Reversing the Cycle of Deterioration in the Nation’s Public School Buildings

Across the nation, large urban school districts are experiencing premature and rapidly accelerating deterioration of school buildings.  The conditions of buildings and equipment, most importantly in classrooms and school support spaces, are deteriorating to the point of hindering the core mission of schools: educating children.  

Data from multiple authoritative sources reveal that the deteriorating condition of schools has a direct and significant impact on the achievement of students and the effectiveness of teachers.  References to such research will appear throughout this report.  

Further, the lack of effective planned, predictive, and preventive maintenance of facilities significantly increases the rate of decay, and significantly increases the overall costs of maintaining buildings and equipment at the level that allows them to effectively serve their occupants and to achieve their designed life expectancy.

Many educators maintain that the debate over how to improve education in the United States has ignored one critical element: the physical condition of schools. Students and teachers are held accountable for their performance, but it is extremely difficult to raise levels of academic achievement when teaching and learning take place in crumbling, antiquated facilities (Yeoman, 2012; American Federation of Teachers, 2006).

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