This professional report explores the role of private consultants in the school facility planning process. It focuses on such issues as school siting and local government and school district collaboration. As such, it seeks to demonstrate the importance of the school facility planning process and its significance in the community. The primary data for this report is in-depth interviews with a variety of school facility planning consultants. The questions asked in the interviews were broad and open-ended, and the data was studied qualitatively to determine similar experiences of all interview participants. The conclusion of this report presents key findings from the interviews, as well as from background information on the subject. / text