5-Year Facility Needs Survey

In 2020, all 115 local public school districts in North Carolina will be required by law to complete the state’s Facility Needs Survey. The survey was emailed to district superintendents on July 31, 2020, and the deadline of January 8, 2021 requires a quick turnaround. The survey requires gathering information from various sources and assigning cost estimates to support the state’s long-range planning for school district capital improvement needs.

Many school districts do not have the resources or processes in place to efficiently complete this required documentation. At BAISCA, our team specializes in serving public school districts and has significant experience with every component of the Facility Needs Survey. In 2015, our team completed the Facilities Needs Survey on behalf of nine North Carolina school districts. Through our experience with this state-mandated report, we’ve developed a streamlined process that greatly reduces the time required by often overburdened facilities and maintenance departments.

Beyond Collecting Data, Adding Value

At BAISCA, our focus goes beyond fulfilling the requirement of completing the state-mandated report. Our goal is to add incremental value to this process so that the data collected can be easily utilized by school districts for planning purposes.

We not only provide the required report, but also executive summaries and a prioritized list of upcoming needs with cost estimates and context. In addition to entering the data on the CD supplied by the NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI), all collected data is organized in a spreadsheet that provides greater detail on a school-by-school basis. The executive summary is delivered in a style and format appropriate for review by district leadership. With our company’s expertise, we’re able to provide reliable cost estimates that are benchmarked by our knowledge and experience with school districts of similar sizes.

The Facility Needs Survey requires approval by the school district’s Board of Education as well as the Board of Commissioners before submitting it to the state. Given this requirement, third-party validation of cost estimates can be valuable for (1) obtaining approval on the report; and (2) planning for future funding needs. Additionally, our clients have shared that BAISCA’s resulting report served as a “desk reference” for facilities needs in future years.

BAISCA’s Standardized Process

BAISCA has developed a detailed and comprehensive process for completing the Five-Year Facility Needs Survey. This process includes:

Developing a schedule and communications plan for the project
Obtaining copies from facilities departments of past reports, existing facilities planning documents, capacity information, utilities bills and other related documents.
Scheduling and facilitating interviews with key staff members in facilities and maintenance, technology and athletics departments, among others.
Organizing all data collected, presenting the preliminary report to the district’s project leader and incorporating any updates.
Delivering a final report and providing an exit briefing
Completing the DPI survey forms and submitting the information on the district’s behalf

We can implement this process within 3-4 weeks and guarantee that the project will be completed on time.

Our Five-Year Facility Needs Survey Team

BAISCA is led by seasoned veterans in the school planning and management fields, including Andrew LaRowe and David Barnes . Our company is based in North Carolina and is fully insured. We complete the Facility Needs Survey as cost-efficiently as possible, while adding value to the process through our expertise.

Andrew LaRowe has first-hand experience completing the Facility Needs Surveys for Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools and Guilford County Schools as Chief Operations Officer, and leading the reporting process on behalf of nine N.C. school districts for the 2015 report.

“The Five-Year Facility Needs Survey offers a rare opportunity to communicate the school district’s facility needs to the school board, the county commissioners and the tax-paying community. We believe it’s a job that deserves to be done well.” — Andrew LaRowe