Smart Schools, Smart Growth: Investing in Education Facilities and Stronger Communities. California Builds Better Schools. Working Paper 09-1

This report examines how California's massive and ongoing investment in school construction could better advance the shared goals of school improvement, sustainable urban growth, and equal opportunity. This brief is organized in five parts. First, the authors sketch a "framework" for how smart growth principles could help guide school facilities investments. This includes not only the bricks and mortar of infrastructure but also the creation of more effective forms of schooling, such as small, human-scale schools which are better integrated with their communities. Second, the widening "scope of school construction and renovation" is described. They outline how these $82 billion in bond revenues are being distributed to California's various regions. Third, the lack of coordinated planning is placed in sharp relief, once all the people illuminate "demographic and economic shifts" that shape quality of life in California, from where they live to how far they travel to jobs. Fourth, the authors detail what's known empirically about the "benefits of high-quality school facilities" that accrue to students and teachers. Smarter forms of schooling, in carefully designed facilities, could spur stronger engagement and motivation among children and educators alike. Finally, they argue that state policy makers, local educators, and city planners face key decision points, and they could exercise these influential policy levers more wisely. They highlight four communities that are grappling with these challenges in innovative ways and constructing smart schools that build from smart growth principles. These cases appear in boxes throughout this report. (Contains 4 figures and 44 endnotes.) [This report was produced by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) and the Center for Cities & Schools.]