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State Funding to Ensure Safe and Healthy Facilities: Lessons for Pennsylvania

Long before closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, many Pennsylvania schools faced a different health crisis: unsafe facilities. Crumbling buildings, asbestos, lead, and other school facility health and safety risks plague many schools across Pennsylvania, particularly in low-income districts and those that enroll a high percentage of Black and Latinx students.
In this brief we (1) examine available evidence related to the condition of Pennsylvania’s school facilities, (2) review past, current, and proposed policies related to how the state funds emergency facilities expenses, and (3) discuss how other states provide for emergency school facilities funding.