Presidential candidates make a lot of promises. It’s part of the game, so nobody believes they’ll keep most of them. Presidents-elect do the same thing, but maybe there’s a difference. Maybe — given they’ve already won election — there is reason to hope a president-elect actually will follow through.
Man, do I hope Barack Obama follows through on this promise.
In his Dec. 6 address to the nation posted on YouTube, the president-elect announced his plan for “the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We’ll repair broken schools (and) make them energy efficient.”
Anyone who reads Maintenance Solutions or this blog knows I’ve written often in the last decade about the crying need to address deferred maintenance in the nation’s public schools. A 2002 estimate published in School Business Affairs totalled unmet needs for K-12 school infrastructure, including deferred maintenance, new construction, renovation, retrofits, additions and major grounds improvements.
The total: $226 billion. And that was six years ago.
Obama’s statement has raised the issue of deferred maintenance to the highest level it has ever reached in the public’s mind. It also finally might have given real hope to facility managers in K-12 public schools who have battled this problem for decades. Finally, someone with the means to make something happen has noticed schools are falling down around students.
It’s not realistic to believe Obama or anyone else can eliminate deferred maintenance. But it will be important that he take measurable steps to at least try.
For now, simply being included in the discussion of the nation’s most urgent needs is a huge step. At least the issue is now out in the open, where everyone can see just how bad the condition of schools has become.
As expected, the House passed the economic stimulus plan late Wednesday. Dubbed H.R. 1, The American
Oh...Wow. This is really deep!
If things were so bad just a few years ago, right on time, our President is trying to do something about it., and I understand that not matter the urgency, still, as the President said...it would take a little bit longer to start the implementations and see progress. Nevertheless, some polititians constantly find errors, omissions, mistakes, etc. to justify their negativism and see if somehow, our faith and hope get diminish and diminish our President popularity.
Congratulations. You're right on the money.