A Growing but Overlooked School Safety Risk: Aging Buildings, Custodial Shortages, and the Hidden Hazards Students Face

Across the United States, the school safety conversation is often dominated by discussions of security protocols and emergency response plans. Yet a very different safety crisis is unfolding inside school walls every day — one tied to aging infrastructure, delayed maintenance, and shrinking custodial staffing levels responsible for preventing injuries before they happen.

A new legal and data review from J&Y Law brings renewed attention to a part of school safety that rarely makes headlines but affects millions of students: the condition of school facilities and the workforce charged with maintaining them. Drawing on national wage data, facility reports, and staffing surveys, the analysis examines how underfunded maintenance systems and understaffed custodial teams increase the likelihood that hazards remain unaddressed.

Old Buildings, Deferred Repairs, and Everyday Risks

Many public school buildings in the U.S. are decades old, with a large share built well before modern ventilation, structural safety, or environmental standards were common. A significant number of campuses still operate with outdated systems, temporary classroom structures, and maintenance needs that accumulate faster than districts can address them.

Issues like leaky roofs, faulty HVAC systems, damaged flooring, worn-out playground equipment, and moisture problems may begin as minor repair tasks — but when left unresolved, they can become sources of serious injury. Reports across districts show students and staff regularly encountering falls, slips, structural wear, and environmental quality concerns that could have been mitigated with consistent facility oversight.

National injury data continues to show that a meaningful share of childhood injuries occur in school environments. Slips, trips, playground falls, and building-related hazards remain prominent contributors, underscoring how critical basic facility upkeep is to everyday safety.

The Custodial Workforce Gap Behind the Problem

Much of that prevention work falls to custodians and maintenance teams — yet their workforce is aging and shrinking. More than half of school custodians are now age 50 or older, vacancy rates have risen since the pandemic, and many districts openly acknowledge difficulty filling essential non-teaching roles.

With fewer trained custodians responsible for larger square footage, routine inspections stretch thin and longstanding hazards are more easily missed. Industry professionals stress that well-staffed custodial teams can prevent the majority of potential accidents simply by identifying and addressing risks early. When staffing levels drop, the ability to keep buildings safe inevitably weakens.

Pay and Retention: A Core Part of the Safety Equation

The analysis also highlights the financial reality facing many school custodial and support staff. In several states, average earnings fall in the high-$20,000 to low-$30,000 range, significantly below national wage averages. A large percentage of education support professionals earn less than $25,000 per year, while real wages have declined in purchasing power over the past decade.

Low pay and increasing job demands make recruitment difficult and retention unstable. Some workers take on second jobs to manage living costs; others leave the field entirely. As districts struggle to fill roles, some turn to outsourcing or temporary staffing — solutions that may not always match the training consistency needed for facility safety oversight.

From a legal perspective, the study notes that when school leadership is aware of understaffing and known maintenance risks yet delays action, the liability stakes rise. Patterns of repeated repair requests, staff shortages, and unresolved hazards can become central in school injury claims.

Why This Matters for Students and Families

School environments are expected to be safe places to learn — not settings where preventable hazards persist because there aren’t enough trained personnel to address them. Falls remain one of the leading causes of staff and student injuries. Many injuries occur on playgrounds, in hallways, or in areas with known maintenance concerns. In athletics, concussion and sports injury risks add further pressure on schools already struggling to keep up with basic safety infrastructure.

Transportation environments surrounding schools present additional concerns, with many campuses lacking consistent crossing support or traffic-calming measures despite ongoing crash risk statistics.

These aren’t random incidents; they’re consequences of structural conditions, staffing gaps, and delayed maintenance systems.

Investment and Policy Change Will Define the Outcome

Experts and legal analysts alike suggest that meaningful solutions require structural investment rather than short-term stopgaps. Recommended priorities include improving pay for essential support workers, stabilizing hiring with reliable employment models, strengthening inspection systems, improving repair turnaround processes, and formally recognizing custodians as frontline safety professionals rather than purely cleaning staff.

Districts that have invested in these roles report better hazard prevention, quicker responses to risks, and safer learning environments overall.

At the center of the issue is a straightforward reality: when the people responsible for keeping schools physically safe are underpaid, understaffed, and overburdened, the likelihood of avoidable injuries increases — and students feel the impact first.