[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 21 (Thursday, February 2, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1995-S2006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE CONDITION OF AMERICA'S SCHOOLS

  Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, I rise today to present the results 
of a very important study that has been conducted by the General 
Accounting Office on the condition of America's schools and to 
highlight the merits of the Education Infrastructure Act.
  Mr. President, this report by the GAO, entitled ``School Facilities--
Condition of America's Schools,'' was issued yesterday, and I ask 
unanimous consent that the entire report by the GAO be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the report was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

               [From the U.S. General Accounting Office]

           School Facilities--Condition of America's Schools

     February 1, 1995.

     Hon. Carol Moseley-Braun,
     Hon. Edward M. Kennedy,
     Hon. Claiborne Pell,
     Hon. Paul Simon,
     Hon. Paul Wellstone,
     U.S. Senate.

       The nation has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in 
     school infrastructure to create an environment where children 
     can be properly educated and prepared for the future. Almost 
     exclusively a state and local responsibility, this 
     infrastructure requires maintenance and capital investment. 
     However, public concern is growing that while laws require 
     children to attend school, some school buildings may be 
     unsafe or even harmful to children's health. Recently, for 
     example, a federal judge would not allow the schools in our 
     nation's capital to open on time until thousands of life-
     threatening fire code violations were corrected. Similarly, 
     noncompliance with asbestos requirements kept over 1000 New 
     York City schools closed for the first 11 days of the 1993 
     school year. Although such situations may be well-publicized, 
     little information exists documenting the extent to which the 
     nation's schools may lack the appropriate facilities to 
     educate their students.
       Widely quoted studies\1\ conducted in recent years report 
     that school facilities are in poor condition. While these 
     studies documented some problems and provided much anecdotal 
     information, they had different methodological problems 
     limiting their usefulness. Further, the Department of 
     Education has not assessed the condition of the nation's 
     school facilities since 1965. Accordingly, you requested that 
     we conduct a study that could be used as a basis for 
     determining the condition of the nation's school facilities.
     \1\Footnotes at end of article.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
       In response to your request and subsequent discussions with 
     your office, this report presents national information on (1) 
     the amount of funding that the nation's public elementary and 
     secondary schools report needing to improve inadequate 
     facilities and (2) the overall physical condition and 
     prevalence of schools that need major repairs. Another report 
     is forthcoming shortly that will report the location of and 
     other demographic analyses for schools that need major 
     repairs. These reports are the first in a series responding 
     to your request.\2\


                            results in brief

       Based on estimates by school officials in a national sample 
     of schools, we project that the nation's schools need about 
     $112 billion\3\ to repair or upgrade America's 
     multibillion\4\ dollar investment in facilities to good 
     overall condition.\5\ Of this, $11 billion (10 percent) is 
     needed over the next 3 years to comply with federal mandates 
     that require schools to make all programs accessible to all 
     students and to remove or correct hazardous substances such 
     as asbestos, lead in water or paint, materials in underground 
     storage tanks (UST), radon, or meet other requirements.
       About two-thirds of America's schools reported that all 
     buildings were in at least overall adequate condition, at 
     most needing only some preventive maintenance or corrective 
     repair. However, about 14 million students attend the
      remaining one-third of schools that reported needing 
     extensive repair or replacement of one or more 
     buildings.\6\ These schools are distributed nationwide. 
     Also, problems with major building features, such as 
     plumbing, are widespread even among those schools reported 
     in at least adequate condition. Almost 60 percent of 
     America's schools reported at least one major building 
     feature in disrepair, needing to be extensively repaired, 
     overhauled, or replaced. Most of these schools had 
     multiple problems. In addition, about half reported at 
     least one unsatisfactory environmental condition in their 
     schools, such as poor ventilation, heating or lighting 
     problems, or poor physical security. Most of these schools 
     also had multiple unsatisfactory environmental conditions. 
     Some district officials we spoke to told us that a major 
     factor in the declining physical condition of the nation's 
     schools has been decisions by school districts to defer 
     vital maintenance and repair expenditures from year to 
     year due to lack of funds.


                               BACKGROUND

       Elementary and secondary education, the nation's largest 
     public enterprise, is conducted in over 80,000 schools in 
     about 15,000 districts. America's public schools serve over 
     42 million students. About 70 percent of schools serve 27 
     million elementary students; 24 percent serve 13.8 million 
     secondary students; and 6 percent serve 1.2 million students 
     in combined elementary and secondary and other schools.
       America's traditional one-room school houses have been 
     replaced by larger facilities that may have more than one 
     building. Comprising classroom, administrative, and other 
     areas like gymnasiums and auditoriums, a school may have an 
     original building, any number of permanent additions to that 
     building, and a variety of temporary buildings--each 
     constructed at different times. Buildings that have been well 
     maintained and renovated at periodic intervals have a useful 
     life equivalent to a new building.
       A number of state courts as well as the Congress have 
     recognized that a high-quality learning environment is 
     essential to educating the nation's children. Crucial to 
     establishing that learning environment is that children 
     attend school in decent facilities. ``Decent facilities'' was 
     specifically defined by one court as those that are ``* * * 
     structurally safe, contain fire safety measures, sufficient 
     exits, an adequate and safe water supply, an adequate sewage 
     disposal system, sufficient and sanitary toilet facilities 
     and plumbing fixtures, adequate storage, adequate light, be 
     in good repair and attractively painted as well as contain 
     acoustics for noise control. . . .''\7\ More recently, the 
     Congress passed the Education Infrastructure Act of 1984,\8\ 
     in which it stated that ``improving the quality of public 
     elementary and secondary schools will help our Nation meet 
     the National Education Goals.''\9\ Despite these efforts, 
     studies and media reports on school facilities since 1965 
     indicate that many public elementary and secondary schools 
     are in substandard condition and need major repairs due to 
     leaking roofs, plumbing problems, inadequate heating systems, 
     or other system failures.
       Although localities generally finance construction and 
     repair, with states playing a variety of roles,\10\ federal 
     programs have monies to help localities offset the impact of 
     federal activities, such as Impact Aid,\11\ improving
      accessibility for the disabled, and managing hazardous 
     materials. However, these programs do not totally offset 
     all costs. For example, prior GAO work found that federal 
     assistance provided for asbestos management under the 
     Asbestos School Hazard Abatement Act of 1984 did not meet 
     the needs of all affected schools. From 1988 through 1991, 
     the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received 1,746 
     qualified applications totaling $599 million but only 
     awarded $157 million to 586 school districts it considered 
     to have the worst asbestos problems. EPA was aware of the 
     shortfall in federal assistance but believed that state 
     and local governments should bear these costs.\12\
       Because of the perception that federal programs--as well as 
     current state and local financing mechanisms--did not begin 
     to address the serious facilities needs of many of America's 
     schools, the Congress passed the Education Infrastructure Act 
     of 1994. The Congress then appropriated $100 million for 
     grants to schools for repair, renovation, alteration, or 
     construction.


                         scope and methodology
       To determine the amount of funding needed to improve 
     inadequate facilities and the overall physical condition and 
     prevalence of schools that need major repairs, we surveyed a 
     national sample of schools and augmented 
     [[Page S1996]] the survey with visits to selected school 
     districts. We used various experts to advise us on the design 
     and analysis of this project. (See app. III for a list of 
     advisers.)
       We sent the survey to a nationally representative 
     stratified random sample of about 10,000 schools in over 
     5,000 school districts. The sample was designed for the 
     Department of Education's 1994 Schools and Staffing Survey 
     (SASS), which is sponsored by the National Center for 
     Educational Statistics.
       We asked about (1) the physical condition of buildings and 
     major building features, such as roofs; framing, floors, and 
     foundations; exterior walls and interior finishes; plumbing; 
     heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); and 
     electric power; (2) the status of environmental conditions, 
     such as lighting, heating, and ventilation; (3) the amount 
     districts and schools had spent in the last 3 years or plan
      to spend in the next 3 years due to federal mandates that 
     require managing or correcting hazardous materials 
     problems and providing access to all programs for all 
     students; and (4) an estimate of the total cost of needed 
     repairs, renovations, and modernizations to put all 
     buildings in good overall condition. (See app. IV for a 
     copy of the questionnaire.)
       We directed the survey to those officials who are most 
     knowledgeable about facilities--such as facilities directors 
     and other central office administrators of the districts that 
     housed our sampled school buildings. Our analyses are based 
     on responses from 78 percent of the schools sampled. Analyses 
     of non-respondent characteristics showed them to be similar 
     to respondents. Findings from the survey have been 
     statistically adjusted (weighted) to produce nationally 
     representative estimates. All of the data are self-reported, 
     and we did not independently verify their accuracy. See the 
     forthcoming report on location and demographic analyses of 
     schools in need of major repair for a detailed description of 
     our data collection methods and analysis techniques, 
     confidence intervals and the like.
       In addition, we visited 41 schools in 10 selected school 
     districts varying in location, size, and minority 
     composition. During these visits, we observed facility 
     conditions and interviewed district and local school 
     officials to obtain information on facilities assessment, 
     maintenance programs, resources, and barriers encountered in 
     reaching facility goals. (See app. I for profiles on the 
     districts visited.)
       We conducted this study from April 1994 to December 1994 in 
     accordance with generally accepted government auditing 
     standards.


                           principal findings

         Schools Report Needing Billions to Improve Facilities

       On the basis of our survey results, we estimate that the 
     nation's schools need $112 billion to complete all repairs, 
     renovations, and modernizations required to restore 
     facilities to good overall condition and to comply with 
     federal mandates. (See fig. 1.) This amount includes $65 
     billion--about $2.8 million per school--needed by one-third 
     of schools for which one or more entire building needs major 
     repairs or replacement. Another 40 percent of schools (those 
     in adequate or better condition) reported needing $36 
     billion--$1.2 million per school--to repair or replace one
      or more building features,\13\ such as the plumbing or roof 
     or to make other corrective repairs.
       [Figure 1 not reproduced in the Record.]
       Almost two-thirds of the schools reported needing $11 
     billion--an average of $.2 million per school--to comply with 
     Federal mandates over the next 3 years. Of this amount, about 
     $6 billion (55 percent) is needed by schools to make programs 
     accessible to all students while about $5 billion (45 
     percent) is needed to correct or remove hazardous substances 
     such as asbestos, lead in water or paint, materials contained 
     in USTs, radon, or meet other requirements.
       This $11 billion is in addition to the $3.8 billion 
     reported spent by three-quarters of all schools in the last 3 
     years to comply with Federal mandates. Of the money schools 
     reported that they spent to comply with Federal mandates, 
     $2.3 billion (60 percent) went to correct or remove hazardous 
     substances--primarily asbestos--while $1.5 billion (40 
     percent) to make all programs accessible to all students.
       [Figure 2 not reproduced in the Record.]
       District officials we spoke with reported that they must 
     also comply with many State and local mandates. For example, 
     one urban district reported how Federal, State, and local 
     regulations govern many of the same areas such as hazardous 
     materials management and some aspects of indoor air quality. 
     In addition, officials cited numerous State health and 
     sanitation codes, State safety inspections for building 
     features, as well as city zoning ordinances, local building 
     codes, and historic preservation regulations. By 1992, the 
     enormity of the requirements as well as decades of capital 
     needs underfunding have resulted in only the 2 newest of 
     their 123 schools complying with all current codes.
       The district further described how these regulations and 
     the accompanying cost could apply to the installation of air 
     conditioning. For example, air conditioning could be 
     installed in a building for $500,000. However, this may also 
     require an additional $100,000 in fire alarm/smoke detection 
     and emergency lighting systems as well as $250,000 in 
     architectural modifications for code compliance. 
     Additionally, the location of outside chillers may be 
     regulated by zoning and historic preservation ordinances.
       In our visits to selected districts, officials from major 
     urban areas reported needing billions to put their schools 
     into good overall condition. (See table 1.)

 TABLE 1.--MAJOR URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS REPORT NEEDING BILLIONS TO BRING
                   SCHOOLS INTO GOOD OVERALL CONDITION                  
                          [Dollars in billions]                         
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Amount
                     Urban school district                        needed
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New York City..................................................     $7.8
Chicago........................................................      2.9
Washington, DC.................................................      0.5
New Orleans....................................................      0.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Two-Thirds of Schools Adequate but Millions of Students Must Attend 
                            Other One-Third

       School officials reported that two-thirds of the Nation's 
     schools are in adequate (or better) condition, at most
      needing only some preventive maintenance or corrective 
     repair. However, about 14 million students must attend the 
     remaining one-third (25,000 schools), in which at least 
     one building is in need of extensive repair or 
     replacement. Even more students, 28 million, attend 
     schools nationwide that need one or more building feature 
     extensively repaired, overhauled, or replaced or that 
     contain an environmentally unsatisfactory condition,\14\ 
     such as poor ventilation. (See tables 2 and 3.) These 
     schools are distributed nationwide.

  TABLE 2.--MILLIONS OF STUDENTS ATTEND SCHOOLS WITH LESS-THAN-ADEQUATE 
                           PHYSICAL CONDITIONS                          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Estimate of 
               Building feature                Number of     students   
                                                schools      affected   
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roofs........................................     21,100      11,916,000
Framing, floors, foundations.................     13,900       7,247,000
Exterior walls, finishes, windows, doors.....     20,500      11,524,000
Interior finishes, trims.....................     18,600      10,408,000
Plumbing.....................................     23,100      12,254,000
Heating, ventilation, air conditioning.......     28,100      15,456,000
Electrical power.............................     20,500      11,033,000
Electrical lighting..........................     19,500      10,837,000
Life safety codes............................     14,500       7,630,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note. See appendix IV for survey question.                              
Ranges for building or building feature condition were excellent, good, 
  adequate, fair, poor, or replace. A building or building feature was  
  considered in less-than-adequate condition if fair, poor, or replace  
  was indicated.                                                        


    TABLE 3.--MILLIONS OF STUDENTS ATTEND SCHOOLS WITH UNSATISFACTORY   
                        ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Number of  
           Environmental condition             Number of     students   
                                                schools      affected   
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lighting.....................................     12,200       6,682,000
Heating......................................     15,000       7,888,000
Ventilation..................................     21,100      11,559,000
Indoor air quality...........................     15,000       8,353,000
Acoustics for noise control..................     21,900      11,044,000
Physical security............................     18,900      10,638,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note. See appendix IV for survey question.                              

                           Physical Condition

       Specifically, about one-third of both elementary and 
     secondary schools reported at least one entire building--
     original, addition, or temporary--in need of extensive 
     repairs or replacement. About 60 percent (including some 
     schools in adequate condition) reported that at least one 
     building feature needed extensive repair, overhauling, or 
     replacement; and three-quarters of those schools needed 
     multiple features repaired. Features most frequently reported 
     in need of such repairs were HVAC; plumbling; roofs; exterior 
     walls, finishes, windows, and doors; electrical power; 
     electrical lighting; and interior finishes and trims. (See 
     fig. 4 and pictures in app. II.) Further, while 41 percent of 
     all schools reported unsatisfactory energy efficiency, 73 
     percent of those schools with exterior walls, windows, and 
     doors and 64 percent of those with roofs in need of major 
     repair reported unsatisfactory energy efficiency. These 
     unrepaired features not only reduce energy efficiency but may 
     also have an adverse environmental effect on students.
       As one Chicago elementary school principal told us, ``Heat 
     escapes through holes in the roof; the windows leak (the ones 
     that are not boarded up) and let in cold air in the winter so 
     that children must wear coats to class.''
       In New Orleans, the damage from Formosan termites has 
     deteriorated the structure of many schools. In one elementary 
     school, they even ate the books on the library shelves as 
     well as the shelves themselves. (See app. II.) This, in 
     combination with a leaking roof and rusted window wall, 
     caused so much damage that a large portion of the 30-year-old 
     school has been condemned. The whole school is projected to 
     be closed in 1 year.
       At a Montgomery County, Alabama, elementary school, a 
     ceiling weakened by leaking water collapsed 40 minutes after 
     the children left for the day.
       Water damage from an old (original) boiler steam heating 
     system at a 60-year-old junior high school in Washington, 
     D.C., has caused such wall deterioration that an entire wing 
     has been condemned and locked off from use. Steam damage is 
     also causing lead-based wall paint to peel.
       Raw sewage backs up on the front lawn of a Montgomery 
     County, Alabama, junior high due to defective plumbing.
       [[Page S1997]] A New York City high school built around the 
     turn of the century has served as a stable, fire house, 
     factory, and office building. The school is overcrowded with 
     580 students, far exceeding the building's 400 student 
     capacity. The building has little ventilation (no vents or 
     blowers), despite many inside classrooms, and the windows 
     cannot be opened, which makes the school unbearably hot in 
     the summer. In the winter, heating depends on a fireman's 
     stoking the coal furnace by hand.
       In Ramona, California, where overcrowding is considered a 
     problem, one elementary school is comprised entirely of 
     portable buildings. It had neither a cafeteria nor auditorium 
     and used a single relocatable room as a library, computer 
     lab, music room, and art room.
       Last year, during a windstorm in Raymond, Washington, the 
     original windows of an elementary school built in 1925 were 
     blown out, leaving shards of glass stuck in the floor. The 
     children happened to be at the other end of the room. This 
     wooden school is considered a fire
      hazard, and although hallways and staircases can act as 
     chimneys for smoke and fire, there is only one external 
     exit on the second floor.
       In rural Grandview, Washington, overcrowded facilities are 
     a problem. At one middle school, the original building was 
     meant to house 450 students. Two additions and three 
     portables have been added to accommodate 700 students. The 
     school has seven staggered lunch periods. The portables have 
     no lockers nor bathrooms and are cold in the winter and hot 
     in the spring/summer.
       In a high school in Chicago, the classroom floors are in 
     terrible condition. Not only are floors buckling, so much 
     title is loose that students cannot walk in all parts of the 
     school. The stairs are in poor condition and have been cited 
     for safety violations. An outside door has been chained for 3 
     years to prevent students from falling on broken outside 
     steps. Peeling paint has been cited as a fire hazard. Heating 
     problems result in some rooms having no heat while other 
     rooms are too warm. Leaks in the science lab caused by 
     plumbing problems prevent the classes from doing experiments. 
     Guards patrol the outside doors, and all students and 
     visitors must walk through metal detectors before entering 
     the school.
       During our school visits, we found wide disparities between 
     schools in the best or even average condition and schools in 
     the worst condition, and these schools were sometimes in the 
     same district.

                        Environmental Conditions

       About 50 percent of the schools reported at least one 
     unsatisfactory environmental condition; while 33 percent 
     reported multiple unsatisfactory conditions. Of those, half 
     reported four to six unsatisfactory conditions. Those 
     conditions most frequently reported to be unsatisfactory were 
     acoustics for noise control, ventilation, and physical 
     security. (See fig. 5.) Additionally, three-quarters of 
     schools responding had already spent funds during the last 3 
     years on requirements to remove or correct hazardous 
     substances such as asbestos (57 percent), lead in water or 
     paint (25 percent), materials in USTs such as fuel oil (17 
     percent), radon (18 percent), or other requirements (9 
     percent). Still two-thirds must spend funds in the next 3 
     years to comply with these same requirements--asbestos (45 
     percent), lead (18 percent), UST (12 percent), radon (12 
     percent), or other requirements (8 percent).
       We saw numerous examples of unsatisfactory environmental 
     conditions during our school visits:
       In the Pomona, California, school district, the student 
     body has increased 37 percent over the last 10 years. Some 
     schools must have five staggered lunch periods to accommodate 
     all students. As a result of overcrowding, in one elementary 
     school, students are housed in temporary buildings installed 
     in 1948 that are unattractive, termite ridden, dark, and 
     underequipped with electrical outlets. The temporary 
     buildings get very hot as well as very cold at times because 
     of poor insulation.
       A Raymond, Washington, high school--a three-story structure 
     with walls of unreinforced concrete with roof and floor not 
     adequately secured to the walls that may not withstand 
     earthquakes--contains steam pipes that are not only extremely 
     noisy but provide too little or too much heat from room to 
     room.
       In Richmond, Virginia, schools in the district close early 
     in September and May because the heat combined with poor 
     ventilation and no air conditioning creates health problems 
     for students and teachers, especially those with asthma.
       A Chicago elementary school, built in 1893 and not painted 
     for many years, had walls and ceilings with chipping and 
     peeling lead-based paint, contains asbestos and has several 
     boarded-up windows. Some rooms have inadequate lighting due 
     to antiquated lighting fixtures that are no longer 
     manufactured, so bulbs could not be replaced when burned out. 
     One section of the school has been condemned due to 
     structural problems. However, the auditorium and gym in this 
     area are still used. The school was scheduled for closure in 
     1972 but remained open due to community opposition to the 
     closure with promises of renovation by the district.

     Insufficient Funds Contribute to Declining Physical Conditions

       District officials we spoke to attributed the declining 
     physical condition of America's schools primarily to 
     insufficient funds, resulting in decisions to defer 
     maintenance and repair\15\ expenditures from year to year. 
     This has a domino effect. Deferred maintenance speeds up the 
     deterioration of buildings, and costs escalate accordingly, 
     further eroding the nation's multibillion dollar investment 
     in school facilities. For example, in many schools we 
     visited, unrepaired leaking roofs caused wall and floor 
     damage that now must also be repaired. New York school 
     officials told us that, while a typical roof repair is $600, 
     a full roof replacement costs $300,000, and painting and 
     plastering 10 rooms on a top floor that has been damaged by 
     water infiltration costs $67,500 plus $4,500 to replace 
     damaged floor tiles. In other words, for every $1 not 
     invested, the system falls another $620 behind. In addition, 
     unrepaired roofs cause energy costs to increase as heat 
     escapes through holes, further depleting already limited 
     funds. Further, due to lack of routine maintenance in the 
     Chicago district, many schools have not been painted since 
     they were painted 20 years ago with lead-based paint.
       In an elementary school in New York City, repair problems 
     had not been addressed since the school was built 20 years 
     ago. Problems that could have been addressed relatively 
     inexpensively years ago have now caused major problems such 
     as sewage leaking into the first grade classrooms, a leaking 
     roof that is structurally unsound, and crumbling walls.
       Similarly, in Chicago, we visited an elementary school 
     whose roof, the principal told us, had needed replacement for 
     20 years. Because it had only been superficially patched, 
     rather than replaced, the persistent water damage had caused 
     floors to buckle and plaster on the walls and ceilings to 
     crumble. It had also flooded parts of the electric wiring 
     system. One teacher in this school would not turn on her 
     lights during rainstorms for fear of electrical shock; in 
     another classroom the public address system had been rendered 
     unusable. Buckets had to be placed on the top floor of the 
     school to catch the rain.
       Some district officials we spoke with reported that they 
     had difficulty raising money for needed repairs and 
     renovation due to an anti-tax sentiment among voters 
     resulting in the failure of bond issues as well as passage of 
     property tax limitations. About one in three districts 
     reported that
      they have had an average of two bond issues fail in the past 
     10 years. Further, school officials told us that often 
     bond proceeds are far less than needed for repairs. For 
     example, in Pomona, California, a $62.5 million bond issue 
     was submitted to the voters after a survey indicated that 
     the $200 million needed for repairs would be rejected. At 
     the time of our survey, 6 percent of districts had a bond 
     issue before the electorate. However, as one survey 
     respondent commented, ``the current public attitudes about 
     the economy and education are generally so negative that 
     passing a bond referendum is a fantasy.'' Other states 
     have reduced school funding by passing property tax 
     limitations. One survey respondent reported, ``The state's 
     contribution to local schools has dropped by 40 percent 
     over the last few years * * *.'' According to another 
     survey respondent, ``This is a 1913 building which many of 
     the taxpaying citizens feel was good enough for them * * * 
     it is looked at as a monument in the community. Unless 
     some form of outside funding is arranged, the citizens may 
     never volunteer to replace this building since it will 
     require raising their taxes.''
       Further, districts reported a lack of control over some 
     spending priorities as they must fund a large portion of 
     federal mandates for managing or correcting hazardous 
     materials as well as making all programs accessible to all 
     students. A recurring theme in comments from survey 
     respondents was that ``Unfunded federal and state mandates 
     are one of the prime causes of lack of funds for replacing 
     worn-out heating and cooling equipment, roofs, etc. * * *'' 
     Another survey respondent stated, ``The ADA requirements were 
     a major reason we had to replace two older schools. These 
     costs, when added to other costs for renovations and 
     modifications, resulted in overall costs for repairs, which 
     exceeded the costs for new facilities.'' On the other hand, 
     Chicago school officials told us that due to limited funds 
     and the cost of installing one elevator being $150,000, very 
     few schools are able to provide program access to all 
     students.
       In looking at the uses of bond proceeds in the districts, 
     the average amount of the most recently passed bond issue was 
     $7 million. While about 3 percent was provided for federal 
     mandates, 54 percent was provided for school construction and 
     38 percent for repairing, renovating, and modernizing 
     schools. The remaining 5 percent was spent for purchases of 
     computers and telecommunications equipment.
       Districts also said that they must sometimes divert funds 
     initially planned for facilities maintenance and repair to 
     purchase additional facilities due to overcrowding. This
      has resulted from both demographic and mandated changes. For 
     example, additional funds were required for construction 
     and purchase of portables due to large immigrant influxes 
     as well as population shifts in districts or climbing 
     enrollment due to overall population increases. Further, 
     some mandated school programs, such as special education, 
     require additional space for low pupil-teacher ratios.
       One survey respondent described the competing demands on 
     limited funds as follows: 
     [[Page S1998]] ``Our school facilities are not energy 
     efficient or wired for modern technology. Our floor tile is 
     worn out and the furniture is in poor shape. Our taxpayers 
     don't want to put any more in schools. Our teachers want 
     better pay. Our students and parents want more programs and 
     technology. HELP!!!''

              Building Age--By Itself--Is Not Significant

       While some studies cite building age as a major factor 
     contributing to deteriorating conditions, older buildings 
     often have a more sound infrastructure than newer buildings. 
     Buildings built in the early years of this century--or 
     before--frequently were built for a life span of 50 to 100 
     years while more modern buildings, particularly those built 
     after 1970, were designed to have a life span of only 20 to 
     30 years. A study of English school facilities found that the 
     schools built during the 1960s and 1970s were built quickly 
     and cheaply and have caused continuing maintenance 
     problems.\16\ As one survey respondent commented, ``the 
     buildings in this district are approximately 20 years old, 
     but the exterior siding was inferior from the beginning * * * 
     it has deteriorated and ruptured extensively. * * *'' A 
     principal in Chicago stated about her 1970s building, ``our 
     most pressing problem is that the school is crumbling down 
     around us * * *. From the beginning, this building has had 
     serious roof problems. Water leaks throughout the building 
     from the roof and from the walls. Pools of water collect in 
     the floors of the classrooms. One wall has buckled and is 
     held in place with a steel stake. The windows leak and let 
     cold air in * * *.'' According to some school officials, the 
     misperception about the age factor has been reinforced 
     because older buildings are sometimes not maintained but 
     allowed to deteriorate until replaced.
       Three schools we visited in Chicago presented a good 
     example of the difficulty of using age to define condition. 
     All three were built between 1926 and 1930 and had the same 
     design and basic structure. Today, their condition could not 
     be more different. One school had been allowed to deteriorate 
     (had received no renovation since the 1970s) until it reached 
     a point where local school officials classified it as among 
     those schools in the worst physical condition. The second 
     school had received some recent renovation because of 
     community complaints about its condition and was classified 
     as a typical school for the school district. The third school 
     had been well maintained throughout the years, and now school 
     officials classified it as a school in the best physical 
     condition. (See pictures contrasting the three schools in 
     fig. 6.)
       [Figure 6 not reproduced in Record.]
                              conclusions

       Two-thirds of America's schools report that they are in 
     adequate (or better) overall condition. Still, many of these 
     schools need to repair or replace one or more building 
     feature, manage or correct hazardous materials, or make all 
     programs accessible to all students. Other schools have more 
     serious problems. About 14 million students are required to 
     attend the remaining one-third of schools that have one or 
     more entire buildings in less-than-adequate condition, 
     needing extensive repair or replacement. These schools are 
     distributed nationwide.
       Our survey results indicate that to complete all repairs, 
     renovations, or modernizations needed to put school buildings 
     into good overall condition and comply with federal mandates 
     would require a projected investment of $112 billion. 
     Continuing to delay maintenance and repairs will defer some 
     of these costs but will also lead to the need for greater 
     expenditures as conditions deteriorate, further eroding the 
     nation's multibillion dollar investment in school 
     infrastructure. In addition, if maintenance continues to be 
     deferred, a large proportion of schools that are in only 
     adequate condition and need preventive maintenance or 
     corrective repair will soon deteriorate to less-than-adequate 
     condition.
       As one survey respondent observed, ``It is very difficult 
     to get local communities to accept this burden (facilities 
     construction/renovation). Our district, one of the wealthiest 
     in the state, barely passed a bare bones budget to renovate. 
     It must be a national crisis.''


                            agency comments

       We spoke with Department of Education officials at the 
     National Center for Educational Statistics who reviewed a 
     draft of this report and found the report well done and 
     generally approved of the approach. In addition, staff from 
     the Office of the Undersecretary provided us with technical 
     comments that we incorporated into our report. They did not 
     comment, however, on our methodology, reserving judgment for 
     the detailed technical appendix in our forthcoming report.
       Copies of this report are also being sent to appropriate 
     House and Senate committees and all members, the Secretary of 
     Education, and other interested parties.
       If you have any questions about this report, please contact 
     Eleanor L. Johnson, Assistant Director, who may be reached at 
     (202) 512-7209. A list of major contributors to this report 
     can be found in appendix VII.
           Sincerely yours,
                                                   Linda G. Morra,
                        Director, Education and Employment Issues.
                               APPENDIX I

                           District Profiles

       We visited 41 schools in 10 selected school districts that 
     varied by location, size, and ethnic composition. During 
     these visits, we observed facility conditions and interviewed 
     district and local school officials to get information on 
     facilities assessment, maintenance programs, resources, and 
     barriers encountered in reaching facilities goals. We asked 
     officials to show us examples of ``best,'' ``typical,'' and 
     ``worst'' schools and verified the reliability of these 
     designations with others. In some small districts, we visited 
     all schools.


                           chicago, illinois

                                Overview

                      TABLE I.1.--CHICAGO, ILLINOIS                     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enrollment.........................  400,000.                           
Number of schools..................  553.                               
Racial composition.................  56 percent black.                  
                                     30 percent Hispanic.               
                                     14 percent other.                  
Students on free or reduced lunch..  67 percent.                        
Type...............................  Urban.                             
Minimum estimated to make all        2.9 billion.                       
 repairs\17\.                                                           
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       Chicago is a large urban district whose school officials 
     rated their school facilities, overall, as in fair to poor 
     condition. Widespread disparities exist, however, between 
     schools in the best and worst condition. About 15 percent of 
     the schools were built before 1900, and over half are more 
     than 50 years old. Slightly more than 25 percent were built 
     during the fifties and sixties to handle the baby boom, and 
     20 percent were built during the last 25 years. However, a 
     number of the newer structures are temporary buildings or 
     ``demountables'' (large sections of prefabricated frames put 
     together on a cement slab). These buildings now show major
      structural damage, and the seams of the buildings are 
     splitting apart. Permanent buildings also have structural 
     damage. For example, we visited two schools that had 
     chained exit doors to prevent students from either being 
     hit by debris from a cracking exterior brick wall--in a 
     ``typical'' Chicago school--or falling on collapsing front 
     steps--in a ``worst'' school.
       Schools in the worst condition need new exterior building 
     envelopes (roofs, tuck pointing, windows, and doors), have 
     asbestos or lead-based paint, suffer ceiling and floor 
     problems from leaky roofs, and need to replace outdated 
     electrical and plumbing systems. Schools in the best 
     condition tend to be newer, need few or no repairs, have a 
     more flexible space design, contain electrical systems 
     capable of housing new technology, have air conditioning, and 
     offer brightly colored walls and low ceilings. However, 
     condition does not depend on age alone; three schools we 
     visited typifying best, worst, and typical were all over 60 
     years old.
       Officials report that their biggest facility issues are 
     deferred maintenance and overcrowding. They say that a 
     shortage of funds, caused by a lack of taxpayer support, 
     hinders the district from either upgrading or maintaining its 
     facilities. About 30 to 40 percent of needed repairs have 
     been deferred from year to year for decades with priority 
     given to repairs that ensure student safety. Additionally, 
     some federal mandates--particularly lead and asbestos removal 
     abatement programs--have caused major expenditures as most 
     schools built between 1920 and 1979 contain asbestos, and all 
     schools were painted with lead paint before 1980.
       Overcrowding began in the seventies with a great increase 
     in the Hispanic population. However, in some instances, 
     individual schools may be overcrowded, while neighboring 
     schools remain underenrolled. One official told us that this 
     is due in part to the problems caused by gang ``turf'' and 
     the threat of extreme violence or even death to individuals 
     who wander into ``enemy'' territory. School officials are 
     reluctant to reassign students if the receiving schools are 
     in territory controlled by a different gang than that of the 
     overcrowded school the children presently attend.

                          Facilities Financing

       Officials estimate that they need $2.9 billion to put 
     schools in good overall condition. While the primary source 
     of school funding is local property taxes, smaller amounts of 
     state and federal funds are also used. Although the 1994 
     school facilities budget is $270 million (10 percent of the 
     total education budget), only about $50 million is used for 
     maintenance and repair. To obtain funds for building and 
     renovating, the district relies on bonds, we were
      told, as politicians hesitate to ask anti-tax voters for 
     even a minimal increase in taxes.


                         grandview, washington

                                Overview

                    TABLE I.2.--GRANDVIEW, WASHINGTON                   
Enrollment.........................  2,800.                             
Number of schools..................  5.                                 
Racial composition.................  67 percent Hispanic.               
                                     32 percent white.                  
                                     1 percent other.                   
Students on free or reduced lunch..  65 percent.                        
Type...............................  Small town, rural.                 
Minimum estimated to make all        $24.5 million.                     
 repairs.                                                               
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       This small agricultural town in rural Washington has five 
     schools. While the high school, built in 1978, is in 
     excellent condition, the other four schools, built between 
     1936 and 1957, need to be totally renovated or replaced over 
     the next 10-20 years. In addition, a student population 
     increasing annually at about 4 percent since 1986 has 
     resulted in overcrowding. Although Grandview's middle school 
     was built to house 475 students, current enrollment stands at 
     about 
     [[Page S1999]] 700. One elementary school designed for 375 
     students now has 464. Another crowded elementary school 
     converted the gymnasium into two classrooms. The district 
     currently has 14 portable classrooms in use and anticipates 
     needing 4 more in the next 3 years.

                          Facilities Financing

       Grandview schools have an annual budget of $13.5 million, 
     about 2 percent of which goes for maintenance. They receive 
     funding from local tax levies and from the state and general 
     apportionment of about $4,000 per student. They are also 
     eligible for state equalization funding contingent on passing 
     their levy. New construction and renovation are funded by 
     bond issues and state funding assistance contingent on 
     passing the bond issue. An $11 million bond issue to build a 
     new middle school to alleviate crowding failed in February 
     1994 and again in the fall of 1994.
       Funding problems include public resistance to raising taxes 
     and decreased state assistance due to a reduction in the 
     timber sales on the public lands that support school 
     construction funding.


                       MONTGOMERY COUNTY, ALABAMA

                                Overview

                 TABLE I.3.--MONTGOMERY COUNTY, ALABAMA                 
Enrollment.........................  35,000.                            
Number of schools..................  54.                                
Racial composition.................  45 percent black.                  
                                     55 percent white.                  
Students on free or reduced lunch..  58 percent.                        
Type...............................  Urban.                             
Minimum estimated to make all        $150 million.                      
 repairs.                                                               
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       Many of Montgomery County school facilities are old but are 
     generally in fair condition. However, approximately 10 
     percent of the schools need to be replaced. In the last 20 
     years, about 8 schools were built. The oldest building is a 
     portion of an elementary school built in 1904.
       Schools built during the early 1900's are not air 
     conditioned and need new roofs. At one elementary school we 
     visited, a ceiling recently collapsed just 40 minutes after 
     the children left for the day. Some schools have had students 
     in ``temporary'' buildings for years. In addition, many 
     repairs and renovations are needed to maintain schools, 
     accommodate overcrowding and comply with federal mandates.
       Overcrowding problems have resulted in the use of 284 
     portable buildings to house students. In the 1980's, 
     Montgomery County's student population increased, creating 
     the need for new elementary populations at some schools 
     through voluntary student movement, through a minority to 
     majority transfer process. This process allowed minority 
     students to attend any school in the county with a more than 
     50-percent majority of white students. Primarily, we were 
     told, minority students chose to attend schools on the east 
     side of town because the school facilities were better 
     equipped and
      nicer. To provide adequate instructional space for the 
     influx of children at the east side schools, portable 
     rooms were added.

                          Facilities Financing

       Lack of money prohibits the district from making needed 
     facilities repairs. The operations and maintenance budget has 
     dropped 10 percent in the past 3 to 4 years. The current 
     facilities budget is $1 million of a $6 million total 
     education budget. The district has no capital improvement 
     budget. On June 28, 1994, voters defeated a local tax 
     referendum for bond money the county had planned to use to 
     remove all portable buildings, make all needed repairs and 
     renovations and build new schools located so that children 
     from the west side of town would not have to travel so far 
     for better school accommodations.


                         new orleans, louisiana

                                Overview

                   TABLE I.4.--NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA                   
Enrollment........................................  85,000.             
Number of schools.................................  124.                
Racial composition................................  90 percent black.   
                                                    10 percent other.   
Students on free or reduced lunch.................  85 percent.         
Type..............................................  Urban.              
Minimum estimated to make all repairs.............  $500 million.       
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       New Orleans' public schools are rotting away. Suffering 
     from years of neglect due to lack of funds for repair and 
     maintenance, New Orleans students attend schools suffering 
     from hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of uncorrected 
     water and termite damage. Fire code violations are so 
     numerous that school officials told us, ``We don't count 
     them--we weigh them.''
       Most of the buildings have no air conditioning, though the 
     average morning relative humidity in New Orleans is 87 
     percent. One high school recently had an electrical fire that 
     started in the 80-year-old timbers in the roof. No one was 
     hurt but the students were sent to other buildings for the 
     rest of the year. An elementary school, built in 1964, was 
     condemned and closed in 1994 due to water and termite damage.

                          Facilities Financing

       New Orleans uses local property taxes and federal asbestos 
     loans to upgrade its buildings. The district has submitted 
     five bond issues to the voters in the last 20 years, for a 
     total of $175 million, but only two of the bond issues have 
     passed. The school facilities annual budget in 1994 is $6 
     million or 2 percent of the total education budget. This has 
     decreased in the past 10 years from $9 million (4 percent of 
     the education budget).


                           new york, new york

                                Overview

                     TABLE I.5.--NEW YORK, NEW YORK                     
                                                                        
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enrollment.....................................  700,000.               
Number of schools..............................  1,229.                 
Racial composition.............................  38 percent black.      
                                                 36 percent Hispanic.   
                                                 19 percent white.      
                                                 7 percent Asian.       
Students on free or reduced lunch..............  64 percent.            
Type...........................................  Urban.                 
Minimum estimated to make all repairs..........  $7.8 billion.          
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       New York has extremely diverse school facilities--while 
     conditions are generally bad, some schools are models for 
     21st century learning. The ``best'' school we saw--a $151 
     million state-of-the-art science high school--was only blocks 
     away from an example of the ``worst''--another high school in 
     a 100-year-old building that had served as a stable, fire 
     house, factory, and office building. This high school's 
     elevators do not work, its interior classrooms have no 
     windows, it has little ventilation and no air conditioning, 
     and its heating depends on a fireman's stoking the coal 
     furnace by hand.
       Overcrowding and generally poor condition of the school 
     buildings--many over 100-years-old and in need of major 
     renovation and repair--are New York's main facilities 
     problems. Since the fiscal crisis in the 1970s, maintenance 
     and repair of the city's school buildings have been largely 
     neglected. Twenty years of neglect compound problems that 
     could have been corrected much more cheaply had they been 
     corrected earlier. As the city seeks the funds for repairing 
     leaking roofs, plumbing problems that cause sewage to seep 
     into elementary school classrooms, and ceilings that have 
     caved in, its school enrollment is dramatically increasing. 
     After losing more than 10 percent of its population in the 
     sixties, a vast migration of non-English speaking residents 
     in the last 3 years has resulted in overcrowding in 50 
     percent of New York's schools. One school is operating at 
     over 250 percent of capacity. Because classrooms are 
     unavailable while under repair, in some cases improvements 
     are postponed.

                          Facilities Financing

       The New York City schools' maintenance, repair, and capital 
     improvement budget is approved annually by the city council. 
     While the state provides some loan forgiveness, the city is 
     largely responsible for all of the costs.
       Each school is allocated a maintenance and repair budget 
     based solely on square footage. As a result, schools--even 
     new schools--frequently cannot repair problems as they arise, 
     which often leads to costly repairs in the future. In 1988, 
     the estimated cost of upgrading, modernizing, and expanding 
     the school system by the year 2000 was over $17 billion. The 
     total capital backlog at that time was over $5 billion. The 
     capital plan for fiscal year 1990 through fiscal year 1994 
     was funded at $4.3 billion: barely 20 percent of the amount 
     requested.


                           pomona, california

                                Overview

                     TABLE I.6.--POMONA, CALIFORNIA                     
                                                                        
                                                                        
Enrollment.........................  29,000.                            
Number of schools..................  35.                                
Racial composition.................  67 percent Hispanic.               
                                     13 percent black.                  
                                     12 percent white.                  
                                     8 percent Asian-Pacific.           
Students on free or reduced lunch..  70 percent.                        
Type...............................  Suburban.                          
Minimum estimated to make all        $200 million.                      
 repairs.                                                               

       Although district officials generally describe their school 
     facilities overall as ``adequate to fair,'' some individual 
     schools are excellent while others have severe problems. The 
     oldest school was built in 1932. The worst schools were built 
     in the mid-1950s to early 1960s and face many repair 
     problems--poor plumbing, ventilation, lighting, leaking 
     roofs, and crumbling walls. In contrast, one new school that 
     opened last fall is state-of-the art. Only three schools have 
     been built in the last 20 years.
       Like many school districts in California, Pomona's biggest 
     facilities issue is overcrowding. Because the student body 
     has increased 37 percent in the last 10 years, the district 
     relies on what school officials call ``God-awful'' 
     portables--bungalows that are ugly, not air conditioned, 
     termite-ridden, dark, and have too few electrical outlets. 
     The portables generally provide sufficient classroom space 
     but leave schools suffering from a severe lack of common-use 
     areas and space for student movement. For example, some 
     schools have to schedule five lunch periods to handle 
     overcrowded campuses.

                          Facilities financing

       In 1991 the district passed a $62.5 million bond measure--
     significantly short of the $200 million it says it needs to 
     put its schools in good overall condition. Officials 
     attribute their facilities' financial problems to state 
     cutbacks, the passage of Proposition 13 in 1979, which 
     greatly reduced local tax revenues, and unfunded federal 
     mandates that drain the district's budget. As
      a result, the district must function without enough 
     facilities staff and continue to defer maintenance and 
     repair while using temporary ``band-aid'' measures. 
     However, the passage of Pomona's 1991 bond measure and two 
     1992 state bond measures increased the district's capital 
     improvement budget to $14 million or about 16 
     [[Page S2000]] percent of the district's $85 million 
     education budget. Pomona's maintenance and repair budget is 
     usually about 2 percent of the education budget.


                           ramona, california

                                Overview

                     TABLE I.7.--RAMONA, CALIFORNIA                     
Enrollment........................................  6,500.              
Number of schools.................................  9.                  
Racial composition................................  78 percent white.   
                                                    18 percent Hispanic.
                                                    4 percent other.    
Students on free or reduced lunch.................  35 percent.         
Type..............................................  Small town, rural.  
Minimum estimated to make all repairs.............  $4 million.         
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       Ramona is a small but growing rural community in central 
     San Diego County. Four of its nine schools are more than 25 
     years old; its oldest was built over 50 years ago. Although 
     Ramona's oldest schools tend to be well constructed, they 
     suffer from seriously deteriorating wiring and plumbing and 
     inadequate or nonexistent heating, ventilation, air 
     conditioning, and communications systems. The school district 
     also suffers from the lack of an adequate, stable funding 
     source that would allow it to modernize and expand its 
     facilities. Consequently, most of Ramona's schools are 
     underbuilt and must rely on portables for overcrowding. One 
     elementary school we visited was comprised of only portables, 
     with no cafeteria nor auditorium. One portable served as a 
     library, computer lab, music room, and art room. In contrast, 
     two new schools were built in the last 5 years that are 
     bright, have flexible space and are wired for the latest 
     technology. The portables are difficult to maintain, and 
     repair costs are higher in the long run than if real 
     additions had been built in the first place. The most common 
     repair needs in Ramona's schools are roofs, signal systems 
     (alarms, bells, and intercoms), and paving.

                          Facilities financing

       Officials attribute its facilities' funding problems to the 
     community's inability to pass a bond issue--two attempts in 
     the past 8 years have failed--their small rural district's 
     competitive disadvantage in applying for state funds, and the 
     state's emphasis on building new schools rather than 
     retrofitting.
       The district's facilities budget varies each year but 
     comprises (1) a new building program that uses matching state 
     funds, (2) a routine maintenance budget that is about 2 
     percent of the district's $30 million education budget 
     ($600,000), and (3) a deferred maintenance budget that is 0.5 
     percent of the education budget ($150,000) and is supposed to 
     be matched by the state but rarely is in full.


                          raymond, washington

                                Overview

                     TABLE I.8.--RAYMOND, WASHINGTON                    
Enrollment.....................................  760.                   
Number of schools..............................  3.                     
Racial composition.............................  69 percent white.      
                                                 21 percent Asian.      
                                                 5 percent Hispanic.    
                                                 5 percent Native       
                                                  American.             
Students on free or reduced lunch..............  50 percent.            
Type...........................................  Small town, rural.     
Minimum estimated to make all repairs..........  $14 million.           
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       Raymond is a western Washington town that has not recovered 
     from the timber industry downturn of the early 1980s. The 
     town and student populations have declined, and the 
     demographics have changed dramatically. All three Raymond 
     schools are old and two may be unsafe. The high school was 
     built in 1925. It is a three-story structure of unreinforced 
     concrete that may not safely withstand the possible 
     earthquakes in the area. In addition, the
      buiding's systems are old and inadequate. Steam pipes are 
     noisy and provide too little or too much heat from room to 
     room. One 1924 elementary school is built of wood--a 
     potential fire hazard--and will be closed in 2 years. A 
     third school was built during the 1050s and will received 
     a major remodeling and new addition next year.

                          Facilities financing

       Raymond recently passed its first bond issue since the 
     1950s to fund the remodeling of and addition for an 
     elementary school. A bond issue proposed in 1990 to build a 
     new facility for grades kindergarten to 12 failed. The public 
     does not want to spend money on school maintenance and 
     construction, and the tax base is too low to raise adequate 
     funding. According to the school superintendent, the Columbia 
     Tower (a Seattle skyscraper) has a higher assessed value than 
     the entire district of Raymond. The district's budget is $4 
     million, which is made up of local levies and state funding. 
     Over the next 2 years, they will ask for a levy increase of 
     $75,000, specifically for needed repairs.


                           richmond, virginia

                                Overview

                     TABLE I.9.--RICHMOND, VIRGINIA                     
Enrollment.........................  28,000                             
Number of schools..................  58.                                
Racial composition.................  88 percent black.                  
                                     12 percent other.                  
Students on free or reduced lunch..  68 percent                         
Type...............................  Urban.                             
Minimum estimated to make all        $100 million.                      
 repairs.                                                               
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       Renovation presents the biggest facility issue for the 
     Richmond schools. Their 58 buildings are visually appealing 
     yet old-fashioned compared with 21st century learning 
     standards. Many, if not most, of the district's renovation 
     needs are due to the buildings' age: The average building was 
     built around the time of World War II. Ninety percent of the 
     buildings lack central air conditioning; many schools close 
     early in September and May/June
      because the heat and poor ventilation creates breathing 
     problems for the children.
       In the past 20 years, 20 schools have been closed; only 2 
     new schools have opened.

                          Facilities financing

       Richmond is a poor city: the average family income is 
     $17,700. The facilities director says he usually asks for $18 
     million but only gets $3 million and about 3 percent of the 
     education budget for maintenance. He says city planners and 
     voters view the buildings as architectural landmarks and 
     think of them in terms of 1950s standards of learning. Also, 
     the money he would have used for renovations has been spent 
     on meeting ``federal codes.''
       The district has tried twice to get the state to match 
     funds for deferred maintenance but was rejected each time. 
     New construction gets funded through bond issues.


                             washington, dc

                                Overview

                       TABLE I.10.--WASHINGTON, DC                      
                                                                        
                                                                        
Enrollment.........................  85,000.                            
Number of schools..................  164.                               
Racial composition.................  95 percent black.                  
    ...............................  5 percent other.                   
Students on free or reduced lunch..  62 percent.                        
Type...............................  Urban.                             
Minimum estimated to make all        $460 million.                      
 repairs.                                                               

       With a capacity of 140,000 students, many of Washington's 
     school facilities are old and underused. Only 22 schools of 
     164--mainly elementary--have been built in the last 20 years. 
     According to the district's facilities manager, the average 
     age of Washington's schools is 50 years. While structurally 
     sound, these older buildings house old--sometimes original--
     systems, such as the heating and air conditioning or 
     electrical systems, which have major repair problems.
       Washington schools have many urgent repair needs, according 
     to the district facilities manager. Old boiler systems have 
     steam leakages causing such infrastructure erosion that whole 
     school wings have been condemned and cordoned off; leaky 
     roofs are causing ceilings to crumble on teachers' and 
     students' desks; fire doors are warped and stick. In 
     addition, the district was under court order to fix the most 
     serious of an estimated $90 million worth of fire code 
     violations by the start of the 1994-95 school year. These 
     violations included locked or blocked exit doors, defective 
     or missing fire doors, broken alarms, malfunctioning boilers, 
     and unsafe electrical systems. Many of the schools also lack 
     air conditioning and are so poorly insulated that children 
     must wear coats to keep warm in winter weather.

                          Facilities financing

       From the school district's total operating and capital 
     budget of about $552 million in fiscal year 1994, about $100 
     million (18 percent) was allocated to school maintenance and 
     capital improvement. Of this, approximately $25 million 
     (including salaries) goes to the district's facilities 
     office, with the balance given directly to the schools for 
     their on-site maintenance and operations. The building 
     maintenance budget has declined from about 18 percent to 14 
     percent of the total school budget in the past 10 years.
       Funds for school maintenance and repair and capital 
     improvements come from the District of Columbia's general 
     budget, over which the Congress has authority. Until 1985, 
     the District's capital improvement program was financed only 
     through money borrowed from the U.S. Treasury. After 1985, 
     the District was given authority to sell general obligation 
     bonds in the capital markets. From 1985 through 1994, the 
     schools received $314 million to finance capital 
     improvements: $232 million through general obligation bond 
     issuances, $59 million borrowed from the U.S. Treasury, and 
     $23 million from District tax revenue.
       [Appendix II not reproduced in the Record.]
                              APPENDIX III

                            Project Advisers

       The following individuals advised this report either by (a) 
     serving on our expert panel on January 31, 1994; (b) helping 
     with the development of our questionnaire; or (c) reviewing a 
     draft report.
       Allen C. Abend,abc Chief, School Facilities Branch, 
     Maryland State Department of Education.
       Phillip T. Chen,b Construction Technician, Division of 
     Construction, Department of Facilities Management, Board of 
     Education of Montgomery County (Maryland).
       Greg Coleman,ab Capital Asset Management 
     Administrator, Office of Infrastructure Support Services, 
     U.S. Department of Energy.
       Laurel Cornish,a Director of Facilities, U.S. 
     Department of Education, Impact Aid, School Facilities 
     Branch.
       (Mr.) Vivian A. D'Souza,b Acting Director, Division of 
     Maintenance, Department of Facilities Management, Board of 
     Education of Montgomery County (Maryland).
       Kenneth J. Ducote,bc Director, Department of Facility 
     Planning, New Orleans Public Schools.
       [[Page S2001]] Robert Feild,a Director, Committee on 
     Architecture for Education, American Institute of Architects.
       William Fowler,abc Education Statistician, U.S. 
     Department of Education, National Center for Education 
     Statistics.
       Lawrence Friedman,bc Associate Director, Regional 
     Policy Information Center, North Central Regional Educational 
     Laboratory.
       Thomas E. Glass,b Professor, Department of Leadership 
     and Educational Policy Studies, Northern Illinois University.
       Terence C. Golden,a Chairman, Bailey Realty.
       Thomas Grooms,a Program Manger, Federal Design Office, 
     National Endowment for the Arts.
       Shirley J. Hansen,a President, Hansen Associates.
       Alton C. Halavin,b Assistant Superintendent for 
     Facilities Services, Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax 
     County, Virginia.
       Bruce Hunter,b Executive Director, American 
     Association of School Administrators.
       Eddie L. King,b Auditor, Inspector General, Department 
     of Education.
       Andrew Lemer,a President Matrix Group, Inc.
       William H. McAfee III,b Facilities Manager, Division 
     of Facilities Management, District of Columbia Public 
     Schools.
       Roger Scott,bc Program Director, Southwest Regional 
     Laboratory.
       Richard L. Siegel,a (Former) Director of Facilities 
     Services, Smithsonian Institution.
       Lisa J. Walker,a Executive Director, Education Writers 
     Association.
       Tony J. Wall,b,c Executive Director/CEO, The Council 
     of Educational Facilities Planners International.
       William M. Wilder,b Director, Department of Facilities 
     Management, Board of Education of Montgomery County 
     (Maryland).

                              APPENDIX IV

             GAO Questionnaire for Local Education Agencies

       Dear Survey Respondent: The U.S. General Accounting Office 
     (GAO) has been asked by the United States Congress to obtain 
     information about school facilities, such as physical 
     condition and capacity. While several limited studies have 
     been done recently, no comprehensive national study of school 
     facilities has been done in 30 years.
       The Congress needs this information to shape the details of 
     federal policy, such as funding for the School Infrastructure 
     Act of 1994. All responses are confidential. We will report 
     your data only in statistical summaries so that individuals 
     cannot be identified.
       This questionnaire should be answered by district level 
     personnel who are very familiar with the school facilities in 
     this district. You may wish to consult with other district 
     level personnel or with school level personnel, such as 
     principals, in answering some questions.
       We are conducting this study with only a sample of randomly 
     selected schools, so the data on your school(s) is very 
     important because it represents many other schools. Please 
     respond even if the schools selected are new. If you have 
     questions about the survey, please call Ms. Ella Cleveland 
     (202) 512-7066 or Ms. Edna Saltzman (313) 256-8109.
       Mail your completed questionnaire in the enclosed envelope 
     within 2 weeks to: Ms. Ella Cleveland, U.S. General 
     Accounting Office, NGB, Suite 650, 441 G St., NW, Washington, 
     DC 20548.
       Thank you for your cooperation in this very important 
     effort.
           Sincerly yours,
                                                   Linda G. Morra,
                               Director, Education and Employment.
                    Section I.--District Information

       1. What would probably be the total cost of all repairs/
     renovations/modernizations required to put all of this 
     district's schools in good overall condition? Give your best 
     estimate. If all of this district's schools are already in 
     good (or better) overall condition, enter zero.
       Overall condition includes both physical condition and the 
     ability of the schools to meet the functional requirements of 
     instructional programs. Good condition means that only 
     routine maintenance or minor repair is required.
     $__________.00
       2. On which of the sources listed below is this estimate 
     based? Circle ALL that apply.
Does not apply--all schools already in good (or better) overall 
  condition...........................................................0
        Sources
Facilities inspection(s)/assessment(s) performed within the last three 
  years by licensed professionals.....................................1
Repair/renovation/modernization work already being performed and/or 
  contracted for......................................................2
Capital improvement/facilities master plan or schedule................3
My best professional judgment.........................................4
Opinions of other district administrators.............................5
Other (specify: ________).............................................6

       3. During the last 3 years, how much money has been spent 
     in this district on the federal mandates listed below? 
     Include money spent in 1993-1994. If exact amounts are not 
     readily available, give your best estimate. Enter zero if 
     none. Circle ``1'' if spending was not needed.

                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            Spending                    
            Federal mandates               not needed     Amount spent  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Accessibility for student with                                          
 disabilities...........................            1     $__________.00
Managing/correcting:                                                    
    Asbestos............................            1     $__________.00
    Lead in water/paint.................            1     $__________.00
    Underground storage tanks (USTs)....            1     $__________.00
    Radon...............................            1     $__________.00
    Other (specify: __________).........            1     $__________.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       4. How much money will probably need to be spent in this 
     district during the next 3 years on these federal mandates? 
     If exact amounts are not readily available, give your best 
     estimate. If spending will not be needed, circle ``1.'' If 
     unknown, circle ``2.''

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Spending                                
       Federal mandates         will not   Amountunknown     Probably   
                                be needed                     needed    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Accessibility for students                                              
 with disabilities...........           1            2        $______.00
Managing/correcting:                                                    
    Asbestos.................           1            2        $______.00
    Lead in water/paint......           1            2        $______.00
    Underground storage tanks                                           
     (USTs)..................           1            2        $______.00
    Radon....................           1            2        $______.00
    Other (specify: ______...           1            2        $______.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       5. Are these spending needs for federal mandates included 
     in your answer to question 1? Circle one for each mandate 
     listed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Does notapply--                               
    Federal mandates        not needed/   Yes--included  No--notincluded
                              unknown                                   
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Accessibility for                                                       
 students with                                                          
 disabilities...........               1            2               3   
Managing/correcting:                                                    
    Asbestos............               1            2               3   
    Lead in water/paint.               1            2               3   
    Underground storage                                                 
     tanks (USTs).......               1            2               3   
    Radon...............               1            2               3   
    Other (specify:                                                     
     ______.............               1            2               3   
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       6. In what year was a bond issue most recently passed for 
     this district? Enter the last two digits of the year.
       19____.
       7. What was the total amount of this most recently passed 
     bond issue?
       $______.00
       8. How much money did this most recently passed bond issue 
     provide for the items listed below? Enter zero if none.
        Items                                           Amount Provided
Construction of new schools..................................$______.00
Repair/renovation/modernization of existing schools..........$______.00
Asbestos removal.............................................$______.00
Removal of Underground Storage Tank (USTs)...................$______.00
Removal of other environmental conditions....................$______.00
Purchase of computers........................................$______.00
Purchase of telecommunications equipment.....................$______.00
Access for students with disabilities........................$______.00

       9. During the last 10 years, how many bond issues have 
     failed to pass?
       ______ bond issues failed to pass
       10. Do you currently have a bond issue before the 
     electorate? Circle one.
       Yes............1
       No..............2
                    section ii.--school information

       This section asks about the first school shown on the 
     Instruction Sheet enclosed with this survey.
       1. Name of school: Please enter the name of the first 
     school shown on the Instruction Sheet.
       School's survey identification number: Please enter the 
     survey identification number of the first school shown on the 
     instruction sheet.
       2. If any of the following statements are true for this 
     school, please circle the number of the appropriate answer. 
     Circle all that apply.
This school teaches only postsecondary (beyond grade 12) or adult 
  education students..................................................1
This school is no longer in operation.................................2
This school is a private school, not a public school..................3
This institution or organization is not a school......................4
       3. Which of the following grades did this school offer 
     around the first of October, 1993: Circle all that apply.
Grade 1...............................................................1
Grade 2...............................................................2
Grade 3...............................................................3
Grade 4...............................................................4
Grade 5...............................................................5
Grade 6...............................................................6
Grade 7...............................................................7
Grade 8...............................................................8
Grade 9...............................................................9
Grade 10.............................................................10
Grade 11.............................................................11
Grade 12.............................................................12
Pre-kindergarten.....................................................13
Ungraded (including upgraded special education students).............15
     Stop! If you marked any of the above statements go to the 
     next school information section.
       4. What was the total number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) 
     students enrolled in this school around the first of October 
     1993?
     __________
     total FTE students
       5. Does this school house any of its students in 
     instructional facilities located off of its site, such as 
     rented space in another school, church, etc.? Circle one.
     Yes...1
     No...2----> go to question 8
       6. How many of this school's Full Time Equivalent (FTE) 
     students are housed in off-site instructional facilities?
     ______FTE students housed off-site
       [[Page S2002]] 7. How many total square feet of off-site 
     instructional facilities does this school have? If exact 
     measurements are not readily available, give your best 
     estimate.
     ______total square feet off-site
       8. How many original buildings, attached and/or detached 
     permanent additions to the original buildings, and temporary 
     buildings does this school have on-site? If this school does 
     not have any permanent additions or any temporary buildings 
     on-site, enter zero for these categories.
     On-Site Buildings--Number
     Original buildings--________
     Attached and/or detached permanent additions to original 
     buildings--________
     Temporary buildings--________
       9. How many total square feet do the original buildings, 
     the attached and/or detached permanent additions, and the 
     temporary buildings have? If exact measurements are not 
     readily available, give your best estimate. If this school 
     does not have any permanent additions or any temporary 
     buildings on-site, enter zero for these categories.
     On-Site Buildings--Total Square Feet
     Original buildings--________
     Attached and/or detached permanent additions to original 
     buildings--________
     Temporary buildings--________
       10. What is the overall condition of the original 
     buildings, the attached and/or detached permanent additions, 
     and the temporary buildings? Refer to the rating scale shown 
     below, and circle one for each category of building. If this 
     school does not have any permanent additions or any temporary 
     buildings onsite, circle ``0.''
       Overall condition includes both physical condition and the 
     ability of the buildings to meet the functional requirements 
     of instructional programs.

                              Rating Scale

       Excellent: new or easily restorable to ``like new'' 
     condition; only minimal routine maintenance required.
       Good: only routine maintenance or minor repair required.
       Adequate: some preventive maintenance and/or corrective 
     repair required.
       Fair: fails to meet code and functional requirement in some 
     cases; failure(s) are inconvenient; extensive corrective 
     maintenance and repair required.
       Poor: consistent substandard performance; failure(s) and 
     disruptive and costly; fails most code and functional 
     requirements; requires constant attention, renovation, or 
     replacement. Major corrective repair or overhaul required.
       Replace: Non-operational or significantly substantial 
     performance. Replacement required.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       School                                                   
                                                        does                                                    
                  On-site buildings                      not   Excellent   Good  Adequate   Fair   Poor  Replace
                                                        have                                                    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original buildings...................................     N/A        1        2        3       4      5       6 
Attached and/or detached permanent additions to                                                                 
 original buildings..................................       0        1        2        3       4      5       6 
Temporary buildings..................................       0        1        2        3       4      5       6 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       11. What would probably be the total cost of all repairs/
     renovations/modernizations required to put this school's on-
     site buildings in good overall condition? Give your best 
     estimate. If this school's on-site buildings are already in 
     good (or better) overall condition, enter zero.
     $________.00
       12. On which of the sources listed below is this estimate 
     based? Circle ALL that apply.

Does not apply--already in good (or better) overall condition.........0
Sources
Facilities inspection(s)/assess- ments(s) performed within the last 
  three years by licensed professionals...............................1
Repair/renovation/modernization work already being performed and/or 
  contracted for......................................................2
Capital improvement/facilities master plan or schedule................3
My best professional judgment.........................................4
Opinions of other district administrators.............................5
Other (specify: ______)...............................................6

       13. During the last 3 years, how much money has been spent 
     on the federal mandates listed below for this school's on-
     site buildings? Include money spent in 1993-1994. If exact 
     amounts are not readily available, give your best estimate. 
     Enter zero if none. Circle ``1'' if spending was not needed.

                 Federal mandates--spending not needed

                                                           Amount spent
Accessibility for students with disabilities--1..............$______.00
Managing/correcting:
  Asbestos--1................................................$______.00
  Lead in water/paint--1.....................................$______.00
  Underground storage tanks (USTs)--1........................$______.00
  Radon--1...................................................$______.00
  Other (specify: ____)--1...................................$______.00

       14. How much money will probably need to be spent during 
     the next 3 years on these federal mandates for this school's 
     on-site buildings? If exact amounts are not readily 
     available, give your best estimate. If spending will not be 
     needed, circle ``1.'' If unknown, circle ``2.''

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      Spending                          
                                      will not                Amount    
          Federal mandates               be      Unknown     probably   
                                       needed                 needed    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Accessibility for students with                                         
 disabilities.......................         1         2      $______.00
Managing/correcting:                                                    
    Asbestos........................         1         2      $______.00
    Lead in water/paint.............         1         2      $______.00
    Underground storage tanks (USTs)         1         2      $______.00
    Radon...........................         1         2      $______.00
    Other (specify: ______).........         1         2      $______.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       15. Are these spending needs for federal mandates included 
     in your answer to question 11? Circle one for each mandate 
     listed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      Does not                          
                                     apply--Not                  No--Not
          Federal mandates             needed/   Yes--Included  included
                                       unknown                          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Accessibility for students with                                     
     disabilities..................          1             2           3
Managing/correcting:                                                    
    Asbestos.......................          1             2           3
    Lead in water/paint............          1             2           3
    Underground storage tanks                                           
     (USTs)........................          1             2           3
    Radon..........................          1             2           3
Other (specify: ________)                                               
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       16. Overall, what is the physical condition of each of the 
     building features listed below for this school's on-site 
     buildings? Refer to the rating scale shown below, and circle 
     one for EACH building feature listed.

                              Rating Scale

       Excellent: new or easily restorable to ``like new'' 
     condition; only minimal routine maintenance required.
       Good: only routine maintenance or minor repair required.
       Adequate: some preventive maintenance and/or corrective 
     repair required.
       Fair: fails to meet code or functional requirement in some 
     cases; failure(s) are inconvenient; extensive corrective 
     maintenance and repair required.
       Poor: consistent substandard performance; failure(s) are 
     disruptive and costly; fails most code and functional 
     requirements; requires constant attention, renovation, or 
     replacement. Major corrective repair or overhaul required.
       Replace: Non-operational or significantly substandard 
     performance. Replacement required.

                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Building feature   Excellent   Good   Adequate   Fair    Poor   Replace
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roofs.............         1        2        3        4       5        6
Framing, floors,                                                        
 foundations......         1        2        3        4       5        6
Exterior walls                                                          
 finishes,                                                              
 windows, doors...         1        2        3        4       5        6
Interior finishes,                                                      
 trims............         1        2        3        4       5        6
Plumbing..........         1        2        3        4       5        6
Heating,                                                                
 ventilation, air                                                       
 conditioning.....         1        2        3        4       5        6
Electrical power..         1        2        3        4       5        6
Electrical                                                              
 lighting.........         1        2        3        4       5        6
Life safety codes.         1        2        3        4       5        6
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       17. Do this school's on-site buildings have sufficient 
     capability in each of the communications technology elements 
     listed below to meet the functional requirements of modern 
     educational technology? Circle one for EACH element listed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Very     Moderately   Somewhat       Not   
   Technology elements    sufficient  sufficient  sufficient  sufficient
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computers for                                                           
 instructional use......         1           2           3           4  
Computer printers for                                                   
 instructional use......         1           2           3           4  
Computer networks for                                                   
 instructional use......         1           2           3           4  
Modems..................         1           2           3           4  
Telephone lines for                                                     
 modems.................         1           2           3           4  
Telephones in                                                           
 instructional areas....         1           2           3           4  
Television sets.........         1           2           3           4  
Laser disk players/VCRS.         1           2           3           4  
Conduits/raceways for                                                   
 computer/computer                                                      
 network cables.........         1           2           3           4  
Fiber optic cable.......         1           2           3           4  
Electrical wiring for                                                   
 computers/                                                             
 communications                                                         
 technology.............         1           2           3           4  
Electrical power for                                                    
 computers/                                                             
 communications                                                         
 technology.............         1           2           3           4  
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       18. How many computers for instructional use does this 
     school have? Include computers at both on-site buildings and 
     off-site instructional facilities.
     ______ computers for instructional use
       19. How well do this school's on-site buildings meet the 
     functional requirement of the activities listed below? Circle 
     one for EACH activity listed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    Not 
             Activity                Very   Moderatley  Somewhat   well 
                                     well      well       well    at all
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small group instruction...........       1         2          3        4
Large group (50 or more students)                                       
 instruction......................       1         2          3        4
Storage of alternative student                                          
 assessment materials.............       1         2          3        4
Display of alternative student                                          
 assessment materials.............       1         2          3        4
Parent support activities, such as                                      
 tutoring, planning, making                                             
 materials, etc...................       1         2          3        4
Social/Health Care Services.......       1         2          3        4
Teachers' planning................       1         2          3        4
Private areas for student                                               
 counseling and testing...........       1         2          3        4
Laboratory science................       1         2          3        4
Library/Media Center..............       1         2          3        4
Day care..........................       1         2          3        4
Before/after school care..........       1         2          3        4
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       20. How satisfactory or unsatisfactory is each of the 
     following environmental factors in this school's on-site 
     buildings? Circle one for each factor listed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Very                                         Very     
                Environmental factor                  satisfactory  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory  unsatisfactory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lighting............................................           1             2              3               4   
Heating.............................................           1             2              3               4   
Ventilation.........................................           1             2              3               4   
Indoor air quality..................................           1             2              3               4   
Acoustics for noise control.........................           1             2              3               4   
Flexibility of instructional space (e.g.,                                                                       
 expandability, convertability, adaptability).......           1             2              3               4   


                                                                                                                
[[Page S2003]]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Very                                         Very     
                Environmental factor                  satisfactory  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory  unsatisfactory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Energy efficiency...................................           1             2              3               4   
Physical security of buildings......................           1             2              3               4   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     21. Does this school have air conditioning in classrooms, 
     administrative offices, and/or other areas? Circle ALL that 
     apply.

Yes, in classrooms...............................  1                    
Yes, In administrative offices...................  2                    
Yes, in other areas..............................  3                    
No, no air conditioning in this school at all....  4 (go to question 23)
                                                                        

       22. How satisfactory or unsatisfactory is the air 
     conditioning in classrooms, administrative offices, and/or 
     other areas? Circle one for each category listed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Very                                         Very     
                                                      satisfactory  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory  unsatisfactory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air conditioning in:                                                                                            
    Classrooms......................................           1             2              3               4   
    Administrative offices..........................           1             2              3               4   
    Other areas.....................................           1             2              3               4   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       23. Does this school participate in the National School 
     Lunch Program? Circle one.
Yes...................................................................1
No....................................................................2

       24. Regardless of whether this school participates in the 
     National School Lunch Program, around the first of October, 
     1993, were any students in this school eligible for the 
     program? Circle one.

Yes................................  1                                  
No.................................  2 (go to question 27)              
Don't know.........................  3 (go to question 27)              
                                                                        

       25. Around the first of October, 1993, how many applicants 
     in this school were approved for the National School Lunch 
     Program? Enter zero if none.
     ______ applicants approved
       26. Around the first of October, 1993, how many students in 
     this school received free or reduced lunches through the 
     National School Lunch Program? Enter zero if none.
     ________ recipients
       27. How many students in this school were absent on the 
     most recent school day? If none were absent, please enter 
     zero.
     ________ students absent
       28. What type of school is this? Circle one.
Regular elementary or secondary.......................................1
Elementary or secondary with special program emphasis--for example, 
  science/math school, performing arts high school, talented/gifted 
  school, foreign language immersion school, etc..................... 2
Special education--primarily serves students with disabilities........3
Vocational/technical--primarily serves students being trained for 
  occupations.........................................................4
Alternative--offers a curriculum designed to provide alternative or 
  nontraditional education; does not specifically fall into the 
  categories of regular, special education, or vocational school......5

       29. Does this school offer a magnet program? Circle one.
Yes...................................................................1
No....................................................................2

       If this is the last school listed on your instruction 
     sheet, please go directly to the last page of this 
     questionnaire.


                                comments

       Do you have any comments you would like to make about 
     school facilities? Circle one.
       Yes    1--Please use the space below.
       No    2
                               APPENDIX V

                     Data Points for Report Figures

       Tables in this appendix provide data for the figures in the 
     report.

 TABLE V.1.--DATA FOR FIGURE 1: SCHOOL OFFICIALS REPORT BILLIONS NEEDED 
   FOR REPAIRS AND TO COMPLY WITH FEDERAL MANDATES IN THE NEXT 3 YEARS  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Amount needed to                        All schools    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make all repairs required to put schools in good                        
 overall condition................................      $101,200,000,000
Provide accessibility for disabled students.......         5,183,407,780
Manage/correct asbestos...........................         2,395,445,006
Manage/correct lead in water and paint............           386,647,141
Manage/correct underground storage tanks..........           303,004,301
Manage/correct radon..............................            31,521,318
Manage/correct other requirements.................         2,380,065,108
------------------------------------------------------------------------


TABLE V.2.--DATA FOR FIGURE 2: AMOUNT SCHOOLS REPORTED SPENDING OVER THE
  LAST 3 YEARS AND NEED IN THE NEXT 3 YEARS TO FULFILL FEDERAL MANDATES 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Reported needed 
          Federal mandate           Reported spent in    in the next 3  
                                     the last 3 years        years      
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Accessibility for students with                                         
 disabilities.....................     $1,519,755,380     $5,183,407,780
Manage/correct asbestos...........      1,728,277,353      2,395,445,006
Manage/correct other requirements.        200,885,750      2,380,065,108
Manage/correct lead in water/pains         46,241,652        386,647,141
Manage/correct underground storage                                      
 tanks............................        302,014,949        303,004,301
Manage/correct radon..............         13,854,263         31,521,318
------------------------------------------------------------------------


  TABLE V.3.--DATA FOR FIGURE 3: PERCENT OF BUILDINGS REPORTED IN LESS- 
                     THAN-ADEQUATE OVERALL CONDITION                    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Percentage of 
                                                            less-than-  
                    Type of building                         adequate   
                                                            buildings   
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Temporary buildings....................................             27.9
Original buildings.....................................             26.2
Attached and/or detached permanent additions to                         
 original buildings....................................             17.9
------------------------------------------------------------------------


   TABLE V.4.--DATA FOR FIGURE 4: BUILDING REPAIRS REPORTED NEEDED IN   
                            AMERICA'S SCHOOLS                           
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Percentage of
                                                              schools   
                                                          reporting less-
                    Type of building                       than-adequate
                                                             building   
                                                             features   
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HVAC....................................................            36.4
Plumbing................................................            29.8
Roofs...................................................            27.3
Exterior walls, finishes, windows, doors................            26.6
Electrical power........................................            26.4
Electrical lighting.....................................            25.4
Interior finishes, trims................................            24.1
Life safety codes.......................................            19.0
Framing, floors, foundations............................            17.9
------------------------------------------------------------------------


     TABLE V.5.--DATA FOR FIGURE 5: PERCENTAGE OF SCHOOLS REPORTING     
       UNSATISFACTORY OR VERY UNSATISFACTORY ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS      
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Percentage of
                                                              schools   
                                                          reporting less-
             Type of environmental condition               than-adequate
                                                           environmental
                                                            conditions  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acoustics for noise control.............................            28.1
Ventilation.............................................            27.1
Physical security of buildings..........................            24.2
Indoor air quality......................................            19.2
Heating.................................................            18.9
Lighting................................................            15.6
------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           major contributors

       Eleanor L. Johnson, Assistant Director, (202) 512-7209.
       Edna M. Saltzman, Project Manager, (313) 256-8109.
       D. Catherine Baltzell, Supervisory Social Science Analyst.
       Ella F. Cleveland, Subproject Manager.
       Harry M. Conley III, Statistician.
       Nancy Kintner-Meyer, Evaluator.
       Steven R. Machlin, Statistician.
       Deborah L. McCormick, Senior Social Science Analyst.
       Sara J. Peth, Technical Information Specialist.
       William G. Sievert, Technical Advisor.
       Kathleen Ward, Technical Advisor.
                               footnotes

     \1\Education Writers Association, ``Wolves at the Schoolhouse 
     Door: An Investigation of the Condition of Public School 
     Buildings'' (Washington, D.C.: 1989); American Association of 
     School Administrators, ``Schoolhouse in the Red: A Guidebook 
     for Cutting Our Losses'' (Arlington, VA.: 1992).
     \2\Subsequent reports will address (1) the capability of 
     schools to meet education reform goals and the needs of 21st 
     century education, (2) state role in school facilities, and 
     (3) the relationship of facility conditions to select school 
     and staffing data.
     \3\Sampling error is  6.61 percent.
     \4\No complete national data has been compiled for current 
     replacement value of school buildings. Researchers have used 
     the $422 billion estimate made by the Education Writers 
     Association in ``Wolves at the Schoolhouse Door.''
     \5\``Good'' condition means that only routine maintenance or 
     minor repair is required. ``Overall'' condition includes both 
     physical condition and the ability of the schools to meet the 
     functional requirements of instructional programs.
     \6\Any one school may have more than one building.
     \7\Pauley v. Kelly, No. 75-C1268 (Kanawha County Cir. Ct., W. 
     Va., May 1982).
     \8\The Education Infrastructure Act of 1994 was introduced by 
     Senator Carol Moseley-Braun and was passed as part of 
     Improving America's Schools Act (P.L. 103-382, Oct. 20, 
     1994).
     \9\The National Education Goals are set forth in Goals 2000: 
     Educate America Act (P.L. 103-227, March 31, 1994). The goals 
     concern (1) school readiness; (2) school completion; (3) 
     student achievement and citizenship; (4) teacher education 
     and professional development; (5) math and science 
     achievement; (6) adult literacy and lifelong learning; (7) 
     safe, disciplined, and alcohol- and drug-free schools; and 
     (8) parental participation.
     \10\``School Construction Specification and Financing, 
     National Survey Data 1994,'' MGT of America, Inc., prepared 
     for Hawaii's State Department of Education (Tallahassee, 
     Fla.: 1994). See also our forthcoming report on state role in 
     school facilities.
     \11\The Impact Aid program is administered by the Department 
     of Education and provided $12 million in fiscal year 1994 for 
     constructing and renovating schools in districts that educate 
     ``federally connected'' children, such as those whose parents 
     live and/or work on military installations and Indian 
     reservations.
     \12\``Toxic Substances: Information on Costs and Financial 
     Aid to Schools to Control Asbestos'' GAO/RCED-92-57FS, Jan. 
     15, 1992).
     \13\Building features include roofs; framing, floors, and 
     foundations; exterior walls, finishes, windows, and doors; 
     interior finishes and trims; plumbing, heating, ventilation, 
     air conditioning; electrical power; electrical lighting; and 
     life safety codes.
     \14\Environmental factors include lighting, heating, 
     ventilation, indoor air quality, acoustics for noise control, 
     energy efficiency, and physical security of buildings. 
     Although flexibility of instructional space is included as an 
     environmental factor in our questionnaire (see app. IV), we 
     are not addressing those issues in this report. They will be 
     addressed in a forthcoming report.
     \15\We are referring to maintenance as the upkeep of property 
     and equipment while repair is work to restore damaged or 
     worn-out property to a normal operating condition.
     \16\``Repair and Maintenance of School Buildings,'' (National 
     Audit Office, Report by the Controller and Auditor General, 
     London, England, Ordered by the House of Commons to be 
     printed July 25, 1991).
     \17\We asked district officials what would probably be the 
     total cost of all repairs and renovations required to put all 
     of the district's schools in good overall condition.
  Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, I wish to thank the GAO staff for 
their exhaustive work in an area that Senator Harkin and I have 
recognized as a critical issue of readiness for educational excellence 
in this country. And that is what I call the dirty little secret of the 
condition of America's schools.
  [[Page S2004]] The GAO report makes it clear what the American people 
already know: our schools are deteriorating and we need to fix them. 
Infrastructure investment is just another way of saying the obvious; 
that we need to reverse the decades-long habit of trying to ignore the 
decay while we struggle to eke out money for programs. We have delayed 
maintenance for too long in too many schools and now the results of 
that neglect are unmistakable. The chickens, literally, have come home 
to roost.
  Some 14 million children, Mr. President, attend schools that are 
reported needing extensive repair or replacement. These schools are 
distributed nationwide. Recent research has concluded that facilities 
in poor condition may contribute to students' poor performance. It is 
inherently unfair to hold youngsters to nationwide standards for 
achievement if they do not have an equal opportunity to learn. It is 
frightening that major repair and renovation needs exist in fully a 
third of the 80,000 schools in our country and that over 60 percent of 
that number reported at least one major feature in disrepair, needing 
extensive overhaul if not replacement. Most schools reported multiple 
problems of this nature.
  These are not just cosmetic concerns. And I would like my staff to 
put up some pictures.
  This is a series of pictures showing classroom conditions. You will 
notice that this science lab looks like it has been the victim of a 
failed science experiment. But can you imagine our youngsters trying to 
study the sciences and be competitive in this world economy trying to 
learn in facilities like that.
  Here is one with peeling lead-based paint; burned out lights; 
unrepaired fire damage. Here is one: Water damage caused buckling 
floors and missing tiles; more water damage; termites eating out the 
school library shelves. Here is a basement in a school in Chicago. Here 
is one of peeling lead-based paint and burned out lights, which is not 
replaceable. But the irony of it, Mr. President, is the little sign 
here on the blackboard that says ``academic success.'' It is hard to 
think that someone can achieve academic success in a setting like this.
  These are not just cosmetic concerns. When we speak of major repair 
needs, we are referring to conditions that are unsafe or even harmful 
to children's health. The GAO report estimates that the Nation's 
schools need $112 billion to repair and upgrade America's investment in 
school facilities to bring them to good overall condition. Just to 
comply with the Federal mandates to remove asbestos, or lead paint, or 
radon and pesticides and hazardous materials is estimated to require 
$11 billion. We are courting disaster if we fail to recognize that 
these capital needs relate directly to the health and safety of our 
children in the environment second in importance only to the home.
  For example, some 7 million children attended schools with life 
safety code violations, some 11 million in schools with electrical 
problems, 15 million in schools with heating and air quality problems, 
and 12 million with plumbing problems; 11.9 million children attend 
schools with leaky roofs, and 7 million with hazardous floors. We have 
allowed the deterioration to continue to a point that the courts are 
beginning to step in, as was done here in the Nation's Capitol and in 
New York, to require that life-threatening conditions be rectified. 
Sometimes, as in a recent student strike in Chicago, the children take 
matters in their own hands.
  The Education Infrastructure Act is a small, first step toward 
putting Federal support where the needs are. It is included in Goals 
2000, and was appropriated last year at the $100 million level. I hope 
we will have the support of the President to keep this money in the 
budget, and to increase the appropriation this year. Time is not on our 
side, deferred investment will just make it more, not less expensive to 
correct. I hope to have the support required to give this initiative 
the priority it deserves.
  I first became aware of the problems facing our Nation's education 
infrastructure while serving in the Illinois House of Representatives. 
Throughout my 2\1/2\ terms in office, I visited school districts across 
the State and witnessed the deteriorating condition of public school 
facilities in both urban and rural districts alike.
  Yet, it was not until I began working on education legislation in the 
U.S. Senate, that I learned that the Federal Government had not 
collected data on the condition of our Nation's public school 
facilities since 1965.
  Knowing that my efforts to improve our Nation's education 
infrastructure would be limited by insufficient data, I sent a letter 
to the General Accounting Office last year, which was cosigned by 
Senators Kennedy, Pell, Simon,  and Wellstone, requesting a 
comprehensive, nationwide study on the condition of our Nation's public 
school facilities.
  In responding to my request, the General Accounting Office surveyed a 
random sample of our Nation's 15,000 school districts and 80,000 public 
schools from April to December 1994. GAO staff members also visited 41 
schools in 10 school districts across the country to supplement their 
quantitative data with personal observations.
  Based on responses from 7.8 percent of the schools sampled, GAO 
concluded that our Nation's public schools need $112 billion to restore 
their facilities to good overall condition--including $6 billion to 
make programs accessible to all students and $5 billion to correct or 
remove hazardous substances.
  More specifically, GAO found that out of the 42 million public school 
students in the United States: 14 million or 33 percent of all students 
attend schools that need to extensively repair or replace one or more 
buildings; 59 percent attend schools that need to repair or replace one 
or more building features; and 52 percent attend schools that have at 
least one unsatisfactory environmental condition.
  As I said, we are not speaking of cosmetic concerns. We are referring 
to conditions that are unsafe or even harmful to the safety and well 
being of our children.
  According to the GAO report, this situation is one that is pervasive, 
it is widespread, and runs the gamut in terms of conditions. I would 
like my staff to take this set of pictures down and put up the one 
regarding plumbing conditions and the like.
  Mr. President, I am going to digress for a moment while my staff 
displays the next set of pictures. I have a teenage son. If anything, 
the youngsters know this. This is not a surprise to any of the pages 
sitting here. They know of some school in the community from which they 
come that has this kind of problem. It is a widespread problem. It is a 
nationwide problem. It is an urban as well as rural problem. These 
pictures are from urban school districts specifically.
  Here is a toilet used to redirect sewage from a broken pipe in the 
wall here in Washington, DC--our Nation's Capital. This is the kind of 
infrastructure disrepair that youngsters must try to learn in on a 
daily basis. Can you imagine the activities in the classroom right 
next-door to this bathroom?
  This next picture is of a home economics sink--small wonder you could 
not do very well in home economics, if that is the kind of conditions 
in which you have to work.
  Mr. President, in addition to these plumbing concerns, I would also 
like you to take an opportunity to look at some of the external 
problems. Young people do not cause the fascia to crack or the 
structural damage. Here is one of a front door which is a life and 
safety violation. The front door is chained so the students cannot be 
injured by the holes in the crumbling front steps of this particular 
school.
  This picture shows structural damage which I can see in the 
brickwork, in the fascia. Again, a function of the failure to invest in 
repairs and maintenance over time. This picture is of a 30-year-old 
portable classroom in New Orleans that was built to last for 10 years. 
It was designed to be temporary. A portable classroom that was designed 
to be temporary. It is still there and that is the condition in which 
it is in--coming apart at the seams. This picture shows a demountable 
classroom held in place by a steel plate and the wall, of course, is 
crumbling under the windows.
  Mr. President, 7 million students attend schools with life safety 
code violations; 11 million attend schools with electrical problems; 15 
million attend schools with heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning 
problems; 12 million 
[[Page S2005]] attend schools with plumbing problems; and 11.9 million 
students attend schools with leaky roofs.
  Mr. President, in preparing their report, GAO staff members traveled 
across the country to examine public school facilities in America's 
urban communities and found that: In New York City, A $151 million 
state-of-the-art science high school is only blocks away from another 
high school housed in a 100-year-old building which has served as a 
stable, fire house, factory, and office building; this school's 
elevators do not work, its interior classrooms have no windows, it's 
ventilation system needs major repairs, and its heating depends on a 
fireman's stoking the coal furnace by hand. In Chicago, a leaking roof 
at one elementary school caused floors to buckle and plaster on the 
walls and ceilings to crumble; since the leaking roof also flooded 
parts of the electric wiring system, one teacher would not turn on her 
lights during rainstorms for fear of electric shock--or fire. In 
Washington, DC, water damage from an old steam-heating system at a 60-
year-old junior high school has caused so much wall deterioration that 
an entire wing has been condemned; steam damage is also causing lead-
based wall paint to peel. And, in New Orleans, most of the school 
buildings have no air-conditioning although the average morning 
relative humidity in New Orleans is 87 percent; Formosan termites have 
also deteriorated the structure of many schools; in one elementary 
school, ants ate books on shelves as well as the shelves themselves.
  GAO staff members also visited public school facilities in America's 
rural communities and found similar problems.
  In Raymond, WA, one elementary school is made of wood, a potential 
fire hazard, and the 70-year-old high school is made of unreinforced 
concrete that probably can not withstand earthquakes.
  In Ramona, CA, one elementary school is comprised solely of portable 
classrooms with no cafeteria or auditorium; one portable room serves as 
a library, computer lab, music room, and art room. and, in Grandview, 
WA, the middle school, which was built to house 475 students, currently 
enrolls 700, while the elementary school designed for 375, now enrolls 
464 students.
  At this point I would also like to raise the issue of school 
overcrowding, because, this issue also causes facilities to become 
inadequate. So you have damage as we see here in these pictures 
exacerbated by just the numbers of children that are crowding into 
inadequate facilities.
  Mr. President, the American system of public education has 
historically given local school boards primary responsibility for 
maintaining our Nation's education infrastructure.
  For a long time, local school boards were able to meet that 
responsibility. However, the ability of local school boards to continue 
to meet that responsibility has steadily declined, in large part 
because of escalating costs in the operating budget.
  To build schools, local school boards rely on local property taxes. 
And, as we all know, school boards in every State in the country are 
finding it increasingly difficult to support their instructional 
programs, much less their school facilities, with local property taxes.
  Local property taxes are an inadequate source of funding for public 
education because they make the quality of public education dependent 
on the local property wealth.
  Two districts in Illinois illustrate the gross disparities created by 
our current school financing system.
  In 1990, the owner of a $100,000 home in a prosperous community paid 
$2,103 in local property taxes. This community spent an average of 
$10,085 per child in its public schools. On the other hand, the owner 
of a $100,000 home in a low- and moderate-income community paid $4,139 
in local property taxes, almost twice as much, but was only able to 
spend $3,483 per child in its public schools--less than one-third of 
the money the more prosperous
 community was spending, and for a host of reasons that goes to local 
schools.

  In their responses to the GAO survey, school officials reported that 
they have difficulty raising money for needed repairs and renovation, 
in large part, because of the demands of their operating budgets as 
well as an antitax sentiment among voters resulting in the failure of 
bond issues.
  In other words the local property tax is an inadequate, inelastic 
base for funding schools generally, but it has the particularly 
Draconian effect with regard to infrastructure and facilities because 
the school districts do not want to have to go back to the taxpayers in 
order to meet these kinds of repairs.
  In fact, 33 percent of school districts reported that they have had 
an average of two bond issues fail in the past 10 years and that bond 
proceeds are often much less than needed for repairs. For example, GAO 
found that: In Montgomery, AL, voters defeated a local tax referendum 
to remove all portable buildings and build new schools on June 28, 
1994; and, in Pomona, CA, a $62.5 million bond issue was submitted to 
the voters after a survey indicated that the $200 million needed for 
repairs would be rejected by the voters.
  In short, one survey respondent commented that:

       The current public attitudes about the economy and 
     education are generally so negative that passing a bond 
     referendum is a fantasy.

  Mr. President, the Federal Government, as well as most States, 
continue to force local school districts to rely increasingly on local 
property taxes for public education, in general, and for school repair 
and construction projects, in particular.
  In Illinois, for example, the local share of public education funding 
increased from 48 percent during the 1980-81 school year to 58 percent 
during the 1992-93 school year, while the State share feel from 43 to 
34 percent during this same period.
  So what we see is a continuing shifting of the burden to the local 
property taxpayer, and the local property taxpayer is not able to go 
any further to meet this need.
  At the same time, State support for the repair, renovation, 
alternation, and construction of public school facilities has fallen 
even more dramatically in illinois--one of 23 State that provides 
little or no funding for school facilities projects.
  Although the Illinois General Assembly created the Capital Assistance 
Program in the early 1970's to help local school districts finance 
school repair and construction projects, support for this program has 
diminished rapidly.
  During fiscal years 1985 through 1990, the State of Illinois 
appropriated only $18 million for local school repair and construction 
projects, and then only on an individual direct-grant basis.
  I point out also that the last time this issue even was reviewed at a 
State level in our State was in 1987 when the Illinois Board of 
Education that our rural districts alone needed over $500 million to 
restore their facilities to good overall conditions. The GAO report 
found that Chicago public schools need $2.9 billion.
  Mr. President, the Federal Government must accept a share of the 
blame for failing to provide our Nation's children with school 
environments which are conducive to learning.
  In just the last decade alone, the Federal Government's share of 
public education funding has dropped from 9.8 to 6.1 percent.
  That could make a lot of difference when it comes to providing an 
environment in which young people can learn.
  The Federal Government has historically addressed the problems facing 
our Nation's public schools by passing important legislation including: 
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; the Asbestos Hazard 
Emergency Response Act of 1986; and the Americans with Disabilities Act 
of 1990. While these laws have laudable goals, they have the effect of 
passing on even greater costs to already overburdened school districts.
  The GAO report states clearly that these mandates alone, account for 
$11 billion of the $112 billion needed to fix our schools.
  Last year, Congress passed the Goals 2000: Educate America Act which 
President Clinton signed into law on March 31, 1994. I supported this 
legislation because it promises to create a coherent, national 
framework for education reform founded on the national education goals.
  Since one essential building block of reform is better school 
facilities, I am pleased that Goals 2000 includes an 
[[Page S2006]] amendment I introduced that directs the national 
education standards and improvement council to develop voluntary 
national opportunity-to-learn standards which address the condition of 
school facilities.
  Nonetheless, I firmly believe that it is inherently unfair to expect 
our children to meet national performance standards if they do not have 
an equal opportunity to learn.
  That is why I introduced the Education Infrastructure Act last April. 
This legislation, which was included in the reauthorization of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act [ESEA], is specifically designed 
to help local school districts ensure the health and safety of students 
through the repair, renovation, alteration, and construction of school 
facilities.
  With the help of my distinguished colleague from Iowa [Mr. Harkin], I 
was able to include $100 million in the 1995 Department of Education 
budget for the education infrastructure program. While this 
appropriation level represents a drop in the bucket in terms of our 
Nation's education infrastructure needs, it is significant, 
nonetheless, because it is the first drop.
  The Education Infrastructure Act requires the Secretary of Education 
to award funds to school districts with at least 15 percent child 
poverty rates and urgent repair and renovation needs.
  This legislation further targets program funds by requiring the 
Secretary to award funds among eligible school districts on the basis 
of:
  The number or percentages of children in poverty;
  The extent to which they lack the fiscal capacity to undertake the 
project without Federal assistance;
  The threat the physical condition of the plant poses to the safety 
and well-being of students; and
  The age of the facility to be replaced.
  Mr. President, the Education Infrastructure Act does not infringe 
upon local control over public education in any way. Rather, it seeks 
to supplement, augment, and assist local efforts to support education 
in the least intrusive way possible by helping local school boards 
support the repair, renovation, alteration, and construction of our 
Nation's public elementary and secondary school facilities.
  Mr. President, the Education Infrastructure Act will help our 
children learn by providing an environment conducive to learning. In 
her research at Georgetown University, Maureen Edwards found that 
students in poor school facilities can be expected to fall 5.5 
percentage points below those in schools in fair condition and 11 
percentage points below those in schools in excellent condition.
  For all of these reasons, the Education Infrastructure Act was 
enthusiastically endorsed by the National PTA, the National Education 
Association, the National School Boards Association, the American 
Association of School Administrators, the Council
 of Great City Schools, the National Committee for adequate School 
Housing, the City University of New York, the AFL-CIO Building and 
Trades Commission, the Military Impacted Schools Association, the 
American Library Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the 
National Association of Federal Education Program Administrators, 
ASPIRA, the Council of Education Facilities Planners International, and 
the American Federation of School Administrators.

  Mr. President, I have taken the time today to highlight the results 
of the GAO report as well as the merits of the Education Infrastructure 
Act because Republican Members of Congress are currently preparing 
legislation that would rescind the $100 million appropriated for the 
Education Infrastructure Act in 1995.
  Needless to say, I am vehemently opposed to any proposal that would 
force Congress to take this giant leap backward. In my view, it would 
be unconscionable for Congress to withdraw funding for the Education 
Infrastructure Act--especially now given the results of the GAO report.
  Mr. President, I would like to conclude my remarks by urging my 
colleagues to read the ``Condition of America's Schools'' report for 
themselves and to join me in working to secure funding for the 
Education Infrastructure Act in 1995 and 1996.
  Rather, I believe that President Clinton should include at least $200 
million for the Education Infrastructure Program in his fiscal year 
1996 budget request and that Congress should meet this request.
  By providing this needed and long overdue support, we will begin to 
address our failure to adequately engage Federal resources in behalf of 
preparing our children for competition in this global economy and 
securing the future of our Democratic institutions. This is not our 
children's interest; this is in our national interest.
  Mr. SHELBY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama is recognized.

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