Report: $542B needed to repair, modernize schools
Scaffolding surrounds entrance to Cardoza Senior High School in Washington, D.C., with renovations under way, March 11, 2013 / AP
WASHINGTON America's schools are in such disrepair that it would cost more than $270 billion just to get elementary and secondary buildings back to their original conditions and twice that to get them up-to-date, a report released Tuesday estimated.
In a foreword to the report, former President Clinton said, "We are still struggling to provide equal opportunity" to children, and urged the first federal study of school buildings in almost two decades.
Mr. Clinton and the Center for Green Schools urged a Government Accountability Office assessment on what it would take to get school buildings up-to-date to help students learn, keep teachers healthy and put workers back on the jobs. The last such report, issued in 1995 during the Clinton administration, estimated it would take $112 billion to bring the schools into good repair and did not include the need for new buildings to accommodate the growing number of students.
The Center for Green Schools' researchers reviewed spending and estimates schools spent $211 billion on upkeep between 1995 and 2008. During that same time, schools should have spent some $482 billion, the group calculated based on a formula included in the most recent GAO study.
That left a $271 billion gap between what should have been spent on upkeep and what was, the group reported. Each student's share? Some $5,450.
To update and modernize the buildings, the figure doubles, to $542 billion over the next decade.
"We have a moral obligation," said Rachel Gutter, director of the group affiliated with the U.S. Green Building Council. "When we talk about a quality education, we talk about the "who" and the "what" -- teachers and curriculum -- but we don't talk about the "where." That needs to change."
Her organization is urging the Education Department to collect annual data on school buildings' sizes and ages, as well as property holdings. The group also wants the Education Department's statistics branch to keep tabs on utility and maintenance bills.
"It's a secret that we're keeping because it's shameful and embarrassing to us as a country," Gutter said.
Horror stories abound about schools with roofs that leak, plumbing that backs up and windows that do little to stop winds.
"Would you send your kids or grandkids to one of these schools?" asked National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel, who supported the report along with the 21st Century School Fund, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Lung Association and the National PTA.
Schools' appearances alone, of course, do not guarantee students' success but it is certainly more difficult to teach and learn when water is coming in through the ceiling, pipes are growling or rooms are frigid.
The report does not assign blame for schools' disrepair, but the problems often start at the local and state levels. In most cases, schools are funded by local property taxes and they are reliant on their neighbors' wealth and willingness to fund their schools. A National Center for Education Statistics found large disparities between schools in areas of high poverty and those in more affluent areas.
The green schools' report -- and price tag -- takes those into account but also expands the definition to include energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, sufficient electrical outlets in classrooms and enough energy to power equipment such as computers.
"As sad as it sounds, that's a realistic number," said Barbara Worth, director of strategic and private development at the Council of Educational Facility Planners International. "Most of the buildings in this country are over 50 years old and they were not built to last."
National surveys of school facilities have been few and far between.
The last GAO report came in 1995 and the one before that was in 1965, Mr. Clinton wrote in his introductory letter to the report. The report that came on his watch indicated 15,000 schools were circulating air deemed unfit to breathe.
"Nothing was done since then, obviously," said Worth, with the trade group that represents school facility planners. "They are in deplorable shape, they're unhealthy."
Mr. Clinton said the time has passed for action.
"Nearly 20 years later, in a country where public education is meant to serve as the great equalizer for all of its children, we are still struggling to provide equal opportunity when it comes to the upkeep, maintenance and modernization of our schools and classrooms," he wrote in his introduction to the report.
"Every day we let pass without addressing inefficient energy practices, poor indoor air quality and other problems associated with unhealthy learning environments, we are passing up tremendous opportunities. ... I'm optimistic that by working together, we can give our children the best possible education and make America the world's greatest innovator for generations to come," Mr. Clinton wrote.
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just declare all these schools as safe havens for al-qaeda and terrorist activity ... have the defense dept build overpriced, specialized trucks and excavators to level them ... then fund a rebuilding program which every yahoo congressman and senator will sign off on because it's a military expenditure.
be sure to characterize it all as 'defending freedom' ... wave plenty of flags ... have a bunch of parades ... say 'its all for the kids' ... and organize multiple charity organizations that spend 95% of it's revenue on generating 100% of it's revenue.
meanwhile ... hundreds of thousands go hungry ... even more go without medical care because they can't afford the insurance ... and the ceos of the companies profiting off of the wasted dollars spent on unnecessary projects get record bonuses and stock options.
isn't america the greatest country in the world?
Now we have idiots like you ranting and raving about the "issues" with which we've been indoctrinated. All the "greedy at expense of the needy" is bullshoy that politicians use to get themselves re-elected (case in point: 2012 Obama Re-Election). If the everything is as rosy as the BO Administration says it is, then why is a redistribution of wealth necessary? The answer is: it's not. The machine is hungry and needs more fuel for the fire, which is burning our children's future to the ground.
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hey ... if there was a public option in the program ... the insurance companies wouldn't be able to raise the premiums by 100% ... cause they'd lose all their customers.
medical care isn't a free market ... there's no discretion in spending on the part of those consuming the services (they need it) ... there's no advertising of pricing ... and there's no incentive for any providers to offer cost effective care ... the incentive is to offer 'more' (procedural) care.
the problem isn't obamacare ... it's large corporate entities w/ a long reach into shaping policy ... to ensure their grip on the flow of dollars in their direction ... all in the name of what's allegedly good for everyone.
just like the defense industry ... it's not about defending freedom ... it's about lining the pockets of executive leaders and stockholders of contractors making overpriced and unnecessary toys ... all couched in the fear that if you don't have them ... some phantom enemy will invade and take away your cable tv and smartphone.
What such a study failed to consider is the benefits attained to education by modern technology and the cost savings associated with it. It also looked at spending over 13 year period, please so many things have changed since then that such a number has no meaning whatsoever.
I agree that our schools need improving but I also know that we tend to waste alot of money when it comes to school maintenance. I personally work as a programmer at a university and have recently found out that my pay is less then that of the janitor. What kind of bs is this. The report should have looked at how to better use the money we have and not how much more is needed to be wasted.