Dundee City Council could be forced to close schools after hours if vandals continue to cause tens of thousands of pounds of damage.
Education convener Stewart Hunter said it would be a last resort but admitted the local authority will be monitoring ongoing attacks on city campuses.
Huge investment has been made in community facilities, including sports pitches and swimming pools, which are opened up to city residents at the end of the school day.
That increased access has, however, been abused by a minority who have used the opportunities offered to cause widespread damage.
The council has spent £77,000 to repair vandalism in the past 12 months.
Nursery, primary and secondary schools were all targeted, though the city’s primary schools bore the brunt of the damage more than £57,000.
Mr Hunter said he did not want to see out-of-hours closures or surveillance introduced, stymying efforts to make the campuses visitor-friendly.
In addition, the experience of neighbouring Perth and Kinross Council shows CCTV can itself become a target, resulting in a marked increase in repair costs.
During the year 2015-16 vandals cost the taxpayer £1,985 in repair costs at city nurseries, a hefty £57,325 at primary schools and a further £18,109 at secondary schools.
The figures are significantly less than in previous years, continuing a positive trend that saw the cost of repairs drop from £238,000 in 2013-14 to £160,211 in 2014-15.
But Mr Hunter said it was “£77,000 too much”.
He said: “We are trying very hard to make our schools more accessible and are inviting the wider community to come in and enjoy their facilities, such as swimming pools or all-weather pitches.
“At the same time, we are seeing vandals coming on to our campuses and taking advantage of this openness, which risks ruining it for everyone else.
“We do not want to cover all our campuses in CCTV and we do not want to have to close schools after hours because of vandalism but we will have to keep an eye on this matter.
“If people see youngsters or adults going into or schools and school grounds and vandalising them then they need to report it so that we can take action.”
Among those targeted during the last 12 months was Craigiebarns Primary, whose outdoor classroom suffered damage that left staff and pupils “devastated”.
Youngsters had worked hard to create an award-winning garden at the school, only for vandals to badly damage the greenhouse and destroy flowers and vegetables.
Bird boxes and a webcam were targeted in a separate attack.