America's public schools have received a near failing grade for their lackluster efforts carrying out needed improvements to the nation's aging education facilities.
The American Society of Civil Engineers has given the public school sector a D-plus in its newly released 2025 Report Card for America's Infrastructure. The engineers found that school buildings are continuing to age and deteriorate as the funding provided to bring those facilities to a state of good repair falls well short of meeting needs.
"The annual funding gap to reach a state of good repair for the nation’s public schools
has grown from $60 billion in 2016 to $85 billion in 2021," the report card says. "Critical needs at school buildings include water upgrades to remove lead and installation of cooling systems amid increasing temperatures."
The latest report card is further evidence of the subpar results that schools have delivered for many years with regard to maintaining its facilities.
The civil engineers, who issue an infrastructure report card every four years, gave the school sector the same dismal D-plus grades in 2021 and in 2017.
The report spells out the meaning of a D grade: "The infrastructure is in fair to poor condition and mostly below standard, with many elements approaching the end of their service life. A large portion of the system exhibits significant deterioration. Condition and capacity are of serious concern with strong risk of failure."
The 2025 report card says schools should earmark more funding for facilities improvements, and a greater share of available funds should be go toward maintaining existing facilities instead of constructing new facilities.
"Only 10% of total school spending in School Year 2021–2022 was directed to facility expenses, a total that has been low for decades, and a majority of which is dedicated toward new construction versus maintenance of existing buildings."
Although the grade for the school sector did not improve, the report card for U.S. infrastructure as a whole rose slightly from 2021 to 2025, from C-minus to C. Eight of the 18 categories assessed in the report card received better grades compared with four years ago.
"This improvement was possible due to the government and private sector prioritizing investments in systems that historically had received little attention," the report card says.
