ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the school infrastructure needs and considers how the budgeting process addresses this aspect of equal educational opportunity. In the case of school infrastructure, some costs go unnoticed in the rush to adequately fund instruction, but these less visible costs are just as important as the more obvious ones. The journey begins by exploring the role of school infrastructure, including its nature and size. The school infrastructure problem in the United States has been widely critiqued, and the deficits and backlogs in construction and maintenance are enormous. As awareness and research on school infrastructure have grown, new understanding indicates that the depth of needs is much larger than previously believed—and is still growing. Project-based aid for school infrastructure is used in various forms by some states. Budgeting for school infrastructure is highly complex, it is false economy to underspend for facilities.
