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School Facility Construction & Maintenance

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News & Announcements

  •  The General Assembly and Governor Youngkin created the School Construction Assistance Program. An additional $170.0 million in funding was appropriated for the program in FY 2025 from the School Construction Fund. SCAP FY 25.2 Grants will be awarded by the Board of Education (“Board”) on a competitive basis to local school boards and regional Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs that demonstrate poor building conditions, commitment, and need to fund the construction, expansion, or modernization of public school buildings. As directed by the Board, school projects achieving the qualifying score of 65 points will be eligible for funding based on updated Amended Guidelines for Implementing the school Construction Assistance Program in the 2024-2026 Biennium. School divisions or regional CTE programs requesting funding may apply for up to three school projects during the open application period. The total individual project cost eligible to receive a grant award must be a minimum of $500,000. Applications for capital projects for similar work at more than one school is eligible for funding with the project cost minimum set at $1.0 million. Applications for funding must be submitted in SSWS no later than November 24, 2025. 
  • The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has been awarded a $5M competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Safe & Supportive Schools: Supporting America’s School Infrastructure (SASI) Grant Program ending in November 2028.

The purpose of this grant program is to increase the capacity of states in supporting high-need school districts and schools in leveraging available federal, state, and local resources to improve public school facilities to ensure safe, healthy, sustainable, and quality learning environments.

The SASI grant includes annual milestones over the five-year grant period. Grant funds will cover the cost of conducting facility assessments and staff training in awarded high-need school divisions. VDOE will develop a competitive application process for high-need school divisions seeking facility assessments towards improving their school facilities.

The grant will also fund development of a database and dashboard to develop a Virtual Building Condition Assessment tool for all school divisions. This tool will assist divisions in developing their Capital Improvement Plans (CIP) and document funding needs to address facility improvements. The dashboard will also be an effective tool to VDOE in documenting school building conditions across the state.

  • In accordance with the requirements of §22.1-274.4., the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has compiled a list of potential state and private grant funding sources to assist school divisions in fulfilling the requirements of this act. School divisions are also encouraged to explore any other resources they may be aware of and that can assist them in fulfilling the requirement of this act.  

  • At its business meeting on April 25, 2024, the Board of Education (“Board”) awarded FY 2024 School Construction Assistance Program grants to 18 school divisions for 20 school project applications that met the minimum qualifying total criteria score of 65 points and other application requirements. Eighty-Eight (88) grant applications were submitted from forty-three (43) school divisions. Following the close of the open application period, VDOE staff reviewed the submitted grant applications. After the submitted grant applications were reviewed and scored against the 11 criteria in the guidelines, the VDOE recommended funding awards to the Board for review and approval as required by the appropriation act.

  • School Exit Drill Form - Effective September 25, 2024
  • Water Testing - See Superintendent’s Memo #171-17
  • Radon Testing - See Superintendent's Memo #131-14

How VDOE Helps

There are currently more than 1,800 public school buildings serving Virginia's K-12 students. The issues involved in providing and planning adequate school facilities are complex and require thoughtful consideration. To plan and construct school buildings that meet today's educational needs, are easy to maintain and are economical to build is an important and difficult task.

VDOE provides leadership and technical services to Virginia's public school facilities in the following areas.

  • School facility planning
  • Guidelines for public school facilities
  • Energy efficiency and high performance school buildings
  • School construction cost data
  • Facility conferences
  • School safety and security
  • Playground safety
  • School facility efficiency studies
  • Resources and information