A growing body of research has documented significant physical infrastructure challenges across U.S. public schools. Many facilities experience issues related to heating, ventilation, air quality, connectivity, and space adequacy. These conditions, according to data from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), have earned the nation’s school infrastructure a grade of D+ on its 2025 Infrastructure Report Card. This rating encompasses nearly 100,000 public school buildings serving over 49 million students.
“Entering an average U.S. school building today can be a disheartening experience,” wrote Bob
Hellman, CEO of American Infrastructure Partners, in a recent U.S. News editorial. “Too many classrooms suffer from inadequate ventilation, unreliable internet connectivity, and poor temperature control, which can affect a student’s ability to focus.”
Decades of independent research support the link between facility quality and educational
outcomes. A World Bank meta-analysis titled The Impact of School Infrastructure on Student
Learning found that students in under-resourced physical environments performed measurably
worse than peers in better-equipped classrooms, with deficits ranging from 5 to 10 percentile
points. These disparities persisted even after accounting for household income levels.
Air quality remains a documented concern. A 2004 study across 409 classrooms in Idaho and
Washington found a correlation between inadequate ventilation and a 10% to 20% increase in
student absenteeism. Data from the Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention show that asthma-related absences among students have resulted in more than 10 million lost school days per year for over two decades. In 2013, this number reached 13.8 million.
“Poor indoor air quality has been linked to higher rates of asthma-related absences,” noted
Hellman. “These patterns often impact students from families with fewer resources to address
chronic exposure.”
The relationship between building conditions and academic performance has also been examined by U.S. agencies. The National Center for Education Statistics has found that students in recently modernized schools tend to have higher standardized test performance and lower absentee rates compared to peers in older facilities. In one international study of 153 classrooms, researchers observed that classroom design explained 16% of the variation in student learning, ranking lighting, air quality, spatial flexibility, and temperature as influential variables.
Despite these findings, the average American school building is approximately 50 years old.
According to the NCES, 40% of public schools were constructed before 1970. In districts with
growing student populations, over one-third of schools rely on portable classrooms, nearly half
of which are rated in fair or poor condition.
“These facilities are often not equipped for the demands of contemporary education,” Hellman stated.
Compounding these challenges, changes to federal administrative staffing and budget constraints have coincided with rising deferred maintenance backlogs. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that addressing necessary repairs across school buildings would require over $270 billion in investment. These needs include roofing, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical system upgrades.
While the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocated $100 billion toward school
facility modernization, longstanding gaps remain. According to ASCE, the annual shortfall in
facility investment has increased from $60 billion in 2016 to $85 billion in 2025. Only an
estimated 10% of total school funding is typically allocated toward capital improvements.
Local bond funding, historically a key source of school infrastructure finance, has also faced
growing voter resistance. In Texas in 2024, for example, 20 of 35 proposed school bond
measures failed.
In response to these conditions, American Infrastructure Partners established School
Infrastructure Partners, a specialized platform designed to offer an alternative pathway for
accessing private capital in circumstances where traditional public funding processes have
experienced delays or limitations. Its focus is on supporting discussions around facility upgrades, such as HVAC or connectivity improvements, based on district-identified needs.
Renovation efforts supported through School Infrastructure Partners are generally focused on
core facility functionality, such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), and digital
infrastructure. The platform does not engage in new school construction; rather, it is intended to
work with public entities on the rehabilitation of existing buildings, based on identified facility needs.
“Investing in our education system includes addressing the physical condition of learning
environments,” Hellman wrote. “When other funding sources stall, partnerships can sometimes
provide alternative means to advance that goal.”
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