I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 599

To amend 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 

FEBRUARY 5, 2003

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

on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To amend 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. GRANTS FOR SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE IM4 PROVEMENT. 

5 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

6 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

7 the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘TITLE X—SCHOOL INFRASTRUC2 TURE IMPROVEMENT 

3 ‘‘SEC. 10001. FINDINGS. 

4 ‘‘The Congress finds the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) There are 52,700,000 students in 88,223 

6 elementary and secondary schools across the United 

7 States. The current Federal expenditure for edu8 cation infrastructure is $12,000,000. The Federal 

9 expenditure per enrolled student for education infra10 structure is 23 cents. An appropriation of 

11 $22,000,000,000 would result in a Federal expendi12 ture for education infrastructure of $417 per stu13 dent per fiscal year. 

14 ‘‘(2) The General Accounting Office in 1995 re15 ported that the Nation’s elementary and secondary 

16 schools need approximately $112,000,000,000 to re17 pair or upgrade facilities. Increased enrollments and 

18 continued building decay has raised this need to an 

19 estimated $200,000,000,000. Local education agen20 cies, particularly those in central cities or those with 

21 high minority populations, cannot obtain adequate 

22 financial resources to complete necessary repairs or 

23 construction. These local education agencies face an 

24 annual struggle to meet their operating budgets. 
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1 ‘‘(3) According to a 1991 survey conducted by 

2 the American Association of School Administrators, 

3 74 percent of all public school buildings need to be 

4 replaced. Almost one-third of such buildings were 

5 built prior to World War II. 

6 ‘‘(4) The majority of the schools in unsatisfac7 tory condition are concentrated in central cities and 

8 serve large populations of poor or minority students. 

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

10 schools still have polluting coal burning furnaces. 

11 Decaying buildings threaten the health, safety, and 

12 learning opportunities of students. A growing body 

13 of research has linked student achievement and be14 havior to the physical building conditions and over15 crowding. Asthma and other respiratory illnesses 

16 exist in above average rates in areas of coal burning 

17 pollution. 

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

19 General Accounting Office in 1995, most schools are 

20 unprepared in critical areas for the 21st century. 

21 Most schools do not fully use modern technology and 

22 lack access to the information superhighway. Schools 

23 in central cities and schools with minority popu24 lations above 50 percent are more likely to fall short 

25 of adequate technology elements and have a greater 
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1 number of unsatisfactory environmental conditions 

2 than other schools. 

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

4 science laboratories are inadequate in old buildings 

5 and have outdated equipment. Frequently, in over6 crowded schools, these same facilities are utilized as 

7 classrooms for an expanding school population. 

8 ‘‘(8) Overcrowded classrooms have a dire im9 pact on learning. Students in overcrowded schools 

10 score lower on both mathematics and reading exams 

11 than do students in schools with adequate space. In 

12 addition, overcrowding in schools negatively affects 

13 both classroom activities and instructional tech14 niques. Overcrowding also disrupts normal operating 

15 procedures, such as lunch periods beginning as early 

16 as 10 a.m. and extending into the afternoon; teach17 ers being unable to use a single room for an entire 

18 day; too few lockers for students, and jammed hall19 ways and restrooms which encourage disorder and 

20 rowdy behavior. 

21 ‘‘(9) School modernization for information tech22 nology is an absolute necessity for education for a 

23 coming CyberCivilization. The General Accounting 

24 Office has reported that many schools are not using 

25 modern technology and many students do not have 
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1 access to facilities that can support education into 

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

3 computer literacy as basic as reading, writing, and 

4 arithmetic. 

5 ‘‘(10) Both the national economy and national 

6 security require an investment in school construc7 tion. Students educated in modern, safe, and well8 equipped schools will contribute to the continued 

9 strength of the American economy and will ensure 

10 that our Armed Forces are the best trained and best 

11 prepared in the world. The shortage of qualified in12 formation technology workers continues to escalate 

13 and presently many foreign workers are being re14 cruited to staff jobs in America. Military manpower 

15 shortages of personnel capable of operating high 

16 tech equipment are already acute in the Navy and 

17 increasing in other branches of the Armed Forces. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 10002. PURPOSE. 

19 The purpose of this title is to provide Federal funds 

20 to enable local educational agencies to finance the costs 

21 associated with the construction, repair, and moderniza22 tion for information technology of school facilities within 

23 their jurisdictions. 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 10003. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE IN THE FORM OF 

2 GRANTS. 

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

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To assist in the construc5 tion, reconstruction, renovation, or modernization for 

6 information technology of elementary and secondary 

7 schools, the Secretary shall make grants of funds to 

8 State educational agencies for the construction, re9 construction, or renovation, or for modernization for 

10 information technology, of such schools. 

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

12 amount appropriated under section 10006 for any 

13 fiscal year, the Secretary shall allocate to each State 

14 an amount that bears the same ratio to such appro15 priated amount as the number of school-age children 

16 in such State bears to the total number of school17 age children in all the States. The Secretary shall 

18 determine the number of school-age children on the 

19 basis of the most recent satisfactory data available 

20 to the Secretary. 

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

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

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

24 Secretary an application containing or accompanied 

25 by such information and assurances as the Secretary 

26 may require. Such applications shall specify the 
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1 method by which the State educational agency will 

2 allocate funds to local educational agencies and the 

3 procedures by which projects will be selected for 

4 funding. Such applications shall contain assurances 

5 that such funds will only be provided if the State 

6 educational agency finds that such constructions will 

7 be undertaken in an economical manner, and that 

8 any such construction, reconstruction, renovation, or 

9 modernization is not or will not be of elaborate or 

10 extravagant design or materials. 

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

12 funding under this title, the State educational agen13 cy shall consider—

14 ‘‘(A) the threat the condition of the phys15 ical plant poses to the safety and well-being of 

16 students; 

17 ‘‘(B) the demonstrated need for the con18 struction, reconstruction, renovation, or mod19 ernization as based on the condition of the facil20 ity; 

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

22 or replaced; 

23 ‘‘(D) whether the facility is eligible to re24 ceive education technology assistance from the 

25 National Education Technology Funding Cor-
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1 poration under section 708 of the Telecommuni2 cations Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–104; 110 

3 Stat. 157); and 

4 ‘‘(E) the needs related to preparation for 

5 modern technology. 

6 ‘‘(3) CHARTER SCHOOLS.—In approving 

7 projects for funding under this title, the State edu8 cational agency shall ensure that a public charter 

9 school that constitutes a local educational agency 

10 under State law is eligible for assistance under the 

11 same terms and conditions as any other local edu12 cational agency. 

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

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

15 exceeding the total cost of the facility construction, recon16 struction, renovation, or modernization for information 

17 technology, as determined by the State educational agen18 cy. 

19 ‘‘SEC. 10004. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

20 ‘‘The Secretary shall take such action as may be nec21 essary to ensure that all laborers and mechanics employed 

22 by contractors or subcontractors on any project assisted 

23 under this title—

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

25 those prevailing on the same type of work on similar 
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1 construction in the immediate locality as determined 

2 by the Secretary of Labor in accordance with the 

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

4 amended; and 

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

6 in any 1 week unless the employee receives wages for 

7 the employee’s employment in excess of the hours 

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

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

10 employee is employed; 

11 but the Secretary may waive the application of this sub12 section in cases or classes or cases where laborers or me13 chanics, not otherwise employed at any time in the con14 struction of such project, voluntarily donate their services 

15 without full compensation for the purpose of lowering the 

16 costs of construction and the Secretary determines that 

17 any amounts saved thereby are fully credited to the edu18 cational institution undertaking the construction. 

19 ‘‘SEC. 10005. DEFINITIONS. 

20 ‘‘As used in this title: 

21 ‘‘(1) SCHOOL.—The term ‘school’ means struc22 tures suitable for use as classrooms, laboratories, li23 braries, and related facilities, the primary purpose of 

24 which is the instruction of elementary and secondary 

25 school students. 
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1 ‘‘(2) STATE.—The term State includes the sev2 eral States of the United States and the District of 

3 Columbia. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 10006. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

6 this title, $3,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and a sum 

7 no less than this amount for each of the 4 succeeding fis8 cal years.’’.

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