New Assessments Find Hidden Subsidies in School Facility Use Without Clear Board Authorization

A review of 25 school districts found that most districts reviewed were extending hidden subsidies to community users of their facilities — often without a clear board-level decision authorizing what costs the district would absorb or why.

LOS GATOS, Calif., May 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Most U.S. school districts are extending hidden subsidies to community users of their facilities. Those subsidies were never approved by a board vote, according to new findings from Facilitron. The findings come as K-12 budgets tighten nationwide, with districts facing rising operational costs, staffing cuts, and growing pressure on classroom resources.

Facilitron, a public-space management platform that serves more than 15,000 schools across 34 states, today released the first findings from its Executive-Level Board Policy Assessment initiative. The assessments were conducted across 25 school districts following the February release of the National Model School Board Policy for Community Use of K-12 Facilities.

The question isn't whether school districts should support community use of facilities. They should. The question is whether those subsidies are visible, intentional, and authorized by the board, or whether they're happening by default.

Among the recurring findings from the first 25 assessments:

• Most district policies emphasized support for community use but did not clearly define how instructional funds should be protected from subsidizing outside facility use.
   
• In 8 out of 10 districts, some community users, including nonprofit organizations, were paying rates that did not cover basic operational costs such as custodial support and utilities.
   
• Nearly every district reviewed used user classifications or rate categories that blended nonprofit status, public benefit, activity type, and pricing logic, making reduced-rate eligibility difficult to apply consistently.
   
• Most districts had not updated facility fee schedules in more than seven years, despite the new national standard calling for review every two years.
   
• Many districts did not clearly assign board-level responsibility for determining when facility use should be subsidized, for what public benefit, and at what cost.

In practical terms, four out of five districts reviewed had community-use arrangements in which the district appeared to absorb basic operating costs — often through rate categories, discounts, or fee schedules that were not clearly tied to documented cost recovery or board-authorized subsidy.

A core principle of the National Model Policy, "No Subsidization Without Deliberation," holds that districts should not subsidize community, government, or commercial use of facilities unless the subsidy has been explicitly authorized and tied to a documented public benefit. The assessments suggest that subsidies are often happening by default, through outdated fee schedules, informal exceptions, or pricing structures that no longer reflect actual operating costs.

"Many districts have policies that strongly support community use but do not clearly govern subsidy," said Trent Allen, principal architect of the National Model School Board Policy on Community Use of School Facilities. "The National Model Policy separates access, cost recovery, and board-authorized public benefit, so districts can decide deliberately what they are subsidizing and why."

K-12 spending in the U.S. is approaching $1 trillion a year, with annual public school spending reaching roughly $982 billion in fiscal year 2024. Yet districts continue to face rising costs for facilities, maintenance, utilities, and deferred capital needs. Research organizations, including the 21st Century School Fund and the Center for Cities & Schools at UC Berkeley, have long argued that public schools are one of the country's most underutilized forms of civic infrastructure.

The assessments are not designed to limit community access to schools. They focus on helping districts build transparent, financially sustainable policies that balance accessibility, equity, safety, and long-term stewardship of public assets. Districts interested in participating can request a free assessment at info.facilitron.com/policy-analysis.

At Conejo Valley Unified School District in California, a governance review revealed that some user groups booked thousands of hours of field use for less than $3,000. That worked out to about 24 cents an hour. After comprehensive reform, the district's annual facility-use revenue more than tripled, growing from $250,000 to more than $800,000, while improving fairness and transparency across the district. Those fees provide for much needed maintenance for District facilities. 

"We assumed our facility-use program was reasonably managed," said Dr. Victor Hayek, Deputy Superintendent of Conejo Valley Unified School District. "The review helped us see where our policies, pricing, and actual operating costs were not fully aligned. Once we had that information, we were able to have productive conversations with community groups, while enhancing our governance and fiscal stewardship of public dollars."

The National Model School Board Policy is published under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 4.0), so any district can adopt, adapt, or incorporate it into local policy at no cost. The framework is intended as a public standard, not a proprietary product.

"Schools should absolutely serve their communities," says Facilitron Founder and CEO, Jeff Benjamin. "But public assets need public accountability. Boards should be able to see what facility use costs, where subsidies exist, and whether those subsidies reflect a deliberate public benefit. That is not just an operations issue. It is a leadership responsibility."

Methodology

The Executive-Level Board Policy Assessment is a structured governance review of a district's facility-use policy. Each assessment focuses primarily on the district's Board Policy as the governing instrument and compares it to the National Model School Board Policy on Community Use of School Facilities. Administrative regulations, fee schedules, site-level practices, and renter-facing terms may be reviewed for context to understand how the policy is implemented in practice.

The assessment examines whether the district's policy clearly defines authority, access priorities, user classifications, cost-recovery principles, fee-waiver or subsidy standards, application requirements, enforcement authority, and reporting expectations. Where fee schedules are available, they are reviewed to determine whether rates appear aligned with basic operational cost categories such as custodial labor, utilities, administrative support, insurance, maintenance, and facility wear and tear. The assessment is not a legal audit or compliance review; its purpose is to identify governance gaps and help district leaders make facility-use decisions more visible, deliberate, and accountable.

Since 2014, Facilitron has helped school districts recover more than $500 million through community facility-use programs. The platform handles scheduling, payments, insurance verification, support-services coordination, and facility-use analytics. Additional assessments are underway, with expanded findings expected later this year. The Executive-Level Board Policy Assessment is free and takes about 15 minutes.

District-level data, the full National Model Policy, and interviews with participating superintendents are available on request.

About Facilitron

Facilitron is the leading public spaces marketplace and fully integrated management platform, helping schools, cities, and public agencies manage and operate their facility programs in one place. Designed as a single, strategic system—not a collection of disconnected tools—Facilitron unifies scheduling, maintenance, payments, support, and governance into a seamless, end-to-end solution.

More than a software provider, Facilitron serves as a true partner, combining industry-leading technology with hands-on services that take on the day-to-day work of running a facility program. The result is greater efficiency, clearer governance, and more consistent, equitable access to public spaces, all with no upfront fees or out-of-pocket costs.

With billions of square feet of space on its marketplace, Facilitron has supported more than 10 million community events since its founding in 2014.

Media Contact:

Mercer Brockenbrough [email protected] 

Michele Nichols [email protected]

SOURCE Facilitron