Giving Compass' Take:

• Bina Lefkovitz and David W. Gordon discuss how California must make it's public schools safe, inviting places to learn and fix dilapidated buildings.

• What support do schools in your area need? How can the learnings listed here be applied more broadly? 

• Learn about the importance of facilities for charter schools. 

We are making steady progress in better educating our students for success. Our statewide graduation rate for the Class of 2018 was 83 percent, up from 74.7 percent in 2010. We’ve made significant investments in what and how we are teaching our children.

The same can’t be said, however, about investments we are making in the places where we are teaching them.

Many of our school buildings are obsolete or badly in need of modernization. Our kids need safe, energy-efficient buildings. They need clean drinking water. They need access to new technology to prepare for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

The Sacramento County Board of Education unanimously has approved a resolution supporting Proposition 13, the $15 billion statewide bond measure on the March 3 ballot that would provide vital funds to make desperately needed repairs and improvements to California’s pre-kindergarten-through-high schools and public university buildings. (This bond measure is not to be confused with the famous 1978 Proposition 13, which restricted property tax increases.)

How can we provide a 21st century education at outdated and under-equipped campuses? We can’t. That is why this bond measure would provide critically needed investments.

According to the Center for Cities and Schools at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Urban and Regional Development, nearly “80 percent of students attend districts failing to meet minimum industry standard benchmarks for facilities maintenance and operations spending, capital renewal spending, or both.”

Read the full article about California's schools by Bina Lefkovitz and David W. Gordon at EdSource.