SCHOOLS [D] |
The Federal government has not assessed the condition of America's schools since 1999, when it estimated that $127 billion was needed to bring facilities to good condition. Other sources have since reported a need as high as $268 billion. Despite public support of bond initiatives to provide funding for school facilities, without a clear understanding of the need, it is uncertain whether schools can meet increasing enrollment demands and the smaller class sizes mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.
In the United States, the funding, construction and operation of public kindergarten through 12th grade school facilities (K-12) is primarily a state and local responsibility. While there is an increasing federal role in school performance, there remains little to no federal role for school facilities. Just getting a clear nationwide picture of K-12 public education facilities is difficult. There has been no authoritative report since the Department of Education's report, "Condition of America's Public School Facilities: 1999." Other sources tend to vary widely and focus primarily on construction, without providing needs data.
While most states collect and report information on school facilities, some maintain information only on conditions; fewer, still, collect information on an ongoing basis. This leaves, at best, a hard-to-find and fragmented picture.
Conditions
The 1999 Department of Education report stated that school construction totaled $24.7 billion in 1997. However, the report concluded that, as of 1999, $127 billion was needed to bring the nation's school facilities into good overall condition. The National Education Association (NEA) reported in 2000 that the need was even greater, more than $268 billion.
American Schools and Universities' 30th Annual Official Education Construction Report provides construction numbers that are most in line with the Department of Education report, stating the most recent numbers as $28.6 billion (up from the 2002 figure of $24.3 billion) in K-12 in construction, additions and renovations for 2003, with $17.4 for new structures, $5.2 billion for additions, and $5.9 for renovations.
According to School Planning and Management, whose numbers are generally lower, school construction fell below $20 billion in 2003 to $19.9 billion, down from its 2003 $21.6 billion estimate. For 2004, the figure is expected to drop to $19.7 billion. The 2004 spending would be broken out as $12.8 billion in new structures, $4.1 billion for expansions and $2.8 billion for renovation.
Public school enrollments increased from school year 2002-03 to school year 2003-04 by 394,000, to a total of 48,174,924.
Lacking an overall national picture of the condition of public schools, it is necessary to look state by state and, in some cases, school district by school district.
- Arizona--A state court ruled that funding school construction and repair through local property taxes was unconstitutional. This caused the state to shift hundreds of millions of dollars from other sources to fund school facilities.
- Arkansas--A report ordered by the state supreme court concluded that between $2.9 billion and $4.5 billion was needed over five years to bring the state's 6,569 school buildings up to specifications.
- California--A Rand Corporation report concluded that California has made progress in addressing K-12 public school facilities needs; however the state lagged behind the nation and other large industrial states in dealing with facility needs.
- Chicago--The City Board of Education recently informed the City Council that most public school construction and expansion projects will be indefinitely postponed; school capital funding would be diverted to basic building maintenance. The cutbacks are due to the loss of $110 million in state construction funding for 2005.
- Colorado--The state is currently under a consent decree requiring that more funds be spent on school construction.
- Hawaii--The only state in the nation that runs its public schools is addressing a 10-year backlog of maintenance and repair with $600 million in funding.
- Maryland--A state task force on public school facilities concluded at the end of 2002 that the proposed state school construction funding level of $425 million is seriously inadequate to meet the state's needs.
- New Jersey--The New Jersey Education Law Center says that needed upgrades and new construction projects in the state's poorest districts could be as high as $15 billion, well above the $8.7 billion funded level of the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp.
- New York City--A court-appointed panel found that $9.2 billion in new classrooms, laboratories, libraries and other facilities are needed in order to relieve crowding, reduce class sizes, and give the city's 1.1 million public school students adequate school facilities.
- Ohio--The state has instituted a $23 billion school building project that will permit schools considerable access to upgraded facilities.
The first step in addressing the condition of the nation's schools is a realistic and ongoing needs evaluation. While school operations and facilities are primarily state and local concerns, their performance is an issue of national importance. A regular update of the Office of Education Research and Improvement report, Condition of America's Public School Facilities: 1999, would provide a clear view of conditions nationwide.
Efforts to repair, rehabilitate or modernize the nation's schools face many hurdles. The complex relationships between local school districts and state and federal governments are constantly evolving. Coupled with other serious problems faced by the nation's school systems and new academic standards, school infrastructure must compete for both attention and money.
Given that children are our most precious commodity, we should accept nothing less than the best conditions for our schools. ASCE strongly believes that governments at all levels should make primary and secondary education a priority, and should provide the resources to support the necessary infrastructure.
Specifically, ASCE supports the following recommendations:
- Expand federal tax credits to support increased use of school construction bonds.
- Continue and increase federal grants for high-poverty, high-need school districts.
- Encourage school districts to explore alternative financing, including lease financing, and financing/ownership/use arrangements to facilitate construction.
- Encourage school districts to adopt regular, comprehensive construction and maintenance programs.
- Increase emphasis on research and development for design and construction to meet the rapidly changing teaching environment.
- Establish a federal, multi-year capital budget for public works infrastructure construction and rehabilitation, similar to those used by state and local governments.
- Encourage the use of life-cycle cost analysis principles to evaluate the total costs of projects.
- Consider direct federal funding for school construction.
Rand Education, California's K-12 Public Schools: How Are They Doing? 2005
Government Performance Project, Grading the States 2005, http://results.gpponline.org/
Joint Task Force on Educational Facilities, Arkansas Statewide Educational Facilities Assessment-2004, November, 2004
U.S. General Accounting Office, No Child Left Behind Act: Improvements Needed in Education's Process for Tracking States' Implementation of Key Provisions, GA0-04-734, September, 2004
National Education Association, Rankings and Estimates:Update, Fall, 2004
American Schools and Universities, "30th Annual Official Education Construction Report," May, 2004
National Education Association, K-12 Education in the U.S. Economy, April, 2004
School Planning and Management, Annual Construction Report 2004, February, 2004
"$4 Billion Is Needed to Fix City's Schools, Study Finds," The New York Times, February 5, 2004
"Maryland Task Force to Study Public School Facilities," Interim Report, December, 2003
Office of Education Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, Condition of America's Public School Facilities:1999, June, 2000
National Education Association (NEA), Modernizing Our Schools: What Will It Cost, April 2000
ASCE Policy Statement 299 "Infrastructure Improvement Policy" 2003
ASCE Policy Statement 313 "Infrastructure Research and Innovation" 2004
ASCE Policy Statement 452 "Investing in America's Schools" 2003
