Catch-Up Costs Billions

The nation’s largest teachers union is releasing a study today finding that public school systems will need to spend $322 billion to modernize, accommodate enrollment growth and equip students with educational technology.

“While states are spending more than ever on school modernization, the crisis is eclipsing their efforts: $322 billion is 10 times what states currently spend annually on public school infrastructure,” said Bob Chase, president of the National Education Assn.

The report, called “Modernizing Our Schools: What Will It Cost?” comes at a time when Republicans and Democrats in Congress are wrestling over the question of how and how much the federal government should involve itself in public school construction.

It follows a report released this spring by the U.S. General Accounting Office that found that spending on school construction exceeded enrollment growth across the nation and reached about $25 billion in 1995.

That report said spending on school construction increased 39% in the first seven years of the 1990s, while enrollment grew about 12%. The rise in spending exceeded enrollment growth slightly until 1995, then shot well ahead, the report said.

Even before the NEA report, the GAO report had received a skeptical response from the Clinton administration, which has been pushing for several years to boost federal spending on school facilities. Officials in the Department of Education questioned whether the increased spending was enough to keep up with the growing need.

“We were concerned that people might read the report and see that the states had stepped up their activity in the last couple of years and think, ‘Good, it’s being taken care of,’ when the report doesn’t show that at all,” said Tom Corwin, acting deputy assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education.

The NEA report highlights those concerns.

“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.

In looking at school construction needs, the NEA expanded the scope of a 1995 government study, which focused solely on repairs to existing schools. It concluded that it would cost $112 billion to bring the schools into good condition.

The NEA looked at needs for new construction as well as wiring campuses for networking and Internet access. It estimated the need as $268.2 million for repairs and new schools and $53.7 million for technology.

California Has Second-Biggest Need

Not surprisingly, New York and California, the two largest states, have the greatest needs, with New York requiring more than $50 billion and California $33 billion, while Vermont can get by with $333 million.

Current enrollment, patterns of growth, age and condition of infrastructure and regional cost differences accounted for the variation, but no area is in good shape, the report said.

“The problem affects schools in every part of the country--rural, urban and suburban alike,” Chase said.

To arrive at those findings, the union researchers sent a comprehensive questionnaire to all 50 states. It received responses from 24 and used estimating techniques to derive projections for the remaining states.

“The lack of complete original data from all states reflects the fact that few states regularly update infrastructure assessments and most states’ technology plans do not contain cost estimates,” the report said.

The GAO report found California lagging the national average both in dollars per student spent on school construction and spending growth in the first seven years of the 1990s.

School facilities needs are on the national political agenda.

Both major presidential candidates are campaigning strongly on education reform, but they have different ideas on how to address school facilities needs.

Vice President Al Gore proposes spending nearly $200 billion over the next decade to significantly boost federal investments in such areas as school construction, class-size reduction and preschool programs.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush wants to combine all federal education programs into “block grants” that would give states far greater flexibility in allocating the funds--but only if they agree to annual student testing.

Two years ago, Congress rebuffed President Clinton’s proposal to finance nearly $1 billion worth of school construction during 1999.

Now the administration is pushing an education initiative that would provide tax breaks to investors who buy municipal bonds to back school construction and rehabilitation.

The plan is embodied in a bipartisan bill sponsored by Reps. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.). It would provide up to $25 billion in bonds for school modernization.

Republican leaders, who generally oppose federal involvement in school construction, canceled debate on the bill in March.

A spokesman for Rangel said he hopes it will come up for a House vote this spring.

“Our difficulty is with the leadership,” spokesman Dan Maffei said. “We have a lot of Republican allies now.”

In its spring report, the GAO found that spending varied widely by state and region. Fast-growing Nevada outspent all other states, averaging $934 per student for the seven years. The New England states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut spent the least, all less than $50 per student.

With an average of $417 per student, California fell slightly below the national average of $473. In spending growth, however, it ranked considerably lower, 38th among all states with an increase of only 15% by 1997 over the 1990 rate.

The report’s cutoff year of 1997 may have hurt California’s rating because the state saw a strong upswing in bond approvals the next year.

The report did not reflect funds from the $9.2-billion Proposition 1A bond approved by voters in 1998. It will provide $6.7 billion for public school construction.

That same year, the GAO report said, California voters approved 72 local school construction bond measures, generating $3.7 billion for construction and repairs.

The GAO researchers were unable to provide national statistics for local school bonds.

California ranked well among the 19 states that kept such records. The average success rate for school construction bonds for all 19 states was 54%. In California the rate was 58%.

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Change in Spending

Spending on school construction and renovation increased nationwide by nearly 39% during a seven-year period studied by the General Accounting Office. The chart below shows that the level of spending and rate of increase varied widely from state to state. The middle column shows the average spent annually per student by each state from 1990-97. The column on the right shows the percentage change over that period. California fell below the national average in both measures.

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Dollars PercentAGE State per Student change New Jersey 379 433 Idaho 410 241 Alaska 759 208 Oregon 378 193 Rhode Island 41 173 Utah 452 172 Vermont 449 167 West Virginia 303 166 Wisconsin 496 151 Wyoming 395 141 Colorado 667 140 Delaware 399 136 Michigan 450 116 Tennessee 286 105 Hawaii 491 100 Mississippi 218 93 Connecticut 37 90 Ohio 274 83 New Mexico 575 74 Minnesota 825 73 Iowa 308 52 Nevada 934 52 Illinois 357 50 Georgia 523 41 South Carolina 414 41 Indiana 490 39 U.S. AVERAGE 428 39 North Carolina 491 38 Arkansas 258 36 Nebraska 493 33 Maryland 491 31 Texas 631 31 Alabama 265 26 New York 614 25 Virginia 494 22 Washington 854 20 Missouri 420 17 California 417 15 South Dakota 321 14 Kentucky 155 12 District of Columbia 352 11 Florida 877 11 Pennsylvania 623 11 North Dakota 223 10 Arizona 773 3 New Hampshire 399 -6 Louisiana 180 -14 Montana 275 -41 Oklahoma 308 -44 Massachusetts 49 -47 Kansas 203 -52 Maine 330 -62

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Source: U.S. General Accounting Office, Health, Education and Human Services Division

The Cost of Upgrading

A National Education Assn. study released today finds that the nation needs to spend $322 billion to bring its public schools up to good condition, accommodate enrollment growth and equip schools with educational technology.

The five states with the greatest need:

(in billions)

New York

Infrastructure: $47.6

Technology: $3.0

Ohio

Infrastructure: $23.0

Technology: $2.0

California

Infrastructure: $22.0

Technology: $10.9

New Jersey

Infrastructure: $20.7

Technology: $1.3

Texas

Infrastructure: $9.5

Technology: $4.2

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Source: National Education Assn.