II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2124

To authorize Federal financial assistance for the urgent repair and renovation

of public elementary and secondary schools in high-need areas.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 29, 2000

Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. ROBB, Mr. BINGAMAN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr.

KENNEDY, Mr. WELLSTONE, and Mr. DODD) introduced the following

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To authorize Federal financial assistance for the urgent repair and renovation of public elementary and secondary

schools in high-need areas.

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

3 SECTION 1. PUBLIC SCHOOL REPAIR AND RENOVATION.

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:
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1 ‘‘TITLE XII—PUBLIC SCHOOL

2 REPAIR AND RENOVATION

3 ‘‘SEC. 12001. FINDINGS.

4 ‘‘Congress finds as follows:

5 ‘‘(1) The General Accounting Office estimated

6 in 1995 that it would cost $112,000,000,000 to

7 bring our Nation’s school facilities into good overall

8 condition.

9 ‘‘(2) The General Accounting Office also found

10 in 1995 that 60 percent of the Nation’s schools,

11 serving 28,000,000 students, reported that 1 or

12 more building features, such as roofs and plumbing,

13 needed to be extensively repaired, overhauled, or re14 placed.

15 ‘‘(3) The National Center for Education Statis16 tics reported that the average age for a school build17 ing in 1998 was 42 years and that local educational

18 agencies with relatively high rates of poverty tend to

19 have relatively old buildings.

20 ‘‘(4) School condition is positively correlated

21 with student achievement, according to a number of

22 research studies.

23 ‘‘(5) The results of a recent survey indicate

24 that the condition of schools with large proportions
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1 of students living on Indian lands is particularly

2 poor.

3 ‘‘(6) While school repair and renovation are pri4 marily a State and local concern, some States and

5 communities are not, on their own, able to meet the

6 burden of providing adequate school facilities for all

7 students, and the poorest communities have had the

8 greatest difficulty meeting this need. It is, therefore,

9 appropriate for the Federal Government to provide

10 assistance to high-need communities for school re11 pair and renovation.

12 ‘‘SEC. 12002. PURPOSE.

13 ‘‘The purpose of this title is to assist high-need local

14 educational agencies in making urgent repairs and renova15 tions to public school facilities in order to—

16 ‘‘(1) reduce health and safety problems, includ17 ing violations of local or State fire codes, faced by

18 students; and

19 ‘‘(2) improve the ability of students to learn in

20 their school environment.

21 ‘‘SEC. 12003. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A recipient of a grant or loan

23 under this title shall use the grant or loan funds to carry

24 out the purpose of this title by—
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1 ‘‘(1) repairing or replacing roofs, electrical wir2 ing or plumbing systems;

3 ‘‘(2) repairing, replacing, or installing heating,

4 ventilation, or air conditioning systems;

5 ‘‘(3) ensuring that repairs and renovations

6 under this title comply with the requirements of sec7 tion 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the

8 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 relating to

9 the accessibility of public school programs to individ10 uals with disabilities; and

11 ‘‘(4) making other types of school repairs and

12 renovations that the Secretary may reasonably deter13 mine are urgently needed, particularly projects to

14 correct facilities problems that endanger the health

15 and safety of students and staff such as violations

16 of State or local fire codes.

17 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall not approve

18 an application for a grant or loan under this title unless

19 the applicant demonstrates to the Secretary’s satisfaction

20 that the applicant lacks sufficient funds, from other

21 sources, to carry out the repairs or renovations for which

22 the applicant is requesting assistance.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 12004. GRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES

2 WITH HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF STUDENTS

3 LIVING ON INDIAN LANDS.

4 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From funds available

5 under section 12008(a), the Secretary shall award grants

6 to local educational agencies to enable the agencies to

7 carry out the authorized activities described in section

8 12003 and subsection (e).

9 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A local educational agency is eli10 gible for a grant under this section if the number of chil11 dren determined under section 8003(a)(1)(C) of this Act

12 for that agency constituted at least 50 percent of the num13 ber of children who were in average daily attendance at

14 the schools of such agency during the preceding school

15 year.

16 ‘‘(c) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary shall

17 allocate funds available to carry out this section to eligible

18 local educational agencies based on their respective num19 bers of children in average daily attendance who are

20 counted under section 8003(a)(1)(C) of this Act.

21 ‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—Each eligible local educational

22 agency that desires to receive a grant under this section

23 shall submit an application to the Secretary that

24 includes—

25 ‘‘(1) a statement of how the agency will use the

26 grant funds;
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1 ‘‘(2) a description of the steps the agency will

2 take to adequately maintain the facilities that the

3 agency repairs, renovates, or constructs with those

4 funds; and

5 ‘‘(3) such other information and assurances as

6 the Secretary may reasonably require.

7 ‘‘(e) CONSTRUCTION OF NEW SCHOOLS.—In addition

8 to any other activity authorized under section 12003, an

9 eligible local educational agency may use grant funds re10 ceived under this section to construct a new school if the

11 agency demonstrates to the Secretary’s satisfaction that

12 the agency will replace an existing school that is in such

13 poor condition that renovating the school will not be cost14 effective.

15 ‘‘SEC. 12005. GRANTS TO HIGH-POVERTY LOCAL EDU16 CATIONAL AGENCIES.

17 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From funds available

18 under section 12008(b)(1), the Secretary shall make

19 grants, on a competitive basis, to local educational agen20 cies with poverty rates of 25 percent or greater to enable

21 the agencies to carry out the authorized activities de22 scribed in section 12003.

23 ‘‘(b) CRITERIA FOR AWARDING GRANTS.—In award24 ing grants under this section, the Secretary shall

25 consider—
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1 ‘‘(1) the poverty rate, the need for school re2 pairs and renovations, and the fiscal capacity of

3 each local educational agency; and

4 ‘‘(2) such other factors as the Secretary deter5 mines appropriate.

6 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—Each eligible local educational

7 agency that desires to receive a grant under this section

8 shall submit an application to the Secretary that

9 includes—

10 ‘‘(1) a description of the agency’s urgent need

11 for school repair and renovation and of how the

12 agency will use funds available under this title to

13 meet those needs;

14 ‘‘(2) information on the fiscal effort that the

15 agency is making in support of education and evi16 dence demonstrating that the agency lacks the ca17 pacity to meet the agency’s urgent school repair and

18 renovation needs without assistance made available

19 under this title;

20 ‘‘(3) a description of the steps the agency will

21 take to adequately maintain the facilities that the

22 agency repairs or renovates with the assistance; and

23 ‘‘(4) such other information and assurances as

24 the Secretary may reasonably require.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 12006. SCHOOL RENOVATION GRANTS AND LOANS.

2 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AND LOANS AUTHORIZED.—From

3 funds available under section 12008(b)(2), the Secretary

4 shall make grants, and shall pay the cost of loans made,

5 on a competitive basis, to local educational agencies that

6 lack the ability to fund urgent school repairs without a

7 grant or loan provided under this section to enable the

8 agencies to carry out the authorized activities described

9 in section 12003.

10 ‘‘(b) LOAN PERIOD.—Each loan under this section

11 shall be for a period of 7 years and shall carry an interest

12 rate of 0 percent.

13 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR MAKING LOANS.—In making

14 loans under this section, the Secretary shall consider—

15 ‘‘(1) the extent of poverty, the need for school

16 repairs and renovations, and the fiscal capacity of

17 each applicant; and

18 ‘‘(2) such other factors as the Secretary deter19 mines appropriate.

20 ‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—Each eligible local educational

21 agency that desires to receive a grant or loan under this

22 section shall submit an application to the Secretary that

23 includes the information described in section 12005(c).

24 ‘‘(e) CREDIT STANDARDS.—In carrying out this sec25 tion, the Secretary—
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1 ‘‘(1) shall not extend credit without finding that

2 there is reasonable assurance of repayment; and

3 ‘‘(2) may use credit enhancement techniques, as

4 appropriate, to reduce the credit risk of loans.

5 ‘‘SEC. 12007. PROGRESS REPORTS.

6 ‘‘The Secretary shall require recipients of grants and

7 loans under this title to submit progress reports and such

8 other information as the Secretary determines necessary

9 to ensure compliance with this title and to evaluate the

10 impact of activities assisted under this title.

11 ‘‘SEC. 12008. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

12 ‘‘(a) GRANTS UNDER SECTION 12004.—For the pur13 pose of making grants under section 12004, there are au14 thorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for fiscal year

15 2001 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the

16 4 succeeding fiscal years.

17 ‘‘(b) GRANTS UNDER SECTION 12005 AND GRANTS

18 AND LOANS UNDER SECTION 12006.—For the purpose

19 of making grants under section 12005, and grants and

20 loans under section 12006, there are authorized to be ap21 propriated $1,250,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and such

22 sums as may be necessary for each of the succeeding 4

23 years, of which—

24 ‘‘(1) 10 percent shall be available for grants

25 under section 12005; and
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1 ‘‘(2) 90 percent shall be available to make

2 grants and to pay the cost of loans under section

3 12006.

4 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON LOAN VOLUME.—Within the

5 available resources and authority, gross obligations for the

6 principal amount of direct loans offered by the Secretary

7 under section 12006 for fiscal year 2001 shall not exceed

8 $7,000,000,000, or the amount specified in an applicable

9 appropriations Act, whichever is greater.

10 ‘‘SEC. 12009. DEFINITIONS.

11 ‘‘For the purpose of this title, the following terms

12 have the following meanings:

13 ‘‘(1) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

14 ‘local educational agency’ has the meaning given

15 that term in section 14101(18) (A) and (B) of this

16 Act.

17 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITY.—

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘public

19 school facility’ means a public building whose

20 primary purpose is the instruction of public ele21 mentary or secondary students.

22 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term excludes

23 athletic stadiums or any other structure or fa24 cility intended primarily for athletic exhibitions,
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1 contests, games, or events for which admission

2 is charged to the general public.

3 ‘‘(3) REPAIR AND RENOVATION.—The term ‘re4 pair and renovation’ used with respect to an existing

5 public school facility, means the repair or renovation

6 of the facility without increasing the size of the

7 facility.’’.

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