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WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Representatives Ben Chandler (D-KY), George Miller (D-CA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) today announced sweeping new legislation to provide $32 billion in matching grants and low-cost loans over the next five years to help schools make much-needed repairs and renovations and build new facilities.
“The terrible state of our school buildings both in Kentucky and around the country is appalling,” said Chandler, who introduced the bill. “In Kentucky, forty-seven percent of school facilities are ranked average to poor. It is my hope that this bill will be a good start in addressing some of the most basic needs of our children and teachers.”
A 1999 U.S. Department of Education study found that 75 percent of schools were in various stages of disrepair, and that it would take $127 billion to get all of the nation’s school buildings into good overall condition. The lawmakers said today that, in light of a lack of federal investment in school construction over the last seven years, any such review of the condition of school buildings today could be expected to produce even worse findings.
Throughout the entire Bush administration, the federal government has provided almost no direct aid to help states and schools pay for school construction and repair. Chandler’s legislation, the “21st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act of 2006,” which Miller and Woolsey have joined as original cosponsors, would give schools the help they need to get their facilities into good condition.
“All of our children deserve a safe and healthy place to learn, regardless of what neighborhood they live in,” said Miller, the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee. “It is unacceptable that in many communities schools are literally crumbling. We need to invest in making every school a place that communities can be proud of and where children will be eager to learn.”
The Chandler bill would authorize grants and loans to school districts for modernization and construction of schools, including educational technology such as better broadband connectivity and newly updated individual student workstations. School districts that serve greater numbers or percentages of low-income students and can demonstrate a need for modernizing old schools or constructing new ones would be given priority for the grants and loans. The bill would also encourage school districts to match a percentage of their federal grants.
“The current condition of our schools, nationwide, is simply a disgrace,” said Woolsey, the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Education Reform. “If we can spend $300 billion in Iraq, this administration and this Congress can certainly find the money necessary to ensure that every child in America has a first rate learning environment. This is a question about our priorities as a nation.”
Gulf Coast states devastated by Hurricane Katrina received relatively little aid for rebuilding and reopening schools. In fact, only 2 percent of total disaster relief funds were initially allocated to education. The Chandler bill would give over $138 million in the first year, and additional funds in later years, to Louisiana schools that still desperately need help to rebuild.
In the last five-and-a-half years, the Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress have provided direct aid for construction only to so-called “Impact Aid” schools – schools whose budgets may be significantly affected by actions of the federal government. But typical public schools have received no direct federal aid for construction during that time period.
Making matters worse, the Bush administration has proposed to completely eliminate important state technology grants that public schools use for training teachers how to use technology to improve student achievement. The Chandler bill also would fund these grants at $1 billion, the amount promised by the No Child Left Behind Act.
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