performance and retaining high-quality, committed 
educators. 
(2) The 2005 Infrastructure Report Card com-
piled by the American Society of Civil Engineers 
gives public schools a D grade. 
(3) The General Accounting Office, in 1995, re-
ported that the Nation’s elementary and secondary 
schools require approximately $112,000,000,000 to 
repair or upgrade facilities. 
(4) Since 1995, public elementary and sec-
ondary school enrollment increased by more than 
3,000,000 students. Since 1995, more than half of 
the construction funds for such schools were spent 
on new school construction, although repair and ren-
ovation of existing schools are critically needed, par-
ticularly in school districts with disadvantaged popu-
lations, where local educational agencies are working 
to close achievement gaps between subgroups of stu-
dents. 
(5) A report issued by the National Education 
Association 
in 
2000 
estimated 
that 
$322,000,000,000 was needed to repair and upgrade 
the Nation’s elementary and secondary schools, in-
cluding construction of new schools. 
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(6) The Department of Education documented 
in 1998 that the average age of a public elementary 
or secondary school building is estimated at 42 years 
old, an age when schools tend to deteriorate. 
(7) 
School 
districts 
spent 
more 
than 
$304,000,000,000 (in 2005 dollars) for public school 
construction contracts from 1995 through 2004, ac-
cording to data collected by McGraw-Hill Construc-
tion. 
(8) According to a 2006 report by the Building 
Educational Success Together (referred to in this 
section as ‘‘BEST’’) coalition, the per-student in-
vestment made in the most affluent school districts 
to repair or construct schools was nearly double the 
amount of the per-student investment made in the 
most disadvantaged school districts. 
(9) The BEST report also found that students 
in school districts with predominantly Caucasian en-
rollment benefitted from about $2,000 more per stu-
dent in school repair and construction spending than 
their peers living in schools districts with predomi-
nantly minority enrollment. 
(10) Since 1998, the Iowa Demonstration Con-
struction Grant Program has provided $116,000,000 
in Federal assistance to over 260 school districts for 
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school repair and construction. That Federal invest-
ment in school repair and construction has gen-
erated millions of dollars of additional local funding 
through a match required by the State government. 
SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR SCHOOL RENOVATION. 
Part D of title V of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7241 et seq.) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘Subpart 22—School Renovation 
‘‘SEC. 5621. GRANTS FOR SCHOOL RENOVATION. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) CHARTER
SCHOOL.—The term ‘charter 
school’ has the meaning given the term in section 
5210. 
‘‘(2) HIGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN-
CY.—The term ‘high-need local educational agency’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 
2102(3)(A). 
‘‘(3) POOR CHILDREN AND CHILD POVERTY.— 
The terms ‘poor children’ and ‘child poverty’ refer to 
children 5 to 17 years of age, inclusive, who are 
from families with incomes below the poverty line 
(as defined by the Office of Management and Budg-
et and revised annually in accordance with section 
673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act 
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(42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) applicable to a family of the 
size involved for the most recent fiscal year for 
which data satisfactory to the Secretary are avail-
able. 
‘‘(4) RURAL LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 
The term ‘rural local educational agency’ means a 
local educational agency that the State determines is 
located in a rural area using objective data and a 
commonly employed definition of the term ‘rural’. 
‘‘(5) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 
the several states of the United States, the District 
of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 
‘‘(b) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—From the funds ap-
propriated under subsection (j) for a fiscal year, the Sec-
retary shall allocate— 
‘‘(1) 1 percent of such amount, to be used— 
‘‘(A) to provide assistance to the outlying 
areas; and 
‘‘(B) for payments to the Secretary of the 
Interior to provide assistance to Bureau-funded 
schools; and 
‘‘(2) the remainder to each State educational 
agency serving a State an amount that bears the 
same relation to the amount appropriated under 
subsection (j) for the fiscal year as the amount the 
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State received under part A of title I for fiscal year 
2008 bears to the amount all States received under 
such part for fiscal year 2008, except that no such 
State educational agency shall receive less than 0.5 
percent of the amount allocated under this sub-
section. 
‘‘(c) WITHIN-STATE ALLOCATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.— 
‘‘(A) STATE
EDUCATIONAL
AGENCY
AD-
MINISTRATION.—Except as provided in sub-
paragraph (D), each State educational agency 
may reserve not more than 2 percent of its allo-
cation under subsection (b) for the purpose of 
administering the distribution of grants under 
this subsection. 
‘‘(B) REQUIRED
USES.—The State edu-
cational agency shall use a portion of the re-
served funds to establish or support a State- 
level database of public school facility inventory, 
condition, design, and utilization. 
‘‘(C) PERMISSIBLE USES.—The State edu-
cational agency may use a portion of the re-
served funds for— 
‘‘(i) developing a statewide edu-
cational facility master plan; 
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‘‘(ii) developing policies, procedures, 
and standards for high quality public 
school facilities; 
‘‘(iii) supporting interagency collabo-
ration that will lead to broad community 
use of public school facilities, and school- 
based services for students served by high- 
need local educational agencies or rural 
local educational agencies; and 
‘‘(iv) helping to defray the cost of 
issuing State bonds to finance public 
school repair and renovation. 
‘‘(D) STATE ENTITY ADMINISTRATION.—If 
the State educational agency transfers funds to 
a State entity described in paragraph (2)(A), 
the State educational agency shall transfer to 
such entity 0.75 of the amount reserved under 
this paragraph for the purpose of administering 
the distribution of grants under this subsection. 
‘‘(2) RESERVATION FOR COMPETITIVE SCHOOL 
REPAIR AND RENOVATION GRANTS TO LOCAL EDU-
CATIONAL AGENCIES.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to the res-
ervation under paragraph (1), of the funds allo-
cated to a State educational agency under sub-
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section (b), the State educational agency shall 
distribute 100 percent of such funds to local 
educational agencies or, if such State edu-
cational agency is not responsible for the fi-
nancing of education facilities, the State edu-
cational agency shall transfer such funds to the 
State entity responsible for the financing of 
education facilities (referred to in this section 
as the ‘State entity’) for distribution by such 
entity to local educational agencies in accord-
ance with this paragraph, to be used, consistent 
with subsection (d), for school repair and ren-
ovation. 
‘‘(B) COMPETITIVE
GRANTS
TO
LOCAL 
EDUCATIONAL
AGENCIES.—The 
State 
edu-
cational agency or State entity shall carry out 
a program awarding grants, on a competitive 
basis, to local educational agencies for the pur-
pose described in subparagraph (A). Of the 
total amount available for distribution to local 
educational agencies under this paragraph, the 
State educational agency or State entity, shall, 
in carrying out the grant competition— 
‘‘(i) award to high-need local edu-
cational agencies, in the aggregate, at least 
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an amount which bears the same relation-
ship to such total amount as the aggregate 
amount such high-need local educational 
agencies received under part A of title I 
for fiscal year 2008 bears to the aggregate 
amount received for such fiscal year under 
such part by all local educational agencies 
in the State; 
‘‘(ii) award to rural local educational 
agencies in the State, in the aggregate, at 
least an amount which bears the same re-
lationship to such total amount as the ag-
gregate amount such rural local edu-
cational agencies received under part A of 
title I for fiscal year 2008 bears to the ag-
gregate amount received for such fiscal 
year under such part by all local edu-
cational agencies in the State; and 
‘‘(iii) award the remaining funds to 
local educational agencies not receiving an 
award under clause (i) or (ii), including 
high-need local educational agencies and 
rural local educational agencies that did 
not receive such an award. 
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‘‘(C) CRITERIA FOR AWARDING GRANTS.— 
In awarding competitive grants under this para-
graph, a State educational agency or State enti-
ty shall take into account the following criteria: 
‘‘(i) PERCENTAGE
OF
POOR
CHIL-
DREN.—The percentage of poor children 5 
to 17 years of age, inclusive, in a local 
educational agency. 
‘‘(ii) NEED FOR SCHOOL REPAIR AND 
RENOVATION.—The need of a local edu-
cational agency for school repair and ren-
ovation, as demonstrated by the condition 
of the public school facilities of the local 
educational agency. 
‘‘(iii) FISCAL
CAPACITY.—The fiscal 
capacity of a local educational agency to 
meet the needs of the local educational 
agency for repair and renovation of public 
school facilities without assistance under 
this section, including the ability of the 
local educational agency to raise funds 
through the use of local bonding capacity 
and otherwise. 
‘‘(iv) CHARTER
SCHOOL
ACCESS
TO 
FUNDING.—In the case of a local edu-
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cational agency that proposes to fund a re-
pair or renovation project for a charter 
school, the extent to which the school has 
access to funding for the project through 
the financing methods available to other 
public schools or local educational agencies 
in the State. 
‘‘(v) LIKELIHOOD
OF
MAINTAINING 
THE
FACILITY.—The likelihood that the 
local educational agency will maintain, in 
good condition, any facility whose repair or 
renovation is assisted under this section. 
‘‘(D) 
POSSIBLE
MATCHING
REQUIRE-
MENT.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—A State edu-
cational agency or State entity may require 
local educational agencies to match funds 
awarded under this subsection. 
‘‘(ii) MATCH AMOUNT.—The amount 
of a match described in clause (i) may be 
established by using a sliding scale that 
takes into account the relative poverty of 
the population served by the local edu-
cational agency. 
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