High marks New $115 million Ohio high school is centerpiece for ambitious plan to improve facilities By Thomas Renner
T
he grades for school infrastructure are in, and they are not good. Most parents of students who brought home grades
with marks gathered by the American Society of Civil Engineers would ask for extra tutoring, demand a parent-teacher meeting or— gasp—take the child’s cell phone away for at
The engineers gave US schools a D+ grade. School facilities represent the second largest sector of public infrastructure spending, and while there is no comprehensive data source on K-12 public school infrastructure, the available figures are distressing. According to the report, 53% of public school districts require updates or replacement on multiple building systems. 40% of schools do not have a long term facility plan, and more than 30% of schools need to replace windows, plumbing and HVAC systems. Portable facilities, used in 31% of schools, also are failing. 45% of them are in poor condition, according to Education Week. The grade for US schools is even worse than the C- mark the ASCE gave as an overall grade for US infrastructure. The infrastructure bill that passed in Congress in November carried more bad news. Nearly $100 billion that had been earmarked for school modernization was eliminated from the bill.
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COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION — ISSUE 11, 2021
All photos by Snappy George Photography
least a week’s duration.
