[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 25, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6818-S6819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          OUR NATION'S SCHOOLS

  Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, 2 years ago my colleagues, Senators 
Kennedy, Pell, Simon, Wellstone, and Kerry joined me in asking the 
General Accounting Office to study the condition of America's schools. 
Since then, the GAO has surveyed 10,000 schools in over 5,000 school 
districts. They have visited 41 schools and interviewed State officials 
responsible for school facilities in all 50 States. They have now 
written six reports documenting the condition of America's schools.
  Today, Mr. President, I am pleased to present the final two reports 
in the series. The first, ``America's Schools Report Differing 
Conditions,'' documents crumbling school facilities in every State, in 
every region of the country, in every type of community, and in every 
type of school serving every kind of American child. The second report, 
``Profiles of School Condition by State,'' presents all the information 
that the GAO has compiled on the condition of school facilities in each 
State, building conditions and readiness for computers, as well as 
State funding needs and the level of State support for school 
facilities.
  Mr. President, these reports document a problem that transcends 
geographic and demographic boundaries. Crumbling schools is not just an 
inner-city problem, it is not just a problem for poor children or for 
minority children. Crumbling schools are everywhere. It is an American 
problem. And it relates directly to our future ability to maintain the 
quality of life that Americans expect.
  I have charts here that paint the picture of the schools' conditions 
in the four regions of our country. In every region, the GAO reports 
that whole buildings are inadequate, that building features, like 
roofs, walls, and windows, are inadequate, and that the environment for 
learning, like the lighting, ventilation, and indoor air quality is 
inadequate.
  In the Northeast, 30 percent of the schools report inadequate 
buildings, 59 percent report inadequate building features, and 57 
percent report inadequate environmental conditions.
  In the Midwest, 31 percent of the schools report inadequate 
buildings, 57 percent report inadequate building features, and 57 
percent report inadequate environmental learning conditions.
  In the South, 31 percent of the schools report inadequate buildings, 
53 percent report inadequate building features, and 54 percent report 
inadequate environmental conditions.
  And in the West, 38 percent of the schools report inadequate 
buildings, fully 64 percent report inadequate building features, and 68 
percent report inadequate environmental conditions. Mr. President, 
crumbling schools span our country.

  In the urban areas, 38 percent of the schools reported at least one 
inadequate building. In rural areas, it is 30 percent. In the suburbs, 
it is 29 percent. This problem is not just confined to urban, rural, or 
suburban schools. It is across the board. Inner city schools are in 
disrepair, but so are suburban schools, as well as rural schools.
  My home State of Illinois is a microcosm of the Nation. We have 
Chicago, farmland, wealthy suburbs, and the poorest slums. Schools are 
crumbling across my State. Mr. President, 31 percent of Illinois 
schools report at least one inadequate building, 62 percent report at 
least one inadequate building feature, 70 percent report at least one 
inadequate environmental condition.
  In Illinois' wealthier communities, schools are full of computers and 
are designed to meet every student's and teacher's needs. The situation 
is different in all too many other communities. There, computers sit 
idle because the electrical power to run them is not available, or 
because there is nowhere to put them, or no one who knows how to use 
them.
  Five years ago, in his book, ``Savage Inequalities,'' John Kozol 
described the unbelievable conditions of some of Illinois schools. He 
reported schools ``full of sewer water,'' without playgrounds, science 
labs, or art teachers. He went to schools where the stench of urine 
permeated the halls. He wrote of schools that were, in his words, 
``extraordinarily unhappy places.''
  Today, Mr. President, the GAO reports that these conditions still 
exist, in all 50 States--in States that place a high priority on 
education, as well as those that do not.
  I point out that these facility problems are not cosmetic. A study 
released last month found a direct correlation between crumbling 
schools and student achievement in the North Dakota schools. This study 
is the latest in a string of reports that consistently prove that 
students can't learn if their schools are falling down.
  When we send our children to crumbling schools, we subtract from 
their opportunities. A generation ago, a college graduate earned about 
twice as much as a high school dropout. Today, the ratio is nearly 3 to 
1.
  The income gap between educated Americans and uneducated Americans is 
growing. Gone are the days when strength and hard work were enough to 
raise a family. In the information age, education is a prerequisite to 
employment. A good education has become a form of currency that buys 
quality of life. According to the Department of Labor, by the year 
2000, half of all new jobs will require an education beyond high 
school.
  When we send our children to crumbling schools, we subtract from 
America's opportunities. Education benefits the Nation as much as it 
benefits the individual.
  When students do not learn, we all contribute to the costs of 
remedial education. We pay for government-sponsored health care, 
welfare, child care, job training. We pay for crime prevention to house 
millions of prisoners, more than 80 percent of whom are high school 
dropouts.
  Every year the Federal Government spends nearly half a trillion 
dollars on antipoverty, crime prevention, and health care programs.
  Investing in education would save much of these costs and much of 
this money. Yet we have neglected the needs of our elementary and 
secondary schools, and it has shown up in our children's test scores. 
It affects their ability to concentrate and to learn and to receive the 
kind of education they need to keep America competitive in the 21st 
century.

  The time has come for a new school facilities paradigm. Local school 
districts are simply overwhelmed. The local tax base often cannot 
itself keep up with routine maintenance costs--let alone the costs of 
upgrading schools for 21st century learning, or to ease overcrowding. 
Of course, local bonds issues fail regularly.
  State governments, the GAO reports, are not fixing the problem. In 
1994, they spent only $3.5 billion all told--a far cry from the $112 
billion need that the GAO has documented.
  I believe that the time has come for a partnership between all levels 
of government. The national interest compels us to support elementary 
and secondary educational opportunities on a consistent national basis, 
and in ways that do not interfere with local control of education.
  Just as the Federal Government pays for the Interstate Highway 
System, but the construction decisions are made at the State and local 
levels, the Federal Government can support education infrastructure 
without getting involved in the kinds of decisions that belong at the 
State and local levels.
  I have sent every Senator and Governor the GAO results for their 
State and for the country. I welcome their input. It is time for us to 
open a dialog about this issue because I believe that together we can 
address this problem and we can fix our schools.
  When America was faced with a challenge of adapting to the industrial 
age, we did, and we emerged as the world's economic, military, and 
intellectual leader. Now, we are moving into the information age. We 
have to adapt again. Investment in the infrastructure needed to support 
the technological change the world has witnessed is an inefficient and 
appropriate place to start.
  These reports today complete the first comprehensive school facility 
survey in over 30 years and the most exhaustive study ever. Their work 
provides the foundation for the new kind of Federal, State, and local 
partnership that we need to make our schools work for the 21st century.
  Mr. President, crumbling schools is a ticking time bomb. In this 
global economy, in the information age, we should

[[Page S6819]]

be able to devote some small measure of our national resources to 
prepare our children with a chance to learn.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the Nation's schools are facing enormous 
problems of physical decay. According to two GAO reports released 
today, ``School Facilities: America's Schools Report Differing 
Conditions'' and ``School Facilities: Profiles of School Condition by 
State,'' 14 million of the Nation's children in one-third of our 
schools are learning in substandard school buildings. About half of the 
schools have at least one unsatisfactory environmental condition, such 
as poor air quality.
  Massachusetts is no exception--Forty-one percent of Massachusetts 
schools report that at least one of their buildings needs extensive 
repair or should be replaced; 75-percent report having at least one 
inadequate building feature, such as a plumbing or heating problem, and 
80 percent have at least one unsatisfactory environmental factor.
  It is difficult to teach or learn in dilapidated classrooms. Student 
enrollments will reach an all-time high next year and continue to rise. 
By this fall, 51.7 million students will be enrolled in elementary and 
secondary schools--surpassing the previous record of 51.3 million in 
1971, and enrollment will increase to 54.1 million by 2002. We cannot 
tolerate a situation in which facilities deteriorate while enrollments 
escalate.
  GAO estimates that American schools would need $112 billion just to 
repair their facilities. Yet the Republican budget cuts education by 
$25 billion, or 20 percent in real terms, over the next 6 years, with 
no provision at all for maintaining or upgrading facilities. In the 
Republican appropriations bill scheduled for consideration in the House 
this week, Federal aid to Massachusetts schools would be cut by almost 
$40 million next year, compared to the President's budget.
  Obviously, the Federal Government cannot meet all the needs of all 
the Nation's schools. But education is a national priority and a 
national investment. Clearly, Congress should not be slashing aid to 
schools when their needs are so vast.

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