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Children's Health > School Siting > 50 State Survey Chart and Summary

According to this table, there is currently a significant policy gap with respect to siting schools on or near contaminated land or sources of pollution. Despite the health hazards that on-site and off-site environmental contaminants pose to children:

• Only five (5) states prohibit or severely restrict siting schools on or near hazardous or toxic waste sites. Another nine (9) states have policies that prohibit outright the siting of schools on or near sources of pollution or other hazards that pose a risk to children’s safety (see Table 1, Column 2).

• Twenty-four (24) states have no policies that require sponsors of new school projects to investigate or assess environmental hazards at potential school sites (see Table 1, Column 4).

• Only five (5) states have policies that specifically require sponsors of new school projects to undertake remediation or cleanup measures at contaminated school sites (see Table 1, Column 5). In the other forty-five (45) states, contaminated school sites may be subject to cleanup requirements under state hazardous waste laws or other authority applicable to any contaminated site. The policies reported in this section specifically relate to contaminated sites used for new school construction projects.

• Twenty-one (21) states have school siting policies that direct or suggest school siting officials “avoid” siting schools on or near specified man-made or natural environmental hazards, or direct the school district to “consider” those hazards when selecting school sites (see Table 1, Column 3). Fifteen (15) of these states have adopted siting factors that direct school districts to either consider the proximity of sources of pollution when selecting sites or to avoid siting schools near those sources. Eight (8) of these states have a vaguely worded factor relating to environmental factors or safety of a proposed site, which provides little guidance to school officials on how to safely site schools.

• Twenty (20) states have no policies of any kind affecting the siting of schools in relation to environmental hazards, the investigation or assessment of potential school sites for environmental hazards, the cleanup of contaminated sites, making information available to the public about potential school sites or providing some role for members of the public in the school siting process (See Figure 2, or Table 1, Column 1).

• Only seventeen (17) states require the sponsors of school projects to solicit public input on school sites through the use of public notice and comment policies; limited notice and comment afforded to particular agencies or constituencies; school siting advisory committees; and vaguely worded directives that encourage public participation (see Table 1, Column 7). Formal mechanisms for public input in school-siting decision-making add a layer of accountability over those bodies vested with siting authority, to ensure those bodies give proper consideration to environmental hazards.

• Of the thirty (30) states that have some policy regulating the siting of schools in relation to sources of man-made or natural environmental hazards, in twenty (20) states the policy is administered solely by the state education agency; in eight (8) the policy is administered by the state education agency and another agency, usually the state environmental agency or health department; in one (1) state, by the state health department and in one (1) state, by local officials.