A new lease on life.

It's not always better to own. In fact, it can be preferable to rent. In some districts, particularly those with limited financial resources and burgeoning student populations, the idea of leasing buildings for school facilities is being considered as a long-term solution for getting children into a quality educational environment. But these districts aren't simply looking around for vacant buildings to rent and transform into schools. Partnerships--with private developers who construct a new building and then lease it out as a school-are the strategy of choice.

Massachusetts is one state where people are talking about leasing. Last year's declared moratorium on any state-funded school construction projects has left communities, many of which have severely overcrowded classrooms, seeking relief.

"Traditionally ... the state government has funded, through local aid contributions, varying percentages of school construction costs, and that money doesn't exist anymore," says Michael B. Donohue, partner at the Boston law firm Gadsby Hannah LLP.

In November, Gadsby Hannah sponsored a forum on construction procurement and finance with the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, a Boston-based think tank, to discuss the problem. The idea of leasing buildings instead of building schools was presented as an option for districts to save money.

According to Stephen Adams, president and CEO of the Pioneer Institute, the forum aimed to introduce a construction solution in the context of a challenging budget season. "We're trying to put a new idea on the table, essentially giving schools a way to get the buildings they need constructed in a more efficient more cost effective way," Adams says.

Attendees of the forum, which was held in Waltham, Mass., ranged from superintendents and principals to state officials and municipal and city managers. Adams says he noticed a lot of support for the leasing option. "The legislators in the room voiced interest in pursuing the idea further, trying to get school buildings built where we need them in the context of no money."

While the leasing model, also referred to as a private-public partnership, isn't currently at work in Massachusetts, some districts elsewhere have used it for their new schools. One such school is the James F. Oyster Bilingual Elementary School in Washington, D.C., which opened in 2001 through a partnership between the district, 21st Century School Fund and LCOR Inc. (a national real estate company specializing in public-private development). The model also is under consideration in some Virginia and New York cities.