21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Thank you to Chairman Miller and Representative Chandler for championing this legislation.

Mr. Chair, this amendment that I offer today provides a downpayment on our children's health and education. The bill itself is a forward-thinking investment in our children that will create clean energy jobs and turn our schools into high-performing, energy-efficient learning environments.

My amendment would strengthen this long-term investment by including the installation of environmentally friendly physical education facilities, recreational structures, and equipment for our children. Modernized schools using the most state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly building methods and materials will put our children in the best position to compete in a 21st century economy.

Research shows that recreational structures are critical to our children's educational environment. Many studies show that a child's ability to spend time in physical activity contributes significantly to their development, creativity and, most importantly, their ability to focus on academics when back in the classroom.

By exerting energy outside the classroom, students have better attention spans inside the classroom. Physical activity is an increasingly important issue in my home State of New Mexico, where 22 percent of New Mexico children between the ages of 2 and 5 and 23 percent of high school students are overweight.

Parent and teacher organizations across the country recognize the link between recreational opportunities, education, and their students' health. But often, due to budget constraints, parents find themselves having to fundraise for this kind of permanent physical education and recreation equipment and facilities on their own.

How many of my colleagues here today have had to bake rice crispy treats for a bake sale or even pass the hat at a PTA meeting to raise the money for fitness activities for their own kids?

Why do we do this? Because we want our kids to play soccer and basketball; we want them to play on swings and run on the track; and we want our kids to learn how to play fair and how to win and lose with grace and dignity. We do this because we want our kids to be healthy and happy and successful. With my amendment today, this will be easier to achieve for our children.

We also know the impact that recreational opportunities have on reducing classroom discipline problems, increasing teacher job satisfaction, and increasing students' engagement in learning.

Permanent physical educational and recreational structures not only add to children's education, but also contribute greatly to their surrounding communities. For many neighborhoods, school playgrounds are the only nearby recreational areas where children are able to engage in physical activity.

My amendment would allow this grant money to fund the installation of permanent recreational structures for schools and physical educational programs that are made from post-consumer waste materials. This funding would be utilized to upgrade and install recreational equipment, such as surfaces used for track, basketball, tennis, soccer, and general physical educational activities.

Many American companies have achieved the creation of permanent recreational equipment using recycled plastics and rubber rather than wood and metal. In New Mexico, companies install structures today that transform tens of thousands of recycled milk containers into highly durable plastic lumber. This is just one example of the kind of clean energy jobs that would result from this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I strongly believe that this amendment is good for our schools and good for our economy and, most importantly, good for our children. I ask my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source