State of Environmental Health in Pennsylvania Schools

Every child deserves to learn in a healthy school. The global COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how vital schools are to families and communities across the country. The Commonwealth’s K–-12 education system serves more than 1.7 million students across 500 public school districts.

The importance of healthy schools cannot be overstated. Environmental hazards in the built environment can affect the healthy development of a child, which in turn can impact their ability to learn and perform well in school. Healthy schools are not just about our buildings, but rather about our commitment to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to succeed. That opportunity includes learning in an environment that is safe, clean, healthy, dry, and pest-free; in an environment that encourages health promoting behaviors, where green space is accessible, and healthy nutritious food is available to all; and where mental, behavioral, and socioemotional services, are accessible to help serve the growing needs of families across the commonwealth. Schools are a reflection of our community values. When we invest in schools we invest in a healthy, safer, cleaner future where all can have the opportunity to thrive and succeed. The research is clear that when we act, we see a difference – improved absenteeism, improved health outcomes, healthy cognitive development, and the ability to achieve academic potential.

Schools have enormous funding priorities, one of which is sustained funding for their building infrastructures. A pattern identified throughout this report is that schools who serve a larger percentage of students from lower-income or economically disadvantaged families, and a larger percentage of special education students, are opting out of taking action on preventing exposure to environmental hazards in their schools. These schools do not necessarily spend less per student than their counterparts who do test; they do however have competing priorities when it comes to how to spend the limited funding they receive from local tax bases and state and federal governments. As of 2016, no state funding has been available for Pennsylvania public schools for infrastructure-related expenses, including new construction and continued maintenance of school buildings.