As expected, the House passed the economic stimulus plan late Wednesday. Dubbed H.R. 1, The American Recovery And Investment Act of 2009, the bill contains a number of provisions that to increase spending on facilities and energy research.

An analysis by the Congressional Budget Office has some interesting numbers. The spending provisions include:

- $11.85 billion for the Department of Defense to repair and renovate facilities. This money is allocated in two separate portions of the bill. Included in this total is $1 billion to repair facilities managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and $350 million for the Defense Department to conduct energy research.

-$18.5 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. That includes $6.2 billion to expand existing weatherization programs and $7.9 billion for energy grants to the states.

-$8 billion to cover subsidy costs of federal loan guarantees for renewable energy systems and related transmission line projects.

-$6.5 billion for capital investments in the power grid.

-$4.5 billion to modernize the electrical grid.

-$8.7 billion to support energy efficiency and conservation in Federal buildings. Most of the money is earmarked to go to the GSA for repairs and construction, a nearly sixfold increase over current funding.

-$20 billion to renovate elementary and secondary schools.

The House bill is really just the starting point. The Senate is working on its own version of the bill. Whatever the outcome, the goal is to put more people to work. As it applies to facilities, the bill aims to do so by increasing spending on construction and renovation.

But will it work?

I'm not so sure. At more than $800 billion, H.R. 1 is the largest spending bill in U.S. history. But as the numbers above show, the proportion actually devoted to construction spending is much smaller.

Consider that $20 billion earmarked for school renovations. That money is divided out among the 50 states. Here's an example: An AP analysis shows that New Jersey would get $419.7 million for school renovation under the bill.

There are 2,430 public schools in New Jersey, according to the state. That comes out to about $172,000 per school in renovation funds, if it were parceled out equally (which is unlikely). That's barely enough to scratch the surface for a lot of schools.

Here's another way to look at it: Schools are expensive. At $150 per square foot of renovation cost, the $419.7 million allocated to New Jersey is enough to cover 2.78 million square feet of space. If the average classroom is around 700 square feet, that is enough money to renovate 3,971 classrooms.

Such scenarios are artificial measurements of course. It is highly unlikely that a facility manager would spend the money renovating just one or two classrooms in a building. What the scenarios do show is that however you look at it, the money in this bill isn't going to do much to reduce the backlog of deferred maintenance in the nation's school system. A 2002 report estimated the national deferred maintenance backlog in schools at $226 billion. Think that number has gone down since then?

Whether this bill is one among several that will be needed to stimulate the economy is uncertain. What is clear is that when it comes to reducing the maintenance backlog, this bill is only a down payment. It almost makes one wonder what another $200 billion in school spending could do for the economy.