institution operates. Online courses have proven that education can be conducted anywhere, but most…

Most higher education facilities have already accomplished some measure of a "microgrid" investment with building control systems (BCS), energy management systems (EMS), and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) installations. Available energy production facilities may include boilers, chillers, cogeneration, thermal storage, electrical…

This Matrix for Planning presents an organized format for systematically recording information relevant to the formulation of long-range planning policies and decisions for the Massachusetts Community Colleges. The matrix organizes existing data into a four-fold conceptual structure: people, programs, facilities, and funding. The first category…

This resource toolkit for working education service providers contains four sections. Section 1, "Roles Responsibilities, and Relationships," contains: (1) "Purchasing Services from an Educational Management Organization," excerpted from "The Charter School Administrative and Governance Guide" (Massachusetts Dept. of…