[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 146 (Wednesday, October 14, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10839]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          SCHOOLS NEED FEDERAL ASSISTANCE, NOT FEDERAL CONTROL

  (Mr. STRICKLAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, I have here in my hand a cloth filled 
with coal dust sent to me by a principal from a southern Ohio school 
saying:
  Congressman, this is what our teachers must use to wipe the coal dust 
from our desks and the computers before our students can use them.
  Ohio, Ohio ranks 50 among the States in terms of the physical 
condition of our school buildings, and yet in Ohio we use public tax 
dollars to build sports stadiums. The average school in my district is 
46 years old. Students in my district go to schools that are unsafe. 
Ten percent do not meet local fire codes.
  We need federal assistance, not federal control, but federal 
assistance to enable our local schools to build, repair and modernize 
the schools our children attend.
  In Ohio prisoners could not be housed in some of our school buildings 
because the courts would say they were unfit for prisoners, and yet we 
send our students there.

                          ____________________