How can the society continue to tell children about the importance of education while the schools they attend are in poor conditions? A lot of effort by the government and all the stakeholders involved in school management have to take place make the schools ideal 21st-century schools. This paper will address the state and history school facilities in Baltimore city and how the government and school management continually address the issue.
Half of Baltimore schools were constructed in 1960 or earlier years, and only 3% were constructed since 1985. Baltimore city oversees 162 buildings and has oldest schools in the state. 45% of Baltimore schools were built in constructed in 1960 and before with 33% of Baltimore city schools constructed 30-40 years ago (Grove et al. 2015) . During this era, these schools were judged to have poor conditions by the standard set by industries. Over a decade's lack of enough funding has heavily undermined the facilities in these schools. Baltimore schools still lag regarding public school facilities which have heavily undermined the education system.
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Poor condition in Baltimore schools has negatively influenced the education performance. The schools constructed in 1960 lack proper repair systems where visible deficiencies such as flickering lights, broken windows, missing ceiling, flaking paint and wrecked floor tiles send negative information to students that education is not much meaningful (Light, 2015) . The factor of human comfort through temperature regulation has not been clearly addressed. A report generated in 1931 by ventilation commission from New York indicated that thermal environment in classes had a major impact on the student performance. Since 1931 follow-ups have confirmed the finding and proved that thermal regulation is the major factor for student performance. The malfunctioning old heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems do not control the classes temperature which make the classes uncomfortable for learning (Light, 2015) . Since 2009 city schools in Baltimore have spent $66 million to repair the space heaters systems, and the parents are forced to undergo strenuous efforts to buy their children warms clothes during the winter.
Poor laboratory facilities have affected students in their performance in practical skills. High school labs that were established as early as in 1960s lack equipment and good design to install modern equipment. The reports indicate that the students who attend inadequate and less equipped labs were found to have lower achievement. In Baltimore buildings that were not initially designed for laboratories now operate as labs which renders them inefficient to carry out practical lessons effectively (Light, 2015) .
The education adequacy in all city school building remains a challenge. The security of the education buildings is not sufficient to students and the instructors due to old age and damaged alarm systems which make them uncertain to students. The technology on this building is poorly devised regarding cabling, video display screens in classes, and the electrical outlets for computer devices. The poor technology has negatively impacted on students learning with the emerging digital era. Additionally, the city school buildings are old and outdated as research indicate that only 3% of the schools were constructed since 1985 making them inefficient for learning (Grove et al. 2015) .
Approximately 28% of students in Baltimore high school students have been diagnosed with asthma. The high prevalence of acquiring the disease is due to a poor indoor air supply which poses a great risk to both students and teachers (Grove et al. 2015) . The average age of most Baltimore schools is 40 years which is accompanied by poor ventilation resulting to lack of air filtration which is vital for health for students and teachers who spend most of the time in classes. Baltimore schools have a higher rate of getting asthma with 80% prevalence as compared to other students statewide (Grove et al. 2015) . Similarly, fire safety, potable water supply, and security systems remain a critical concern about health and safety for both students and teachers. Water fountains in almost all Baltimore public schools have been shut off. As result damage to old plumbing. The faulty school facilities issue has been continuously addressed although little actions take place.
In 2009, The federal government through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) implemented funding to schools to improve their infrastructure. The bill proposed that $1.4 billion should be allocated to public schools for construction and renovation (Foley et al., 2015). Baltimore city schools benefitted from the funding, and they were allocated $65 million over the consecutive two years to improve school building. Senate approved a bill $22 billion interest-free bonds for public schools to improve on systemic repairs and renovations. Although many schools were taking advantage of interest-free bonds, it was strenuous to service the debt from the school operational budget.
The state of public school facilities has raised concerns, and the state government has improved funding to these schools renovate the old buildings and find a long-lasting solution for the schools. The state of Maryland collaborated with Baltimore city to put into effect 2010 finance program of $2.8 billion as a comprehensive facility master plan. Baltimore as a partner in this plan had to expand the revenue collection to be more committed to improving the conditions of the city school infrastructure (Foley et al., 2015). Baltimore city can follow the step Georgia used to increase its revenue by increasing sales tax by 1% (Foley et al., 2015)
The city schools have also taken actions in areas such as closing and consolidating unutilized classes to reduce areas requiring maintenance. Similarly, facility maintenance and operations (FM&O) programs have concentrated only on refining the major system reliability and readiness. FM&O provide services to improve, renovate, repair, and clean education facilities to improve both educational excellence and extra curriculum activities. With the improved funding since 2013 FM&O has improved school building through paintings, roof repairs and replacement, and renovations and expansions (Foley et al., 2015). FM&O has addressed the building systems by repairing and replacing heating and cooling systems, maintaining electrical, mechanical equipment, and athletics facilities maintenance and improvement. Broken windows are continually replaced, and lighting systems improved. The goal of comprehensive facility maintenance master plan stipulated (CEFMP) in 2013 advocated for continuous funding and renovations to make all the Baltimore schools ideal 21st-century schools.
With the rise of Baltimore city school needs need for high achievement, all the government leaders must take a significant step in funding schools infrastructure to ensure that students and teachers are safe. For revitalization of Baltimore schools to be realized, school building must be assets of hope for students and city communities and faith for government capacity to provide for its citizens. The government has to increase its effort to improve infrastructure, but more funding needs to be done to convert the schools to have 21st-century outlook fully.
References
Foley, C., Theodorakakis, M., Walsh, M. E., DiNatale, P., & Raczek, A. (2015). Building a Sustainable Intervention to Address the Out-of-School Factors Affecting Achievement: A Primer and a Case Study. Chestnut Hill, MA: Center for Optimized Student Support .
Grove, J. M., Cadenasso, M., Pickett, S. T., Burch, W. R., & Machlis, G. E. (2015). The Baltimore School of Urban Ecology: space, scale, and time for the study of cities . Yale University Press.
Light, E. (2015). Controlling Summer Mold Growth in Schools. ASHRAE Journal , 57 (12), 52.
