WASHINGTON (July 27, 2006) Today, Congressman Ben Chandler (KY-6-D) introduced the 21st Century High- Performing Public School Facilities Act of 2006. This major education bill would allot $32 billion over five years in matching grants and loans to the nation’s public schools.
This Act would literally strengthen this country’s education system, by authorizing grants and loans to school districts for modernization and construction of schools, including educational technology infrastructure. School districts with greater numbers or percentages of low-income students that demonstrate a need for modernizing or constructing new schools will be given priority.
“The terrible state of our schools both in Kentucky and around the country is appalling. The average public school building in America is forty-two years old,” said Congressman Chandler. “In Kentucky, forty-seven percent of school facilities are ranked average to poor. It is my hope that this bill will be a good start in addressing some of the most basic needs of our children and teachers.”
Our nation’s public schools received a ‘D’ from the American Society of Civil Engineers’ on facility conditions. Children miss more than 10 million school days a year because of asthma exacerbated by poor indoor air quality.
Kentucky’s educational woes are especially troubling, particularly in the area of technology. The recommended national ratio of professional technicians to computers within any district is 250 computers per technician. Fayette County has 750 computers for every technician.
“Kentucky schools’ technology is understaffed and in dire need of improvement,” said Chandler. “Kentucky ranks only ahead of Mississippi and West Virginia in the area of computer technology in schools, with a majority of student workstations lacking essential broadband access.”
The bill also establishes a grant program to increase the effects of the initiative. Lower-income schools are given priority for the money, but are asked to try and raise the same amount of money through sponsorship, thereby doubling the support.
The initiative would, among other things, provide funding for an important program that the Bush Administration is proposing to zero out in 2007—Enhancing Education Through Technology, which is a part of Bush’s No Child Left Behind Initiative.
Co-Sponsors of the bill include Congressman George Miller, Senior Democrat on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Congressman Rush Holt, Ruben Hinojosa, John Conyers, Charles Gonzalez, Ed Case, Major Owens, Dennis Moore, Pete Stark, Jim Costa, Donald Payne, Tim Holden, Danny Davis, and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Ellen Tauscher and Betty McCollum.
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