US bid to patch up crumbling schools

Richard Riley wants to tackle a $127bn school repair backlog

Tens of thousands of crumbling school buildings across the United States are in need of urgent modernisation, says the US education department.

Education Secretary Richard Riley has designated this week as Building Better Schools Week, in a campaign to highlight the massive backlog of repairs and re-building required by schools across the United States.

According to the federal education department, there is a $127bn backlog of repairs needed in schools, which means that 11 million pupils are studying in schools with "inadequate" buildings.

And there are 3.5 million pupils in schools which are identified as needing major repairs or renovations, says the education department.

The campaign, which will put pressure on local school boards and state education authorities to upgrade their classrooms, echoes calls for re-building programmes from presidential candidate, Al Gore.

Baby-boom echo

The Clinton administration - and the government in the United Kingdom - have taken up the cause of improving the physical environment of schools.

In the United Kingdom, the campaigns against crumbling schools campaigns have focused on the need to make schools ready for the use of new technology.

But in the United States, there has been a more direct need to expand school facilities and tackle overcrowding, as the school population grows with the population bulge of the so-called "baby boom echo".

In California, conditions in classrooms in many schools are alleged to be so poor that the American Civil Liberties Union has sued the state for failing to provide an adequate setting in which pupils can learn.