Washington, D.C.

President Clinton released a new resource guide on school design that is endorsed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Association of School Administrators. The new U.S. Department of Education report, Schools as the Centers of Communtity: A Citizen's Guide for Planning and Design, discusses how educators, architects and facility planners can work with other citizens to plan and design new schools.

An estimated $322 billion is needed to build, repair and modernize public schools, according to a report released by the National Education Association. This is more than double the 1996 cost estimate of the U.S. General Accounting Office to bring existing schools into overall good condition.

The president has proposed to expand available federal resources to supplement state and local efforts to meet the increasing demand for renovation and new schools. Under the plan, states and school districts would be authorized to use nearly $25 billion in new tax credit bonds to build and modernize up to 6,000 schools.