The Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) administers the state’s comprehensive Kindergarten through 12th Grade public school construction program. The agency helps school districts fund, plan, design, and build or renovate schools.
21st Century School Design Symposium
More than 300 educators, architects, construction professionals and other attendees joined the Ohio School Facilities Commission for a day of learning and inspiration on July 1, 2010. Two 21st Century learning and school design enthusiasts and experts -- Randy Fielding, award winning international architect and coauthor of "The Language of School Design: Design Patterns for 21st Century Schools," and Christian Long, educator, school planner, and passionate advocate for innovative learning communities -- guided us through ideas, issues and questions about education and the spaces in which learning takes place. In the morning Christian focused on 21st Century learning, learning ideas and models. For more information and to view videos of the day's events, click here.
Green Schools
By promoting the design and construction of green, sustainable school buildings, OSFC is positioned to make a tremendous positive impact on student health, test scores, teacher retention and school energy and operational costs.
In September 2009, the Ohio School Facilities Commission charged the Executive Director with task of examining four focus areas associated with building 21st Century schools. Director Murray presented his report in December 2009. Many of the recommendations contained in the report reflect the contributions of participants who attended one of three all-day workshops: Quality Construction Practices; 21st Century Learning Environments & HB1 Strategic Alignment; and Effective Community Partnerships.
School districts participating in OSFC programs may establish additional qualification criteria or standards to evaluate firms bidding on school construction projects. The Commission adopted model responsible bidder criteria that may be added to construction contract documents if a local Board of Education elects to incorporate them in responsibility review process.