As you know, America’s public schools are facing a growing infrastructure crisis.

Public school facilities received a D+ on the 2025 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card, and experts estimate the nation’s schools face more than $100 billion in deferred maintenance needs. Behind those numbers are students learning in aging buildings, educators like yourself doing their best in outdated environments, and communities struggling to provide the spaces young people deserve.

In the 2025 State of Our Schools report, which includes state-specific data, the annual average facilities gap grew exponentially, from $39 million in 2016 to over $85 million in 2025.

But this is about more than buildings. It’s about equity.

Because school facilities are funded largely through local property taxes, students in lower-income communities are far more likely to attend schools with deteriorating infrastructure and limited access to modern learning environments. The condition of a school building should never determine the quality of opportunities available to a child.

Schools are essential infrastructure. They are every bit as important as roads, bridges, and broadband networks. We cannot prepare students for a 21st-century economy in facilities designed for a different era.

There is reason for optimism.

The recently reintroduced Rebuild America’s Schools Act proposes $130 billion in federal investment to modernize K–12 school facilities, with a focus on communities facing the greatest need. While the legislation faces challenges ahead, its continued reintroduction reflects growing recognition that this issue demands national attention.

But as these challenges persist, so does our commitment.

Together, we are proving that change is possible. Through public and private partnerships with school districts, corporate partners, volunteers, community leaders, families, and donors, we are helping to close the funding gap, transforming learning environments, and creating a lasting impact for students across the country.

One of these vital partnerships is our president’s role with the BASIC Coalition. As a member of the BASIC board, Jill Hardy Heath supports the organization’s commitment to federal policies that build state and local capacity and ensure communities across the country have modern public school buildings and grounds, especially those in the highest-need school districts. Some of BASIC’s achievements include:

  • Inclusion of school facility needs as allowable use of the 2021 American Rescue Plan funding
  • Establishment of the $500 million Renew America’s Schools program funded by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
  • 2023 establishment by the US Department of Education of the National Center on School Infrastructure and the Supporting America’s School Infrastructure grants to support state capacity.

Over nearly three decades, we’ve learned an important truth: when communities lead, and when we listen, collaborate, and co-create solutions, extraordinary things happen. The best outcomes emerge when we work together to turn shared aspirations into action.

2025 State of Our Schools
BASIC Coalition
2025 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card