New Study: Americans' Views On Their Community Schools and Infrastructure

CARY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The majority of Americans believe that their schools have the resources and capabilities to respond to future disruption, according to a new study from Dude Solutions, the leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of operations management solutions for education institutions. The company’s recent polling of over 1,000 consumers, titled the American Infrastructure Consumer Study: Education, found 65% of people believe schools have the necessary resources to manage students and 55% believe schools are better equipped to handle another major education disruption in the future.

However, the study also reveals that a majority of Americans aren’t confident in their school’s infrastructure.

As communities prepare for in-person learning, most people don’t believe their schools are in a better condition, nor safer, than five years ago.

Only 36% of respondents believe that schools have improved in the past five years, with only 37% believing that schools are safer.

Additional insights from the study include:

Technology Investments Beats Staff as Top Priority:

The top group of respondents (35%) cited technology as the top priority to improve community schools, ahead of more staff (31%), safety (18%) and building improvements (16%).

Ventilation Emerges as a Mainstream Concern:

Forty-eight percent of people are concerned about ventilation in their schools, and 63% would pay more taxes if it meant schools had better ventilation systems. While ventilation in schools was an afterthought in the school safety discussion, the pandemic brought the need for air circulation and filtration to the forefront.

Americans See Schools as Sustainable, Energy Efficient:

When it comes to sustainability, 57% of Americans believe their community’s schools prioritize sustainability. The same percentage feel confident their schools are energy efficient. Millennials (62%) are the most optimistic about school’s energy efficiency.

Safety Conditions:

Confidence levels vary among the safety and condition of individual school infrastructure. Sixty percent feel confident schools are updated and maintained, but 56% are concerned about overall building conditions, 50% are concerned about elevator maintenance and 33% weren’t confident about the condition of HVAC and air conditioning in schools.

“Educational institutions have overcome a multitude of challenges to continue operating virtually and in hybrid capacities, and I applaud all of the teachers, students, faculty and staff in continuing educating our youth during the pandemic,” said Kevin Kemmerer, CEO at Dude Solutions. “We’re proud to serve the heroes behind the educational institutions that support America’s teachers and keep our schools well-maintained, functioning and safe for all.”

Dude Solutions has a strong track record of helping schools across K-12, private institutions and colleges and universities streamline operations and better serve their students, faculty, staff and community. Organizations such as the Des Moines Public Schools, University of Richmond, University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee and Georgia Tech Athletics rely on its industry-leading capital planning solutions for their facilities and maintenance management and to optimize energy use through data-driven decision making to unlock cost savings.

To learn more about enterprise asset management solutions for the education industry from Dude Solutions, visit our Education industry page.

About the Study

This survey was conducted via Dynata and polled 1,000 general U.S.-based consumers over 18 years of age in July 2021. Respondents were segmented and analyzed across age groups, gender, marital status, having children and household income. For complete survey methodology, please email brightly@pancomm.com.