Deteriorating School Facilities Contribute to Educational Decline

If Schools Are Showing Their Age, IAQ Is One Place Districts Could Start

A recent article in “The 74” makes a compelling case that aging and deteriorating school facilities are contributing to educational decline. It also raises an immediate question for district leaders: What can schools realistically do today?

The article highlights a challenge school leaders across the country know well: our school buildings are aging, deferred maintenance has accumulated for decades, and many HVAC systems are reaching the end of their useful lives. At the same time, repair and replacement needs continue to outpace available funding.

This challenge isn’t distributed evenly. Districts serving low-income communities and Native American students are often the most likely to be working with the oldest, most deferred-maintenance-burdened buildings, and the least likely to have quick access to funding for major repairs. But the reality holds across nearly every district: facility needs are outpacing available resources, and school leaders need a place to start that doesn’t depend on waiting for capital funding to arrive.

So where can districts make meaningful progress while pursuing the funding and long-term planning required for major modernization?

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It cannot repair a failing roof or replace an obsolete HVAC system. It can, however, provide a structured framework for identifying immediate risks, prioritizing limited resources, and planning long-term investments.

Too often, facilities are viewed as an operational responsibility, a budget line, or a list of maintenance projects. But school facilities are educational infrastructure.

Every day, the physical environment affects whether students can attend school consistently, concentrate in class, and learn effectively. It also affects whether teachers and staff have healthy, productive environments in which to work. If teaching and learning happen inside our buildings, then building conditions belong in educational conversations, not only facilities and budget discussions.

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Poor indoor air quality has been linked to asthma symptoms, respiratory illness, headaches, fatigue, allergies, and difficulty concentrating. Asthma affects 6.5% of U.S. students and remains one of the leading causes of disease-related school absenteeism.

The effects extend beyond physical health. Studies have associated inadequate ventilation and elevated carbon dioxide levels with reduced attention and poorer performance on complex cognitive tasks. Unhealthy indoor environments can also affect staff health and attendance.

The encouraging news is that healthier indoor environments can produce measurable benefits. Research has associated improved ventilation with fewer respiratory symptoms, better attendance, stronger concentration, and improved academic performance. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that four of five studies in schools and daycare settings reported statistically significant reductions in student absences when ventilation improved or indoor carbon dioxide levels decreased. Healthy school buildings don’t guarantee student success, but they do create the conditions that allow students to learn, educators to teach, and school communities to thrive.

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With limited funding and competing priorities, district leaders are constantly making decisions about where to invest their time and resources. When every need cannot be addressed at once, an IAQ Management Plan provides a practical framework for distinguishing immediate health concerns, operational improvements, and long-term capital priorities by helping districts:

• Designating an IAQ Coordinator and cross-functional IAQ Team to lead implementation.
• Developing an IAQ policy that establishes district goals, roles, and responsibilities.
• Establishing procedures for identifying, reporting, and responding to IAQ concerns.
• Assessing building conditions, including ventilation, filtration, moisture, temperature, and cleaning practices.
• Reviewing existing maintenance practices and district policies to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
• Prioritizing actions by distinguishing immediate health and safety needs from longer-term operational and capital improvements.
• Assigning responsibilities, timelines, and resources to support implementation and continuous improvement.

An IAQ Management Plan supports healthier learning environments today, and informs long-term investments tomorrow. Importantly, districts don’t need to wait for major capital funding to begin. Existing facilities and operations teams can make meaningful progress through better planning, clear responsibilities, and proactive management.

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Districts do not have to start from scratch.

With support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and in collaboration with the National School Boards Association (NSBA), the Go Green Initiative (GGI) provides free resources to help school districts develop and implement Indoor Air Quality Management Plans, including:

• A FREE IAQ Management Plan template
• A step-by-step implementation guide
• FREE webinars and online training courses
• An online resource library
• Personalized feedback from the GGI team after your district submits its plan

Whether your district is creating its first IAQ plan or strengthening an existing one, these resources are designed to help you move from planning to implementation.

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The goal is not to solve every facility’s challenge at once. It is to establish a clear, evidence-based process for deciding what needs attention first.

Healthier school buildings do not happen by accident. They happen by design – they require intentional planning, sustained management, and long-term investment.

The Go Green Initiative: Supporting healthier schools through leadership, education, and action

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📧 IAQ@GoGreenInitiative.org