“Good Buildings, Better Schools”
A $20 billion federal investment to maintain and improve school facilities nationwide could provide a major boost for education and the economy, says a paper released by the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute.
The report’s author—Mary Filardo, the executive director of the Washington-based 21st Century School Fund—argues that such an investment could generate up to 250,000 maintenance and repair jobs, as well as eliminate deferred maintenance of school facilities, improve the quality of buildings in low-income communities, and establish an ongoing federal role in maintaining and repairing school facilities for all students.
Such improvements could also help raise achievement rates by providing money for more early-childhood-education facilities, the latest education technology, and up-to-date science labs, the paper argues.
