The key elements of a school district facility master plan are as follows:

Strategic Priorities.  This is a description from a policy perspective of the priorities for spending on capital projects.  Factors such as health life safety needs, improvement  in classroom environments, future capital cost avoidance or long-range operational cost savings are among the type of policy considerations.  These priorities guide the timing of spending given a limited availability of funds with higher priority projects receiving more immediate funding.

Educational Plan/Specifications. This includes an examination of the delivery standards for education such as the size of classrooms, support space needs, and the infrastructure requirements such as lighting. These specifications are often included as design standards. The master plan process requires an examination of how the education service is best delivered by a particular physical environment.

Facility Needs/Condition Assessment.  This involves a review of the physical condition of buildings and infrastructure and determination of such factors as remaining useful life; improvements need to extend and improve their physical life and which assets should be replaced.  The Assessment includes an estimate of costs.

Enrollment Projections.  This phase involves the forecasting of student population by service areas and the overall need for educational spaces.

Site Development Plans/Master Plans. For each educational facility, the overall space, and functional needs, be identified and dovetail with the facility conditions assessment to identify which facilities should be maintained and improved along with new construction or refurbishment requirements. Cost estimates would be for each site as well as the inclusion of overall systemwide infrastructure needs.

Implementation Plan.  This final phase of the master plan takes estimated funding availability, project costs and district priorities and then identifies the phased development of school facilities.