The
Illinois Healthy Schools Campaign and its 85 endorsing organizations are
dedicated to making Illinois schools environmentally healthy places to learn
and work.
A review of Illinois laws and regulations by the Environmental Law
Clinic found a number of glaring problems:
· There are no
standards for school indoor air that have been established to protect
children’s health. (OSHA has exposure standards; they do not take into account
children’s vulnerability and apply only to employees.)
· Current
inspection programs only cover traditional health, life and safety issues. They do not address indoor air quality
(IAQ). Also, current inspection reports
are not readily available to the public.
· Except for the
Integrated Pest Management in Schools Act, there are no state initiatives
promoting best practices for improving school indoor air.
While
most of the responsibility to address
this problem lies with state and local governments, we believe that the federal
government can and must play a leadership role on this important issue. More specifically, the federal government
should:
1.
Fund and implement the Healthy and High Performance Schools
provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.
2.
Pass the federal School Environmental Protection Act (SEPA,
HR 111 and HR 3275/S 1716 in the 106th Congress) that will encourage schools to
'pest-proof' their buildings and thus reduce their reliance on the routine use
of highly toxic chemicals.
3.
Fund school repairs and construction, direct a federal grant
program at high-needs schools, and offer tax credits to subsidize the interest
on school construction bonds used for repairs, renovations, and new
construction.
4.
Fund
the Clean School Bus Grant Program which will encourage the use of natural gas
and clean diesel power buses.
5.
Strengthen the role of federal agencies (US Environmental
Protection Agency, Department of Education, Department of Energy, and National
Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities) in promoting Healthy and High
Performing Schools.
Since
children spend most of their hours outside the home in school buildings, policy
makers have a responsibility to ensure that children can attend school in a
toxin-free and healthy environment. On
behalf of the Illinois Healthy Schools Campaign, I want to thank you for
addressing these important issues.
Sincerely,
Rochelle Davis
Rochelle
Davis
Executive
Director