Increasing School Revenue with After Hours Use of Facilities

Our schools have vast amounts of space that, for the most part, are used for less than a third of a day and remain wholly unused during summer months. This is a wasted resource. Finding ways to utilize this space in socially and economically valuable ways can reduce the hardships facing school budgets and offer new opportunities to area communities.

Some ideas for productive after-hour use of this space include the following:

1. After-hour childcare

2. Leasing to area businesses – most consumer activity occurs outside school hours anyway. This sort of leasing could reduce the cost for startups. Multiple businesses would allow the school to become, in effect a local mall.

3. Community events

4. Adult education and degree programs

5. Local government public meetings for increased participation

A number of challenges exist to enable this course. First is the actual mechanics of daily implementation. While gym space is often available, classrooms space is most underutilized. Using classrooms may require moving desks and other classroom materials to make space. This moving creates a setup time and increases the risk of damage to the desks and materials. Public access to classrooms increases the risk of thefts and disruption of materials so systems would have to be established to manage these risks.


Depreciation of the facility would occur at an increased rate for parts of the facility like bathrooms, doors, floors, and moved materials. This increased depreciation would have to be accounted for in lease pricing and evaluation of potential uses.

Legal liability risks would have to be accounted for as well. Exposer to the errors of leasees and occupants would have to be limited. This could involve clear distinctions and notices that use of school facilities by other organizations does not constitute endorsement or verification of leasee practices by government or the school.