Congress Should Invest in Modernizing America’s School Facilities, Witnesses Tell House Education Committee
Bush Administration Has Failed to Fund School Repair and Construction Needs

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC -- Investing in building, repairing and modernizing school facilities is critical to improving America’s public schools, witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee today. The witnesses urged Congress to increase federal funding for school construction, citing research that shows that the physical condition of school buildings has significant effects on student achievement, teacher retention, the health and safety of faculty and students, and even a school’s surrounding communities. 

“All of our children deserve a modern, safe, clean and healthy place to learn, regardless of what neighborhood they live in. But today, the unfortunate reality in many communities is that schools are literally crumbling,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the committee, and the co-sponsor of the 21^st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act (H.R. 3021). “We must invest in making every school a place that communities can be proud of – where children will be eager to learn and teachers will have access to a world-class learning environment.”

Recent estimates have shown the extent of the problem faced by schools in need of repair. In 2000, the National Center for Education Statistics said it would take $127 billion to bring schools into overall good condition, concluding that 75 percent of schools were in various stages of disrepair. A 2001 study by the National Education Association found that $322 billion would be needed to make all schools “safe, well-constructed,” and “up-to-date” technologically. A recent report by Building Educational Success Together concluded that these previous studies underestimated school construction needs.  

While Congress provided $1.2 billion in funding for emergency school repairs in 2001, and provided additional resources for schools devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration has not provided direct funding for general school construction in any of its budgets over the last eight years. As a result, schools have been forced to rely mostly on state and local funding for any physical improvement projects.

During today’s hearing, the committee heard from local educators, business leaders, and lawmakers who have introduced legislative proposals to fund school repairs and create more energy-efficient and technologically advanced facilities.  

“America’s schools are in desperate need of repair and renovation. Across the country, students learn in overcrowded classrooms with peeling paint, leaking roofs, and fault wiring. Some schools hold classes in ‘temporary’ trailers, converted closets, and hallways,” said Judi Caddick, a teacher at Memorial Junior High School in Illinois. She also discussed the long term health and cost benefits of building more energy-efficient facilities: “Every child and school staff person has the right to a school with healthy air to breathe and conditions that foster learning. ‘Green schools’ create a safe and healthy learning environment that is conducive to teaching and learning while saving energy, resources and money.”

Dr. Paula Vincent, the Superintendent of the Clear Creek Amana School District in Iowa, explained how federal school improvement grants helped her district leverage additional local funding: “We have experienced a significant benefit from a modest federal investment in school infrastructure. The benefits of building an energy efficient building include a cash rebate from the utility companies of about $250,000 as well as lower operational costs for the lifetime of the new buildings. We believe these energy-efficient strategies add significant investment value to the buildings and minimize many negative environmental impacts typically caused by new construction.” 

“Despite our fiscal constraints, we are aggressively using the unique opportunity of rebuilding school facilities in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to build the best facilities this district has ever had,” said Paul Vallas, the Superintendent of the Recovery School District in New Orleans, whose schools still lack the federal resources to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. “We can only continue our monumental efforts to reform education in New Orleans with further federal resources to cover significant start-up and one-time costs.”

In addition, the witnesses discussed how school construction projects can strengthen local communities and economies.  

“In the last two statewide bond cycles alone, the approximate $10 billion already expended over 175,000 jobs and doubled the direct impact on the economy to approximately $20 billion because construction activity generates business and employment in sectors which provide the lumber, concrete and many other goods and services which go into the construction and modernization of schools,” said Kathleen Moore, the Director of the School Facilities Planning Division for the California Department of Education. “School quality has a direct and positive impact on residential property values, new or well-maintained school facilities can help revitalize distressed neighborhoods, and school quality helps determine localities’ quality of life and can affect the ability of an area to attract businesses and workers.”

“To create truly innovative learning environments that will support learning in the 21^st century, greater support, resources, flexibility, and vision must be provided to districts,” said Mary Cullinane, the Director of the Innovation and Business Development Team at the Microsoft Corporation. Cullinane recently oversaw the development of the School for the Future, a collaborative effort between Microsoft and the Philadelphia School District to build a state-of-the-art school to serve as a model for facilities nationwide. “We need to create an environment that is inspirational, not just functional. The federal government should now seek to build on the success of basic infrastructure programs to drive support for innovative learning models so that the true power of technology can be leveraged by students and educators.” 

To see all of the testimonies from today’s hearing, click here.

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