Dive summary:

• The Center for Green Schools, which is part of the U.S. Green Building Council, estimates that simply covering deferred maintenance at elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S. carries a tab of $271 billion, and that's got nothing to do with modernizing any buildings or their infrastructures.
• An 18-year-old report from the General Accounting Office said that in 1995, the air being pumped through 15,000 schools would not be considered fit to breathe, and USGBC is urging the GAO to update its assessment to reflect how things are now, after local governments have faced declining revenues for several years.
• The USGBC's estimate is that covering repairs and modernizing schools would run $542 billion.

From the article:

The Center for Green Schools at USGBC is urging the GAO to commission another survey on the condition of America’s schools, with support from 24 organizations....