State of Our Schools Report: A Look at Facilities and Funding

As a member of the BASIC Coalition, Fast Growth School Coalition is pleased to share the latest State of Our Schools 2021 Report. BASIC is s non-partisan coalition of public school advocates and allies who support federal funding to help modernize and build K-12 public school facilities. 

Public PK-12 school facility funding systems are highly local and decentralized, with no established federal interest or national data source on public school infrastructures. That’s where the 21st Century School Fund, the International WELL Building Institute, and the National Council on School Facilities -- all affiliated with BASIC Coalition - come in. Through an in-depth review of public financial data and field experience, this new report found a current facilities funding gap of $85 billion a year. 

While school districts have been spending about an average of $110.1 billion every year on maintenance, operations, and capital construction, this is falling further and further short, leaving school districts unprepared to provide adequate and equitable school facilities. Proposed federal investment in rebuilding America’s schools has the potential to close the capital investment gap by about 22%. 

While this federal funding, at a level of $13 billion per year, is less than 10% of the national need, these federal funds could be the only way many low wealth and high need districts can bring their elementary and secondary schools into the 21st century. 

Download the full report and accompanying resources.

Public Schools and Build Better Back Act

While the U.S. Congress included emergency repairs for facilities as an allowable use in the COVID-19 relief packages, it did not address the long-standing need for whole school modernizations, particularly in our low wealth and high need communities. 

Evidence and research prove that school facilities are critical to the health, safety, and equitable learning opportunities for students, and the BASIC Coalition, of which FGSC is a member, is advocating for long term investments to rebuild America’s dilapidated school buildings so that the 55 million educators and students that spend their days in these classrooms can thrive, educationally and emotionally.

Fast Growth School Coalition and BASIC were pleased to see the House Education and Labor Committee include $82 billion in funding for school facilities in their reconciliation of the Build Better Back Act. Read BASIC’s complete statement on this recent development. We’ll keep you updated on efforts in Washington, and ways FGSC can support our friends at BASIC and on the Hill to advance this critical piece of school facilities funding. 

Learn more about the US House Education and Labor Committee’s portion of the Build Better Back Act with this fact sheet.