WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today joined her colleagues
at a White House event with President Clinton to demand full funding of
Democratic school construction and modernization proposals.
Schakowsky
issued the below statement following the White House event.
“In
June, I, along with many of my colleagues voted against a Labor, Health
and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill, in part because it
was $3.5 billion short and well below the President’s education request.
That bill virtually ignored key education priorities such as reducing class
size, modernizing public schools, investing in after school and summer
programs, preventing school drug use and violence, closing the digital
divide, recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers, and ensuring
that college is affordable for all individuals.
“It
is shortsighted, in this time of unprecedented economic prosperity, for
Congress to shortchange our children. Instead, we should be reaffirming
and strengthening the federal role in education programs by increasing,
not decreasing, our investment in public schools, our teachers, and our
children.
“Many
may be asking themselves, ‘what is preventing the Congress from doing just
that?’ The simple answer is that Republican leaders have other priorities
in mind. They’d rather spend billions more funding pet projects instead
of major education priorities that will reduce class sizes, repair and
modernize public schools, and make college more affordable.
“Boone
School is an elementary school in my district that is struggling with the
issues of school overcrowding and deteriorating buildings. Last school
year, they had 1,100 students in a structure designed to accommodate 800
children. Last spring I returned to Boone School and little had changed.
Paint was still pealing off the ceilings and classes were still being taught
in makeshift classrooms. During that visit, a young girl asked me
a tough question, which I hope we can answer before this Congress adjourns.
She asked ‘when would she see improvements in her school?’
“In
Illinois, close to 90 percent of public schools are in need of upgrades
or repairs and with enrollment expected to mushroom in the coming decade,
our schools will be pushed to their limits. If we don’t address the need
now, in ten years we’ll have no space for the over 60,000 students projected
to join the over 2.1 million children already in public schools in Illinois.
If the President’s school modernization priority is funded, Illinois could
issue over $1.2 billion in interest free school construction bonds, which
would potentially free up one-half of that amount for further school construction
and renovation. Within that $1.2 billion bonding authority, Chicago would
be granted nearly $538 million in interest-free bonds.
“Funding
the President’s program is the right thing to do, but it would still be
well short of the estimated $11.3 billion need that currently exists for
Illinois’s schools. The legislature in Illinois and the City of Chicago
are trying to address the enormous need, but they can not do it alone.
The federal government must step up to the plate and do its part.
The children in Illinois and the nation are waiting.
“It
is my hope that the Republicans in Congress will support the President’s
education priorities and give all children the first rate public education
that they deserve.” |