The board recognizes that sound planning based on accurate information is essential to the efficient operation of the schools. In order to ensure that future district construction, alterations and/or remodeling is planned on the basis of need, the board, in accordance with state requirements, will prepare the required long range facilities plan and will update that plan as required thereafter. The long-range plan shall include but not be limited to:

A. Enrollment projections for the school district for the five years covered by the plan, by grade level, as set forth in the Fall Survey Report for grades kindergarten through 12 and the application for state school aid (ASSA) for the preschool program utilizing enrollment figures as of October 15 of the previous year as the base enrollment figures. The following students shall be separately identified in the enrollment projections:

1. Students attending charter schools;
2. Students attending school choice programs;
3. Students enrolled in the school district but attending private schools for the disabled;

B. The functional capacity of every school facility in the district, listed separately by facility and grade level, including an inventory of all spaces in each facility;

C. An inventory of every school facility, other facility and temporary facility in the district;

D. An inventory of all district-owned land, indicating whether used currently, previously, or never, as a school site, with a map of the district indicating the location of all district-owned land and the location of existing schools in the district;

E. A listing of the approximate size and nature of any new sites that may be needed for school facilities projects, listing the specific project(s) to be constructed on each site;

F. An inventory of all building systems within each facility, including structure, enclosure, mechanical, plumbing, interior walls and finishes and electrical systems;

G. A determination of the life expectancy of all building systems;

H. A determination of any building system deficiencies in each school facility and the required remediation;

I. The district’s proposed school facilities projects and other capital projects and preliminary scopes of work in the five years ensuing;

J. The district’s proposed programmatic models for school facility types and capacities the school district intends to operate in the five years ensuing;

K. A comparison of the school district’s proposed programmatic models with the facilities efficiency standards and identification of all types of spaces, sizes of spaces and number of spaces inconsistent with those standards;

L. A comparison of the school district’s programmatic models with the existing inventory and how the school district proposes to convert the existing inventory to the programmatic models;

M. The district’s proposed plans for new construction and renovation of other facilities in the five years ensuing, setting forth each proposed new other facility, addition and renovation, including each separate space to be constructed or renovated and all other facilities to be sold, converted to other non-school facility uses or razed;

N. For each school facility for which the school district is seeking approval of additional space or waiver of a facility efficiency standard to be approved, the school district shall submit documentation supporting the request;

O. For each school facility to be replaced, a preliminary comparison of the cost of replacement of the school facility verses the cost to rehabilitate the school facility;

P. Preliminary data to support each proposed new school facility or addition, renovation to an existing school facility and the removal from the school district’s inventory of school facilities each school facility to be sold, converted to non-school facility use or razed;

Q. A preliminary estimate of the cost of every school facilities project set forth in the long-range plan; and

R. A district board of education resolution approving submission of the long-range plan.

Planning for major rehabilitation and remodeling will be incorporated into the school district master plan on a scheduled basis.

Reporting to the Board

In order to apprise the board of the continuing relevance of the capital construction plan, the chief school administrator shall annually report to the board:

A. Number of new residential units approved;

B. Enrollment by grades during the school year monthly;

C. Student population projections prepared every year, and compare the actual population figures to the previously projected figures to detect early, for the benefit of the board, any changes in population trends.

In planning for the enlargement or modification of its facilities, the board shall consider not only the number of children whose educational needs must be met, but also the physical requirements of the program it deems best suited to meet those needs. Each school building and site shall provide suitable accommodations to carry out the educational program of the school including provision for the disabled, pursuant to law and regulation.

Substandard Facilities

All existing school facilities will be evaluated annually for their suitability to current district needs. Any facilities found to be substandard according to the administrative code shall be corrected as quickly as possible in compliance with law.

Adopted: July 1998
NJSBA Review/Update: January 2009, November 2017
Readopted: January 21, 2009
Revamped/Revised: February, 2015
Readopted: April 29, 2105
Reveiwed:

Key Words

Long-Range Facilities Planning, Planning, Facilities

Legal References: N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-7 Undesignated fund balance; use, limits
N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-63 Inclusion of facilities projects in SDA district budget
N.J.S.A. 18A:7G-1
through -48 et al. Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act
N.J.S.A. 18A:11 2 Power to sue and be sued; report; census of school children
N.J.S.A. 18A:33 1 District to furnish suitable facilities; adoption of courses of study
N.J.S.A. 18A:33 1.1 Substandard facility; approval; inspection; abandonment
N.J.A.C. 5:23-1.1 et seq. Uniform Construction Code
See particularly:
N.J.A.C. 5:23 1.1, 3.1,
3.11 B
N.J.A.C. 6A:23A-8.1 et seq. Budget submission, support documentation, website publication
N.J.A.C. 6A:25-1.1 et seq. Qualified Zone Academy Bond Program
N.J.A.C. 6A:26-1.1 et seq. Educational Facilities
See particularly:
N.J.A.C. 6A:26-2.1 et seq.
-6.1 et seq., -10.1 et seq.
-12.1 et seq.
N.J.A.C. 6A:30-1.1 et seq. Evaluation of the performance of school districts
See particularly
N.J.A.C. 6A:30-2.1 et seq. NJQSAC components of school district effectiveness and
indicators
N.J.A.C. 6A:32-8.1 et seq. Attendance and pupil accounting

International Building Code 2015, New Jersey Edition; Frist Printing: September 2015;
ISBN: 978-1-60983-156-1; Copyright 2015, International Code Council, Inc.

Possible
Cross References: *2240 Research, evaluation and planning
*2255 Action planning for NJQSAC
*3100 Budget planning, preparation and adoption
*3220/3230 State funds; federal funds
*3260/3270 Sale and disposal of books, equipment and supplies; sale, licensing and rental of property
3360 Rental/long term leasing
7114.2 Temporary facilities
*7115 Developing educational specifications

*Indicates policy is included in the Critical Policy Reference Manual.