Center for Cities and Schools

A joint report from the Center for Cities + Schools, 21st Century School Fund, Center for Green Schools, and National Council on School Facilities

Our country’s elementary and secondary (PK–12) public school infrastructure is in crisis. Every day, millions of children in the U.S. attend public school in unhealthy, unsafe, educationally inadequate, environmentally unsustainable, and financially inefficient facilities. Our public school facilities have broad impacts on children and communities: student, staff, and community health; school quality and academic achievement; economic development; and environment and natural resources. We need effective and efficient systems to ensure responsible stewardship of our PK-12 public school infrastructure.

With much at stake, national leaders launched the Planning for PK-12 Infrastructure Initiative (P4si Initiative) in 2016 to formulate a systems-based plan to address the PK-12 infrastructure crisis. This report presents findings from the Phase 1 national research engagement process to identify the challenges to adequacy and equity in PK-12 infrastructure and to propose system reforms. Our recommended priority actions are designed to develop and support the essentials for modern PK-12 public infrastructure stewardship. Phase 2 of the P4si Initiative will move the 55 priority actions forward to achieve a paradigm shift in our PK-12 public infrastructure systems.