Article by Mary Kay Markunas
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2016 Net Assets.
Ever-increasing demands on independent school budgets are eroding many schools’ investments in what is usually their biggest (if not also oldest) asset, their campus and facilities. Even as schools of all sizes contend with aging buildings in need of attention, they remain inclined to cut their facilities budgets first when human and financial resources are tight.
Seeking greater insights into this phenomenon, SchoolDude and NBOA in March and April conducted a first-of-its-kind survey of independent school facilities managers and other decision-makers. Questions covered facilities staffing levels, budgets, age, maintenance spending, use of work orders and more. A total of 175 schools participated, including day schools, boarding-day schools, day-boarding schools and boarding-only schools serving students ranging in age from early childhood to grade 12.
General
- Independent schools of all sizes report facing aging infrastructures and associated maintenance issues.
- Among schools with a single building (8.6 percent of respondents), the average building age was 31.9 years.
- Among schools with two or more buildings (91.4 percent), the average age of the oldest building was 84.7 years.
Budgets
- Facilities budgets averaged 10.2 percent of overall school budgets.
- Median: 9 percent
- Range: 1–37 percent
- Total facilities and maintenance spending correlated strongly with number of students and size of physical plant.
Service and Maintenance
More than two-thirds (70 percent) of independent schools surveyed rated their facilities service levels as 2, according to APPA service levels (5: unkempt neglect, 4: moderate dinginess, 3: casual inattention, 2: ordinary tidiness, 1: orderly spotlessness). However, a strong majority (68 percent) of respondents reported that they didn’t know their facility condition index (FCI). Of those who did, 15 percent indicated FCIs of .10 or much higher, which connotes poor condition. Only 18 percent reported an FCI of less than .10, meaning good or fair.
Preventative maintenance
- On average, schools said they dedicate 27 percent of all facilities-related work to preventative maintenance.
- Highest reported percentage: 90 percent
- Average percentage of time (in hours) spent on preventative maintenance: 25 percent
- Highest percentage of all facilities-related time dedicated to preventative maintenance: 90 percent
Backlogs
- Sixty-eight percent of schools reported having a maintenance backlog.
- Backlog range: $10,000–$24,000,000
- Backlog median: $850,000
Current replacement value
- Median current replacement value: $37,750,000
- Average current replacement value: $51,155,086
- Range of replacement value allocated to facilities renewal: 0–100 percent
- Average replacement value invested: 4.44 percent
- Median replacement value invested: 1 percent
