Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2187, 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2187, 21ST CENTURY GREEN HIGH-PERFORMING PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES ACT -- (House of Representatives - May 13, 2009)

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Mr. POLIS. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 427 provides for a structured rule for consideration of H.R. 2187, the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the rule and the underlying bill. I thank Congressman Chandler, Congressman Loebsack, Congressman Kildee, Chairman Miller, and the entire staff of the Education and Labor Committee for their hard work in reintroducing this bipartisan, critical legislation to modernize and green American schools.

Every child in America has the right to an excellent education. This can only be achieved through the best teachers in safe schools and productive learning environments equipped with the resources required to succeed. Anything else is increasingly unacceptable in the 21st century.

Unfortunately, as a Nation, we are unable to meet this basic standard. According to the American Federation of Teachers, our schools fall short of being in good condition by an estimated $255 billion. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave our Nation's schools a D on the national infrastructure report card.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which we passed earlier this year, will go a long way towards correcting this horrifying statistic. However, we can't stop with the Recovery Act. This is too important an issue.

Overcrowding and crumbling and unsafe schools and classrooms are an everyday reality for students, teachers, and staff in too many parts of our country. In Colorado, the backlog of school construction and maintenance needs that has been documented has been estimated between $6 billion and $10 billion.

This backlog puts the health, safety, and achievement of our students at risk. Healthy students learn better and are better prepared to meet the high standards of the workforce. The students of today will be the professionals and citizens of tomorrow. They must be ready to meet unexpected challenges, such as today's economic crisis, and they must be empowered to bring America to the next level of innovation and discovery and the pathway to prosperity.

As a former superintendent, I can tell you that modern, environmentally friendly classrooms are necessary for teachers to perform and for students to learn. Research shows that high-quality school environments contribute to higher education achievement and lower teacher attrition. Yet, States and school districts are unable to keep up with these basic needs. This is especially true during the severe recession. This $6.4 billion investment will produce direct and major economic and environmental benefits.

This legislation represents a giant step forward in ensuring that school buildings are modernized, repaired, and renovated to meet students' and teachers' needs. This will be a positive impact on residential property values and economic development efforts. It creates an estimated 136,000 jobs in communities across the country at a time when we desperately need them.

By making schools more energy efficient and less reliant on fossil fuels, this bill will also help reduce the emissions that contribute to global warming, as well as cut energy costs, saving operational money for schools and local governments.

This bill will stimulate local economies, while protecting the environment. The added benefit of job creation in the areas hardest hit by the recession will be an important component of our economic recovery.

When I think about the devastation of the Gulf Coast, where schools have been overlooked for decades and, in many cases, were washed away by flood waters of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it really brings home the need for passing this Federal assistance program.

The African America Environmentalist Association estimates that the legislation will support hundreds of thousands of new construction jobs and invest more than half a billion dollars for school facility improvements in the troubled region of the Gulf Coast.

In 2006, I had the honor of cochairing a successful campaign for a $300 million bond initiative for Boulder Valley School District in my congressional district to address their school needs. But many low-income districts in Colorado don't have the capacity to finance the necessary school upgrades.

That's why I'm particularly pleased that this legislation addresses income disparities by allocating funds to States and districts based on their share of students from low-income families. This way, we can ensure that the funding reaches the schools and students that need it the most.

Communities in my home State of Colorado will receive over $70 million, which will enable much needed improvements in our schools. I look forward to visiting these schools as they continue to work on making their improvements.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to visit schools in Adams County, Boulder Valley, Mapleton, and Westminster, and observed the progress that this bill will make possible for the children of Colorado.

Finally, I'd like to again thank Chairman Miller and the committee for ensuring that public charter schools receive their fair share of the funding as well.

On behalf of my constituents in Colorado, especially the students, parents, and educators, I'd like to urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the bill and the rule.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, a few times I have heard reference to a closed rule. And I want to be entirely clear that what we are proposing is, in fact, a structured rule on this bill. There were 34 amendments that were submitted. We are forwarding for the consideration by the full House 14. So I do believe that arguments against a closed rule on this particular bill are not founded.

I would like to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Sutton).

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, just this last week I had the opportunity in Colorado to visit a number of schools in several school districts across the district that I represent. I visited Adams County, Boulder Valley, Mapleton, and Westminster.

With regard to Boulder Valley School District, having recently passed a $300 million bond initiative, it was very exciting to see some of the renovations that were taking place. I had an opportunity to go on the roof of one of the schools and observe the solar panels that were being installed, as well as a device that focuses sunlight to provide natural light for the classroom. That is called a Sundolier, and what that encompasses is twofold. One, it saves the need for artificial light and saves energy for the school. Two, there are a number of studies that show that natural light can actually serve to improve learning. This was an item that Boulder Valley School District was able to purchase. There are four that are now pilot projects in Colorado. There are studies being done to document the learning impact. This is the type of activity that many school districts cannot afford to consider.

Mapleton School District, just 10 miles down the road, it has been on their ballot twice with bond initiatives, but they have been unable to get them to pass. They have a much lower local tax base and it is very difficult, and many of the constituents are struggling to stay in their homes. For that reason, this Federal money will be particularly welcomed in those districts that serve the most at-risk children, which is why I applaud the efforts of Chairman Miller and the committee and the sponsors to target this money to districts that serve a high count of low-income students using the title I criteria.

Mapleton School District, which serves just a few thousand kids, will receive $578,000 under this bill; Westminster School District in Colorado will receive $1.8 million; and Adams County 12 District will receive $2.36 million.

Mr. Speaker, a few folks have mentioned, Oh, this shouldn't be the Federal Government's responsibility.

The question I would pose is: Who, then, can repair these schools? Who can ensure that these classrooms are safe? Where can the money come from? Certainly there are many wealthy districts that can afford to do that themselves. But by allowing only wealthy districts to build classrooms for the 21st century, we are not only creating a divide on the operations side of school funding, we are actually making that considerably worse by creating an enormous gap on the capital front, leading to attrition of good teachers from dangerous and poor-quality schools in poor areas, as well as lower student outcomes because of lack of heating, lack of air-conditioning, dangerous conditions, et cetera. This bill will help reduce those disparities. We certainly have a long way to go, but this bill will help do that.

In addition, there are a number of schools that actually are dangerous and represent a danger for the teachers and for the students. For instance, there was an incident last year in Massachusetts where a roof fell in and actually injured a teacher. They had a leaky roof for decades in Billerica, Massachusetts. The district was not able to afford to repair or replace the school. In fact, when it rained, the principal would announce, Heavy rains are expected; clear the counters. The water damage had caused the floor to rot and a teacher actually fell through the floor and injured herself because of that. Some of the rooms are so hazardous they are closed to students and staff.

That is not an unusual phenomenon. In my district, I was at one elementary school where the gym has been closed for several years because pieces of ceiling are falling off the gymnasium and it is a danger for kids, so the school has not had a gym for those kids to use for several years.

In this school in Massachusetts, they have now moved the girls' locker room to the library, and there is so little space available because of the closure of the rooms that are dangerous that special education classes now meet in what was the boys' locker room. They are trying to use every available place that they have because of the unsafe nature of some of those schools.

School districts do a good job with what they have. They try their best. They approach their voters when they can, but there are districts in Colorado and, indeed, nationally that have very little local tax base from which to draw. In Colorado, we had a lawsuit a number of years ago which was ultimately settled by the State with regard to the failing state of our schools and our capital infrastructure in Colorado school districts that had very little local tax base. The decision stated that the State had in fact not lived up to its responsibility of providing a safe, thorough and uniform education to all of its citizens.

Certainly every child in this country deserves the opportunity to succeed. They deserve a safe learning environment. This bill will go a long way towards doing that, along with the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided funding in two main areas for education, both operational. One was IDEA, special education. And my colleagues on the Rules Committee will recall we had some discussion about special ed and IDEA in committee yesterday. I am proud to say that under this Congress, we have gone further than ever as a country in meeting towards reaching that unfunded mandate of making sure that the needs of all students, including special needs students, are met and increasingly funded by the Federal Government. We had a bipartisan consensus in our Rules Committee meeting yesterday, Mr. Speaker, that our Federal Government needs to do more with regard to funding special education. I am very pleased to say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was the first step.

The second area of investment was in title I programs directed to schools that serve low-income families and families that face a lot of challenges that others don't. To help reduce those disparities, the opportunity disparity that exists, Colorado is a State that has a very strong equalization formula for funding schools. We are very fortunate in that regard.

Our poorer districts on the operational side receive roughly the same funding, in fact, sometimes even more funding because of their at-risk criteria than the wealthy districts. That is not the case nationally. There are other States where there are large operational disparities between large and small districts.

However, in Colorado, and indeed nearly every State, there continue to be large disparities on the capital front. That is why what passes for a school in one district would hardly pass for a school in another district. Schools with low tax bases, with voters that are struggling to stay in their own homes and are, therefore, unwilling or unable to pass another bond initiative, are threatening the education of their kids compared to some of the wealthier districts that are able to invest in some of things that I had the opportunity to see just last week in Boulder Valley School District due to their own $300 million bond initiative.

The needs, Mr. Speaker, are great. In fact, I dare say they are greater than this investment that we, if the House passes this bill today, will be making.

The rule, Mr. Speaker, is fair. Of the 34 amendments that have been offered, 14 have been ruled in order, including several from Members on the other side of the aisle, including one from Mr. Roe, who my colleague, Mr. Dreier, mentioned in his remarks. That was ruled in order, as well as an amendment from the ranking member of the Education and Labor Committee.

So this is not a closed rule. This is a structured rule that allows for nearly half of the amendments that have been offered to be considered by the full House and advances in there for that purpose, including several that were also incorporated into the chairman's amendment, who has worked with Members on both sides of the aisle to improve the initial piece of legislation.

Let me focus once more on the safety issue. There is an enormous backlog of capital construction--particularly in poor districts across this country--that puts the health and safety as well as the achievement of our students at risk every day. Students should be free of risk regardless of where in this country they attend school. Students have enough challenges to face. They need to be able to face the economic crisis, their family issues, preparation for college. The last thing students need to worry about are roofs falling in, ceilings collapsing, floors collapsing, or asbestos.

At the same time that we can accomplish this, as my colleague from New York (Mr. Hall) mentioned, we have the great opportunity to make some progress on the front by reducing our carbon emissions and greening our schools. This has, of course, beyond the environmental benefits, which are significant, they also have economic benefits because when you save money by reducing your power needs or producing power locally, you are freeing up more operational money to actually help educate kids, meaning lower class sizes, meaning better teacher training, meaning programs that can be continued or expanded because of the energy. One of the biggest complaints that I heard from districts over the last several years were the rising costs of energy and utilities as part of what they pay as a fixed cost. By investing in the capital side--and again, many districts don't have the capability of doing that themselves--we are able to save operational money for those school districts where truly some of the modernization and green investment can become the gift that keeps on giving.

Mr. Speaker, I am the last speaker for this side. I would like to urge a ``yes'' vote on the previous question and the rule.

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