Gauging Good Stewardship: Is California Adequately and Equitably Investing in its Public School Facilities?

This paper examines the adequacy and equity of investment in California’s public school facilities. By using a standards-based framework to understand patterns of investment levels, the authors gauge the likely “good stewardship” of these physical school assets. The authors analyze both “maintenance & operations” (M&O) spending and capital investment by local K-12 public school districts across the state for the years 2009-2019. Public school districts across California struggle to upkeep and modernize their school facilities. For many districts, aging inventory, combined with limited capital funding opportunities, has resulted in school facilities with ballooning deferred maintenance issues and classrooms that do not adequately support modern instructional practices. These realities also work against California’s priorities for high quality, equitable education, childhood health, racial justice, and climate resiliency.

Authors: Jeffrey M. Vincent, Semhar Gebrekristos, Lily Neinstedt