Building Better (Physical) Schools in a Budget Crunch

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Today's economic downturn has forced school leaders to cut budgets for after-school activities, classroom equipment, and staff, all in an era of increasing academic expectations. Spending on school facilities, in particular, has been relegated to the bottom of priority lists. Yet outmoded facilities cost much more than expected and represent an immense opportunity for reform and savings.

In "Facilities Financing: Monetizing Education's Untapped Resource" finance specialist and education real estate expert Himanshu Kothari explores the causes of the country's $300 billion funding shortfall in K-12 facilities and offers concrete recommendations to address this troubling trend. Kothari posits that public-private partnerships are a promising avenue for tapping the resources necessary to address capital needs. Because current financial conditions in K-12 scare off potential investors, he suggests that policymakers make private investments in school facilities more appealing by being innovative and overhauling facilities financing.