[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 29, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S950]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. Robb, Mr. Bingaman, Mrs. 
        Feinstein, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Wellstone, and Mr. Dodd):
  S. 2124. A bill to authorize Federal financial assistance for the 
urgent repair and renovation of public elementary and secondary schools 
in high-need areas; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.


              the public school repair and renovation act

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today we will be introducing the Public 
School Repair and Renovation Act. This legislation will authorize $1.3 
billion in grants and no interest loans to enable school districts to 
make urgent repairs at our nation's public schools. I am pleased to be 
joined by Senators Robb, Bingaman, Feinstein, Kennedy, Wellstone, and 
Dodd in cosponsoring this legislation in the Senate.
  The facts about the condition of our nation's schools are well known. 
The average age of the schools in this country is 42 years. 14 million 
children attend classes in buildings that are unsafe or inadequate. The 
General Accounting Office reports we need $112 billion to just bring 
our schools up to overall good condition. How can kids prepare for the 
21st century in schools that didn't even make the grade in the 20th 
century?
  It is a national disgrace that the nicest thing our kids see are 
shopping malls, sports arenas, and movie theaters, and the most rundown 
place they see is their school. What signal are we sending them about 
the value we place on them, their education and future?
  I was disturbed by the comments of Tunisia, a Washington, D.C. 5th 
grader in Jonathan Kozol's book, ``Savage Inequalities.'' This is what 
she said.

       It's like this. The school is dirty. There isn't any 
     playground. There's a hole in the wall behind the principal's 
     desk. What we need to do is first rebuild the school. Build a 
     playground. Plant a lot of flowers. Paint the classrooms. Fix 
     the hole in the principal's office. Buy doors for the toilet 
     stalls in the girl's bathroom. Make it a beautiful clean 
     building. Make it pretty. Way it is, I feel ashamed.

  The legislation we are introducing would make it possible to fix the 
holes in the walls of Tunisia's school, put doors on the bathroom 
stalls and paint the classrooms. These repairs would make Tunisia feel 
a little less ashamed of herself and of her school.
  This legislation is part of a comprehensive two-prong strategy to 
modernize our nation's schools. This bill complements our continuing 
effort to provide tax credits for new construction and modernization 
projects. We have advocated school modernization tax credits that would 
finance $25 billion in new construction or major renovations. The 
Public School Repair and Renovation Act will complement that effort and 
I urge my colleagues to support it.
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