[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 29, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11333-S11335]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONGRESS IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SCHOOLS

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I rise today to bring to the attention 
of the Senate the tragic situation we have going on right now in the 
school system of the Nation's Capital.
  Nearly every day for the past month an article has appeared in the 
Washington papers portraying the State of emergency and dysfunction in 
the District of Columbia's public school system--the shutting down of 
schools.
  Here are some of the facts:
  For the fourth year in a row the schools in this city have opened 
late by at least 2 weeks. This year they are continuing to be closed by 
the fact that there are repairs that are essential and necessary to be 
made.
  The reason they have opened late is because of an infrastructure 
emergency--repairs and renovations. These needs are estimated by the 
GSA to be about $2 billion. And this is almost all for code violations. 
It has nothing to do with their acceptability from educational function 
purposes.
  The Congress of the United States is responsible for the schools of 
the Nation's Capital, the students who depend on these schools, and the 
repairs these schools need.
  What are we doing about this?
  I, for one, am ashamed of the way we have not done anything that is 
responsible to this point, other than what the Appropriations Committee 
has done out of necessity but not the way that it ought to be done to 
be responsible.
  I ask my colleagues to take a look at the human result of schools 
opening late and then closing again.
  I ask you to take a look at this. This came from the Washington Post. 
I will read it to you. The sign says, ``Why should students suffer? For 
adult incompetence.''
  Those adults are us. We are the ones that have the primary 
responsibility for the city. We took it back. We took home rule away 
basically.
  This student is from a senior high school and holds a sign. These 
students were all forced out of their school and forced to be trucked, 
bused, whatever else, to some other place to be able to receive 
education until such time as that school is fixed. All this student 
wants to do is to go to class and start paving the way for her future. 
Who are the adults that this poster refers to? They are us. We cannot 
deny that. I hope we begin to understand that.
  Times have changed. We took back home rule basically.
  Why is the city in this mess? Why can't they get the revenue stream 
they need to bond so that they can responsibly repair these schools on 
some sort of a schedule, to get them all done so they can be done when 
the school year opens, and to do it not in a piecemeal fashion as the 
Appropriations Committee has been forced to do by having emergencies to 
appropriate money to do this?
  We have to have a plan. If somebody else has a plan to do it, fine. 
But we cannot let this situation go on where year after year we are 
going to be doing this, shutting the schools down and trying to find 
ways to open them. We created this problem. This is another important 
thing to remember.
  In 1974, when we gave home rule to Washington, DC, a very, very 
astute Member of the Virginia delegation--I commend him for his 
foresight because Lord knows what would have happened if they had all 
this additional money to spend with what they did have--but he got 
legislation passed which said that you can't tax the nonresidents that 
are working in your city. This is the only city in the country under 
this situation that does not have that authority.
  Sure, the District could levy an income tax on its own residents, but 
due to the inability to tax the nonresidents, and especially because of 
the situation in the city--the workers were fleeing out of town; crime 
was the No. 1 issue; schools second--people were leaving in droves. A 
lousy educational system, a lousy police system, and so we went from 
about 50 percent of the workers being residents down to about 30 
percent. As money drained from the District, crime went up, as I said, 
and the school system deteriorated causing the well-known national 
phenomenon known as ``urban flight.''

  But the urban and middle class population stayed close to the 
District of Columbia in the suburbs because it is

[[Page S11334]]

the crown jewel of this metropolitan region. Being the Nation's 
Capital, the District provides the jobs, the tourism, the prestige and 
therefore high-earning capacity to an enormously affluent population 
residing in the surrounding Virginia and Maryland counties.
  But like a tiger with no teeth, the District, under current law, has 
no ability to levy any fair recompense from those who benefit daily 
from its services, its roads, and all else, and, namely, their jobs.
  Let me point out, every other city in an interstate circumstance like 
D.C. does have the ability to gain revenues from nonresident workers to 
support the maintenance of their schools, and whatever else.
  In the absence of such a dedicated revenue stream, Congress has tried 
to keep the city afloat through the annual appropriations process. But 
in some ways that is like giving a man dying of thirst a drop or two of 
water every year. Eventually, the biological systems just give out from 
the stress of such bare-bones maintenance. And that is what has 
happened to the school system here. It is in the process of giving out.
  Listen to the beginning of the article from yesterday's Washington 
Post.

       District schoolchildren lined up somberly in the cold mist 
     early yesterday outside Emery Elementary School in Northeast 
     Washington, waiting to be taken to makeshift classes at a 
     nearby school and a neighboring church. Their school was one 
     of five closed late last week. . .

  This is dated October 28th, so this is well after school should have 
begun.

     where asbestos is being removed during boiler repairs.

  That is what has been going on. We just cannot blind ourselves to it. 
And I know when you talk about D.C., most everybody and Members just 
say, ``Well, that's not our problem.'' But it is. That is the message I 
want to give them today.
  In 1995, Congress created the Control Board and later the Emergency 
School Board of Trustees thereby taking back most of the authority over 
the management and delivery of education which the Senate previously 
had. And we therefore took over the responsibility of the schools of 
this city. This Emergency School Board of Trustees deals specifically 
with the school infrastructure problem.
  Earlier, the Control Board asked GSA to estimate the need, and 
outline a plan for repair and renovation. And the report came out in 
September of 1995, showing a $2 billion sum, mostly for code 
violations, in order to make the schools physically safe for the 
children to be in.
  The thought of appropriating $2 billion from the Congress, to do this 
in an orderly fashion, is of course impossible to think of. And why 
should they when all they have to have is the power that any other 
city, under the circumstances, has to take really a 1 percent tax on 
the nonresidents in order to be able to raise enough money on the 
bonding to fix the schools?
  Why shouldn't the people that benefit from the jobs in this city take 
part in helping the city, like those benefiting in every other city 
under these similar circumstances do?
  We have on our shoulders the burden of these schools. The average 
District of Columbia public school facility is 65 years old. We have 
also taken on our shoulders the fact that 48 more roofs need to be 
replaced. That is in addition to all of those that have been replaced 
up to now. We have taken on ourselves the burden that 72 of the school 
boilers need to be replaced. We are heading into winter right now and 
already they are blowing up or failing. So we will see these boilers 
starting to blow up more on the days ahead. The colder it gets the more 
they will be going, and we will get more articles in the Washington 
Post and more condemnation for our failure to act.

  The control board has tried to meet the demands. Under the direction 
of Gen. Julius Becton, 61 school roofs have been repaired or replaced 
since January 1997 but that is all from emergency money from the 
Appropriations Committee--not a sound way to do it. Over the past 2 
years, $86 million has been appropriated for such repairs. Also, I have 
been able to raise a similar amount by being able to find things that 
were going to raise money within the city like the privatization of 
Sallie Mae and Connie Lee, so we have put a lot of money into fixing 
these schools up, but to do it piecemeal one or two schools at a time--
it will be 40 years before we are done at that rate. The District needs 
a dedicated revenue stream to be able to bond to meet the $2 billion 
challenge. We need that stream to responsibly meet our 
responsibilities.
  I have a plan to do that. If someone else has a better plan, fine, 
bring it forward, let's take a look at it, but let us not fail to meet 
our responsibilities.
  My proposal to meet this challenge is laid out in the legislation S. 
1070, which proposes a nonresident income tax to provide that dedicated 
revenue stream to fix the schools, to provide that $2 billion. 
Incidentally, I want to reassure, and I don't know how many of my 
colleagues listen to us when we are here, but I know a number of our 
staff do because they called up in a panic thinking they would have to 
pay more taxes. I want to reassure them that that is not the case 
because already in the law they are required to allow people to take 
that as a tax credit for either the Virginia or Maryland taxes they 
pay, so no one is going to pay any more taxes. That will all be able to 
be taken as a credit against the taxes of Maryland and Virginia.
  For all of those hard-working residents of northern Virginia and 
southern Maryland I say you will not have a difference in your tax. I 
want to emphasize that.
  My proposal is also to take a reasonable approach to the issue of 
education and training, to create a reasonable partnership dedicated to 
fix the 50,000 jobs that are out in this area that are going begging 
because the region does not provide the necessary skills for them to 
take these jobs.
  If we go up to 3 percent we can provide a revenue stream for the 
District to help them float municipal bonds or to provide money to 
improve their educational system. I know the Presiding Officer from 
North Carolina had spectacular results in taking care of regions, and 
providing the educational skill and training in regions, and I know 
this will work here if we have the funding to do it.
  The bill represents a novel and equitable approach. The taxpayer 
suffers no economic detriment. The taxpayer's community in the 
Washington metropolitan area will receive substantial additional 
education training benefit. Workers for the thousands of available jobs 
will be provided new business which will be attractive and substantial 
new tax revenues will be raised. This is a win-win win-win.
  In this process, Congress will live up to its responsibility to meet 
that $2 billion challenge through the simple act of giving the District 
of Columbia the ability to act like any other city in a similar 
interstate situation. By giving up our responsibility we will not have 
to bear the shame of knowing that those adults the marching students 
referred to, ``Why should students suffer--for adult incompetence,'' 
that we would no longer be placed in a position of having to respond to 
that.
  I thank my colleagues. I urge them in joining me to make the issue of 
our Nation's Capital school system a top priority for us.
  I ask unanimous consent the complete Washington Post article from 
yesterday be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  [The Washington Post, Oct. 28, 1997]

          Battle Over Boilers Leaves D.C. Students Out in Cold


      children bused to other sites as judge keeps schools closed

                          (By Debbi Wilgoren)

       District schoolchildren lined up somberly in the cold mist 
     early yesterday outside Emery Elementary School in Northeast 
     Washington, waiting to be taken to makeshift classes at a 
     nearby school and a neighboring church. Their school was one 
     of five closed late last week because a D.C. judge didn't 
     want students in school buildings where asbestos is being 
     removed during boiler repairs.
       But boiler repairs haven't started yet at Emery, school 
     officials said yesterday. And asbestos removal for boiler 
     work was finished Friday in two of the other closed schools, 
     Langdon Elementary in Northeast Washington and Whittier 
     Elementary in Northwest Washington.
       D.C. Superior Court Judge Kaye K. Christian probably 
     doesn't know there is no dangerous work going on at those 
     three closed schools because--after learning last week that 
     some asbestos removal had begun without her permission--she 
     refused to let school

[[Page S11335]]

     system witnesses testify about boiler repairs.
       The D.C. Court of Appeals rejected a District request 
     yesterday to overturn Christian's order closing the schools. 
     The court said it would first give Christian a chance to rule 
     on a similar request that the city made over the weekend.
       In the meantime, about 4,300 students--including 1,800 from 
     two other schools that have been closed for a month because 
     of roof repairs--are displaced without proper books, supplies 
     or equipment.
       ``What we see happening is the egos and emotions of adults 
     penalizing and punishing the children,'' said Roger Glass, 
     PTA president at Whittier, where no boiler work was underway 
     yesterday and where school officials say asbestos removal was 
     completed last week.
       ``I don't know how else to explain it,'' Glass said. ``I 
     understand that the judge is the judge, and she has all the 
     authority. But just because she has the right to do something 
     doesn't mean that it is the right thing to do.''
       The boiler standoff between Christian and the school Chief 
     Executive Julius W. Becton, Jr. is the latest in a series of 
     clashes that began shortly after Becton was appointed in 
     November to overhaul the troubled D.C. public schools.
       As the retired Army lieutenant general has pushed forward 
     with repairs never undertaken by his predecessors, 
     Christian--who oversees school building safety because of a 
     1992 lawsuit against the city over the fire code violation in 
     schools--has demanded detailed summaries of the repair work 
     and repeatedly expanded her jurisdiction over safety issues.
       This summer, Christian forbade roof work while students or 
     staff were in school buildings, despite expert testimony that 
     such repairs could be made safely. The appeals court upheld 
     her decision. Last month, she ruled that no construction of 
     any kind could take place while a school is in operation.
       When a fire inspector said in court last week that the 
     boiler work could be defined as construction, Christian put 
     that on the list of forbidden work as well, even though 
     boiler repairs have been made in the past without her 
     interference.
       ``The court has ruled on these issues with respect to 
     construction going on in these schools while they're 
     occupied,'' Christian said, interrupting Assistant 
     Corporation Counsel Robert Rigsby on Thursday as he tried to 
     protest her decision. ``This court has ruled that this work 
     is to be done while the building is not occupied. Certainly 
     the court has grave concerns about asbestos and children.''
       School Chief Operating Officer Charles E. Williams 
     testified in court Friday that asbestos-related boiler work 
     scheduled for Emery had not yet started. But Christian, who 
     had closed Langdon the day before, said: ``If Emery, Tyler, 
     Whittier and Young are undergoing this process, then they 
     are to be closed.''
       Rigsby tried to clarify the order but did not specifically 
     point out that work had not begun at Emery. Christian told 
     him to put his requests in writing. Neither school 
     spokeswoman Loretta Hardge nor Corporation Counsel John 
     Ferren returned telephone calls yesterday to explain whether 
     they considered keeping Emery open because no work is going 
     on there.
       School officials say that it is costing them more than 
     $20,000 a day for buses to transport the students to 
     alternative school sites. And the situation could get worse, 
     they warned, if more schools must close before boiler repairs 
     and other work can be started.
       About 72 boilers in the city's 146 aging schools have 
     needed replacing for years, officials note. Unless the work 
     is done, youngsters in many classrooms will continue to be 
     dependent on temporary heat or end up taking tests in coats 
     and mittens. The school system has secured $40 million to 
     begin replacing 47 of the boilers and had hoped to do the 
     work this fiscal year.
       Each project begins by unwrapping material that may contain 
     asbestos from around the pipes of the old boiler--the 
     procedure that concerned Christian the most last week. But 
     the project manager that Christian wouldn't let testify said 
     in an affidavit filed over the weekend that in accordance 
     with the law and environmental regulations, extreme 
     precautions are taken that would prevent the asbestos from 
     endangering students or staff members at a school.
       The boiler room, in school basements, is sealed off with a 
     special fabric, approved by the Environmental Protection 
     Agency, that does not allow air and asbestos to penetrate, 
     said Narase Bob Oudit, senior project manager for the school 
     system. An EPA-certified company monitors the air outside the 
     area and is required to shut down the project if any asbestos 
     is detected.
       Oudit said he had monitored similar projects for 11 years 
     and had never seen a case in which asbestos leaked out if the 
     correct precautions were taken. Nor was any asbestos reported 
     in the air during recent boiler work in the schools. If 
     removal is done improperly, he said, the contractor can lose 
     its license and be fined as much as $1 million. Asbestos work 
     at one of the closed schools, Young Elementary in Northeast 
     Washington, doesn't involve a boiler. The heating-system work 
     there is part of a five-month-old project with the EPA 
     designed to improve the school's energy efficiency, school 
     officials say.
       The asbestos removal at Tyler in Southeast Washington 
     should be completed today, an aide to Williams said.
       At Whittier yesterday, Glass handed out fliers to parents 
     urging them to call Becton and Parents United, the group that 
     filed the lawsuit, to demand a negotiated solution. 
     Settlement talks began in earnest two weeks ago but faltered 
     this weekend over how much money should be earmarked for 
     school repairs and who should monitor the agreement.
       At Emery yesterday, the breakfasts usually served before 
     school were not available, and the after-school day-care 
     program was canceled. The youngest children, Head Start 
     through third grade, were bused about 12 blocks across North 
     Capitol Street to Scott Montgomery Elementary School.
       Fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders were taken around the 
     corner to Metropolitan Wesley AME Church, where by 9:30 a.m. 
     they sat clustered with their teachers in a large open space 
     usually used for Sunday school. Children wrote stories with 
     paper and pencil supplied by the church or bought by 
     individual teachers.
       ``We're doing the best we can under very, very trying 
     circumstances,'' said Leonard Sanders, Emery's principal. A 
     little girl raised her hand to ask when they would return to 
     their school.
       ``I do not know,'' Sanders said slowly, ``As soon as I find 
     out, I will let you know.''

  Mr. JEFFORDS. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The distinguished senior Senator from the 
State of Mississippi.

                          ____________________