In America, public schools are the cornerstones of our neighborhoods. They are where our children learn, families meet, and communities gather. Yet, the positive impacts of public schools are all too often hindered by their physical state. Dilapidated, run-down schools can be found across the country, often with no path forward on how to fix them.
The quality of school facilities has a direct impact on student and staff health. Recent research shows that classrooms with poor air quality result in lower average daily attendance, increased respiratory illnesses and lower productivity. Neglected schools are strongly associated with high rates of student truancy and rates of suspension.
These might seem like unique cases, but when you look at the numbers, it is clear that this is a nationwide issue. One in six Americans interacts with a K-12 public school building daily, which breaks down to 50 million students and six million adults every day. There are over 100,000 K-12 public school buildings in the United States, accounting for 7.5 billion gross square feet of building space and 2 million acres of property.
Last week, U.S. Green Building Council published a report stating it would take an additional $46 billion annually to ensure that our schools buildings are healthy and safe for everyone. The report, “The State of Our Schools: America’s K-12 Facilities,” points out that federal government only funds 0.2% of the total spending for capital construction in the United States. This means that state and local governments are responsible for the other 99.8 percent of that funding.
But in fact, most of that funding burden would fall to local governments. In 44 states, the maximum a state government can fund is 37 percent of a district’s capital costs, with 12 states providing no direct funding at all. Low-income districts in those states who can’t find the funds are stuck watching their schools become increasingly run-down. As a result, their students suffer, contributing to a perpetuation of the cycle of inequality.
While the report highlights urgent concerns that must be addressed, there are several positive trends in the school facility construction in the United States. Increasingly, schools around the country are being built as “green schools.” Thousands of schools have already achieved LEED certification. These schools save hundreds of thousands of dollars on utilities and operating expenses each year. The new buildings enhance local property values, environmental quality and student health.
So while one the one hand there is plenty of work to do to fundamentally fix the system and to re-vamp our priorities and policies across the country, we can continue to build on the positive trends in building more efficient schools that are now underway.
You can find out more about the report here.