II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1121 

To amend part D of title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

Act of 1965 to provide grants for the repair, renovation, and construction 

of elementary and secondary schools, including early learning facilities 

at the elementary schools. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2009 

Mr. HARKIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend part D of title V of the Elementary and Secondary 

Education Act of 1965 to provide grants for the repair, 

renovation, and construction of elementary and secondary 

schools, including early learning facilities at the elementary 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘School Building Fair5 ness Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

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1 (1) Providing safe, healthy, and up-to-date pub2 lic elementary and secondary school facilities is a 

3 crucial component of improving student academic 

4 performance and retaining high-quality, committed 

5 educators. 

6 (2) The 2009 Infrastructure Report Card com7 piled by the American Society of Civil Engineers 

8 gives public schools a D grade. 

9 (3) The National Center for Education Statis10 tics, in 2000, reported that the Nation’s elementary 

11 and secondary schools required approximately 

12 $127,000,000,000 to repair or upgrade facilities. 

13 (4) A State-by-State analysis by the American 

14 Federation of Teachers in 2008 concluded that the 

15 Nation’s school infrastructure needs total an esti16 mated $254,600,000,000. 

17 (5) The Department of Education documented 

18 in 1998 that the average age of a public elementary 

19 or secondary school building was estimated at 42 

20 years old, an age when schools tend to deteriorate. 

21 (6) School districts spent more than 

22 $304,000,000,000 for public school construction 

23 contracts from 1995 through 2004, according to 

24 data collected by McGraw-Hill Construction. 

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1 (7) According to a 2006 report by the Building 

2 Educational Success Together coalition, the per-stu3 dent investment made in the most affluent school 

4 districts to repair or construct schools was nearly 

5 double the amount of the per-student investment 

6 made in the most disadvantaged school districts. 

7 (8) Since 1998, the Iowa Demonstration Con8 struction Grant Program has provided $121,000,000 

9 in Federal assistance to over 300 school districts for 

10 school repair and construction. That Federal invest11 ment in school repair and construction has leveraged 

12 more than $600,000,000 of additional local funding 

13 through a match required by the State government. 

14 (9) Green schools use an average of 33 percent 

15 less energy than conventionally built schools, and 

16 generate financial savings of about $70 per square 

17 foot, according to the 2006 report ‘‘Greening Amer18 ica’s Schools: Costs and Benefits’’. 

19 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR SCHOOL REPAIR, RENOVATION, AND 

20 CONSTRUCTION. 

21 Part D of title V of the Elementary and Secondary 

22 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7241 et seq.) is amend23 ed by adding at the end the following: 

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1 ‘‘Subpart 22—School Facilities 

2 ‘‘SEC. 5621. GRANTS FOR SCHOOL REPAIR, RENOVATION, 

3 AND CONSTRUCTION. 

4 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 ‘‘(1) CHARTER SCHOOL.—The term ‘charter 

6 school’ has the meaning given the term in section 

7 5210. 

8 ‘‘(2) CHPS CRITERIA.—The term ‘CHPS Cri9 teria’ means the green building rating criteria devel10 oped by the Collaborative for High Performance 

11 Schools. 

12 ‘‘(3) ENERGY STAR.—The term ‘Energy Star’ 

13 means the Energy Star program of the Department 

14 of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agen15 cy. 

16 ‘‘(4) GREEN GLOBES.—The term ‘Green 

17 Globes’ means the Green Building Initiative environ18 mental design and rating system. 

19 ‘‘(5) HIGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN20 CY.—The term ‘high-need local educational agency’ 

21 has the meaning given the term in section 

22 2102(3)(A). 

23 ‘‘(6) LEED GREEN BUILDING RATING SYS24 TEM.—The term ‘LEED Green Building Rating 

25 System’ means the United States Green Building 

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1 Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental 

2 Design green building rating system. 

3 ‘‘(7) RURAL LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 

4 The term ‘rural local educational agency’ means a 

5 local educational agency that the State determines is 

6 located in a rural area using objective data and a 

7 commonly employed definition of the term ‘rural’. 

8 ‘‘(8) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 

9 the several states of the United States, the District 

10 of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

11 ‘‘(b) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) RESERVATIONS.—From the funds appro13 priated under subsection (i) for a fiscal year, the 

14 Secretary shall reserve 1 percent to provide assist15 ance to the outlying areas and for payments to the 

16 Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to 

17 schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Education. 

18 Funds allocated under this subparagraph shall be 

19 reserved by the Secretary for distribution among the 

20 outlying areas and the Secretary of the Interior on 

21 the basis of their relative need for public elementary 

22 school and secondary school repair, renovation, and 

23 construction, as determined by the Secretary. 

24 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION TO STATE EDUCATIONAL

25 AGENCIES.—From the funds appropriated under 

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1 subsection (i) for a fiscal year that are not reserved 

2 under paragraph (1) for the fiscal year, the Sec3 retary shall allocate to each State educational agen4 cy serving a State an amount that bears the same 

5 relation to the funds as the amount the State re6 ceived under part A of title I for the fiscal year pre7 ceding the fiscal year for which the determination is 

8 made bears to the amount all States received under 

9 such part for such preceding fiscal year, except that 

10 no such State educational agency shall receive less 

11 than 0.5 percent of the amount allocated under this 

12 subsection. 

13 ‘‘(c) WITHIN-STATE DISTRIBUTIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATIVE AND OTHER COSTS.— 

15 ‘‘(A) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY AD16 MINISTRATION AND OTHER COSTS.—Except as 

17 provided in subparagraph (D), each State edu18 cational agency may reserve not more than 1 

19 percent of the State educational agency’s alloca20 tion under subsection (b) for the purposes of 

21 administering the distribution of grants under 

22 this subsection and awarding grants under sub23 paragraph (C)(v). 

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1 ‘‘(B) REQUIRED USES.—The State edu2 cational agency shall use a portion of the funds 

3 reserved under subparagraph (A)— 

4 ‘‘(i) to provide technical assistance to 

5 local educational agencies; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) to establish or support a State7 level database of public elementary school 

8 and secondary school facility inventory, 

9 condition, design, and utilization. 

10 ‘‘(C) PERMISSIBLE USES.—The State edu11 cational agency may use a portion of the funds 

12 reserved under subparagraph (A) for— 

13 ‘‘(i) developing a statewide public ele14 mentary school and secondary school edu15 cational facility master plan; 

16 ‘‘(ii) developing policies, procedures, 

17 and standards for high-quality, energy effi18 cient public elementary school and sec19 ondary school facilities; 

20 ‘‘(iii) supporting interagency collabo21 ration that will lead to broad community 

22 use of public elementary school and sec23 ondary school facilities, and school-based 

24 services for students served by high-need 

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1 local educational agencies or rural local 

2 educational agencies; 

3 ‘‘(iv) helping to defray the cost of 

4 issuing State bonds to finance public ele5 mentary school and secondary school re6 pair, renovation, and construction; and 

7 ‘‘(v) awarding grants to State-oper8 ated or State-supported schools, such as a 

9 State school for the deaf or for the blind, 

10 to enable such schools to carry out school 

11 repair, renovation, and construction activi12 ties in accordance with subsection (d). 

13 ‘‘(D) STATE ENTITY ADMINISTRATION AND

14 OTHER COSTS.—If the State educational agency 

15 transfers funds to a State entity described in 

16 paragraph (2)(A), the State educational agency 

17 shall transfer to such State entity not less than 

18 75 percent of the amount reserved under sub19 paragraph (A) for the purpose of carrying out 

20 the activities described in subparagraph (C). 

21 ‘‘(2) DISTRIBUTION OF COMPETITIVE SCHOOL

22 REPAIR, RENOVATION, AND CONSTRUCTION GRANTS

23 TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds allocated 

25 to a State educational agency under subsection 

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1 (b) that are not reserved under paragraph (1), 

2 the State educational agency shall distribute 

3 100 percent of such funds to local educational 

4 agencies or, if the State educational agency is 

5 not responsible for the financing of education 

6 facilities, the State educational agency shall 

7 transfer such funds to the State entity respon8 sible for the financing of education facilities (re9 ferred to in this section as the ‘State entity’) 

10 for distribution by such State entity to local 

11 educational agencies in accordance with this 

12 paragraph, to be used, consistent with sub13 section (d), for public elementary school or sec14 ondary school repair, renovation, and construc15 tion. 

16 ‘‘(B) COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO LOCAL

17 EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.—The State edu18 cational agency or State entity shall carry out 

19 a program to award grants, on a competitive 

20 basis, to local educational agencies for public el21 ementary school or secondary school repair, 

22 renovation, and construction. Of the total 

23 amount available for distribution to local edu24 cational agencies under this paragraph, the 

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1 State educational agency or State entity, shall, 

2 in carrying out the grant competition— 

3 ‘‘(i) award to high-need local edu4 cational agencies, in the aggregate, not less 

5 than an amount which bears the same re6 lationship to such total amount as the ag7 gregate amount such high-need local edu8 cational agencies received under part A of 

9 title I for the fiscal year preceding the fis10 cal year for which the determination is 

11 made bears to the aggregate amount re12 ceived for such preceding fiscal year under 

13 such part by all local educational agencies 

14 in the State; 

15 ‘‘(ii) award to rural local educational 

16 agencies in the State, in the aggregate, not 

17 less than an amount which bears the same 

18 relationship to such total amount as the 

19 aggregate amount such rural local edu20 cational agencies received under part A of 

21 title I for the fiscal year preceding the fis22 cal year for which the determination is 

23 made bears to the aggregate amount re24 ceived for such preceding fiscal year under 

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1 such part by all local educational agencies 

2 in the State; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) award the remaining funds to 

4 local educational agencies in the State that 

5 did not receive a grant award under clause 

6 (i) or (ii), including to high-need local edu7 cational agencies and rural local edu8 cational agencies that did not receive a 

9 grant award under clause (i) or (ii). 

10 ‘‘(C) CRITERIA FOR AWARDING GRANTS.— 

11 In awarding competitive grants under this para12 graph, a State educational agency or State enti13 ty shall take into account the following criteria: 

14 ‘‘(i) PERCENTAGE OF POOR CHIL15 DREN.—The percentage of children served 

16 by the local educational agency who are be17 tween 5 to 17 years of age, inclusive, and 

18 who are from families with incomes below 

19 the poverty line. 

20 ‘‘(ii) NEED FOR SCHOOL REPAIR, 

21 RENOVATION, AND CONSTRUCTION.—The 

22 need of a local educational agency for 

23 school repair, renovation, and construction, 

24 as demonstrated by the condition of the 

25 public elementary school or secondary 

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1 school facilities of the local educational 

2 agency or the local educational agency’s 

3 need for such facilities. 

4 ‘‘(iii) GREEN SCHOOLS.—The extent 

5 to which a local educational agency will 

6 make use, in the repair, renovation, or con7 struction to be undertaken, of green prac8 tices that are certified, verified, or con9 sistent with any applicable provisions of— 

10 ‘‘(I) the LEED Green Building 

11 Rating System; 

12 ‘‘(II) Energy Star; 

13 ‘‘(III) the CHPS Criteria; 

14 ‘‘(IV) Green Globes; or 

15 ‘‘(V) an equivalent program 

16 adopted by the State or another juris17 diction with authority over the local 

18 educational agency. 

19 ‘‘(iv) FISCAL CAPACITY.—The fiscal 

20 capacity of a local educational agency to 

21 meet the needs of the local educational 

22 agency for repair, renovation, and con23 struction of public elementary school or 

24 secondary school facilities without assist25 ance under this section, including the abilmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 ity of the local educational agency to raise 

2 funds through the use of local bonding ca3 pacity and otherwise. 

4 ‘‘(v) LIKELIHOOD OF MAINTAINING

5 THE FACILITY.—The likelihood that a local 

6 educational agency will maintain, in good 

7 condition, any facility whose repair, ren8 ovation, or construction is assisted under 

9 this section. 

10 ‘‘(vi) CHARTER SCHOOL ACCESS TO

11 FUNDING.—In the case of a local edu12 cational agency that proposes to fund a re13 pair, renovation, or construction project for 

14 a public charter school, the extent to which 

15 the public charter school lacks access to 

16 funding for the project through the financ17 ing methods available to other public 

18 schools or local educational agencies in the 

19 State. 

20 ‘‘(D) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A State edu22 cational agency or State entity shall re23 quire local educational agencies to match 

24 funds awarded under this paragraph. 

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1 ‘‘(ii) MATCH AMOUNT.—The amount 

2 of a match described in clause (i) may be 

3 established by using a sliding scale that 

4 takes into account the relative poverty of 

5 the population served by the local edu6 cational agency. 

7 ‘‘(d) RULES APPLICABLE TO SCHOOL REPAIR, REN8 OVATION, AND CONSTRUCTION.—With respect to funds 

9 made available under this section that are used for school 

10 repair, renovation, and construction, the following rules 

11 shall apply: 

12 ‘‘(1) PERMISSIBLE USES OF FUNDS.—School 

13 repair, renovation, and construction shall be limited 

14 to 1 or more of the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) Upgrades, repair, construction, or re16 placement of public elementary school or sec17 ondary school building systems or components 

18 to improve the quality of education and ensure 

19 the health and safety of students and staff, in20 cluding— 

21 ‘‘(i) repairing, replacing, or con22 structing early learning facilities at public 

23 elementary schools (including renovation of 

24 existing facilities to serve children under 5 

25 years of age); 

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1 ‘‘(ii) repairing, replacing, or installing 

2 roofs, windows, doors, electrical wiring, 

3 plumbing systems, or sewage systems; 

4 ‘‘(iii) repairing, replacing, or installing 

5 heating, ventilation, or air conditioning 

6 systems (including insulation); and 

7 ‘‘(iv) bringing such public schools into 

8 compliance with fire and safety codes. 

9 ‘‘(B) School facilities modifications nec10 essary to render public elementary school or 

11 secondary school facilities accessible in order to 

12 comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act 

13 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.) and section 

14 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 

15 U.S.C. 794). 

16 ‘‘(C) Improvements to the environmental 

17 conditions of public elementary school or sec18 ondary school sites, including asbestos abate19 ment or removal, and the reduction or elimi20 nation of human exposure to lead-based paint, 

21 mold, or mildew. 

22 ‘‘(D) Measures designed to reduce or elimi23 nate human exposure to classroom noise and 

24 environmental noise pollution. 

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1 ‘‘(E) Modifications necessary to reduce the 

2 consumption of electricity, natural gas, oil, 

3 water, coal, or land. 

4 ‘‘(F) Upgrades or installations of edu5 cational technology infrastructure to ensure 

6 that students have access to up-to-date edu7 cational technology. 

8 ‘‘(G) Measures that will broaden or im9 prove the use of public elementary school or 

10 secondary school buildings and grounds by the 

11 community in order to improve educational out12 comes. 

13 ‘‘(2) IMPERMISSIBLE USES OF FUNDS.—No 

14 funds received under this section may be used for— 

15 ‘‘(A) payment of maintenance costs in con16 nection with any projects constructed in whole 

17 or part with Federal funds provided under this 

18 section; 

19 ‘‘(B) purchase or upgrade of vehicles; 

20 ‘‘(C) improvement or construction of 

21 stand-alone facilities whose purpose is not the 

22 education of children, including central office 

23 administration or operations or logistical sup24 port facilities; 

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1 ‘‘(D) purchase of information technology 

2 hardware, including computer, monitors, or 

3 printers; or 

4 ‘‘(E) stadiums or other facilities primarily 

5 used for athletic contests or exhibitions or other 

6 events for which admission is charged to the 

7 general public. 

8 ‘‘(3) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—A local 

9 educational agency or State-operated or State-sup10 ported school shall use Federal funds subject to this 

11 subsection only to supplement the amount of funds 

12 that would, in the absence of such Federal funds, be 

13 made available from non-Federal sources for school 

14 repair, renovation, and construction. 

15 ‘‘(e) QUALIFIED BIDDERS; COMPETITION.—Each 

16 local educational agency that receives funds under sub17 section (c)(2) shall ensure that, if the local educational 

18 agency carries out repair, renovation, or construction 

19 through a contract, any such contract process ensures the 

20 maximum number of qualified bidders, including small, 

21 minority, and women-owned businesses, through full and 

22 open competition. 

23 ‘‘(f) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Each local educational 

24 agency receiving funds under subsection (c)(2)— 

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1 ‘‘(1) shall provide an opportunity for public 

2 comment, and ensure that parents, educators, and 

3 all other interested members of the community in 

4 which the school to be assisted is located have the 

5 opportunity to consult, on the use of the funds re6 ceived under such subsection; 

7 ‘‘(2) shall provide the public with adequate and 

8 efficient notice of the opportunity described in para9 graph (1) in a widely read and distributed medium; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(3) shall provide the opportunity described in 

12 paragraph (1) in accordance with any applicable 

13 State and local law specifying how the comments 

14 may be received and how the comments may be re15 viewed by any member of the public. 

16 ‘‘(g) REPORTING.— 

17 ‘‘(1) LOCAL REPORTING.—Each local edu18 cational agency receiving funds under subsection 

19 (c)(2) shall submit a report to the State educational 

20 agency, at such time as the State educational agency 

21 may require, describing the use of such funds for 

22 school repair, renovation, and construction. 

23 ‘‘(2) STATE REPORTING.—Each State edu24 cational agency receiving funds under subsection (b) 

25 shall submit to the Secretary, at such time as the 

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1 Secretary may require, a report on the use of funds 

2 received under this section and made available to 

3 local educational agencies (and, if applicable, to 

4 State-operated or State-sponsored schools) for school 

5 repair, renovation, and construction. 

6 ‘‘(h) REALLOCATION.—If a State educational agency 

7 does not apply for an allocation of funds under subsection 

8 (b) for a fiscal year, or does not use the State educational 

9 agency’s entire allocation for such fiscal year, then the 

10 Secretary may reallocate the amount of the State edu11 cational agency’s allocation (or the remainder thereof, as 

12 the case may be) for such fiscal year to the remaining 

13 State educational agencies in accordance with subsection 

14 (b). 

15 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

16 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

17 $6,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, and such sums as 

18 may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2011 through 

19 2014. 

20 ‘‘SEC. 5622. NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATIS21 TICS STUDY. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The National Center for Edu23 cation Statistics (NCES) shall conduct a study of the con24 dition of public elementary school and secondary school 

25 facilities in the United States. 

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1 ‘‘(b) ESTIMATES AND MEASURES.—In conducting 

2 the study, the National Center for Education Statistics 

3 shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) estimate the costs needed to repair and 

5 renovate all public elementary schools and secondary 

6 schools in the United States to good overall condi7 tion; and 

8 ‘‘(2) measure recent expenditures of Federal, 

9 State, local and private funds for public elementary 

10 school and secondary school repair, renovation, and 

11 construction costs in the United States. 

12 ‘‘(c) ANALYSIS.—In conducting the study, the Na13 tional Center for Education Statistics shall examine trends 

14 in expenditures of Federal, State, local, and private funds 

15 since fiscal year 2001 for repair, renovation, and construc16 tion activities for public elementary schools and secondary 

17 schools in the United States, including examining the dif18 ferences between the types of schools assisted, and the 

19 types of repair, renovation, and construction activities con20 ducted, with those expenditures. 

21 ‘‘(d) REPORT.—The National Center for Education 

22 Statistics shall prepare and submit to Congress a report 

23 containing the results of the study. 

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1 ‘‘SEC. 5623. NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR EDU2 CATIONAL FACILITIES. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—From the funds appropriated 

4 under subsection (c), the Secretary shall award a grant 

5 or contract to maintain a clearinghouse that will collect 

6 and disseminate information on effective, best educational 

7 practices, and the latest research, regarding the planning, 

8 design, financing, construction, improvement, operation, 

9 and maintenance of safe, healthy, high-performance public 

10 school facilities for nursery and pre-kindergarten, kinder11 garten through grade 12, and higher, education. 

12 ‘‘(b) DURATION.—The grant or contract under sub13 section (a) shall be awarded for a period of 5 years. 

14 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

16 $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014.’’. 

Æ 

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