SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
mation collected. What seems to have happened is that two
and three years ago, school districts began to see a change
in the economy and a change in atmosphere. They began
once again to look at their physical needs, put their plans
forward, obtained necessary funds and went to work.
Upgrading existing buildings went first and went
relatively quickly. After all, in many cases these “infrastructure” projects had been planned when it appeared that
federal money might flow during the depths of the Recession. Though Congress never provided the funds, the plans
remained viable and when other sources of money were
found, the projects got underway. They did not take long
and showed up as completed work in 2012.
New buildings take longer to plan and to construct. As
funds began to flow, these projects apparently also got underway — start dates given for new school projects indicate
this — but completion came later, in 2013.
These are among the major findings and conclusions
to be drawn from School Planning & Management’s 19th
Annual School Construction Report, covering activity
completed in 2013 and expected to be completed or started
in 2014 (see Table 1).
To prepare this report, School Planning & Management
received information on school construction completed
and underway during 2013 and planned to start in 2014
from Market Data Retrieval (MDR), a company of Dun and
Bradstreet (D&B). MDR contacts school districts throughout the United States seeking information on their construction plans. I take that project information and use it to
estimate construction on a national and regional basis, and
to report on how dollars are being spent on new schools.
All of the figures published are “annual in nature.” That
is, they do not accumulate ongoing construction, but rather
compile information on what was completed or expected
to be completed or started in a given calendar year. Other
agencies report on the amount of activity that is taking place
at a given time, no matter when it started or will be completed. My estimate is that the impact of school construction on the economy at any one time is close to $33 billion
when construction underway is added to construction
completed.
The National Scene
School districts in the United States spent almost $13.4
billion ($13,390,396,000) on construction projects completed during the 2013 calendar year. Almost $7.6 billion of that
was spent on new schools, accounting for 56.6 percent of
the construction dollars, a major turnaround from the year
before. The balance was split between additions to existing buildings (accounting for $3.1 billion) and retrofit and
modernization of existing structures which accounted for
almost $2.8 billion. (See Table 2).
Table 2 shows the national construction picture in
2013. It also shows how much school districts in each of 12
regions of the nation spent on construction and how they
spent it.
In 2013, school districts in six of the 12 regions spent
continued on the next page
Table 1 - School Construction in the U.S (000’s)
2013 Completed
2014 Projected
to be Completed
2014 Projected to Start
New Schools
$7,573,436
$6,367,935
$5,227,601
Additions
$3,059,338
$1,940,150
$2,532,031
Renovations
$2,757,622
$1,714,819
$1,680,116
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