But even in this booming economy, school construction dollars are scarce, and districts cannot afford to make wrong decisions about where to renovate, expand, and construct schools. In 25 years of working with school systems, I've found the key to making smart decisions lies in comprehensive planning. Failure to take a long-range view of a district's needs often results in a patchwork of poor and inefficient decisions. You can start by thinking of your district's buildings as one side of a triangle. The other sides are educational programs and student demographics.
Buildings are simply platforms to support programs and to house students.
Comprehensive planning means people on all three sides of the triangle work together to identify and meet the district's needs. Unfortunately, in many districts, planning falls to specialized committees. The team plan might be educationally sound, but far too costly in terms of facilities and student reassignments to be adopted. Or, if the plan is adopted, very little might come of it due to all of the unanticipated problems that appear. Similarly, simply surveying buildings to estimate repair and expansion costs is not a sufficient basis for a cost-effective building program.