School and campus furniture is bought by the room: classrooms, lecture halls, libraries, student commons, dining halls and residence halls each have their own mix of seating, tables and storage. When the rooms are in use during the school year, delivery and installation have to fit the weeks they are empty, so the request should give that window as well as the date the furniture is needed.

What a request can include

  • Classroom chairs, including stacking chairs, chairs with tablet arms and stools for lab benches.
  • Tables for classrooms, labs and libraries, including tables that fold, flip up or nest for storage.
  • Soft seating for commons, lounges and libraries.
  • Dining hall chairs and tables.
  • Residence hall beds, desks, desk chairs and dressers.

Standards for school furniture

BIFMA’s educational seating standard, ANSI/BIFMA X6.1-2018, tests seating for students in pre-school, elementary, middle school, high school and adult education, in learning spaces and common spaces. For other pieces, ANSI/BIFMA X5.1 covers stacking chairs, tablet armchairs and stools, X5.5 covers desks and tables, X5.4 covers lounge seating, and X5.9 covers storage units.

Residence hall dressers can fall under the federal tip-over rule for clothing storage units, 16 CFR part 1261, which applies to units made after September 1, 2023. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says clothing storage units intended for school dormitories and hotels are consumer products subject to the rule when they fall within its scope. Upholstered seating for indoor use has to meet the federal flammability standard in 16 CFR part 1640.

Accessible work surfaces for students

The 2010 ADA Standards require at least 5 percent of work surfaces provided for use by people other than employees to meet section 902, and the U.S. Access Board’s advisory note lists study carrels and student laboratory stations as examples of work surfaces. Section 902 sets the top at 28 to 34 inches above the floor, with knee and toe clearance below. For surfaces used by children, section 902.4 sets the top at 26 to 30 inches and allows the knee clearance to reach 24 inches above the floor, where adults need 27. The guide to accessible tables, counters and benches has the full dimensions.

The Justice Department adopted the 2010 Standards under Title II of the ADA, for state and local government facilities, and Title III, for public accommodations and commercial facilities. Ask the school’s facilities office or architect which requirements apply to a project.

What to send with a school request

  • The rooms and the seat count for each, and the age group the chairs are for, since chair sizes follow it.
  • Whether chairs need to stack or tables need to fold, flip or nest, and how high they can be stacked in storage.
  • Colors or finishes the school uses, and any furniture already on campus that new pieces have to match.
  • The installation window, such as the weeks between the end of the spring term and the start of summer sessions.

The checklist for a quote request goes through each detail.