In this environment of economic uncertainty, school districts can be faced with tough decisions in their attempts to provide students and teachers with safe and functional facilities for teaching and learning. To accommodate program changes and enrollment fluctuations as well as aging facilities and limited capital budgets, it is increasingly important to find ways to get the most from existing facilities. Various strategies for evaluating and enhancing utilization of existing space can be quite successful when applied appropriately and thoughtfully. Parameters such as capacity, scheduling, operations, shared use, program offerings, and room assignments can be assessed and rebalanced to alleviate or even solve space challenges. The first step is to explore and understand the full range of needs: educational, operational, functional and perceptual. The next step is to assess the existing facilities to locate key areas of misalignment--spaces that are not being used so effectively--and to make note of areas of alignment--spaces that are being used effectively. While in-depth discussions of all of these parameters are important, this article simply scratches the surface by including a few case studies to illustrate various approaches to enhancing the effectiveness of existing school facilities.