...another 186 under active design,” he says. The Ohio school district’s fiscal strength derives from the state’s decision to securitize its $18-billion share of the national tobacco settlement and to put the immediate cash proceeds into building new classrooms and other educational space, Savors says.

Several school districts in other states are benefitting from recent bond issues, some of them quite large. In North Carolina, Guilford County Schools recently started construction on the first of more than two-dozen major projects to be financed by a $457- million bond issue approved by voters in May 2008. The multiyear plan includes five new schools, plus a $45-million replacement for Eastern Guilford High School, which was destroyed by fire three years ago.

In late September, voters in Berkeley County, W.Va., approved a $51.5-million bond issue that, with up to $45 million from the state’s School Building Authority, will enable Berkeley County Schools to build a new high school and new middle school as well as undertake major renovations at two existing schools.

Higher Ed, Lower Spending

For the most part, colleges and universities are struggling. Even elite Dartmouth College is cutting back, says Matthew Purcell, Dartmouth’s associate director of planning, design and construction. Activity at the Hanover, N.H., college has declined significantly over the past two years because of financial constraints, he says, and several planned projects—including a renovation of its campus dining facility—have been postponed indefinitely.

THE TOP 10 K-12 construction PROJECTS IN PLANNING PHASE
RANK PROJECT SCOPE VALUE($ MIL.)
1 Syracuse City Schools, Syracuse, N.Y. Alterations/Renovations, Additions 926
2 Gwinnett County Schools-SPLOST III (Phase Two), Lawrenceville, Ga. Alterations/Renovations, New, Additions 750
3 Detroit City School District, Detroit, Mich. Alterations/Renovations, Additions 501
4 Lake Washington School Bond Projects, Redmond, Wash. Alterations/Renovations, New 436
5 Fulton County Schools-SPLOST III, Roswell, Ga. Alterations/Renovations, New, Additions 408
6 Wichita USD #259 School Facilites, Wichita, Kan. Alterations/Renovations, New, Additions 370
7 DeKalb County Schools-SPLOST III, Atlanta, Ga. Alterations/Renovations, New, Additions 344
8 Denton ISD 2007 Bond Program, Denton, Texas Alterations/Renovations, New, Additions 282
9 Newport Mesa USD Measure F Modernizations, Costa Mesa, Calif. Alterations/Renovations, New, Additions 279
10 Erie School District Capital Priorities, Erie, Pa. Alterations/Renovations, New, Additions, Interior 200
SOURCE: McGraw-Hill Construction
THE TOP 10 college and university construction PROJECTS IN PLANNING PHASE
RANK PROJECT SCOPE VALUE($ MIL.)
1 Fordham University Lincoln Center Expansion, New York, N.Y. Alterations/Renovations, New 1,000
2 University of Maryland, East Campus Redevelopment, College Park, Md. New 800
3 BCTC Comm. & Tech. College (Newtown/Eastern), Lexington, Ky. New 480
4 RFP/CM NYC College of Technology Academic Complex ONE, Brooklyn, N.Y. Alterations/Renovations, New 450
5 IUP-Student Housing/Residence Halls, Indiana, Pa. Alterations/Renovations, New, Additions, Interior Completion 250 - 400
6 North Carolina Research Campus-Phase ONE, Kannapolis, N.C. New 370
7 Santa Monica College Bond Measure AA, Santa Monica, Calif. Alterations/Renovations, New, Additions 295
8 Laboratory Science Facilities, Amherst, Mass. Alterations/Renovations, New 293
9 NYC College of Technology New Academic Building, Brooklyn, N.Y. New 252
10 Academic Village at Point Park University, Pittsburgh, Pa. Alterations/Renovations, New 244
SOURCE: McGraw-Hill Construction

Dartmouth currently is building only one major project, a 175,000-sq-ft life-sciences building, and Purcell’s office expects to put a second major job, a 105,000-sq-ft visual-arts center, out to bid this fall.

The life-sciences building’s construction cost is about $93 million, and the facility, whose construction is being...