June 2009 Editor's Letter
By: Jill Pinheiro

You may be thinking now is not the time to embark on a school construction or renovation project. However, in fact, it's actually a good time to build. A positive side of today's economy is that prices for key construction commodities have dropped.

"For example, prices for steel, gypsum products, lumber, and cement have all come down recently, which makes taking on projects more attractive to developers," said Kermit Baker, the chief economist for the American Institute of Architects.

And, the market will continue to improve in the future.

According to the latest Consensus Construction Forecast recently released by AIA, religious-related construction is one of only two institutional market segments predicted to show positive growth in 2010.

"Institutional construction should fare better than its commercial/industrial counterpart as the healthcare and education sectors are expected to continue to expand through much of this downturn," said Baker.

You might think, in this economy, that we could potentially struggle with finding Christian schools to spotlight in our monthly School Construction column, which focuses on new construction/renovation projects among religious educational facilities throughout the country.

However, all evidence to the contrary. We have no shortage of projects to cover...and the dollar amount of these projects alone is a testament that Christian schools are still, indeed, continuing to build and expand. In our issues so far this year, we have profiled six schools with new building projects together totaling $41.16 million in construction costs.

I'm always interested in your thoughts. Is your school currently going through a building campaign/project, or are you planning one in the near future? How is the economy affecting your expansion plans? You can reach me at jill@cspmag.com.

God Bless,

Jill Pinheiro
Managing Editor