School Facilities

The requirement that the programs and activities of schools receiving federal financial assistance be accessible to the disabled has been in force for two decades. Yet no comprehensive nationwide study has been done or is planned to evaluate schools' accessibility to the disabled. Meanwhile, passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act--although not changing the accessibility requirements for schools from the earlier law--has underscored the need to improve accessibility. More than half of schools nationwide reported having spent $1.5 billion during the last three years on accessibility. Only about 20 percent of schools indicated that such spending was not needed. A total of 56 percent of all schools estimated that they will need an additional $5.2 billion for accessibility in the next three years. Only about 26 percent of schools reported that such spending will not be needed. At the district level, the situation is very complex. Just because one district school is fully accessible does not mean that other district schools are. The law, however, does not require a school district to make each of its buildings or every part of a facility accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. Lack of funding was cited by many as the main reason for not making schools accessible.

GAO found that: (1) while schools receiving federal financial assistance have been required to be accessible to the disabled since 1970, schools' accessibility to the disabled has not been comprehensively evaluated; (2) the Americans with Disabilities Act has further highlighted the need to improve schools' accessibility; (3) while over half of the schools nationwide have spent a total of $1.5 billion in the last 3 years to improve accessibility, about 20 percent of schools reported that such spending is not needed; (4) although schools spent an average of $40,000 on accessibility, about 80 percent of schools spent less than that amount; (5) 56 percent of schools estimated that they would need an additional $5.2 billion for accessibility in the next 3 years; and (6) the characteristics of schools most likely to spend the most on improving accessibility include over 600 students, of secondary level, in urban areas, in the northeast region, and having over 50 percent minority students; (7) school districts are not required by law to make each facility fully accessible to the disabled, as funding may not be available to make necessary improvements.