Dive Brief:
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Elementary and high schools spent more than $14 billion on construction last year — 5% more than in 2013, according to the 2015 Annual State of the Educational Marketplace, published this week by the Silver Spring, MD,-based Education Market Association.
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The 2014 total marked the fourth year in a row that spending on school construction rose year over year, according to the report.
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More than half of the spending was for new construction, the report said. Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas spent a collective $2.2 billion on construction and remodeling — the most of any region — while Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin spent the least, at a collective $800 million.
Dive Insight:
A separate report by the Atlanta Journal Constitution late last month found that 14 of the 25 largest payments Georgia made to vendors in 2014 went to construction companies for building or renovating schools.
The newspaper had previously reported that healthcare vendors had bumped construction companies as the state’s biggest-ticket contractors. The new report confirmed that finding — except for school construction.
The construction company with the greatest dollar volume of school contracts — $241 million from 2010 through 2014 — is Parrish Construction of Perry, GA, the newspaper reported.
That firm contributed approximately $30,000 to state political candidates since 2009 and spent $144,000 from 2011 through 2014 on meals and gifts for school board members and other officials, according to the report.
