I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1820

To amend title XII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

1965 to provide grants to improve the infrastructure of elementary

and secondary schools.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 14, 1999

Mr. OWENS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To amend title XII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide grants to improve the

infrastructure of elementary and secondary schools.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. REVISION OF TITLE XII.

4 Title XII of the Elementary and Secondary Edu5 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.) is amended

6 to read as follows:

7 ‘‘SEC. 12001. FINDINGS.

8 ‘‘The Congress finds the following:
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1 ‘‘(1) There are 52,700,000 students in 88,223

2 elementary and secondary schools across the United

3 States. The current Federal expenditure for edu4 cation infrastructure is $12,000,000. The Federal

5 expenditure per enrolled student for education infra6 structure is 23 cents. An appropriation of

7 $22,000,000,000 would result in a Federal expendi8 ture for education infrastructure of $417 per stu9 dent per fiscal year.

10 ‘‘(2) The General Accounting Office in 1995 re11 ported that the Nation’s elementary and secondary

12 schools need approximately $112,000,000,000 to re13 pair or upgrade facilities. Increased enrollments and

14 continued building decay has raised this need to an

15 estimated $200,000,000,000. Local education agen16 cies, particularly those in central cities or those with

17 high minority populations, cannot obtain adequate

18 financial resources to complete necessary repairs or

19 construction. These local education agencies face an

20 annual struggle to meet their operating budgets.

21 ‘‘(3) According to a 1991 survey conducted by

22 the American Association of School Administrators,

23 74 percent of all public school buildings need to be

24 replaced. Almost one-third of such buildings were

25 built prior to World War II.
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1 ‘‘(4) The majority of the schools in unsatisfac2 tory condition are concentrated in central cities and

3 serve large populations of poor or minority students.

4 ‘‘(5) In the large cities of America, numerous

5 schools still have polluting coal burning furnaces.

6 Decaying buildings threaten the health, safety, and

7 learning opportunities of students. A growing body

8 of research has linked student achievement and be9 havior to the physical building conditions and over10 crowding. Asthma and other respiratory illnesses

11 exist in above average rates in areas of coal burning

12 pollution.

13 ‘‘(6) According to a study conducted by the

14 General Accounting Office in 1995, most schools are

15 unprepared in critical areas for the 21st century.

16 Most schools do not fully use modern technology and

17 lack access to the information superhighway. Schools

18 in central cities and schools with minority popu19 lations above 50 percent are more likely to fall short

20 of adequate technology elements and have a greater

21 number of unsatisfactory environmental conditions

22 than other schools.

23 ‘‘(7) School facilities such as libraries and

24 science laboratories are inadequate in old buildings

25 and have outdated equipment. Frequently, in over-
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1 crowded schools, these same facilities are utilized as

2 classrooms for an expanding school population.

3 ‘‘(8) Overcrowded classrooms have a dire im4 pact on learning. Students in overcrowded schools

5 score lower on both mathematics and reading exams

6 than do students in schools with adequate space. In

7 addition, overcrowding in schools negatively affects

8 both classroom activities and instructional tech9 niques. Overcrowding also disrupts normal operating

10 procedures, such as lunch periods beginning as early

11 as 10 a.m. and extending into the afternoon; teach12 ers being unable to use a single room for an entire

13 day; too few lockers for students, and jammed hall14 ways and restrooms which encourage disorder and

15 rowdy behavior.

16 ‘‘(9) School modernization for information tech17 nology is an absolute necessity for education for a

18 coming CyberCivilization. The General Accounting

19 Office has reported that many schools are not using

20 modern technology and many students do not have

21 access to facilities that can support education into

22 the 21st century. It is imperative that we now view

23 computer literacy as basic as reading, writing, and

24 arithmetic.
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1 ‘‘(10) Both the national economy and national

2 security require an investment in school construc3 tion. Students educated in modern, safe, and well4 equipped schools will contribute to the continued

5 strength of the American economy and will ensure

6 that our Armed Forces are the best trained and best

7 prepared in the world. The shortage of qualified in8 formation technology workers continues to escalate

9 and presently many foreign workers are being re10 cruited to staff jobs in America. Military manpower

11 shortages of personnel capable of operating high

12 tech equipment are already acute in the Navy and

13 increasing in other branches of the Armed Forces.

14 ‘‘SEC. 12002. PURPOSE.

15 The purpose of this title is to provide Federal funds

16 to enable local educational agencies to finance the costs

17 associated with the construction, repair, and moderniza18 tion for information technology of school facilities within

19 their jurisdictions.

20 ‘‘SEC. 12003. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE IN THE FORM OF

21 GRANTS.

22 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY AND CONDITIONS FOR GRANTS.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To assist in the construc24 tion, reconstruction, renovation, or modernization for

25 information technology of elementary and secondary
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1 schools, the Secretary shall make grants of funds to

2 State educational agencies for the construction, re3 construction, or renovation, or for modernization for

4 information technology, of such schools.

5 ‘‘(2) FORMULA FOR ALLOCATION.—From the

6 amount appropriated under section 12006 for any

7 fiscal year, the Secretary shall allocate to each State

8 an amount that bears the same ratio to such appro9 priated amount as the number of school-age children

10 in such State bears to the total number of school11 age children in all the States. The Secretary shall

12 determine the number of school-age children on the

13 basis of the most recent satisfactory data available

14 to the Secretary.

15 ‘‘(b) CONDITIONS FOR RECEIPT OF GRANTS.—

16 ‘‘(1) APPLICATIONS.—In order to receive a

17 grant under this title, a State shall submit to the

18 Secretary an application containing or accompanied

19 by such information and assurances as the Secretary

20 may require. Such applications shall specify the

21 method by which the State educational agency will

22 allocate funds to local educational agencies and the

23 procedures by which projects will be selected for

24 funding. Such applications shall contain assurances

25 that such funds will only be provided if the State
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1 educational agency finds that such constructions will

2 be undertaken in an economical manner, and that

3 any such construction, reconstruction, renovation, or

4 modernization is not or will not be of elaborate or

5 extravagant design or materials.

6 ‘‘(2) PRIORITIES.—In approving projects for

7 funding under this title, the State educational agen8 cy shall consider—

9 ‘‘(A) the threat the condition of the phys10 ical plant poses to the safety and well-being of

11 students;

12 ‘‘(B) the demonstrated need for the con13 struction, reconstruction, renovation, or mod14 ernization as based on the condition of the facil15 ity;

16 ‘‘(C) the age of the facility to be renovated

17 or replaced; and

18 ‘‘(D) the needs related to preparation for

19 modern technology.

20 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT AND CONDITION OF GRANTS.—A grant

21 to a local educational agency may be in an amount not

22 exceeding the total cost of the facility construction, recon23 struction, renovation, or modernization for information

24 technology, as determined by the State educational agen25 cy.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 12004. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

2 ‘‘The Secretary shall take such action as may be nec3 essary to ensure that all laborers and mechanics employed

4 by contractors or subcontractors on any project assisted

5 under this part—

6 ‘‘(1) shall be paid wages at rates not less than

7 those prevailing on the same type of work on similar

8 construction in the immediate locality as determined

9 by the Secretary of Labor in accordance with the

10 Act of March 31, 1931 (Davis-Bacon Act), as

11 amended; and

12 ‘‘(2) shall be employed not more than 40 hours

13 in any 1 week unless the employee receives wages for

14 the employee’s employment in excess of the hours

15 specified in paragraph (1) at a rate not less than

16 one and one-half times the regular rate at which the

17 employee is employed;

18 but the Secretary may waive the application of this sub19 section in cases or classes or cases where laborers or me20 chanics, not otherwise employed at any time in the con21 struction of such project, voluntarily donate their services

22 without full compensation for the purpose of lowering the

23 costs of construction and the Secretary determines that

24 any amounts saved thereby are full credited to the edu25 cational institution undertaking the construction.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 12005. DEFINITIONS.

2 ‘‘As used in this title:

3 ‘‘(1) SCHOOL.—The term ‘school’ means struc4 tures suitable for use as classrooms, laboratories, li5 braries, and related facilities, the primary purpose of

6 which is the instruction of elementary and secondary

7 school students.

8 ‘‘(2) STATE.—The term State includes the sev9 eral States of the United States and the District of

10 Columbia.

11 ‘‘SEC. 12006. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

12 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

13 this title, $22,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and a sum

14 no less than this amount for each of the 4 succeeding fis15 cal years.’’.

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