How Data Increases Community Confidence in School Facilities
In school districts across America, the start of a new school year is met with optimism and new beginnings. But as the back-to-school excitement wears off, it recedes to the reality that many school facilities are in the same state of infrastructural decline that they’ve faced for years, if not decades, as these facilities deteriorate.
The average age of school facilities in the U.S. is 49 years. These buildings were not designed to handle today's demands—like excessive heat, increased extreme weather events, and more frequent power outages—that disrupt student learning. Much of the public has taken notice: 44% of respondents to a recent survey on Americans’ perceptions of public K–12 school facilities would consider alternative education options due to the condition of a school’s infrastructure.
Districts need to increase community confidence in school facilities by making transparent, strategic, and data-driven decisions on how to allocate their precious resources. This involves collecting data on their facilities assets, preemptively planning for improvements and asset replacements, and proactively budgeting for long-term projects, which can all ultimately bolster public confidence.
Collect Data Consistently
The first step where facilities managers can gain insight into the condition of their assets is with effective data collection. In schools, a facilities asset typically refers to a medium-level component of a building—such as an HVAC unit, boiler, roof or electrical system—with critical elements that require regular monitoring and maintenance. Historically, data on asset condition has been manual, siloed and inconsistent across districts. While the facilities team can take notes on pen and paper about when the air ducts were installed and when it last received maintenance, those can easily get lost as employees retire or move on to new jobs. This can cause teams to make educated guesses at what is needed and when—but an educated guess can turn into a detailed forecast with more accurate, reliable and consistent information.
Not only does concrete data instill confidence in the facilities management team, but more importantly, it can also build trust with stakeholders. While half of survey respondents believe their local school district knows the age and condition of facilities, nearly two-thirds are not confident that schools have the data they need to make informed decisions and upgrades. The first step school facilities teams can take in achieving trust from the skeptics is by investing in a data collection and tracking system.
Data tracking technology, such as a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), is one of the most important pieces of software school districts can invest in. CMMS software collects and tracks data on any asset, with the information stored in one streamlined location. It creates digital reports on the life of each asset—which is much easier to develop compared to manual tracking. CMMS software can also be paired with smart sensors, which can alert the facilities team in real time to an asset’s needs: if it’s time to schedule annual maintenance, if the asset is failing, or a part needs to be replaced.
Plan for Asset Improvements and Replacements
After the data is tracked and collected, facilities teams can now go one step further by using this data to proactively plan for infrastructure improvements and replacements. Facilities leaders use this data to present tangible information to the district's financial team, allowing them to make actionable, informed decisions for their capital planning needs.
Since community tax dollars go to public school facilities, it is crucial for districts to have a long-term infrastructure plan powered by data. This plan needs to be clearly communicated to stakeholders in order to gain support and budget approval, especially considering 61% of survey respondents don’t believe their local town or city has a long-term facilities plan in pace to maintain and upgrade public school infrastructure. One of the best tools school leaders can use is asset investment planning (AIP) software.
AIP software helps school districts optimize asset investments by prioritizing proactive budgeting and long-term planning. AIP software provides real-time insights into the costs associated with maintenance or replacement of each school building’s physical assets and infrastructure, helping leaders make decisions on which projects and upgrades to prioritize.
Additionally, AIP’s predictive modeling allows districts to proactively predict an asset’s lifecycle, providing forward-looking insights and models into future performance. This helps school facilities teams more accurately project capital spending needs, asset health and risk assessment, based on different funding scenarios and deferred maintenance requests. These details are critical to the funding decisions districts make to upgrade, repair or replace assets.
Proactively Budget to Secure Resources
The best way to secure funding is by showing stakeholders and financial decision-makers data on a school’s facility needs, especially considering 59% of survey respondents say schools lack funding to repair and replace infrastructure. But school districts across the country are showing success in securing resources by presenting pragmatic, data-driven solutions.
The Waco Independent School District experienced first-hand the power of data in securing necessary funding for long-term projects. The district operates 32 buildings, so implementing a software solution to accurately track work orders and maintenance was critical to secure funding for long-term capital funding.
This software was especially useful as the district developed a bond proposal to secure funds for new school buildings. Oftentimes, public schools rely on the community to vote in favor of bond proposals, underscoring the importance of using data to communicate the needs and costs of the proposal, ensuring the community can make an informed decision about their tax dollars. The facilities team presented the data to the district’s superintendent, leadership and the Waco community to underscore the condition of the current buildings, allowing the district to prioritize those facilities. As a result, Waco secured a $355 million bond to replace five school buildings.
Bolstering Community Confidence
As the Waco Independent School District highlighted, data is one of the most necessary components to share with stakeholders when requesting additional funding. Having this concrete information in-hand leaves little room for the community to question the condition and the needs of school facilities.
Modernizing educational infrastructure is not an easy task. But with consistent data collection and proactive modeling on asset performance, districts can be armed with the necessary information to make smarter decisions. Smarter allocations will allow for more modern facilities, which will ultimately lead to smarter students via less disruptive, more effective learning environments.