Nation’s Schools Crumbling West Has Highest Need For Repair, Gao Report Says
Schools are crumbling not just in big cities but in small towns and in the suburbs too, says a congressional study. It documents a need to patch roofs, fix plumbing and make other repairs at schools nationwide.
“It’s not just a problem for poor children, or for minority children. Crumbling schools are everywhere,” said Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, D-Ill. “It is an American problem, and it relates directly to our future ability to maintain the quality of life Americans expect.”
On Tuesday, Moseley-Braun released the last in a series of reports by the General Accounting Office on conditions in the nation’s 80,000 public schools.
Based on a nationwide survey of 10,000 schools last year, the GAO estimated a cost of $111 billion to repair or upgrade schools. This earlier report said about one-third of these schools, serving about 14 million pupils, needed extensive repair or replacement of buildings.
The latest document speaks of school building problems in every region, state and type of community in the nation. Thirty-eight percent of schools in big cities, 30 percent in rural areas and 29 percent in the suburbs report at least one inadequate building.
After passing the Education Infrastructure Act of 1994, Congress approved grants totaling $100 million to build, repair and renovate schools, but the funds were eliminated last year in budget-balancing deals.
According to the GAO report, the United States west of Colorado has the highest percentage of schools needing repair. It showed:
38 percent of schools in the West report inadequate buildings, compared with 31 percent in the Midwest and South, 30 percent in the Northeast.
64 percent of schools in the West report substandard building features, compared with 59 percent in the Northeast, 57 percent in the Midwest, 53 percent in the South.
68 percent of schools in the West report faulty environmental conditions, compared with 57 percent in the Northeast and Midwest, 54 percent in the South.