Smart Growth and Schools
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.
Many communities that are reevaluating their growth patterns are also assessing how and where they spend their education dollars. Investments in schools both respond to and influence growth. Although challenging, the boom in school construction offers an unprecedented opportunity to improve the quality of schools and communities together, by applying the principles of smart growth to educational facility planning. Smart growth development:
- conserves resources and land;
- offers choices in housing, transportation, shopping, recreation, and jobs;
- encourages community collaboration; and
- fosters distinctive, attractive neighborhoods.
Educators who support community-centered schools share many of these principles. A school that is safe and easy for students, teachers, parents, and other community members to reach on foot or by bicycle helps reduce the air pollution from automobile use, protecting children's health. Building schools compactly and in the neighborhoods they serve minimizes the amount of paved surface they create, which can help protect water quality by reducing polluted runoff.
EPA Resources
Decisions about school construction and renovation have profound implications for towns, cities, and counties nationwide. This publication takes a look at trends opportunities, and impacts schools have, and the positive role planners and planning commissioners can play. Also includes insights on how to breach the wall of separation that too often exists between planning and school boards. This publication was produced and distributed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in partnership with the Planning Commissioners Journal. The content of this publication is from the Planning Commissioners Journal special focus issue on schools and planning, published in October 2004.
To receive a FREE HARD COPY, send an email to Tim Torma (torma.tim@epa.gov).
Schools for Successful
Communities: An Element of Smart Growth (PDF) (54 pp, 2.1MB,
about PDF)
Council of Educational Facility Planners International and U.S.
EPA, September 2004. EPA-231-R-04-003. Hard copies available by
calling (800) 490-9198.
This publication explains why and how communities can employ smart
growth planning principles to build schools that better serve and
support students, staff, parents, and the entire community. Each
community should use its education dollars to fulfill academic considerations
and to express the values and vision of the community. When school
districts collaborate with community leaders to find a location
for a school, the community benefits socially, environmentally,
and economically. This publication helps communities invest in schools
that will give children the best possible education, use taxpayer
dollars wisely, and improve the quality of life for all citizens.
Travel
and Environmental Implications of School Siting, U.S. EPA, October
2003. EPA-231-R-03-004. Hard copies available by calling (800) 490-9198.
This study provides important information about how the location of
a school affects how its students get to it. It shows that school
siting and design can influence traffic congestion, air pollution,
school transportation budgets, and children's health and obesity.
This research provides a basis for making sound school investment
decisions that will lead to the kind of high-quality schools and neighborhoods
we all desire.
For more information on the EPA's resources to help address and resolve
environmental issues in schools, including information on chemical
use, design and construction, indoor air quality, waste reduction,
drinking water, energy efficiency, environmental education, and many
other topics, please visit the EPA Schools Web site.
Other Publications
"Build Smart" (PDF) (561K) , Barbara McCann and Constance Beaumont,
American School Board Journal, October 2003
Creating Communities of Learning: Schools and Smart Growth (PDF) (3MB) , Ellen
Shoshkes, Ph.D., Education Law Center, April 2004
Dollars and Sense: The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools , Barbara
Kent Lawrence et al., KnowledgeWorks Foundation, 2002
"Edge-ucation"
, Rob Gurwitt, Governing, March 2004
Education and Smart Growth: Reversing School Sprawl for Better Schools
and Communities (Translation Paper #8) , Sam Passmore, Funders Network
for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, March 2002
Hard Lessons: Causes and Consequences of Michigan's School Construction
Boom , Mac McClelland and Keith Schneider, Michigan Land Use Institute,
February 2004
Local Governments and Schools: A Community-Oriented Approach (PDF) (40 pp, 855 K) , ICMA and Smart Growth Network, 2008.
Making the Difference: Research and Practice in Community Schools ,
Martin J. Blank, Atelia Melaville, and Bela P. Shah, Coalition for
Community Schools, May 2003
Public Schools and Economic Development: What the Research Shows ,
Jonathan D. Weiss, KnowledgeWorks Foundation, 2004
Public Schools: A Toolkit for Realtors® , Carol Everett, Karen
Lee Ryan, and Stephen Smith, National Association of Realtors®,
2005
Schools as Centers of Community: A Citizen's Guide for Planning
and Design
, Steven Bingler, Linda Quinn, and Kevin Sullivan, National
Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, KnowledgeWorks Foundation,
Building Educational Success Together, Council of Educational Facility
Planners International, Coalition for Community Schools, October
2003
Schools, Community and Development: Erasing the Boundaries (PDF) (300K) , Tony Proscio, The Enterprise Foundation, 2004
"Smart Growth for Better Schools," On Common Ground , Winter 2005
"What Does a School Mean to a Community? Assessing the Social and Economic Benefits of Schools to Rural Villages in New York," , Thomas A. Lyson, Journal of Research in Rural Education 17:131-137, 2002
Presentations
"School Siting: The Elephant in the Living Room?" (PDF) (29 pp, 1.6MB) presentation by Tim Torma, Acting Director of the Development, Community, and Environment Division, EPA, National Bike Summit, March 5, 2008
"The State of Schools" (PDF) (150 pp, 21MB) , presentation by Richard Baron, Chairman and CEO, McCormack Baron Salazar, New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, January 28, 2005
"Smart Schools and Smart Growth" (PDF) (45 pp, 7.2MB) , presentation by Tim Torma, Policy Analyst, U.S. EPA, New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, January 28, 2005
"Segregated Schools, Segregated Neighborhoods: What's the Smart Growth Solution?" - Part 1 (PDF) (10 pp, 2.3MB) Part 2 (PDF) (1 pg, 54K) , presentation by Eric Pinckney, New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, January 29, 2005
"The Action Plan for Smart Growth and Public Health: We Owe it to Our Kids!" (PDF) (137 pp, 21MB) , presentation by Dr. Howard Frumkin, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, January 29, 2005
Organizations
Coalition for Community Schools
Council of Educational Facility
Planners International (CEFPI)
DesignShare
National Association of State Boards of Education, Safe and Healthy Schools project
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities
National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic Neighborhood Schools initiative
New Schools, Better Neighborhoods
Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
Rural School and Community Trust
Smart Schools, Smart Growth Initiative