School Infrastructure and Environmental Problems

> Photo 8.2 School boards are being pressed to eliminate unnecessary spending, and school budgets must stand up to close scrutiny. Many districts are trying to “do more with less,” in spite of demands for smaller schools, teacher shortages, and deteriorating old school buildings.

Rachel Epstein/The Image Works

school infrastructure The basic

physical facilities of the school plant (plumbing, sewer, heat, electric, roof, windows, and so on).

8-4e School infrastructure and Environmental Problems

The nation’s school infrastructure is in critical disrepair. By infrastructure, we mean the basic physical facilities of the school plant (plumbing, sewer, heat, electric, roof, carpentry, and so on). Building experts estimate that schools in the United States are deteriorating faster than they can be repaired and faster than most other public facilities. Plumbing, windows, electrical wiring, and heating systems in many schools are dangerously out of date; roofing is below code; and exterior brickwork, stone, and wood are in serious disrepair. Over the past twenty-five years, school districts have had to defer maintenance of school facilities due to a lack of funds for upkeep and repair (Photo 8.2). Estimates of the costs of this deferred maintenance is estimated to range from $270 billion to more than $542 billion.55 When maintenance and repair work is delayed, students are subjected to potentially dangerous conditions: unsafe drinking water, poor air quality from mold, outdated security systems, reduced curricular offerings as specialized spaces such as gyms are closed, and danger from structural problems.56

Even as school boards struggle to meet the needs of an aging infrastructure, demographers are projecting continued growth of the school-age population. From 2015 to 2021, the Pre-K through 12th grade population is expected to grow by more than 2 million students. In 2012, $10 billion was spent on new buildings and modernization of existing ones to prepare for these new students. This is half of the funding level for the year prior to the recession. Repairs aside, concern continues to grow about where the money will come from to build the additional classrooms we continue to need.57

55 21st Century School Fund, Through Your Lens: Student and Teacher Views of School Facilities across America (2010) at www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED509518.pdf (February 8, 2015); “2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure: Schools,” ASCE – America’ Society of Civil Engineers (2013) at www.infrastructurereportcard.org/schools/; and “The State of Our Schools 2013,” The Center for Green Schools (January 14, 2013) at http://centerforgreenschools.org/Libraries /State_of_our_Schools/2013_State_of_Our_Schools_Report_FINAL.sflb.ashx. 56“PK–12 Public School Facility Infrastructure Fact Sheet,” The 21st Century School Fund and Building Educational Success Together (BEST) (February 2011) at www.21csf.org/csf-home/Documents /FactSheetPK12PublicSchoolFacilityInfrastructure.pdf. 57“Actual and Projected Numbers for Enrollment in Grades PK–12, PK–8, and 9–12 in Elementary and Secondary Schools, by Control of School: Fall 1996 through Fall 2021,” Projections of Education Statistics to 2021 (January 2013) at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/projections /projections2021/tables/table_01.asp.

SuMMing uP

1. Schools are financially supported by state and local governments and—to a lesser extent—by the federal government.

Overall, since the early twentieth century, state support has increased dramatically, and local support has declined; the percentage of federal support grew until the early 1980s, then declined, but has since recovered to earlier levels. 2. Although property tax is the main local source of school revenue, it is considered a regressive tax. 3. There is wide variation in the financial ability among states and within states (at the local district level) to support education.

Poorer school districts tend to receive more money from the state than do wealthier school districts, but the amount rarely makes up for the total difference in expenditures per pupil. 4. School finance reform, initiated by the state courts and carried forward by state legislatures, has attempted to reduce or

eliminate funding disparities between poorer and wealthier districts. The basic goal is to provide for adequate educational opportunities and give poorer districts the means to improve their performance. 5. Since the Sputnik era, federal funding of education has become increasingly linked to national policy. As policy emphasis has changed, so has the level of funding. 6. Controversies over accountability, tuition tax credits, educational vouchers, charter schools, and school choice reflect increasing public concern with the educational system. 7. Taxpayer resistance, especially to increases in property taxes, results in strong pressure to be more accountable with school revenue. 8. Deteriorating school infrastructure poses significant financial liabilities for many school districts.

SuggEStEd rESourcES

Internet reSourceS

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities conducts research and analysis on budget and tax policies. Its focus is broader than just education issues, but its reports are accessible to the general public and are informative regarding issues of the day. By entering “education” as a keyword in the search box, numerous reports related to education financing are provided. Charts, graphs, and tables are generally incorporated into the reports to illustrate economic issues discussed in the articles. This site is an excellent resource for keeping current with education finance issues. It also provides videos, podcasts, blogs, and slideshows to present its reports.

publIcatIonS

Chaikind, Stephen. Education Finance in the New Millennium.

Hoboken NJ: Taylor and Francis, 2013. Gives a comprehensive, contemporary view of school finance and focuses on the myriad topics that impact school district expenditures. Feinberg, Walter, and Christopher Lubienski, eds. School Choice

Policies and Outcomes: Empirical and Philosophical Perspectives. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2008. Provides an examination of varying voices in the choice debate and suggests choice, directed by the appropriate goals, might advance education. Hanushek, Eric A., and Alfred A. Lindseth. Schoolhouses, Courthouses, and Statehouses: Solving the Funding-Achievement

Puzzle in America’s Public Schools. Princeton, NJ: Princeton

University Press, 2009. Suggests that court rulings requiring states to spend more on funding education in the name of equity has not reduced the achievement gap. Proposes a performancebased system that offers incentives to raise achievement. Johnston, J. Howard, and Ronald Williamson. Leading Schools in an Era of Declining Resources. New York: Routledge, 2014.

Offers practical advice to school administrators which help tackle a variety of critical issues that surface during difficult financial times. Ladd, Helen F., and Margaret E. Goertz, eds. Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2015. A comprehensive review of the field of education finance; includes a historical evolution of the field. Molnar, Alex. School Commercialism: From Democratic Ideal to Market

Commodity. New York: Routledge, 2013. Offers an examination of how marketing impacts school policy and practice and raises questions about the influence of commercialism in public schools. Odden, Allen R., and Lawrence O. Picus. School Finance: A Policy

Perspective, 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Examines school productivity formulas, fiscal policy, and fiscal federalism. Roza, Marguerite. Educational Economics: Where Do School Funds

Go? Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 2010. Considers the sources of school finance—federal block funding, foundation grants, earmarks, set-asides, and union mandates—and how they can easily be diverted from where they are most needed. Shelly, Bryan. Money, Mandates, and Local Control in American

Public Education. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011. Examines school finance, including an analysis of unfunded and underfunded mandates and regulations that the author suggests are the true cause of the loss of community control over public education. Stewart, Thomas, and Patrick J. Wolf. The School Choice Journey:

School Vouchers and the Empowerment of Urban Families.

New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Sheds light on parental school choice in Washington, DC, within the broader context of urban poverty and education reform in the United States.

Chapter9

intasc standards addressed in this chapter

1 Assessment 9 Professional Learning and

Ethical Practice 10 Leadership and Collaboration

LegaL aspects of education

Learning Objectives

9-1 Identify the fundamental elements and concepts in the legal system. 9-2 Describe the legal rights and responsibilities of teachers. 9-3 Discuss the legal rights of students and the limitations on student behavior. 9-4 Describe the basic religious activities that can and cannot be conducted in public schools and the ways in which the government can and cannot assist nonpublic schools.

This chapter was revised by Daniel U. Levine.

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