Dive Brief:
- A District Administration survey of more than 1,000 school personnel found that 720 said they had engaged in construction projects in the past school year.
- Of those 720, a third said they were building entirely new schools, and 40% reported expanding existing schools.
- Major trends in school construction, according to the survey results, include environmentally friendly building improvements, Internet upgrades, and science labs.
Dive Insight:
Aging and decrepit buildings can prove a significant hurdle to technology-driven educational strategies, and some have said they can also impact students’ performance and teacher job satisfaction.
Some states have tried to pave the way to better school buildings, providing state-matching grants or allocating additional dollars for capital improvement. President Barack Obama has also pushed for more dollars for tribal schools, which have a particularly lengthy backlog of improvements. But recovery from recession-era cuts has been slow and many needed upgrades have languished.
Still, District Administration’s survey suggests that resources may not be the hurdle they’re often cited to be. Of those who had no plans to begin construction, just over a quarter cited lack of resources to do so, and 12% cited a lack of need. In 2011, educational buildings were the No. 1 non-residential building market, with a spend of more than $12 billion nationwide.
