[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 154 (Thursday, November 6, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11854-S11855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FIRST STEP ON AN UPHILL ROAD

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I rise again today to speak about the 
state of the District of Columbia public schools, an issue that is 
extremely important to me. And I am happy to say, that for the first 
time in the months that I've been bringing this issue to the attention 
of my colleagues, that there is some good news to report.
  Behind me there are two articles from yesterdays papers declaring the 
news that the advocacy group Parents United has settled its 5-year old 
lawsuit against the District over school repairs. I want to commend 
Parents United, Judge Kaye Christian, Gen. Julius Becton, and the many 
staff who were finally able to come to an agreement. The settlement 
outlines how repairs for these schools can take place as quickly as 
possible, with the least interruption of the school year as possible.
  On paper, that is a good first step. But in concrete terms, the only 
thing this deal has done is to stop unnecessary school closings, which 
are clearly having a detrimental effect on morale and achievement. What 
about the money and the orderly process for seeing that these repairs 
get accomplished? Look at Dr. Brimmer here and see what it boils down 
to: Congress. It boils down to us.
  Yes there is included in this settlement a commitment on the part of 
the control board to allocate money that the city borrows for school 
repairs, but let me remind my colleagues that unless the city has a 
sustainable dedicated revenue stream to be used for bonding credit, who 
knows how much the city will be able to borrow? In years past the city 
was considered essentially bankrupt, allowing for zero borrowing. How 
will the school system be able to execute repairs on schedule with an 
orderly process when they can't project a consistent budget?
  Let's look at the money that is needed to get the schools fixed. 
Based on a GSA report, and the D.C.P.S. 2010 long range facilities 
master plan--we need a total of $2 billion to get the D.C. schools 
repaired to code and modernized. The D.C.P.S. plan is a solid one, and 
it is broken into three phases: stabilization, functionality, and 
modernization. The total cost is estimated at $200 million a year over 
10 years. Will Congress appropriate that kind of money? I think not--
and history shows us so.
  Look at the money that D.C.P.S. had available--through congressional 
appropriation and city borrowing--for school infrastructure improvement 
over the last few years: In 1996--$14.9 million; in 1995--$21.1 
million; in 1994--$9.5 million; and in 1993--$8.8 million.
  As you can see, Mr. President, this yearly allocation falls far short 
of $200 million. In fact, the average amount of money the District was 
able to spend on school repairs, over the last 10 years was $13.4 
million. If we keep driveling money to the schools at that rate it

[[Page S11855]]

will take the school system 150 years to meet their 10 year plan. How 
many children will have to suffer if we wait 150 years?
  There is a way for Congress to act responsibly. We must give the 
schools a dedicated revenue stream to bond with so that the $2 billion 
goal can be met. But at present Congress has its hands tied by its own 
actions. In 1974 when Congress created home rule we denied Washington 
the authority to be able to do what every other major city in an 
interestate area can do--and that is tax it non-resident workers. This 
is not some new fangled idea.It is what every other city in America can 
do to make sure its infrastructure and services are viable. I will 
speak about how Washington can accomplish this and a larger goal in a 
minute.
  But let's return to what happens when the schools don't have the 
money for repairs. The school year can't start on time. The upside of 
the severe disruption to the school year that has taken place is this 
September and October is that the focus of attention to the plight of 
our Nation's capital school system has never been greater. We have a 
lot of issues to deal with as national leaders, and bringing the focus 
to one school system is no easy task. But this is the school system of 
our Capital City--the school system that should be the flagship for 
education in our country, not the sinking vessel it has become. And as 
the leadership that created the control board, and created the 
emergency school board of trustees, and appropriates the city's funds 
each year we are responsible for turning this ship around.
  Now, let's look for a second at the academic ramifications of a 
school system in decay. Again, a piece of good news: the District of 
Columbia Public School system has a new chief academic officer, Arlene 
Ackerman, and I had the chance to meet with her last week and enjoyed 
that opportunity very much. Ms. Ackerman has done what any good manager 
would and prescribed an evaluation to see where the students in her 
charge are in terms of national standards. I have taken this 
information, which was released in the Washington Post last Thursday 
and let's see how that headline reads: ``Tests Indicate Many Students 
in D.C. Won't be Promoted. . . .''.

  Now, I know this is appalling, but let me take you quickly through 
some of the actual test results in reading and math. These statistics 
are based on the Stanford 9 Achievement Test that was administered last 
Spring.
  As Arlene Ackerman said in her remarks when releasing these sorry 
statistics, ``The lives of our children are at stake.'' And let me 
state, for everyone listening, these children, the children of the 
Nation's Capital, are our children. Every Member of this body has a 
responsibility for their well being. And as you can see from these 
statistics, we are not living up to that responsibility.
  Is there a connection between Congress' annual appropriation process, 
the D.C.P.S. infrastructure emergency and these unfortunate academic 
test scores? You bet there is. As we saw earlier, every year that 
Congress appropriates far far less than the schools need for 
infrastructure is like giving a dying man a drop or two of water. 
Eventually the systems just wear out. In the process, you get low 
morale, low academic achievement and outraged parents and students.
  Look again at this article. That $487 million is only part of the 
$200 million a year I mentioned earlier. How are we going to get there? 
The city needs to have a dedicated revenue stream so that they can bond 
for infrastructure improvement. Where will that dedicated revenue 
stream come from?
  A nonresident income tax that benefits the tax-payer, the Washington 
Metropolitan Region and the District schools is the answer. With my 
proposal, the economy in our ``Golden Crescent''--the area stretching 
from the District to Annapolis and as far west as Winchester, VA--gets 
an enormous boost. This bill creates an education and training 
partnership that would make it possible to fill the estimated 50,000 
available jobs in the D.C. metropolitan area that rely on information 
technology skills. Filling these jobs would boost our regional economy 
by $3.5 billion annually. More jobs = a stronger tax base = more 
consumer spending = more home buying, and so forth.
  Leaders in the private sector know the direct correlation between 
those appalling test scores I just showed you and their bottom line. 
They know the cost in decreased productivity when jobs go begging for 
lack of skilled employees. They know how much it costs to start 
recruiting from all over the country and, some cases all over the 
world.
  The private sector I am speaking of resides in northern Virginia and 
southern Maryland. The payback to the counties in these States, if we 
fill these jobs and inject our local economy with that $3.5 billion a 
year will be manifold. Far greater than the outlay the nonresident 
income tax demands. And in the process we will be able, as a country, 
to feel pride in every aspect of our Nation's Capital.
  I know the pride I feel each time I fly back to Washington, 
especially at night, and see the beautiful monuments, all lit up. They 
symbolize this great country and the founding fathers who upheld the 
integrity and mission this country is built on. But I say to my 
colleagues, these monuments are made of stone. The living testament to 
the American system of government is it's children. Flesh and blood and 
the inheritors of all that our Founding Fathers dreamed of. If we as 
U.S. Senators cannot make the future a great one for the children of 
America's capital, then our pride in this city and its monuments is 
fraudulent. We must find a solution, and I challenge my colleagues to 
review my proposal or show me a better one.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. INHOFE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I understand that the pending business 
will be amendment No. 1602 to S. 1269.

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