The Location of Public Schools: Evaluation of Practical Experiences

Abstract

This paper discusses practical experiences resulting from the use of Operations Research techniques for the location of elementary public schools in large urban settings. The experiences reported are based on two counties of the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In these relatively poor areas walking is the most common means of traveling to school, and the ideal location is the one that minimizes the sum of the overall residence‐to‐school distances. The model used was the uncapacitated p‐median, but current capacities of existing schools have been introduced in the interpretation of the results. In both counties, the study first evaluated the existing spatial distribution of schools and then proceeded to propose their ideal location. Both analyses lead to short and long‐run managerial suggestions. A description of the practical status of the study is also included.

Proposed system for analyzing the location of preschools: a Brazilian case study

“…The paper provides an instrument for local authorities to support decisions aimed to increase the capacity of existing schools, implement new schools or suppress non-essential school locations. For Brazilian papers on school location, see Pizzolato et al (2004), Pizzolato et Silva, (1997), Figueiredo et al (2014) and Mapa et Lima (2014).…”

Breakdown Mechanic Location Problem

“…Constraint (3) restricts the placement or allocation of facilities to exactly p, where p is the number of facilities to be established. Constraint (4) maintains that any such assignment must be made to only those sites that have been selected for a facility. Constraint (5) re-presents the domain of variables.…”

“…Pizzolato et al [4] studied the problem of locating elementary schools based on two countries of the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Nooradelena and Noraida [5] used the p-median problem to determine the best location to place a limited number of emergency medical services taking into account the uncertainty in the demand for the emergency services.…”

Optimizing location and size of rural schools in Chile

“…The model of Cohe et al (2002) determines the size and location of schools in Buenos Aires; Gac et al (2006) locate schools by type and price level; Tamblay et al (2011) formulate an equilibrium model to balance student demand and school supply as applied to the urban area of Santiago, Chile. Broseguini et al (2003) formulate a capacitated p-median model for locating schools, which they solve using a Lagrangean Pizzolato and Fraga Da Silva (1997) and Pizzolato et al (2004) use p-median models with and without capacity. The models above have some limitations for our application.…”