School facility problems—from plumbing emergencies to extreme indoor temperatures—forced 1 in 5 districts to cancel classes during the 2024-25 school year.
Those closures affected an estimated 2 million students and culminated in the loss of about 3.5 million days of learning, according to a new report from Congress’ nonpartisan investigative arm.
The newly released report from the Government Accountability Office is the latest reminder of the deteriorating condition of America’s school infrastructure and the growing need for major improvements to the nation’s school buildings—which are about a half-century old on average.
The numbers from the GAO’s report also serve as a stark reminder of how closely school building conditions are tied to student learning and well-being, said Mary Filardo, the executive director for the 21st Century School Fund, which advocates for school infrastructure improvements and was consulted by the GAO as it assembled this report.
“As a kid sitting in a room that’s too hot and falling asleep, not being able to pay attention—this actually impacts your ability to learn,” she said.
The news of 3.5 million days of missed learning due to facilities problems comes as school districts are still struggling to cut student absenteeism that surged following the pandemic and ensure students have enough learning time.
But there are indications facility-related disruptions will continue.
The GAO estimated that 14% of schools nationwide are in poor or very poor condition, with issues significant enough to make facilities hard to use or even unusable or unsafe. Around one-third of schools were in fair condition—functional but with noticeable signs of wear and aging that will require repairs in the next five years. (Fifty-three percent of districts rated their buildings in good or excellent condition.)
And 16% of school districts surveyed by the GAO said they had no plans to address major building systems, such as HVAC or plumbing, in one or more existing schools.
Flooding and extreme classroom temperatures were the most common problems
Schools with outdated or poorly maintained facilities can be more susceptible to hazardous conditions such as flooding, mold, and unsafe temperatures that force districts to close schools temporarily.
Conversely, research has found that well-maintained facilities that offer students healthy indoor spaces lead to a host of positive outcomes, the GAO report said, including better student performance and health, lower absenteeism, and higher teacher retention.
To obtain the data for its report, the GAO consulted outside experts and research on school facilities. It also surveyed a nationally representative sample of school districts and visited nine of them in Alabama, Maine, and Oregon.
Highlighting the severity of the problems some districts face, the GAO reported that in one district its representatives visited, classroom temperatures reached 110 degrees, forcing the district to cancel school. In another school, teachers reported that the bathrooms’ poor conditions were hurting student and staff morale.
The most common chronic issues school districts reported to the GAO were flooding and excessive heat and cold in classrooms. Twenty-two percent of districts said water intrusion was a chronic issue, while 21% said the same of excessive classroom heat or cold. Those challenges were followed by plumbing, ventilation, and structural problems.
Furthermore, the GAO report said, “district leaders commonly reported their schools to have compliance issues related to accessibility, fire, safety, and other building code requirements.”
That’s despite nearly a quarter—22 percent—of all district spending in fiscal year 2024 going toward operations and maintenance, capital expenditures, and interest on debt such as bonds, according to Census data cited in the report.
Many districts don’t have a plan for repairs
More than half of district leaders say their facility budgets are insufficient to meet their needs, the GAO found. That can lead districts to defer maintenance, costing them more money down the line. Students in districts that reported having less capacity to conduct preventive maintenance were the most affected: Those districts had higher levels of chronic facility problems and more disruptions to learning.
Nearly half of all school districts suffered facility issues during the 2024-25 school year that disrupted learning in some way, the report concluded.
What’s preventing districts from adequately funding their school facilities?
Most district leaders pointed to high construction costs (82%), low state formula funding (73%), and a lack of federal and state grant and loan opportunities (61% and 57% respectively). A small local tax base, limited support from the local community, and an inability to match grant funds or apply for and manage grants and loans were also frequently cited challenges.
Of particular concern for Filardo is the proportion of districts that indicated they don’t have a plan in place to update various aspects of their buildings, such as HVAC, roofs, or interior fixtures.
Facility maintenance, she said, “takes planning, it takes a long view, it takes a generational view.”
No matter their facilities’ condition, districts should always have a plan in place to make the next round of updates, and ideally to stay ahead of repairs with preventive maintenance, she said.
Many district leaders don’t feel like they’re getting enough help from state and federal governments, Filardo said—not just in terms of funding, but also technical support. (The federal government has few ongoing programs focused on school infrastructure.)
And higher standards for health and safety, while ultimately good, have created more complicated regulations for schools to navigate when making building updates. That can lead district leaders to sometimes throw up their hands, Filardo said.
“They’re like, ‘Well, let’s just do nothing. We’re familiar with how to put the bucket under the leak,’” she said, which is less daunting in the near term than “jumping into a plan and trying to navigate local, state, federal regulation and formulas.”
Data on facility conditions and needs is a first step
Filardo’s recommendation for districts that don’t currently have a building improvement plan is to take a first step by collecting data on their facility needs and communicating that information within the district, as well as with local government and the community. Taxpayers won’t fund problems they aren’t aware of, Filardo said.
The GAO released a similar report diving into school facility challenges in 2020, estimating then that a little more than half of districts needed to update or replace multiple building systems or features, such as their HVAC systems, interior light fixtures, or roofs.
