The operation and maintenance (O&M) of public school buildings and equipment has become more complex over the years, requiring increased training of personnel, more responsible management, and greater expenditure of school resources. This monograph provides basic guidelines for establishing a program to respond to these administrative concerns. The monograph first introduces its subject, stressing the differences between operations and maintenance. The body of the monograph is divided into three major sections. The first of these deals with establishing an O&M program. Topics include the development of policy statements, job descriptions and titles, employee training, organization of work schedules, and personnel evaluation. The second section focuses on custodial staffing. Several custodial workload formulas are discussed to aid administrators in determining the number of custodians needed for each school building. The final section contains data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's 1984 cost study of O&M programs. Mean figures for the state are listed, as are figures from national studies. The appendix contains a list of training workshops for O&M personnel and worksheets for computing both the number of custodians needed and local O&M costs for comparison with state figures. An annotated bibliography is also appended. (PGD)