Boards of education must be convinced that spending money up front for preventive maintenance will, in the long run, save districts' tax dollars. A good program of preventive maintenance can minimize disruption of service; reduce repair costs, energy consumption, and overtime; improve labor productivity and system equipment reliability; handle repairs faster; and provide better training of maintenance personnel and management control of operating costs. The key ingredients necessary are an inventory of all systems and equipment, scheduling, adequately trained and equipped personnel, personnel supervision and control, recordkeeping, and monitoring of results. (Author/MLF)