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 Edu-
cation Act of 1965 to provide grants to improve the
infrastructure of elementary and secondary schools.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REVISION OF TITLE XII.
Title XII of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.) is amended
to read as follows:
‘‘SEC. 12001. FINDINGS.
‘‘The Congress finds the following:
‘‘(1) There are 52,700,000 students in 88,223
elementary and secondary schools across the United
States. The current Federal expenditure for edu-
cation infrastructure is $12,000,000. The Federal
expenditure per enrolled student for education infra-
structure 
is 
cents. 
An 
appropriation 
of
$22,000,000,000 would result in a Federal expendi-
ture for education infrastructure of $417 per stu-
dent per fiscal year.
‘‘(2) The General Accounting Office in 1995 re-
ported that the Nation’s elementary and secondary
schools need approximately $112,000,000,000 to re-
pair or upgrade facilities. Increased enrollments and
continued building decay has raised this need to an
estimated $200,000,000,000. Local education agen-
cies, particularly those in central cities or those with
high minority populations, cannot obtain adequate
financial resources to complete necessary repairs or
construction. These local education agencies face an
annual struggle to meet their operating budgets.
‘‘(3) According to a 1991 survey conducted by
the American Association of School Administrators,
74 percent of all public school buildings need to be
replaced. Almost one-third of such buildings were
built prior to World War II.
‘‘(4) The majority of the schools in unsatisfac-
tory condition are concentrated in central cities and
serve large populations of poor or minority students.
‘‘(5) In the large cities of America, numerous
schools still have polluting coal burning furnaces.
Decaying buildings threaten the health, safety, and
learning opportunities of students. A growing body
of research has linked student achievement and be-
havior to the physical building conditions and over-
crowding. Asthma and other respiratory illnesses
exist in above average rates in areas of coal burning
pollution.
‘‘(6) According to a study conducted by the
General Accounting Office in 1995, most schools are
unprepared in critical areas for the 21st century.
Most schools do not fully use modern technology and
lack access to the information superhighway. Schools
in central cities and schools with minority popu-
lations above 50 percent are more likely to fall short
of adequate technology elements and have a greater
number of unsatisfactory environmental conditions
than other schools.
‘‘(7) School facilities such as libraries and
science laboratories are inadequate in old buildings
and have outdated equipment. Frequently, in over-
crowded schools, these same facilities are utilized as
classrooms for an expanding school population.
‘‘(8) Overcrowded classrooms have a dire im-
pact on learning. Students in overcrowded schools
score lower on both mathematics and reading exams
than do students in schools with adequate space. In
addition, overcrowding in schools negatively affects
both classroom activities and instructional tech-
niques. Overcrowding also disrupts normal operating
procedures, such as lunch periods beginning as early
as 10 a.m. and extending into the afternoon; teach-
ers being unable to use a single room for an entire
day; too few lockers for students, and jammed hall-
ways and restrooms which encourage disorder and
rowdy behavior.
‘‘(9) School modernization for information tech-
nology is an absolute necessity for education for a
coming CyberCivilization. The General Accounting
Office has reported that many schools are not using
modern technology and many students do not have
access to facilities that can support education into
the 21st century. It is imperative that we now view
computer literacy as basic as reading, writing, and
arithmetic.
‘‘(10) Both the national economy and national
security require an investment in school construc-
tion. Students educated in modern, safe, and well-
equipped schools will contribute to the continued
strength of the American economy and will ensure
that our Armed Forces are the best trained and best
prepared in the world. The shortage of qualified in-
formation technology workers continues to escalate
and presently many foreign workers are being re-
cruited to staff jobs in America. Military manpower
shortages of personnel capable of operating high
tech equipment are already acute in the Navy and
increasing in other branches of the Armed Forces.
‘‘SEC. 12002. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this title is to provide Federal funds
to enable local educational agencies to finance the costs
associated with the construction, repair, and moderniza-
tion for information technology of school facilities within
their jurisdictions.
‘‘SEC. 12003. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE IN THE FORM OF
GRANTS.
‘‘(a) AUTHORITY AND CONDITIONS FOR GRANTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To assist in the construc-
tion, reconstruction, renovation, or modernization for
information technology of elementary and secondary
schools, the Secretary shall make grants of funds to
State educational agencies for the construction, re-
construction, or renovation, or for modernization for
information technology, of such schools.
‘‘(2) FORMULA
FOR
ALLOCATION.—From the
amount appropriated under section 12006 for any
fiscal year, the Secretary shall allocate to each State
an amount that bears the same ratio to such appro-
priated amount as the number of school-age children
in such State bears to the total number of school-
age children in all the States. The Secretary shall
determine the number of school-age children on the
basis of the most recent satisfactory data available
to the Secretary.
‘‘(b) CONDITIONS FOR RECEIPT OF GRANTS.—
‘‘(1) APPLICATIONS.—In order to receive a
grant under this title, a State shall submit to the
Secretary an application containing or accompanied
by such information and assurances as the Secretary
may require. Such applications shall specify the
method by which the State educational agency will
allocate funds to local educational agencies and the
procedures by which projects will be selected for
funding. Such applications shall contain assurances
that such funds will only be provided if the State
educational agency finds that such constructions will
be undertaken in an economical manner, and that
any such construction, reconstruction, renovation, or
modernization is not or will not be of elaborate or
extravagant design or materials.
‘‘(2) PRIORITIES.—In approving projects for
funding under this title, the State educational agen-
cy shall consider—
‘‘(A) the threat the condition of the phys-
ical plant poses to the safety and well-being of
students;
‘‘(B) the demonstrated need for the con-
struction, reconstruction, renovation, or mod-
ernization as based on the condition of the facil-
ity;
‘‘(C) the age of the facility to be renovated
or replaced; and
‘‘(D) the needs related to preparation for
modern technology.
‘‘(c) AMOUNT AND CONDITION OF GRANTS.—A grant
to a local educational agency may be in an amount not
exceeding the total cost of the facility construction, recon-
struction, renovation, or modernization for information
technology, as determined by the State educational agen-
cy.
‘‘SEC. 12004. GENERAL PROVISIONS.
‘‘The Secretary shall take such action as may be nec-
essary to ensure that all laborers and mechanics employed
by contractors or subcontractors on any project assisted
under this part—
‘‘(1) shall be paid wages at rates not less than
those prevailing on the same type of work on similar
construction in the immediate locality as determined
by the Secretary of Labor in accordance with the
Act of March 31, 1931 (Davis-Bacon Act), as
amended; and
‘‘(2) shall be employed not more than 40 hours
in any 1 week unless the employee receives wages for
the employee’s employment in excess of the hours
specified in paragraph (1) at a rate not less than
one and one-half times the regular rate at which the
employee is employed;
but the Secretary may waive the application of this sub-
section in cases or classes or cases where laborers or me-
chanics, not otherwise employed at any time in the con-
struction of such project, voluntarily donate their services
without full compensation for the purpose of lowering the
costs of construction and the Secretary determines that
any amounts saved thereby are full credited to the edu-
cational institution undertaking the construction.
‘‘SEC. 12005. DEFINITIONS.
‘‘As used in this title:
‘‘(1) SCHOOL.—The term ‘school’ means struc-
tures suitable for use as classrooms, laboratories, li-
braries, and related facilities, the primary purpose of
which is the instruction of elementary and secondary
school students.
‘‘(2) STATE.—The term State includes the sev-
eral States of the United States and the District of
Columbia.
‘‘SEC. 12006. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out
this title, $22,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and a sum
no less than this amount for each of the 4 succeeding fis-
cal years.’’.
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