[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 18, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF FEDERALLY IMPACTED SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT ACT

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                           HON. EARL POMEROY

                            of north dakota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 18, 1999

  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleague, 
Congressman J.D. Hayworth, in introducing the Federally Impacted School 
Improvement Act. This legislation is designed to provide matching 
grants to federally impacted schools to meet their urgent repair and 
construction needs.
  The Impact Aid program was built on the premise of a shared 
responsibility between the federal, state and local governments. Since 
1950, the federal government has recognized and accepted its 
responsibility to assist school districts and communities that are 
impacted by a federal presence such as a military base or Indian 
reservation. The federal government has made payments to school 
districts in the form of federal property, disability and basic support 
payments to help cover the cost of educating federally connected 
children. Across the country, 1,600 school districts and 1.5 million 
children depend on the Impact Aid program for a quality education.
  Up until 1994, Congress has provided assistance to help these school 
districts build and repair their schools, particularly districts whose 
property tax circumstances make it almost impossible to pass school 
construction bonds. Since 1994, however, the Impact Aid school 
construction account has suffered. The funding provided in the section 
8007 construction account has become woefully inadequate and is spread 
too thinly among the over two hundred qualifying schools. As a result, 
many of these school buildings are antiquated, overcrowded and most 
troubling, compromise the health and safety of their students.
  I would like to draw my colleagues' attention to two particular 
instances in my state where Impact Aid section 8007 construction 
funding has fallen far short of meeting schools' most basic repair and 
construction needs. The Grand Forks school district in North Dakota has 
been plagued by severe ventilation and air quality problems for some 
time. The meager funds Grand Forks receives through section 8007 have 
not enabled the district to make even urgent repairs. One school has 
had to delay renovation projects because of insufficient funds, and 
ultimately, to borrow from their Basic Support Payments when renovation 
needs became too urgent to ignore. In order to improve the air quality 
so that children are not at risk, this one school would need $800,000. 
However, the entire Grand Forks school district will receive only 
$40,000 in section 8007 money this year.
  Another Impact Aid school that has become a particular concern for me 
is Cannonball Elementary, located on the Standing Rock Reservation in 
North Dakota. As a result of inadequate Impact Aid construction funding 
over the years, Cannonball has long been neglected. Storage rooms have 
been converted to makeshift classrooms and portions of the building 
that have been condemned continue to house students. Students and 
teachers are often forced to move from classroom to classroom to escape 
the stench of sewer back-up that permeates the building. I have walked 
the halls of this school and have found the conditions these students 
face on a day-to-day basis to be deplorable.
  The legislation we are introducing today offers the best opportunity 
for Cannonball, and the Grand Forks School District to meet these 
urgent construction needs. Our legislation would create a separate 
Impact Aid construction account and authorize a federal appropriation 
of $50 million for each of the next five fiscal years. The funding 
would be divided equally between Indian land/federal property and 
military schools and would create a reserve account for emergency 
repair needs. Under the legislation, an individual school district 
could receive a grant up of to $3 million any time during the five year 
authorization period. In order to make the limited federal funds go 
farther, the bill targets funding directly to those school districts 
located on Federal property or that serve a high concentration of 
federally-connected students. Additionally, the bill requires districts 
to provide matching funds on all but the small portion of funds 
reserved for emergencies.
  Mr. Speaker, the federal government has a clear obligation to 
federally impacted schools, and only by stepping up its support can 
these schools continue to provide a quality education to thousands of 
children across the country. I am looking forward to working with my 
colleagues on a bipartisan basis to support Impact Aid schools. I urge 
my colleagues to support this important legislation, which would enable 
federally impacted schools across the country to meet their urgent 
construction and repair needs.

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