House Education Committee Approves Legislation to Modernize America’s Public School Buildings
Bill Would Help Improve Education, Revive Struggling Construction Industry, and Fight Global Warming

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC -- Public school buildings around the country would receive billions of dollars in much-needed renovation and modernization funding under legislation approved today by the House Education and Labor Committee.

By a vote of 28 to 19, the committee passed the 21^st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act (H.R. 3021), introduced by U.S. Rep Ben Chandler (D-KY). The legislation provides funding to states and school districts to help ensure that school facilities and learning environments are safe, healthy, energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, and technologically advanced.

The bill would also provide additional support for Gulf Coast schools still recovering from damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“Far too many schools across our country are literally crumbling, making it much harder for teachers to teach and children to learn,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “We must invest in making every school building a place that communities can be proud of and where children will be eager to learn. This legislation begins to make that investment, and at the same time, it boosts the economy by creating new construction jobs and helps the environment by making our schools more energy efficient. This legislation is a win for children, workers, and the planet.”

“I joined in offering this legislation because we cannot provide our children with the world-class education they need and deserve if we do not provide them – and their teachers, principals and other staff – with safe, healthy, modern, energy-efficient schools,” said U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI), the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. “In its most recent infrastructure report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our schools a ‘D’.  That is unacceptable.  Not only will this bill take a great step toward changing that, but it will address two other critical needs by providing jobs and encouraging green building.”

“The environment in which our students learn and educators teach can have an immense impact on the quality of education our children receive,” said U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA), a member of the Committee and one of the bill’s sponsors.  “Moreover, improving and modernizing our schools using green technology will create new jobs and help improve student health, learning ability, and productivity.  I am proud to have worked with Mr. Kildee to make certain a significant federal investment is made to improve, repair and rebuild our nation’s crumbling schools.”

Recent estimates highlight the extreme funding shortfalls facing schools in need of physical improvement. 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 2000 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 repair or renovation projects.

H.R. 3021 would authorize $6.4 billion for school renovation and modernization projects for fiscal year 2009, and would ensure that school districts quickly receive funds for projects that improve schools’ teaching and learning climates, health and safety, and energy efficiency. To further encourage energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in schools, the bill would require that the majority of funds for school improvement projects meet widely recognized green building standards and would encourage states to help schools track their energy use and carbon footprints, among other things.

In the Gulf Coast, where public schools still face hundreds millions of dollars in damages caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the legislation would authorize separate funds – half a billion dollars over five years – for schools still trying to recover.

In addition, the legislation would bring immediate benefits to workers in the nation’s construction industry – one of the sectors hardest by the recent economic downturn – and would ensure fair wages and benefits for workers by applying Davis-Bacon protections to all grants awarded for school improvement projects. 

For more information on H.R. 3021, click here.

The 21^st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act is supported by a broad coalition of organizations, including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Association of School Administrators, the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, the California Small School Districts Association, Californians for School Facilities, the Council of the Great City Schools, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, the International Union of Operating Engineers, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, the Mason Contractors Association of America, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Education Association, the National School Boards Association, the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, the Parent Teacher Association, the Rebuild America’s Schools Coalition, and the U.S. Green Building Council.

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