Enrollment is rising rapidly. Buildings are in bad condition. New programs for technology are cutting into space needed for kids. The average U.S. school is 42 years old, typically built in the post-World War II years when births peaked at 4 million annually. Today, in the midst of a baby boomlet, a record 52 million children are attending 88,223 schools.
Many buildings are simply too old.
They used inferior materials. New looks are in. Cookie-cutter classrooms, weedy playgrounds and concrete block walls painted in industrial drab colors are being traded for natural lighting, wood trim, terrazzo floors and brick courtyards. You have full-size rec centers instead of gyms. Libraries are kind of passe.