New Resource: The Smart School Siting Tool
School locations and community development are inextricably linked, but many communities consider school siting separately from other land use and infrastructure planning. With better coordination, communities could make sure that school siting and other community priorities reinforce -- rather than work against -- each other. The results: Better learning environments and educational outcomes, more efficient use of taxpayer dollars, and a better quality of life for the community overall.
Today, EPA is releasing The Smart School Siting Tool to help communities make school siting decisions in a more coordinated and comprehensive way. Communities can use the tool to align school site selection with planning policies and capital investments, understand how well school siting and other community planning processes are coordinated, and compare school siting alternatives.
The tool includes a user guide, which provides background on the links between school siting and community impacts and describes how to use the tool, and two Excel workbooks that users can download and fill out.
Read more about The Smart School Siting Tool and download the user guide and workbooks: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/smart-school-siting-tool