How crumbling school facilities perpetuate inequality

The average public school building was built around 1968 — more than 50 years ago — and the National Center for Education Statistics reports that half of all public schools in the United States need at least one major facility repair. Mary Filardo, Jeffrey Vincent, and Kevin Sullivan explain how poorly maintained school buildings have a negative effect on both student and teacher performance and health. Because local districts are responsible for funding their own building maintenance and upgrades, poor communities lack the resources to keep facilities in adequate shape, much less to modernize them, and needed repairs may be made using the same operating funds used to pay teachers and purchase instructional materials. The authors express hope that interest in infrastructure improvements at the federal level will enable schools to receive the funding they need