Colleges and universities across the country are burdened with inefficiently utilized facilities, leading to unnecessary costs, wasted space, and misplaced financial priorities. This policy brief examines the systemic mismanagement of campus facilities and proposes market-based reforms to legislatures and trustees in order to optimize space usage,…

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) play a prominent role in the nation's higher education system. For example, 574 HSIs enrolled over 2 million Hispanic students in the 2021-2022 school year, representing 60 percent of all Hispanic students in college. Like most colleges, HSIs must continue to invest in their facilities and digital…

State policymakers can help public charter schools overcome obstacles to their stability, growth and ability to provide high-quality options to students--simply by providing these schools with access to affordable financing to build their own facilities. Ownership is a critical option to address charter school facility needs. Most charter schools…

For more than twenty-five years, the Public School Forum of North Carolina has published an annual list of the top issues that they believe should or will likely be at the forefront of conversations around K-12 public education policy in the upcoming year. They intend for these publications, compiled through engagement with staff, board members,…

Doing more with less is noble in public education. This is something quality public charter schools do well. It is also something, that cash-strapped rural and high need schools across Idaho know all too well themselves. It is well documented that all of public education in Idaho operates on leaner rations than do schools in most parts of the…

Public school facilities primarily serve an educational role, and they also serve a civic role as voting places and emergency shelters. School districts collectively spend tens of billions of dollars each year on facilities construction needs at the nearly 100,000 K-12 public schools nationwide. About half (an estimated 54 percent) of public…

Schools are the ideal setting for combining state health and education goals for all children. Children and adolescents spend more time in schools than in any other environment outside of their homes. They also form foundational health habits during their school years. By emphasizing school health and wellness, state leadership can support both…

The next President of the United States has an enormous responsibility--and opportunity--to provide an equitable foundation for a new generation of learners. The magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated the importance of schools as community anchors that children and families rely on for much more than an education. This document…

This document records testimony from a hearing held on April 22, 2015 on the topic of challenges that are faced by Native American schools. Nearly a century ago the Federal Government made a promise to deliver to Native American children a quality education that just doesn't teach math and science, but preserves their customs and culture.…

This report is provided in response to a mandate by Congress in the Head Start Act, §650(b), as amended on December 12, 2007. The Act requires that the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services submit a report on the facilities of Indian Head Start agencies to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of…

In the raging controversy over the purpose of public education and how to fix the nation's underperforming schools, the voices of America's best teachers are seldom heard. Now for the first time, in a provocative book about the future of teaching and learning, 12 of America's most accomplished classroom educators join a leading advocate for a…

In this paper, the 21st Century School Fund and the Center for Cities and Schools at the University of California Berkeley provide a conceptual frame for the joint use of PK-12 public school buildings. There is a growing conversation about and demand for joint use as a way to provide services to children and families in convenient locations,…

This document provides a framework of guiding principles and general steps addressing the construction of safer and more disaster resilient education facilities. It is aimed to be adapted to the local context and used to develop a context-specific plan to address a critical gap to reaching the Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development…

Old schools are among the finest examples we have of period architecture, craftsmanship, and decorative use of building and art materials. Advises on how to decide if a school is worth saving, identifies preservation groups that can help, and describes three New Jersey schools that are classics. (MLF)

The "Colorado Children's Budget" presents and analyzes investments and spending trends during the past five state fiscal years on services that benefit children. The "Children's Budget" focuses mainly on state investment and spending, with some analysis of federal investments and spending to provide broader context of state…