Our Strategic Plan of Action focuses on preparing our students, staff and school district for the future. Through the last year, we’ve partnered with experts to study OPS facilities and anticipate maintenance needs through the next two decades. This allows our school district to make long-term, data-driven plans, guiding work even through staff and leadership changes.

Making the most of our facilities and offering the best learning environment we can for young people is important. This comprehensive study gives us the data to plan for maintenance and facilities needs through the next 20 years. Imagine a roadmap for your home’s maintenance: when you’ll need to replace your dishwasher, repair the roof or install new carpet.

As part of the Strategic Plan of Action work, our district identified the need for a long- term, data-driven facilities assessment. The facilities assessment included gathering and compiling building information, walking each building, determining the life span of building components, forecasting building component needs and generating estimated costs. The team also reviewed the educational use of buildings and how students are served in each space. From there future plans, building use potential and master visions were developed. The final facilities assessment is still being finalized. The Board of Education is reviewing the information we have so far.

No. The facilities assessment predicts maintenance costs over a 20-year period, including inflation. There are also allocations for improving technology over that time frame. By understanding potential needs now, Omaha Public Schools can plan for the work and the financial resources needed to complete it.

The facilities assessment is data to build long-term facilities plans for our school district. It does not include any recommendations, or decisions to address future facilities’ needs.

Thanks to voter support in 2014 and 2018, the Facilities Capital Plan made a historic difference for the students of Omaha Public Schools. The 2023 assessment allows OPS to make data-driven decisions through 2043 and beyond.

The 2023 facilities assessment presents information to make data-driven decisions in the future, and possible visions for future updates in our schools. It makes no immediate recommendations for action.

Our Board of Education will review the information we have so far at a workshop on Monday, June 12, at 6 p.m. After finishing the assessment and reviewing the data, our district will make recommendations on how to best address those needs. This is an early step in a long-term process. As more information becomes available, it will be shared with our community on our district website at www.ops.org/FacilitiesStudy.