A study released Wednesday (May 3, 2000) by the National Education Association
shows it will take an estimated $322 billion to repair and modernize America's
public schools, and to provide them with adequate educational technology.
The estimated cost to bring Wisconsin schools up to standard would be
$5.7 billion, including $4.7 billion for infrastructure and $955 million
for technology, the report said.
The report – "Modernizing Our Schools: What Will It Cost?" –
is the first-ever state-by-state estimate of the potential cost of school
modernization. In 1995, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) estimated
that America's public schools needed $112 billion for repair and updating.
The NEA study goes beyond the GAO study in scope, and is based on a more
comprehensive set of criteria than those used by GAO. It also includes
two components – $268 billion for infrastructure (repair and construction)
and $54 billion for educational technologies (including wiring and networking
for Internet access) – in reaching the $322 billion estimated cost.
Estimated individual state school modernization costs – comprising
both infrastructure and technology – range from nearly $51 billion
for New York to $333 million for Vermont. The top 10 states are New York,
California ($32.9 billion), Ohio ($25.1 billion), New Jersey ($22 billion),
Texas ($13.6 billion), Illinois ($11.3 billion), Pennsylvania ($10.4 billion),
Massachusetts ($9.9 billion), Michigan ($9.9 billion), and Utah ($9 billion).
"We often fail to recognize that where our students learn can have a
dramatic impact on what they learn," said NEA President Bob Chase. "Research
shows that students learn best when they are in safe, modern schools,
with smaller classes and up-to-date technology."
While states are spending more than ever on school modernization, the
crisis is eclipsing their efforts: the $322 billion total is 10 times
what states currently spend annually on public school infrastructure,
the report notes.
"This problem affects schools in every part of the country - rural, urban,
and suburban alike," Chase said. "Although education is constitutionally
a state responsibility, the federal government has a long history of providing
states and localities with financial assistance for education when concerns
of national scope have been involved," the report notes.
"We call on Congress to pass meaningful school modernization assistance,
including interest subsidies and direct grants and loans that will help
address these enormous needs," Chase said.
NEA supports bipartisan legislation proposed by Reps. Nancy L. Johnson
(R-CT) and Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-VA) that
would provide federal tax credits to help finance $25 billion in bonding
for school modernization. In addition, NEA supports legislation that would
provide $1.3 billion annually for loans and grants for urgent school building
repairs.
In 1997, WEAC's support helped win passage of a bill in Wisconsin that
directs the state superintendent of public instruction, at least once
every five years, to conduct a study of the physical condition and capacity
of all public schools and their suitability for use as public schools.
At the conclusion of each study, the state superintendent must report
the results to the appropriate standing committees of the Legislature.
Data presented at that time indicated:
- 67% of Wisconsin school buildings were constructed prior to 1950.
- Nearly one-fourth of buildings have never been renovated.
- Among buildings 50 years of age or older, only 10% have undergone
major renovation.
- 52% of buildings have no security measures beyond night-time lighting
and door locks.
- Nearly two-thirds of buildings do not have a single air conditioned
classroom.
- Only 6% of schools have set aside space for a parent visitor center.
- 58% of buildings have four or fewer private telephones available.
The American public strongly supports a federal partnership in helping
address the school modernization crisis. A January 1999 poll by Republican
pollster Frank Luntz found that 82% of Americans want the federal government
to help modernize the nation's schools.
The $268 billion infrastructure estimate was obtained from 24 state infrastructure
plans meeting the study's criteria for calculating funding needs. The
other 26 states' data were obtained by matching them against comparable
states (among the 24 with plans) with a number of comparable criteria,
including age and condition of school facilities, enrollment data, poverty
estimates, construction costs, and other variables.
The $54 billion technology estimate was based on an analysis of three
existing state assessments that met the criteria for calculating funding
needs. Those assessments were then used as the basis for statistically
estimating the needs of all states.
The NEA report notes that "only about half of states have school infrastructure
assessments that were conducted in the last five years," and few "have
provisions to update their infrastructure assessments regularly. On the
other hand, approximately three-fourths of states have technology plans
– but most of them do not contain cost estimates."
The unmet funding needs of $322 billion, the report says, "represent
a fiscally conservative estimate. It is likely that if states systematically
assess and cost out unmet school modernization needs that the total will
be much higher."
Posted May 3, 2000