RESOURCES...
Helping you help us - help you...
Please find resources here from Friends of Community Schools to help you advocate to protect community-centered schools, including information on the benefits of Smart Growth Schools, preservation, environmental impact, job growth and more!
Fiscal Accountability...
Taxpayer funding of Bond Referendums for schools need to be utilized for the purposes advertised to the voters to renovate and protect community-centered schools and to maintain fiscal transparency to voters.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Preservation pays. That is the conclusion of this economic study, conducted by VCU’s Center for Public Policy, in partnership with DHR.
Dollars & Sense
The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools, including Operational Diseconomies and Socials Costs of Large Schools.
See Report
See ReportGrowth, Investment and Resource Conservation...
Friends of Community Schools advocates for an effective capital improvement plan to benefit the infrastructure, educational and fiscal requirements of Fairfax County Public Schools to maintain schools as strong anchors in our communities.
School Design Process
Designing schools with community participation from new design process, additions to existing schools, accessibility and keeping schools the center of the community.
Renovation v. Replacement
The National Trust's guideline to conducting transparent feasibility studies
21st Century Education
Redevelop first, use existing infrastructure, increase job opportunities, foster sustainable business, plan regionally, implement locally - many older schools can be renovated to 21st Century education standards
"Historic Neighborhood Schools Deliver 21st Century Educations"
The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities report on accountability to communities and taxpayers and excellence in education! Includes mulitiple studies.
G-r-o-w-i-n-g small...
Research shows that some of the benefits of small schools include:
- Higher student achievement
- Students are more visible
- Reduced violence and disruptive behavior
- Improved attendance and graduation rates
- Increased teacher satisfaction
- More cost effective
What Kids Can Do
"Student learning in small schools: an online portfolio" - from high school students' perspective, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation project
Virtues of schools on a "human scale"
"High Schools on a Human Scale:
How Small Schools Can Transform American Education", by education journalist Thomas Toch
Orienting for Sustainability
A teacher's resource regarding small schools
Smart Design,
Smart Growth &
Smart Money...
Stanford University
Stanford's School Redesign Network is a national research and professional development organization fostering equitable and transformative school systems.
"School Redesign - 10 features of Good Small Schools: Designing High Schools, What Matters and What Works"
Smart Growth
The decisions to invest in a new school or invest in an existing school are critical - "rediscovering the benefits of walkable communities and neighborhod centers, it is prudent to examine the planning and funding processes for public school facilities as well as the issues involved in school location and community design."
Advocating for Smart Growth Schools
Benefits for Fairfax County residents and taxpayers from community-centered Smart Growth schools are numerous, in that such schools:
- Inspire Greater Community Involvement
- Improve Academic Achievement
- Save Money
- Improve Student Health
- Improve Environmental Quality
MORE Resources...
Enviornmental Protection Agency (EPA)
"Over the next few decades, thousands of schools around the country will be built and renovated.
Where and how schools are built will profoundly affect the communities they serve and the quality of their air and water.
While a first-rate education in a safe facility must always be the primary consideration when making school spending decisions, a growing number of communities are using these investments to meet multiple goals -- educational, health, environmental, economic, social, and fiscal."
Virginia Department of Historic Preservation
Incentives & Grants for Historic Preservation in Virginia
Accessibility...
Strong community-centered schools facilitate strong neighborhoods, parental and local business support and create healthier communities.
Advocating for Smart Growth in Fairfax County schools calls for accountability in planning for increased access to and 'safe routes to schools', also supported by the Environmental Protection Agency's Development, Community and Environment Division
"Schools for Successful Communities: An Element of Smart Growth"
Strategies for local governments and schools to bring their respective planning efforts together to take a more community-oriented approach to schools and reach multiple community goals—educational, environmental, economic, social, and fiscal.
Sprawl Math...Did You Know?
In 1930, the United States had 262,000 school facilities for a student population of 28 million.
The number of school facilities the U.S. had in 2002 for a student population of 53.5 million?
Click pencil to find out!
REALTORS®
Needed...
Please see this 'toolkit' to help REALTORS® promote
community-centered
schools in Fairfax County!
Developed by the National Association of REALTORS® Public Education Working Group, this set of tools helps REALTORS® and REALTOR® associations place themselves in a position to influence the debate and help with the challenges that face our communities regarding public education.
Did You Know?
Property values for homeowners can swing 18% - 25% based upon the school boundaries of their home?
