The Latest

Explore updates from NCSI on our blog, catch up on the latest news with our facilities news tracker, browse upcoming events, and find information on funding, recognition, and training opportunities.

Photo of school children studying in a modern school building
Capps Middle School, Warr Acres, OK; Photo Credit: Michael Robinson and DLR Group

NCSI Blog

  • Update from NCSI

    National Partnership Launches to Increase School Health & Resilience

    Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, National Center on School Infrastructure, and New Buildings Institute

    The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, the National Center on School Infrastructure, and New Buildings Institute have formed the HVAC Change Lab, a new partnership to improve health, safety, and academic success by upgrading heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in schools.

    Health and Indoor Environmental Quality

  • Resource spotlight

    Performance Contracting: A Partnership to Improve Facilities and Unlock Funding Opportunities

    UndauntedK12

    School districts across the country face a common set of challenges: aging building portfolios with millions (or billions) in deferred maintenance; the intensifying pressures of extreme weather and a changing climate on school infrastructure; and limited human capacity and capital budgets for implementing needed facilities upgrades. Performance contracting can help districts contend with these realities.

    Funding
    Installation of solar panels on a school building in Salt Lake City, UT.

  • Resource spotlight

    NCSI Tools for Conducting Facility Condition Assessments

    Jeff Vincent, Director, National Center on School Infrastructure

    To help overcome hurdles for conducting Facility Condition Assessments and build local district capacity, the National Center on School Infrastructure (NCSI) is pleased to launch 3 new tools: a Facility Condition Assessment Manual; a Facility Condition Assessment Workbook; and a Facility Condition Assessment Scope Definition Worksheet.

    Facility Conditions Assessment
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Facilities in the News

New Hampshire
NH Public School Infrastructure Commission awards safety project grants to Upper Valley schools
vnews.com – February 22, 2026
The New Hampshire Public School Infrastructure Commission awarded $8 million to fund school safety projects at at 149 schools across the state, according to a news release from the New Hampshire Department of Education. The funding comes from the Security Action for Education (SAFE) grants program and this round of funding focused on projects that “enhance surveillance, emergency alerting and access control” at schools. Those projects include installing exterior cameras, camera monitors, locks, bollards, gates, fencing, blue light emergency alerting systems, public address phone systems and exterior door alarms, according to a description of the grant application process.
Guam
Agueda Johnston Middle School jumps from “C” to “A” rating in sanitary inspection
The Guam Daily Post – February 21, 2026
Addressing years of deferred maintenance is paying off for the Guam Department of Education (GDOE) which has seen significant improvement in the results of sanitary inspections renewals for school year 2025-2026 with the near perfect rating obtained by Agueda Johnston Middle School. The push to improve the condition of Guam’s public schools followed a big U.S. Department of Education push to return students to safe and healthy learning environments after the COVID-19 pandemic, spurring local efforts to enforce compliance with the Department of Public Health and Social Services Division of Environmental Health’s school building sanitary codes mandated by local law. Agueda was initially one of the schools identified as Tier III, meaning it required extensive work to bring the decades-old facilities into compliance.
California
Hundreds of San Diego County schools, parks and care facilities are near potentially dangerous oil wells, data show
The San Diego Union-Tribune – February 21, 2026
Hundreds of schools, child cares, parks and other care facilities around San Diego County are located near idle oil wells, which can emit toxic gases, a new study finds. They’re among the nearly 4,500 wells statewide that an analysis of state data by the Center for Biological Diversity found are within 3,200 feet of such sensitive locations. That’s the minimum distance state law requires new oil and gas drilling to be from such sites. Idle wells no longer produce oil or gas, but because they remain unplugged, they can emit explosive gases like methane and toxic chemicals like benzene, said Emily Diaz-Loar, a staff scientist at the environmental nonprofit. The group has pushed to speed up capping idle wells. California has prohibited new drilling within 3,200 feet of these sensitive sites based on studies of the health harms of pollutants coming from oil and gas activity. Idle wells can also release harmful pollutants, yet thousands of idle wells remain unplugged within these health protection zones.
Montana
School Employees Sound the Alarm Over Maintenance Budget Shortfalls
Montana Public Radio – February 20, 2026
The message from Montana’s school maintenance directors to lawmakers is straightforward: “We need help.” Several spoke before members of the School Funding Interim Commission this month, including Helena Public Schools’ facility director Todd Verrill. He told lawmakers the district’s deferred maintenance bill had ballooned to more than $100 million before voters approved a major building overhaul last year. Verrill says the school was doing its best with scant resources. “If I sound like I’m angry, folks, I am. I come from the military where there’s a $900 billion budget per year at the federal level, and we’re scraping for pennies to educate our children,” Verrill said. New data from national school infrastructure advocates backed up the administrators’ concerns. The 21st Century School Fund found Montana pays $100 million less than it needs to annually keep up with basic school maintenance like fixing faucets, replacing light fixtures and keeping the heat on.
Vermont
As Vermont Lawmakers Work to Consolidate Schools, How Will they Handle School District Debt?
VTdigger – February 20, 2026
Vermont school districts are more than $480 million in debt from the costs of renovating school buildings, according to data from the State Aid for School Construction Advisory Board. That might sound pretty steep, but experts say it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Vermont has some of the oldest school building stock in the country. That debt means that at least some districts have started investing in school renovation projects that, with current inflation rates, may have been far costlier had they started today, Michael Gaughan, the head of the Vermont Bond Bank, told lawmakers last month. Lawmakers might consider themselves lucky — until they look at the several billion dollars needed to bring the rest of the state’s building stock into the 21st century. Not to mention how districts might feel about taking on debt their voters never authorized.
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Events

  • Apr 26, 2026

    NSPMA Annual Conference 2026

    National School Plant Management Association

    The NSPMA Annual Conference will take place April 26-29 at the Marriot in Downtown Kansas City, MO. This event is designed especially for school plant management and will allow facility managers and school officials to connect with peers, architects, engineers and national partners to provide their schools with strategies and solutions for school facilities.

    Management
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Opportunities

Information on funding, recognition, and training programs.

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