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An empty classroom with a wide sheet of standing water across the floor reflecting the windows, chairs stacked on the desks along the right wall, cold overcast daylight.

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One in five school districts cancelled school last year because of the building, not the weather. Two million students lost an estimated 3.5 million days.

3 min read

Original editorial artwork generated for Hugin.

GAO's nationwide survey of public school districts, released September 14, estimates that 19 percent of districts cancelled school during 2024-25 because of a facilities problem — most often a plumbing emergency or classroom temperatures nobody could teach in. One district GAO visited closed after classrooms reached 110 degrees. The cancellations affected an estimated 2 million students and cost an estimated 3.5 million days of learning. Nearly half of districts (47 percent) reported chronic facility problems, 55 percent called their most recent facilities budget insufficient, and 73 percent said limited state formula funding for facilities held them back. GAO publishes the confidence interval on every one of those figures, which is more than most numbers you will read this week can say.

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School closes for snow, and everybody understands. School closed last year, for two million children, because of the pipes and the heat.

GAO surveyed public school districts nationwide about the 2024-25 school year. Its finding, in its own sentence: "GAO estimates that nearly one in five districts (19 percent) canceled school that year due to a facilities issue."

"These cancellations affected an estimated 2 million students, who lost an estimated 3.5 million days of learning as a result."

What actually closed the buildings

"Top reasons districts canceled school included plumbing emergencies and extreme classroom temperatures."

And one specific: "One district GAO visited canceled school after classroom temperatures reached 110 degrees."

That is not a metaphor for underfunding. It is a room with a thermometer in it.

Beyond outright cancellations, GAO estimates "that nearly half of districts (47 percent) had chronic facility issues that often disrupted learning" — the days where school stayed open and a wing did not.

The money question, in the districts' own answers

  • 55 percent of districts "considered their most recent facilities budget insufficient to meet their needs."
  • 73 percent "said that limited state formula funding for facilities hindered their ability to meet their facility needs."
  • Districts "often faced difficulty implementing capital projects and many deferred maintenance, which can lead to higher costs in the longer term."

GAO draws the line between the two halves of that directly: "districts with limited capacity to conduct preventive maintenance had more chronic facility problems and more disruptions to instruction."

Deferred maintenance is not free. It is a payment schedule with the interest charged in cancelled school days.

What some states did that worked

GAO found practices "survey respondents and others found helpful," and they are unglamorous on purpose:

  • Some states "directed dedicated revenue sources to school facilities (e.g., from excise taxes)" — money that does not have to win an argument every budget cycle.
  • Others "provided incentives to encourage districts to prioritize preventive maintenance."
  • Others helped keep capital projects "on track and on budget" through "offering adaptable building design plans and expediting permitting."

A state can hand a small district a building plan it does not have the staff to draw. That is a policy lever that costs almost nothing and shows up in a district's ability to finish a roof before winter.

How sure GAO is, in GAO's words

This is a survey, and GAO publishes what a survey can and cannot say:

Note: The 95 percent confidence intervals for these estimates are 15 to 24 percent of districts; 1.5 to 2.4 million students affected; and 2.5 to 4.5 million days of learning lost.

The survey had an "overall weighted response of 62 percent," and "estimates presented have a margin of error of no more than plus or minus 7 percentage points" unless noted. GAO also visited nine districts across Alabama, Maine and Oregon, chosen for variation in spending per student, region, and receipt of federal school-infrastructure grants.

So the honest form of the headline is: somewhere between 15 and 24 percent of districts, and between 1.5 and 2.4 million students. The lower bound is still one and a half million children who lost school because of a building.

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