Changes in America’s Public School Facilities: From School Year 1998–99 to School Year 2012–13

This report summarizes the changes from the 1998–99 to the 2012–13 school years concerning the average age of public schools, the ratings of satisfaction with the environmental quality of school facilities, the cost of maintaining school buildings in good overall condition, and short-range plans to improve school facilities. It draws from two surveys on the condition of public school facilities conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through its Fast Response Survey System (FRSS). The first survey on this topic was conducted in the 1998–99 school year, and the second was conducted during the 2012–13 school year. Some of the key findings include that the average age of a school’s main instructional buildings was 19 years, which was older than the average functional age of 16 years in the 1998–99 school year; lighting was the factor most frequently rated as unsatisfactory by public schools. The percentage of public schools that needed funds for repairs, renovations, and modernizations to maintain onsite buildings in good overall condition was 23 percentage points lower than in 1998-99. However, the average cost of these projects is estimated to be 1.4 million more per school when adjusted for inflation.

Authors: Steven Bahr, Dinah Sparks