[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 599 Introduced in House (IH)]







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.

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

SECTION 1. GRANTS FOR SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT.

    The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

              ``TITLE X--SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT

``SEC. 10001. 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 education infrastructure is 
        $12,000,000. The Federal expenditure per enrolled student for 
        education infrastructure is 23 cents. An appropriation of 
        $22,000,000,000 would result in a Federal expenditure for 
        education infrastructure of $417 per student per fiscal year.
            ``(2) The General Accounting Office in 1995 reported that 
        the Nation's elementary and secondary schools need 
        approximately $112,000,000,000 to repair or upgrade facilities. 
        Increased enrollments and continued building decay has raised 
        this need to an estimated $200,000,000,000. Local education 
        agencies, 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 unsatisfactory 
        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 behavior to the physical building conditions 
        and overcrowding. 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 populations 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 overcrowded schools, these same 
        facilities are utilized as classrooms for an expanding school 
        population.
            ``(8) Overcrowded classrooms have a dire impact 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 techniques. 
        Overcrowding also disrupts normal operating procedures, such as 
        lunch periods beginning as early as 10 a.m. and extending into 
        the afternoon; teachers being unable to use a single room for 
        an entire day; too few lockers for students, and jammed 
        hallways and restrooms which encourage disorder and rowdy 
        behavior.
            ``(9) School modernization for information technology 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 construction. 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 information technology 
        workers continues to escalate and presently many foreign 
        workers are being recruited 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. 10002. 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 modernization for information technology of 
school facilities within their jurisdictions.

``SEC. 10003. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE IN THE FORM OF GRANTS.

    ``(a) Authority and Conditions for Grants.--
            ``(1) In general.--To assist in the construction, 
        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, reconstruction, or renovation, or for 
        modernization for information technology, of such schools.
            ``(2) Formula for allocation.--From the amount appropriated 
        under section 10006 for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall 
        allocate to each State an amount that bears the same ratio to 
        such appropriated 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 agency shall consider--
                    ``(A) the threat the condition of the physical 
                plant poses to the safety and well-being of students;
                    ``(B) the demonstrated need for the construction, 
                reconstruction, renovation, or modernization as based 
                on the condition of the facility;
                    ``(C) the age of the facility to be renovated or 
                replaced;
                    ``(D) whether the facility is eligible to receive 
                education technology assistance from the National 
                Education Technology Funding Corporation under section 
                708 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Public Law 
                104-104; 110 Stat. 157); and
                    ``(E) the needs related to preparation for modern 
                technology.
            ``(3) Charter schools.--In approving projects for funding 
        under this title, the State educational agency shall ensure 
        that a public charter school that constitutes a local 
        educational agency under State law is eligible for assistance 
        under the same terms and conditions as any other local 
        educational agency.
    ``(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, reconstruction, renovation, or modernization 
for information technology, as determined by the State educational 
agency.

``SEC. 10004. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

    ``The Secretary shall take such action as may be necessary to 
ensure that all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or 
subcontractors on any project assisted under this title--
            ``(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 subsection in cases 
or classes or cases where laborers or mechanics, not otherwise employed 
at any time in the construction 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 fully credited to the educational institution 
undertaking the construction.

``SEC. 10005. DEFINITIONS.

    ``As used in this title:
            ``(1) School.--The term `school' means structures suitable 
        for use as classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and related 
        facilities, the primary purpose of which is the instruction of 
        elementary and secondary school students.
            ``(2) State.--The term State includes the several States of 
        the United States and the District of Columbia.

``SEC. 10006. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this title, 
$3,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and a sum no less than this amount 
for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.''.
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