[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 118 (Tuesday, September 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H7013-H7014]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IMMEDIATE FUNDING FOR EDUCATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997 the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, Democrats this week will continue our 
effort to improve our Nation's public schools. We believe strongly that 
every child in America should have access to quality public education. 
Unfortunately, the Republican leadership keeps trying to erode support 
for public schools. House Democrats' priorities for education include 
reducing overcrowding in schools, as well as rebuilding crumbling 
schools.
  The dire need to invest in the physical infrastructure of our schools 
is a matter that every Member of this body has become very familiar 
with in the last several weeks, and I am referring of course to the 
delayed opening of the school year right here in the District of 
Columbia. Because of the decrepit physical conditions of many schools 
in the District of Columbia, the opening of the school year has been 
postponed by a minimum of 3 weeks. Talk has surfaced in recent days 
that the 3-week extension may not be enough, and this is indeed a sad 
state of affairs. Many school systems across the Nation, including 
schools in my home State of New Jersey, are badly in need of physical 
improvements and other upgrades to meet the challenges of the 21st 
century.
  The General Accounting Office has noted that approximately one-third 
of all schools serving 14 million students are now in need of 
substantial repair or outright replacement. The GAO has also noted that 
half of the Nation's schools have at least one unsatisfactory 
environmental condition. Indeed, as school enrollment continues to grow 
in the coming years, the need for additional space and modern 
facilities will be more acute than ever.
  For this school year, 1996-97, elementary and secondary school 
enrollment was a record 51.7 million. That record has been broken by 
this year's all-time high enrollment figure of 52.2 million. In other 
words, from last year to this year, the record was broken again.
  To put it in perspective, there are more students enrolled in school 
now than there were when the baby boomers reached their peak school 
enrollment number in 1971. According to

[[Page H7014]]

the Department of Education, school enrollment is projected to climb to 
a whopping 54.6 million by the 2006 school year.
  In addition to the need to repair decaying schools, we also need to 
modernize schools so our students will have the resources they need to 
compete in today's economy. The National Center for Education 
statistics have noted that only 4 percent of schools have enough 
computers to allow regular use by each student. Forty-six percent of 
schools lack the electrical wiring necessary for computers in all 
classrooms. A mere 9 percent of classrooms are currently connected to 
the Internet. More than half the Nation's schools lack the needed 
infrastructure to access the Internet or network their computers.
  The Department of Education estimates that over the next 10 years, 
6,000 new schools will be needed in response to the increases in 
student enrollments.
  I wanted to mention, Madam Speaker, that in addition to the effects 
deteriorating schools can have on the health of children, we must also 
keep in mind the harmful effects that overcrowding and decaying schools 
can have on the quality of education to students. I know from my own 
experience in my own district, having gone around to some of the 
schools, how limited classroom space, cramming students in the gyms or 
labs or other facilities can really have a very negative impact on 
students' attitudes, as well as teachers' attitudes in the classrooms. 
For these reasons, Madam Speaker, the Democrats are making school 
construction one of our top priorities within our education agenda.
  Last night I was joined in a special order by the gentlewoman from 
New York [Mrs. Lowey] who has introduced legislation that proposes to 
provide local school districts with 50 percent intrasubsidies for new 
construction and renovation. The plan includes a $5 billion Federal 
jump-start and has the goal of increasing school construction by 25 
percent over the next 4 years. This is the type of thing that we need.
  We finished the budget about a month ago, and a big part of that was 
addressing the needs of higher education, more accessibility, more 
affordability for higher education. But right now there is this big gap 
in the whole effort to upgrade our education programs in this country, 
and a big part of that gap is the need for new schools and to upgrade 
existing, crumbling schools and to address the issue of overcrowding.
  I want to pledge that we, as Democrats, are going to make this a 
major priority. We are going to pressure the Republicans, the 
Republican leadership, into addressing this issue and endorsing a plan 
similar to that of Mrs. Lowey or some other plan that addresses the 
need for school construction. It is not something that is going to go 
away; it is something that is only going to get worse, and there is a 
need for a Federal partnership with local governments and State 
governments to address this issue.

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