[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 27, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13221-S13222]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              IMPACT AID PAYMENTS FOR SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I am going to speak a few minutes about an 
issue that is very important to me; that is, the condition of school 
buildings with the federal impact aid, particularly on the school 
buildings on Indian reservations which are in very dire condition. I 
hope there is something we can do about it.
  As you know, there have been many bills introduced in this Congress 
to try to help school districts and make sure school districts have 
enough funds for school construction and renovation, modernization, and 
so forth. But as you also know, when schools try to raise money, 
basically they do so by bonding, which is paid for by local property 
taxes. That is essentially the way schools in our country are financed; 
it is a time-honored approach to school construction.
  The problem is, in this heated debate, one group of children is 
continually left out in the cold; that is, students who live on 
federally owned land, usually on an Indian reservation or a military 
installation.
  In my State of Montana, there are about 12,000 children who fall into 
this category; that is, children who live on a military installation or 
on an Indian reservation, where there is either none or there is very 
little private property to support school funding, particularly school 
construction. These schools are located in areas where much of the 
local property just cannot be taxed. Why is that? Because it is Federal 
property.
  In many cases, the local schools have to educate the children of the 
families who live on the property, and these are so-called Federal 
students who could come from military families, from civilian families, 
or could come from Native American families. Some schools are off 
reservations, but a lot of the kids live on reservations, and vice 
versa. This causes a tremendous problem in financing school 
construction.
  I believe we have a responsibility. After all, the Federal Government 
has a trustee responsibility with respect to Indian reservations. More 
than that, more fundamentally, we have a moral obligation to be sure 
all children in our country have not only equal access to education but 
generally have the same accessibility to good schools and relatively 
up-to-date schools. We are not asking for the Taj Mahal but just basic 
solid construction.
  Congress has recognized its responsibility in many respects for these 
schools through payments authorized under title VIII of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act. That is the impact aid provision. These 
districts are supposed to receive impact aid to compensate school 
districts for the burden of educating children whose parents do not 
have to pay local property taxes due to Federal activities; namely, 
because they live on an installation or an Indian reservation.
  The bulk of the impact aid payments do help with salaries and 
utilities and other day-to-day costs of running the schools, but this 
is the catch: When it comes to replacement or renovation of buildings, 
these schools still have an additional problem; that is, impact aid 
cannot begin to pay both the salaries and utility bills and the day-to-
day costs, and also pay for the modernization of schools because they 
just cannot issue the construction bonds to pay for them.

  There have been several bills introduced in this body dealing with 
school construction, but none of them deal with this problem; that is, 
the problem of impact aid on reservations and installations.
  I am asking for something that is pretty simple. I am asking for a 
slight increase, from the present $7 million that goes to impact aid 
school construction to $50 million. That is all. That is not very much 
money. Mr. President, $7 million is currently spent on impact aid 
school construction, and I am asking that it be raised to $50 million. 
Very simple.
  I can give lots of stories, lots of examples, of just the dire 
conditions these school districts face. For example, I talked to the 
superintendent of the Harlem school district. Harlem is in north 
central Montana. He says his district is so crowded that his students 
are now using a closet. Guess what was in that closet. In that closet 
was a snowblower that they hauled out whenever there was a bad 
snowstorm.
  So that closet is now a classroom. The snowblower is out in the hall. 
The students are in the closet. I think this is not right. It is no 
place to put kids. There is no place to put kids in the closet of a 
school and put the equipment out in the hallway. In addition, if they 
try to bring in a portable classroom, then there would be no 
playground. That is just not right.
  A few days ago, I received a letter from the principal of the 
elementary school in Box Elder, MT. His student population is growing 
very rapidly because there is new housing on the nearby Rocky Boy 
Indian Reservation. In fact, virtually all of the 300 or so students in 
his school are Federal students.
  He has classrooms in portable buildings and in basement rooms with no 
windows and only one exit door. He tells me he would be afraid to send 
his own small children to that school, but he has to. This is a 
disgrace.
  Last year, the Box Elder school received--get this--$13,000 in 
Federal impact aid construction funding; $13,000, that is all.
  That is about the average for schools in this situation. I might say, 
$13,000 is a pittance. That is not even enough for half of a paint job 
in the school, let alone for reasonable reconstruction or renovation.
  I have some photos I would like to display. These photos are 
representative of not only my State but could represent almost any 
State in the Nation that has Federal impact aid. This is a picture of 
an out-of-code electric installation at Babb Elementary School in 
Browning. There are no fire sprinklers in the basement where the 
insulation is located. Over in the left corner, we see a socket and 
wiring dangling. It is uncovered. It is obviously a fire hazard. This 
is all they can do.
  Now I have another photograph of a doorway at Babb. This is a doorway 
in the school. This photo doesn't begin to represent how bad the 
situation is. Sometimes pictures overstate something. In this case, the 
photograph understates.
  The next photo is that of a lunchroom. This is down in the basement 
of the school. Again, it doesn't look all that bad; but I have been 
there; it is worse. Then there is a photo taken in the local high 
school in the same community. There is a leaky ceiling. Things are 
starting to fall apart. Again, this school can't find the money to pay 
for it.
  Imagine for a moment that we in the Senate met in a facility that 
looked like this or our offices were in rooms such as this or we had 
electrical equipment so obviously out of code. We would change it. We 
would do something very quickly because we wouldn't stand for it.
  What kind of message does this send to children throughout our 
country--the message that we don't have enough respect for them, enough 
respect for their parents, enough respect for education to do something 
about this. We have a huge Federal surplus and the biggest, most 
wealthy country in the world. Yet we turn our back on a lot of kids in 
our country. Obviously, it is to their peril but even more to the peril 
of our country.
  The bill I will introduce will raise the authorization from $7 
million to $50 million--not very much but a first step that is needed. 
We also make a change in the eligibility rules. Right now schools with 
populations made up of 70, 80, or even 100 percent Federal students 
cannot ask for impact aid construction

[[Page S13222]]

funds if the percentage of the federally impacted population for the 
whole district is less than 50 percent. That is, obviously, a standard 
that is much too high.
  The bill introduced by me and Senator Hagel will decrease the 
district minimum to 25 percent. That will affect a lot of schools in 
this district.
  I have a chart that shows how many States would be affected by 
changing the eligibility standard from 50 percent to 25 percent. You 
can see that virtually every State in the Nation would be affected, 
which means every State gets a little bit, if it is enacted at the $43 
million increase from the current $7 to $50 million.
  This is obviously a problem in our State. It is obviously a problem 
in other heavy Federal impact aid States, such as Nebraska, Senator 
Hagel's State. But this isn't a parochial problem. This isn't a 
partisan problem. This is a national problem.
  I ask that we step up to the plate, exercise our responsibility and, 
when we take up the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, make this 
change so that a needy portion of our school population gets a modicum 
of assistance. Then after that, I hope we can go further.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.

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