In 2018, a third of Baltimore’s schools closed due to heating issues. In 2019, schools in Providence, R.I., faced leaking sewage and contaminated drinking water.
These aren’t signs of low funding—average U.S. public school spending per pupil actually rose 8.9% to $15,633 in fiscal year 2022. So, what’s the problem? Research paints a clear picture.
A 2020 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) survey found an estimated 54% of public school districts needed to update or replace multiple building systems. A previous National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report found 41% of schools had HVAC issues, which is concerning since children spend eight hours a day indoors. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave public K-12 infrastructure a D+ in their 2021 Infrastructure Report Card, revealing widespread disparities in facilities.
These issues go beyond funding—they point to staffing, training, and management practices. With roughly 84,000 public schools serving a projected 56.8 million students by 2026, creating safe and healthy learning spaces is crucial.
Role of Technology in Fixing Operational Gaps
GAO estimates show that 65% of school districts have assessed their facilities within the past 10 years, and four in 10 public schools do not have a long-term facility plan to address operations and maintenance (O&M).
The reasons are simple—local, state, and school authorities are already stretched thin, struggling to keep pace with aging buildings, outdated equipment, and constant repair needs. This lack of resources often leads to:
- Broken compliance and maintenance processes: Manual solutions and a lack of long-term planning create a reactive, inefficient system.
- Overwhelming daily tasks: Inspections, compliance, asset management, and countless other tasks burden already stretched staff.
These issues can lead to long-term effects like:
1. Student Safety & Hygiene Risks
Educational organizations have a dual responsibility: ensuring student safety and maintaining hygienic environments. This is not only a legal requirement but also a competitive edge.
Without proper systems, however, challenges arise:
- Managing health and safety procedures consistently becomes difficult across large campuses, multiple systems, and machinery.
- Manual inspections are time-consuming and prone to human error.
- Tracking incidents, compliance, and safety hazards often relies on inefficient paper-based systems or fragmented digital tools.
2. Vendor Accountability Issues & Operational Blind Spots
Most educational institutions rely on a combination of in-house staff and external contractors for maintenance and operations. However, without the right software, it becomes challenging to:
- Track the efficiency and quality of work by different stakeholders.
- Track ongoing maintenance activities effectively, often relying heavily on vendor-provided reports.
3. Increased Effort by Management
Operational demands significantly drain management’s time, effort, and energy due to:
- Logistical challenges in asset management and movement.
- Time-intensive and potentially inconsistent facility and equipment inspections.
- Manual data compilation from multiple sources for generating comprehensive facilities management reports.
Unfortunately, these challenges are especially significant because:
- Resources are often limited, demanding maximum efficiency.
- Student and teacher safety and well-being are non-negotiable.
- Public and government funding necessitates accurate tracking and reporting.
Benefits of a Tech-Led Approach to Facility Operations
In an interview with EdTech Magazine, Lou Angelo, director of operations and facilities at Pennsylvania’s Upper St. Clair School District, said, “We’re trying to create great educational opportunities for our kids. The more we can do to make the facilities fade into the background to avoid impeding the learning, the better.”
It is time for educational institutions to transition to a connected computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) approach to managing facilities, so that they can streamline operations and improve efficiency easily. Benefits of such an approach include:
- Enhanced efficiency: Facilities management software improves operational efficiency by streamlining work order management, asset management, and preventive maintenance scheduling and repairs. It can easily automate tasks and workflows.
- Cost savings: Schools can achieve significant cost savings by adopting maintenance software. It optimizes schedules, reduces energy consumption, and extends asset lifespans, freeing up valuable resources for what matters most: education.
- Improved safety: Facilities management software helps schools identify and address safety hazards, track maintenance activities, and ensure timely repairs. It can also help you keep track of compliance requirements, schedule inspections, and generate compliance reports.
- Better asset management: An Internet of Things (IoT)-led FM solution allows you to optimize space usage and even track physical assets for maintenance, repair, or replacements.
- Energy management: Facilities management software can monitor and control multiple systems such as temperature, lighting, and energy consumption. Studies have found that as temperature and humidity increase, levels of achievement and task performance decrease. It could also lead to exacerbated respiratory problems. Hence, automated temperature and air control systems ensure optimal learning environments for students.
- Real-time data and analytics: IoT devices offer real-time data and analytics that allow teams to make informed decisions about resource allocation and maintenance activities. It allows you to detect issues, respond efficiently, and make decisions to optimize performance.
A simple case study can put this into perspective: A leading public research university in Australia, with seven campuses spanning over 2,500 hectares, faced recurring challenges with its O&M teams.
This included:
- High utility costs due to inefficient energy usage and lack of optimization strategies.
- Inconsistent temperature control and discomfort for occupants.
- Limited visibility into building performance and consumption patterns.
- Challenges in identifying peak consumption periods and managing demand effectively.
After adopting a connected CMMS platform, the university was able to achieve 15% of potential cost savings and increased occupant comfort. Here’s how:
- The IoT platform they adopted became a one-stop solution to optimize energy savings across buildings, helping them achieve operational efficiency, sustainability, and enhanced occupant experience.
- The solution’s utility bill analysis identified key factors driving costs, such as building demand, consumption, and peak hours. For example, proactively knowing high energy consumption during January, the university modified its utility usage, which led to a reduction in the bill amount for the entire year.
- Advanced energy analytics allow comparisons between current and historical data, to optimize operations and increase savings.
- Finally, the fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) solution showed weekly fault summaries, prioritized severity, and enhanced maintenance and issue resolution.
The need of the hour is for education institutions to move past antiquated operations management methods and transition to an intelligent, connected model. This will eventually ensure operational autonomy and a superior campus life experience—upholding the institutional mission while delivering on commitments to students, faculty, and stakeholders.
Raj Subramanian is chief product officer and co-founder of proptech company Facilio.