When politicians, experts, officials and parents warn that America's public schools are crumbling, they're not just referring to educational standards.
Many schools are literally, physically falling apart.
For many cash-strapped school districts, under pressure to improve student performance and teacher salaries, building maintenance falls to the bottom of the list of priorities. C. Kenneth Tanner, a professor at the University of Georgia's School Design and Planning Laboratory, says that he has seen the effects of deferred maintenance first hand. Though the problem schools are mostly concentrated in rural areas and inner cities, the same issues arise across the country. Violence in schools has led to increased security demands. The Internet has become all but essential in modern schools, and while some 95 percent of schools are now connected, bringing the cable to the door is only the beginning.