Changes in America's Public School Facilities: From School Year 1998-99 to School Year 2012-13. Stats in Brief. NCES 2016-074
Author: Bahr, Steven
Date: 2016-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public Schools,Educational Facilities,Change,Elementary Secondary Education,National Surveys,Physical Environment,School Buildings,Educational Facilities Improvement,Costs,School Size,Satisfaction,Pollution,Acoustics,Lighting,Heat,Ventilation

This Statistics in Brief summarizes the changes from the 1998-99 to the 2012-13 school years in the average age of public schools, ratings of satisfaction of the environmental quality of school facilities, the cost to put school buildings in good overall condition, and short-range plans to improve school facilities. In addition to providing results for all schools, selected comparisons are made within 2012-13 by school level (elementary, secondary, and combined) and school size (less than 300, 300-599, and 600 or more students). This Statistics in Brief uses data from two surveys on the condition of public school facilities conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through its Fast Response Survey System (FRSS). The first survey on this topic was conducted in the 1998-99 school year, and the second was conducted during the 2012-13 school year. Although the surveys sampled individual schools, the questionnaires were mailed to the districts with which the schools were associated, with a separate questionnaire enclosed for each school included in the sample. The following questions were asked: (1) How did the average functional age of schools' main instructional buildings change?; (2) How did dissatisfaction with schools' environmental factors change?; (3) Was there a difference in the percentages of schools that needed money for repairs, renovations, and modernizations to put onsite buildings in good overall condition, and what was the estimated cost of these projects, in total and per school?; and (4) Was there a difference in the percentages of schools with plans for building improvements in the next 2 years? The survey was designed to be completed by district-level personnel familiar with the school facilities in the district, often a district facilities coordinator (although the title of the position varied). The differences reported in this brief are statistically significant at the p &lt; 0.05 level to ensure that they are larger than might be expected due to sampling variation. No adjustments were made for multiple comparisons. Key findings include: (1) In the 2012-13 school year, the average functional age of schools' main instructional buildings was 19 years, which was older than the average functional age of 16 years in the 1998-99 school year; (2) Of all the environmental factors in schools, lighting was the factor that the highest percentage of public schools rated as unsatisfactory in 2012-13 and the only factor rated as unsatisfactory for a higher percentage of public schools in 2012-13 than in the 1998-99 school year. Interestingly, lighting was the factor least rated as unsatisfactory in 1998-99; (3) In the 2012-13 school year, the percentage of public schools that needed money for repairs, renovations, and modernizations to put onsite buildings in good overall condition was 23 percentage points less than in 1998-99. However, the average cost of these projects was estimated to be $1.4 million more per school, adjusted for inflation, in 2012-13 than in 1998-99; and (4) A lower percentage of public schools in the 2012-13 school year than in the 1998-99 school year had plans for building improvements in the next 2 years. However, approximately 39 percent of public schools in the 2012-13 school year had plans for major repairs, renovations, or replacements to at least one building feature in the next 2 years. The following are appended: (1) Data Tables; and (2) Standard Error Tables.