District of Columbia Public Schools

In its oversight of efforts by the District of Columbia Public Schools to repair school roofs during the summer of 1997, Congress received widely varying information on the cost of the repair work--from $11 to $19 per square foot--and divergent opinions on when the funds were made available to do that work. A March 1998 report (GAO/AIMD-98-82) discusses when those funds were made available; the cost of roof repairs, including the cost per square foot; and the number of additional roofs to be repaired in fiscal year 1998 and beyond.

GAO noted that: (1) roof repairs were done at 61 D.C. schools during FY 1997; (2) the General Services Administration managed the work at 10 schools and DCPS at 51 schools; (3) the majority of District public schools were built over 50 years ago, generally have not been well maintained, and, consequently, substantial deferred maintenance existed; (4) in addition, concerns about safety and problems with leaky school roofs have been widely reported; (5) GAO and others have documented less than adequate condition of the District's public schools in several reports; (6) when D.C. schools closed for the summer, at least $38 million was available for DCPS-managed roof repairs; (7) DCPS was not prepared to start making repairs immediately because it had not completed sufficient initial work and it had difficulties insecuring bids; (8) GAO'S review showed that DCPS spent about $37 million for roof replacement/repair in FY 1997; (9) extensive work was performed to repair and replace masonry, cornics, flashing, and coping and to clean drains; (10) as a result, the costs were higher than what would have been incurred for roofing work only; (11) considering the costs for all the work involved, the average per square foot cost was about $20; (12) years of neglect and inadequate repair and maintenance practices all served to increase costs over what could be expected in well managed, adequately financed entities; (13) for FY 1998, the DCPS Capital Improvement Program budget indicates that about $35 million will be spent on 40 school-roof projects; and (14) currently, DCPS has 45 closed schools, which it intends to sell or lease.