Congressional Record, Volume 146 Issue 108 (Thursday, September 14, 2000)

[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 108 (Thursday, September 14, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H7640-H7646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

HURRICANE FLOYD DISASTER

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for 60
minutes as the designee of the minority leader.

General Leave

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks and to include therein extraneous material on the subject of my
Special Order this evening.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from North Carolina?
There was no objection.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, this evening for the first portion of my
special order I want to take about 5 minutes to raise an issue.
On the eve of 1 year ago, on almost the same date, one of the most
destructive storms ever to hit my State came upon the shores. On
September 15, 1999, Hurricane Floyd made landfall at the mouth of the
Cape Fear River in North Carolina.
Floyd moved into the interior of my State and over the next couple of
days proceeded to dump anywhere from 10 to 20 inches of rain in towns
and communities and farm areas in parts of eastern North Carolina.
These rains came only 12 days after the region was hit with pounding
rains by Hurricane Dennis.
To call the results devastating would be an understatement. Our
citizens suffered a full-blown catastrophe of monumental proportions.
Floyd produced the worst flooding in North Carolina history, with
water exceeding what has been called the 500-year flood plain.
In North Carolina alone, Floyd was responsible for 7,000 homes being
destroyed and 56,000 homes damaged. We can see from this photograph
taken only a couple days after the rains as the flood waters had risen
a whole town underwater. More than 500,000 people suffered without
power for weeks on end. Damage estimates in my State range anywhere
from $4.5 billion to over $6 billion.
Many people lost everything that they own. They lost their
possessions, their homes, their farms, their cars, their clothing,
their sentimental items that we rarely think about until they are gone:
wedding photographs, military awards, the children's first report
cards, love letters, those kind of things we cannot replace.
Jobs were lost because businesses were too flooded to reopen, making
it that much harder for families to rebuild. And worst of all, Mr.
Speaker, 506 people lost their lives, most of them due to drowning in
fresh water.
I remember driving back to North Carolina that night and running into
the storm on my way home. I remember touring the regions in the days
that followed and seeing schools, homes, businesses, churches, entire
towns flooded, as we see here.
At the peak of the emergency, 235 public shelters housed people.
Almost 50,000 people were in shelters. I remember visiting them looking
into their eyes and seeing the fear, the desperation, the hopelessness
that those people felt. These were the images that no amount of time
will ever replace.
In the face of so much destruction, so much suffering, it was
inspiring to witness the people and the communities coming together and
responding to disaster with the spirit of generosity and cooperation.
People from all over North Carolina provided the victims of Floyd not
only tangible items, like money, food, and supplies, but also equally
important intangible things, their thoughts, their prayers, and their
letters of support.
Another precious commodity donated was the time and effort countless
thousands of North Carolinians gave. Volunteers aided in evacuation and
rescue efforts and cleanups that affected towns and the care and
treatment of families that were forced to live in shelters.
In addition, those volunteers provided valuable assistance and
support to State emergency management personnel who worked untold
hours. They led a valiant effort to respond to the needs of these
victims, saving countless lives of people from all across this country
and also donated to the cause of recovery.
I am so grateful for the many acts of generosity by my fellow
Americans who saw people were hurting and decided to help. Yes, they
sent money; but they sent a lot of other things. We even had
schoolbooks delivered from as far away as Hawaii by my friend and
colleague, the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie), here in this
body.
From the governor to our own State's delegation here in Congress,
from Federal agencies to local leaders, the assistance North Carolina
received provided absolutely critical help to our people.

{time} 1815

One year later, my State is still rebuilding, and we will be
rebuilding for months, if not years, to come.
It is the assistance provided by my fellow Americans that made this
possible, and as we reconstruct our State we are taking the necessary
steps to provide for future disasters. By making our towns and cities
more disaster resistant, we can reduce the loss of lives and property
and lessen the devastating impact of future storms. If this storm did
anything it proved determination and resolve of the indomitable spirit
of the people of North Carolina. Our people come by the name Terrell
honestly because we stand firm in the face of adversity. If anything
knocks us down, we get right back up and fight another day.
Floyd dealt my State a crippling blow; but we are working to put our
lives, our homes, our communities and ourselves back together. The
people of North Carolina will never forget what happened in those days
in September and the months that followed. Floyd has become part of our
history, our culture, and our common experience. As Americans do when
looking back upon a tragedy of this proportion, we were continually
praying for our lost souls, comforting the anguished and distraught,
honoring our heroes, rebuilding our homes and communities and looking
toward the future.

The Importance of Education

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I am joined this evening by a number of
my colleagues to talk about an issue of equal importance to this
Congress and to our Nation and, yes, to our leadership in the world:
Education.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the critical needs of school
construction, the shortage of teachers, the need to honor our teachers
in a way that we have not done before. The critical need for
construction in our communities across this country is at a crisis
proportion.
I will be joined this evening by a number of my colleagues whom I
will recognize in just a moment, who will discuss with me and with my
colleagues the specific needs and plans that we have to help address
these problems.
First, let me take just a moment to talk about some of the conditions
in my congressional district.
Mr. Speaker, I have in my hand this evening a report prepared by the
minority staff of the Committee on Government Reform's special
investigative committee which is entitled K-3 Class Sizes in the North
Carolina Research Triangle Region. The gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Price) and I asked that this be done for our congressional
districts, and this report has some startling numbers. It shocked the
people in our congressional districts and it

[[Page H7641]]

should shock all Americans that care about children and care about the
future of America, and we want to talk about that this evening.
Although there is much debate and an awful lot of rhetoric in this
town about education, I believe we need to stick to the facts, and here
are some of the facts. Fact number one, last year in one of our
countries, Wake County, a portion of my district, another portion of
the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), over 95 percent, let me
repeat that again, over 95 percent of the young children in K-3 were
taught in classrooms that exceeded the national goal for classroom
size. Across this 13-county region, 91 percent of the children in
kindergarten through the third grade were taught in classes that
exceeded the 18-person goal.
I went into a classroom in Lee County where a teacher had 29 children
in the kindergarten classroom with no help. Five of those children
spoke no English and their parents spoke no English. Three only had
limited English.
Now, my wife and I, we are fortunate. We have three great children. I
would not want 29 children that I had to deal with at any one time in
our house. I would have a difficult time. And to deal with young
children in kindergarten by yourself with those numbers, one cannot do
it; one absolutely cannot teach. They are keeping school. There is a
difference between keeping school and teaching school, and that is just
not acceptable.
More troubling is the fact that a whopping 42.5 percent of K-3
students in Wake County are in large classrooms of 25 students or more,
and I can say that is repeated in a lot of places across this country.
Not surprisingly, small class sizes lead to greater academic
achievement. If the class size is reduced, academic achievement
follows. How do we get there? We are going to talk about that this
evening, not only in K-3 but all across America.
The report demonstrates that class size reduction in the early grades
is one of the most direct and effective ways to improve educational
performance. I really did not need the study to tell me that. I have
known that for a long time. Having served as a superintendent for my
State schools for 8 years, I knew that before I came to Congress.
Sometimes we need a report to verify it, to reinforce it so people will
understand it and it gives credibility.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education reported that my State's
high school enrollment will skyrocket by 26 percent over the next
decade. We will be the fourth fastest growing State in America. I think
California is first; Texas and several others. But it is just
tremendous. We are growing rapidly in this country. We have to meet
those demands. We now have more children in public schools, 53 million,
than at any time in the history of America. We know the problem is only
going to get worse. It is not going to get better. We have to deal with
it, and local schools need help and they need us in Washington to get
together and help. We have an opportunity to do it.
I have a son who taught the second grade, then the fourth grade. Now
he is a special teacher. Brian is a great teacher, but one cannot be a
good or a great teacher when they are in over-crowded classrooms,
poorly lighted, poorly ventilated and all the problems that are
associated with it, because in this country we have teachers teaching
in converted bathrooms. We have them teaching in closets, in basements
and a lot of trailers. I will go into that later this evening, but we
have to reach out and use the resources that we have to make a
difference for our children.
It is hard to tell a child education is the most important thing they
are about and we send them to an old rundown school as they ride by
some nice prison or a nice other building. Children do not have to be
told. They know what is important.
Mr. Speaker, I would be happy now to yield to my colleague, the
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Clement), who has joined us this evening,
because he has some important things to say. He has been involved in
this educational issue all of his career, and we are glad to have him
in Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I will now yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr.
Clement).
Mr. CLEMENT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Etheridge) for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I might say to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Etheridge), I am glad he commented on Hurricane Floyd, the flooding in
North Carolina. As the gentleman knows, once upon a time the State of
Tennessee was part of the great State of North Carolina, and North
Carolinians did rise to the occasion, and I would like to say for the
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, everyone wanted to help
and assist, knowing that this was a time of emergency; that we needed
to come to the rescue of these wonderful people that were having such a
difficult time.
I know we are all here tonight, and I am pleased to be here with the
gentleman, because I know the gentleman is such a leader in education
and in so many other areas, but also our other colleagues, the
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), who I have worked with in
the past very closely, also the gentlewoman from California (Mrs.
Capps), and I might say she had a wonderful husband who was a Member of
Congress that served so well and ably here, and the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Holt). It is a pleasure to be with all of them to talk
about something that is near and dear to my heart, and that is
education.
I am a former college president, and I will never forget my first day
in Congress. People would come up to me and say, boy, you are a
Congressman now. That is really something.
I would say that is right, but the last 4\1/2\ years they have called
me Mr. President. Well, I am pleased to be a Congressman and still be
involved and engaged in education, and I am currently co-chair of the
House Education Caucus with the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt),
who is also a former college president.
I know firsthand the importance of public schools and the value of a
good education. Our children from Tennessee and all across the country
are back in school again learning. I think it is appropriate for us in
Congress to pledge to these students that we will do everything
possible to ensure that they receive a quality education in quality
schools by quality teachers. We cannot expect our children to reach
their potential if school facilities, as the gentleman mentioned, are
inadequate; if they do not have access to computers and the Internet or
if their teacher is trying to teach in an overcrowded classroom.
I am pleased to join with many of my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle in cosponsoring H.R. 4094, America's Better Classrooms Act, which
will provide much needed school construction funds. A report issued by
the National Education Association found that upwards of $254 billion
is needed to accommodate growing school enrollments, fix deteriorating
buildings and wire schools to be on the Internet.

The average public school today is over 42 years old. School
enrollment is already at a record level and expected to continue to
grow, which will lead to further overcrowding and a greater need for
modernization. Research shows what parents already know. Students learn
best when they are in a safe, modern school with small classes, with
21st century technology. The Federal Government has a responsibility to
provide States and localities with financial assistance for education.
H.R. 4094 will provide tax incentives to State and local governments to
build state-of-the-art classrooms that will make all neighborhood
public schools a better place for our children.
In addition, I am pleased to join with my colleagues in calling for
adequate funding to be provided in the appropriation bills for school
construction and smaller class size initiatives. I sincerely hope that
we can find a way to fund these important priorities. If we are to
continue to prosper economically, America must have an education policy
that provides the best school facilities and smaller classes for all of
our children. Modern schools and small class sizes lay the foundation
for success, but in today's world of technology and the global economy
an education that ends with a high school diploma is simply not enough.
A 4-year college degree is increasingly considered the minimum
education for a large proportion of high school skills and jobs that
people want. An annual income for a person with a college degree is
nearly twice that of someone with just a high school diploma.

[[Page H7642]]

Unfortunately, the cost of higher education has been a deterrent to
many who wish to continue their education. However, this should not be
the case. Assistance must be available to make college possible for
every student if they want to pursue an education, whether it is a
college degree or some other form of education. We cannot afford to let
higher education be out of reach of those students who wish and desire
to further their education. No student, regardless of socioeconomic
background, should be deprived of something as priceless as an
education.
The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) knows and I know
that the cost of education is going up and up and up. In 1997, 1998,
tuition room and board, $8,000 at the 4-year public colleges and
universities. For the private counterpart, it is over $24,000. I know
that as a parent having children in college today. During the 1999/2000
academic year, students received more than $65 billion in financial
aid. Often the financial aid process can be confusing and overwhelming
to parents, students and those involved in higher education and yet
financial aid is often the key, not only to higher education but a
successful future.
I will tell all of my colleagues what I did last weekend and it
really worked. I joined with the Sallie Mae Trust for Education, and I
encourage all to do the same thing, in hosting an event in Nashville,
Tennessee, on paying for college. This seminar brought together
representatives from Sallie Mae, the Tennessee Student Assistance
Corporation and representatives from area colleges and universities to
discuss with parents and students the availability of financial aid.
With over 280 participants, the forum was a wonderful opportunity to
share information on financial aid with parents and students. I think
parents came away with a better understanding of exactly what kinds of
assistance is available through the local, State, and Federal
government, private lending institutions and individual schools and how
to apply for it.

{time} 1830

This kind of assistance is critical in helping our children attend
college; however, we in Congress have an obligation as well. If we
expect to continue American dominance in the 21st century, we must fund
such critical financial aide programs as Pell grants, Perkins loans and
Federal work study programs. These initiatives allow millions of
students to attend college who otherwise never would.
These are investments whose returns far exceed the outlay. America
has always been the land of opportunity for everyone. We simply cannot
allow our schools to decay, our classes to spill out into hallways and
our colleges to become a privilege enjoyed by a select few. I thank the
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) for giving me the
opportunity to fight for education on the floor of the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr.
Clement) for his comments, but, more importantly, for his commitment to
education and his hard work.
As we continue in this special order, I am pleased to be joined by
the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps), my friend and fellow
colleague, who has really been a leader in education. She understands
the needs of students. She came to this body with her husband. She is a
nurse by training. She understands what the need is, and she fought for
children to have a decent classroom in California, which is another one
of those States that is busting at the seams.
I yield to her for her comments.
Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Etheridge), my colleague, for yielding to me. We are going to make
this an across-the-country discussion this evening of this issue of
such great importance.
Mr. Speaker, I am here this afternoon to discuss an issue of such
great importance in my district and across this country: school
construction and modernization. Last week, I visited Peabody Charter
School in Santa Barbara, California. At Peabody School, students
receive a top-notch education. Unfortunately, these students also feel
the disturbing effects of overcrowding and inadequate school
facilities.
This is a school built for 200 students. Today it has an enrollment
of way over 600 students. In an attempt to accommodate, portable
classrooms take up precious playground space which should be used so
that students can take part in physical activity, an important part of
their education. Peabody School is one school in my district, which I
am using this afternoon as an example to represent the dozens of
overcrowded schools in my district. There are dozens of schools like
this school, overcrowded and antiquated, in California and across this
country.
It seems rather amazing to me that as we begin this new century in
this country, with unparalleled prosperity before us, relatively at
peace in the world, that we are allowing our most precious resource,
our children, to face their future preparing for it in circumstances
that are far from ideal, that in many instances are totally
unsatisfactory.
Mr. Speaker, yes, public education in this country, one of our most
important hallmarks, is a matter for local control; but I believe these
issues are so pressing that there is a role for all of us to play. In
my opinion and in my belief, the Federal Government can help to free up
needed funds so that local districts can make the decisions they know
best for the children in their communities.
And I have here today a letter to our bipartisan House and Senate
leadership asking that they allow and encourage the passage of H.R.
4094, the America's Better Classrooms Act before this session of
Congress comes to a close.
This letter is signed by over 300 students from Peabody School. I
have the letter here. I have two signatures along with mine, and then I
have a collection of pages with signatures, second graders, third
graders, fourth graders, fifth grade, sixth grade, 300 students in this
school. They asked me if I would bring this letter with their
signatures; and I told them that I would not only bring it to Congress
with me, but that I would carry it with me to the floor and stand here
in the well and give their testimony to this House and to the Senate so
that we can meet their expectations.
These students were very excited to take part in this process, since
overcrowded schools is something they know all about. It is an issue
that affects their lives on a daily basis. In signing this letter,
Peabody students are really making a statement about their educational
environment and helping to improve the lives of future Peabody
students. And they are actually speaking for students in their
situations across this country.
The America's Better Classrooms Act has bipartisan support and 225
cosponsors. It would provide approximately $25 billion in interest-free
funds to State and local governments, for local school construction,
and modernization projects. The funding would help schools like Peabody
make improvements to classrooms and playgrounds and would help to
reduce class size.
Here in Congress, we must set our standards high to ensure that all
children have a healthy start. All children deserve to have safe, clean
and modern schools to attend each day. And, Mr. Speaker, my friends at
Peabody Charter School ask us that we bring H.R. 4094 to the floor for
a vote before this session of Congress comes to a close. I thank the
students, my friends, for sharing and asking, along with me, for this
vote. We owe them the best we can offer them.
The business world, which has helped to bring our economy to the fast
pace that it enjoys today, knows the importance of investing in
infrastructure, and here our most precious resource, the key to the
future and for future economic development, our children, ask nothing
less that we pay attention to their surroundings and their learning
environment. In doing that, we will assist them in becoming the best
that America can be for the rest of this century and on into the
future.
I thank my friends at Peabody School. I thank my colleague, the
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge), the former
superintendent.
Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the following:

[[Page H7643]]

Congress of the United States,

House of Representatives,

September 11, 2000.
Hon. Dennis Hastert,
House Speaker,
U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
Hon. Richard Gephardt,
House Minority Leader,
U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
Hon. Trent Lott,
Senate Majority Leader,
U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
Hon. Tom Daschle,
Senate Minority Leader,
U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
Dear Congressional Leaders: We are writing to ask for your
help with a long standing problem in our schools here on the
Central Coast--overcrowding. Before the 106th Congress comes
to a close, we ask that you pass H.R. 4094--the America's
Better Classrooms Act--an important piece of legislation that
would help improve Central Coast students' learning
environments.
At Peabody Charter School, students receive a top-notch
education, but also feel the effects of overcrowding. Imagine
how hard it would be for members of Congress to concentrate
and work in conditions similar to those found at Peabody.
Unfortunately, overcrowding problems exist in schools across
the country, and we know this can have an impact on students
education.
H.R. 4094, which has bi-partisan support and 225 co-
sponsors, would provide approximately $25 billion in
interest-free funds to State and local governments for school
construction and modernization projects. This funding would
help schools like Peabody make improvements to classrooms,
playgrounds and would help reduce class sizes.
We must set our standards high to ensure that all children
have a healthy start. All children deserve to have safe,
clean, modern schools to attend each day. And so, my friends
at Peabody Charter School and I ask that you bring H.R. 4094
to the floor for a vote before this session of Congress comes
to a close. The congressional session is coming to an end,
but Peabody students have a lifetime of learning ahead and
need your help.
Sincerely,
Lois Capps,
Member of Congress.

Nick Hill,
Milagros Macias,
Peabody Charter School Students.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from California
(Mrs. Capps) for her remarks, and I thank the children. We tend to
forget here sometimes that it really is about them. We get to dealing
with a lot of weighty issues, and they are important. But in the end,
most of us, if we are honest with ourselves, it is really about our
children, our other children. And all the issues of security, safety,
et cetera is about that, and that is why I introduced the bill early on
for school construction.
I am glad to see the kind of structures taken, and I would say to my
colleagues that in addition to those 200-some people that signed, the
leadership in this body has still refused to bring it up. We have now
drafted a letter, and we have over 150 of our colleagues having signed
it to go to the President. I hope all the rest of them will sign it by
next week, encouraging them not to give in on any issue until we get
some school construction money for children across this country.
My friend, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), has been a real
leader. He came here as a teacher. He still is teaching us about the
importance of education. I am glad to have him join us this evening in
this Special Order, and I yield to him.
Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Etheridge), for yielding to me. I am pleased to be here with the
gentleman on his Special Order this evening to talk and focus on school
construction and talk about the implications that that has for
education overall.
I do thank the gentleman for setting up these Special Orders. The
gentleman has been a leader in education, starting with his school
board back home and going through his time as State superintendent of
schools in North Carolina and then preceding me here in the House of
Representatives. The gentleman has been a true leader.
Mr. Speaker, I visited nearly 100 schools in my district; and
everywhere I go across the five counties that I represent, I hear from
parents and teachers and administrators and students about the problems
of overcrowding. It is no wonder the number of school children,
certainly in my part of the country and in many other parts of the
country, is setting record levels.
We are experiencing what is sometimes called the echo of the baby
boom, and there are schools where the student population has doubled in
the past 10 years. I can show my colleagues school districts where the
kindergarten is twice the size of the 12th grade. We do not have to
have higher mathematics to understand the implications of that for
school construction.
The classrooms are overcrowded. To alleviate this, many schools are
turning to trailers. Trailers may be a temporary solution. In one place
in my district, in one school district, in fact, at one school, there
are 18 temporary trailers out back, and another three in the school
next door and others that will be moved in in coming weeks.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. Reclaiming my time, this gives me an opportunity to
really talk about the heart of the issue. We have the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Price), and if he will join us here we can get into
it. When we talk about that, what many people who are not in the school
fail to see is we have those extra students in trailers or in closets
or wherever, and most cases we do not increase the size of the
cafeteria where children eat or the media center or the libraries, as
many of us would think of years ago, nor the bathroom where children
need to go, all of those extra facilities that teachers need to take.
And if they are out in a trailer outside when it rains, what happens to
the children? They get wet.
Mr. HOLT. If the gentleman would yield, the students tell me that
they get teased because they get wet going back to the classes that
they have in the other building, and these trailers are not a cheap
solution either. They are expensive to install, expensive to maintain.
And what I am struck by is that their long and narrow floor plan makes
them really totally unsuitable for instruction.
I asked a teacher, well, what do you do when you need to write on the
blackboard, because the students on either wing cannot see the
blackboard, and he said, well, he has to talk about word by word or
number by number what he is writing on the blackboard and hope they can
take it down. That is no way to teach children.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. On that point, reclaiming my time, if I may, I would
ask my colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) to join
us. The gentleman and I visited a number of schools, and let me say I
appreciate him joining us this evening. Not only has he been a leader
in this, but a leader in trying to find us teachers we are going to
need to fill those extra classrooms we are going to build, because he
has a piece of legislation on it, and he was kind enough to let me join
him and be a part of it; and I think the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Holt) is on it also. He has seen this, and he has been a fighter. Not
only is he a teacher, but he has taught a lot of us here how important
it is for education.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Price).
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for
calling this Special Order and for helping us focus our attention here
in this critical closing period of the 106th Congress on our education
needs.
My colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge),
referred earlier to this study, which the minority staff of the
Committee of Government Reform and Oversight has carried out, showing
that 90-plus percent of our students in our part of North Carolina are
in classrooms of larger than the recommended size. This is children
grades K through three, when we know class size matters most.
The gentleman and I took a tour a few days ago to unveil this report.
We went to an elementary school in Cary, North Carolina, in my
district, and then in Raleigh and then in Wake Forest; and as he has
already said, we witnessed the situation there. I must say that the
teachers and the students are making the best of the situation. They
have made these trailers attractive, and they have made the best of it.
But in some of these schools, the children are eating lunch at 10:15,
10:30 in the morning, and as late as 1 o'clock and 1:30 in the
afternoon simply because the central facilities had not caught up with
all the additional population of the school occupying these trailers.
And the same is true of the bathrooms; the same is true of the athletic
facilities. It is unjust in a country as wealthy and as prosperous as
ours when we know, when we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that
children's ability to learn and teacher's ability to

[[Page H7644]]

teach is linked to a decent class size. I just think it is
unconscionable that we are not addressing that situation.

{time} 1845

I think local and state authorities often are doing the best they
can. On this tour with us, we had the county superintendent of schools,
we had school board members, we had county commissioners. There is no
question we are in this together, and nobody is blaming the other. It
is a matter of working together at all levels of government and making
the Federal Government and especially the Federal Tax Code a partner in
what we need to achieve. It is that kind of partnership we are looking
for.
If we can get this legislation on the floor in these closing weeks, I
believe we can do great things to bring 100,000 new teachers into the
classrooms of America and to expand our schools and to modernize those
schools.
Mr. HOLT. If the gentleman will yield. Of course the real purpose of
our being here this evening is to call attention to the action that we
have yet to take here in the House of Representatives, to call on the
leadership to act on these bills.
The school construction bill is a wonderful partnership between the
Federal Government and the local school district, and it is applicable
not just in schools that are overcrowded because of a booming
population, such as in my district. It is also applicable to the school
districts where the schools are aging.
Across the country the average age of a school now is well beyond
what a business or industry would consider satisfactory for use. It is
well into the 40 years for an average school. In New Jersey it is
actually closer to 50 years for the average age of schools. We have all
heard stories of ceiling collapses, of teachers who put cheesecloth
over the vents to stop the lead paint flecks from coming in to the
classroom.
Estimates by the civil engineering societies say that school
construction is the number one infrastructure need of the United States
of America, and to put America's classrooms reasonably up-to-date would
have a price tag of several hundreds of billions of dollars.
The school construction legislation that the gentleman from North
Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) has presented to us as a companion piece to
that that is sponsored by Representatives Johnson and Rangel that would
be a great boon to school districts that have aging schools and to
school districts where the population is booming and they cannot keep
up the construction, have enough construction to keep up with the
population, and in the school districts who need to build so that they
can have enough classrooms to have the smaller class sizes that are
ideal for education.
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield
just for a moment. I want to underscore something the gentleman said
just a moment ago about the way this legislation would work and the
fact that decisions about when and if to build would remain under local
control.
We are not suggesting, and this is the genius, I think, of the
Etheridge proposal and that of the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Rangel), the President has made similar proposals targeting low-income
schools and high growth schools. The genuineness of that proposal I
think is that it would leave the decision in local hands, it would
leave the responsibility about issuing the bonds and raising the funds
in local hands, but it would say that through the use of the Federal
Tax Code, through giving tax credits to the holders of those bonds in
lieu of interest, we are going to let those local authorities stretch
those dollars a great deal further. That is a non-intrusive approach
that leaves the decision where it should be, but makes the Federal Tax
Code the friend of those who would invest in our children and invest in
our school infrastructure.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. I think the gentleman is right. We never hear those
complaints when it comes to building other things that we allow the Tax
Code to be used for. I think that is the secret here. I think the
leadership in this House has an obligation to the American people to
say we are either for children or we are against them. If they do not
bring it up, we know where they stand.
When you have over 225 Members sign a piece of legislation and you
cannot get it on the floor of this House, it is obvious that they have
decided in their great wisdom that there is not that need. I think that
is absolutely wrong.
As the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) and I know, and you
mentioned in your district, we were at Joyner Elementary School, and
they had a little trailer park out back, literally, and the children
were having to go back and forth. They were doing a good job. I
remember what Kathleen Marynak, the principal, said. ``We call these
our cottages in the woods,'' I believe she said, trying to help the
students, but literally they had to walk up a hill, and when it rained
they got in trouble.
We went to Wake Forest Elementary and talked to the principal, he was
standing there, and he said we have 829 students in a school originally
built for 361 students. They added to it, but they had an awful lot of
portable facilities there.
It is just not right at this time. The gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Price) is well aware of this and the gentleman touched about
growth communities. In Johnston County, a county south of Wake, and it
is true of every county around because we are growing, they built a new
school and had something like 18 trailers. They moved those off and
opened a new school, and they are now back up to eight. It is growing
that rapidly. The students have to walk through rain to get there. I
remember what Nell Ferguson said. She said we do the best we can. We
nurture all we can.
But we get back to the problem that the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Price) talked about, which is this whole issue of children
starting lunch early. If you are a little fellow, I just wonder how
many Members of Congress, and, now, we sometimes do not get to eat
lunch and I understand that, but every day if you had to go eat lunch
at 10, 10:15 or 10:30, and you are in a controlled situation and do not
get a snack until you are home at 3:30 or 4, if you are on a bus, I
wonder how many adults would like that around here?
Mr. HOLT. Yes, I can imagine. Some days I know what that is like.
I would like to turn our attention to your school construction
legislation, because I would like to believe that if my colleagues here
understood it, and if the leadership really understood the legislation
that the gentleman has put forward, they would not stand in the
hallways, they would not block this. It makes such good sense.
I would like to ask my colleague to explain for us why this is not
taking away local initiative, the local control of schools? As my
colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), said, part of
the genius of this is it allows the local school districts to decide
when and what needs to be constructed.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. The gentleman is absolutely correct, because the way
it is drafted, the locals only pay the principal back. They determine
it. The interest is paid by all of us as citizens in this country. It
is not unique, because we do it on other kinds of projects in this
country. For some to say it has not been done, it was really done in
education right after World War II, some money was appropriated because
of the growth.
We are at a time now where we are seeing phenomenal growth, a
tremendous economy, none like we have ever seen before in this country,
and we not only have an obligation, we have a great opportunity to make
a difference and propel this economy at a whole new level.
As we move forward and as we talk about construction, as important as
that is, and that is a critical part, we need people to go in those
classrooms, the 100,000 teachers, the next installment we are talking
about this year. That is going to be a fight before we adjourn, count
on it. They want to block grant it.
Well, having been State superintendent, I will share with you what a
block grant means, and to my other colleagues. I want Members to
understand what we are talking about. It means you use it for whatever
you want to use it for.
As a Member of this Congress, if I want it spend it for teachers, and
I think the people out there would tell

[[Page H7645]]

you it goes for class sizes, put it on teachers, I guarantee you
parents will say the same thing. They do not want it diluted.
As we do that, one of the critical pieces we are going to be facing
over the next 10 years is replacing all the teachers that have the
ability to retire. I think that is a great challenge, one of the
challenges. While we are on this, the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Price) introduced some legislation, and I hope he will share his
thoughts on that as we look between the two of you at this whole issue,
because having taught, you understand it.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I thank my colleague for referring to
this, because it clearly is part of this solution. As we build
additional classrooms, as we get children into lower class sizes,
especially in the early grades, we are going to need quality teachers
to teach those children.
As a matter of fact, we are confronting a teacher shortage in this
country, and it is going to get a great deal worse before it gets
better. The estimates are we will need to hire 2 million new teachers
in the United States over the next 10 years; and in North Carolina, we
are going to need to find 80,000 new teachers. Believe me, that is a
great deal more than we are producing at the present time.
That is a lot of manpower and woman power we are going to need to
bring into the classroom. This 100,000 new teachers proposal of the
Presidents is an important down payment on that, and, goodness knows,
we should not go home before we do that. I cannot imagine we could do
any less than bring on an additional installment of those 100,000 new
teachers in the classroom.
But, as my colleague said, we have a piece of legislation that I
think is very promising for the long haul, and I would like to commend
it to colleagues. These colleagues here tonight have very generously
cosponsored this bill, it is H.R. 4143, the Teaching Fellows Act.
This is legislation, just briefly, that would build on some
successful State experiences in recruiting and training teachers. We
have in North Carolina the North Carolina Fellows Program which takes
high school seniors and gives them a scholarship to take them through
the 4 years of training to be teachers. But it is so much more than
just money, it is not just a scholarship. This cohort of students goes
through college with an extracurricular program that solidifies their
professional identity and trains them in what it means to be a
professional, what it means to serve the community. The retention rate
for these teachers, the people who stay with the program after they
have done their obligation, is very, very high. This is a State-based
program that has worked very, very well, and we would like to take this
nationwide. We would like to build on it in North Carolina and see
States across the country do this.
There is a second feature to this, and this is something that I think
is something new, although in North Carolina we are making a start with
our North Carolina model teaching consortium. The idea here is to reach
into our 2-year schools, reach into our community colleges and take
paraprofessionals, people who may be training as teacher's assistants,
and give them the wherewithal and the incentive to go on for that full
4 years, because I think that is an excellent source of teachers. These
people are rooted in the community, they are already serving children,
and, with an additional incentive and with some work at the
institutional level to make sure there is a seamless transition from
that 2-year to 4-year program, I think we will have a whole new
resource there for our teaching force out of our community colleges.
So those are the two main components, the Teaching Fellows Program
for high school seniors and then the Teaching Fellows Partnership
Program for students in community colleges. We have a number of
cosponsors, a number of people who have indicated an interest in this.
I just think the quality and quantity of our teaching force is
probably going to be the dominant public education issue over the next
decade, and I believe this legislation could help us prepare for it.
Mr. HOLT. If the gentleman would yield, I would like to underscore a
couple of points that he has made about these numbers. The latest
numbers I have from the Department of Education say that in the next 10
years we will need somewhat more than 2 million, probably 2.2 million
new teachers, just to stay even. This is not to have smaller class
sizes, to reach this optimum of 18 students in the early grades, but
this is just to stay even with the attrition, the retirement of the
teachers and the students that are now in the pipeline.
Where are we going to get these teachers? This raises questions of
where we will recruit them, how we will encourage them and mentor them,
train them and see that they are treated as the professionals that they
are, and how they will get ongoing professional development. I think
the gentleman's proposal is a very good one, and that will help in
this.
We must at the same time work for smaller class sizes. The
President's proposal, he has made this a personal cause, is to get
smaller class sizes in the early few years, and I hope we can do that.
Once again we are coming to the end of the appropriations cycle and
the money is not there. In the past 2 years the President has been able
to succeed in the negotiations with his masterful negotiation skills to
get the installments on these 100,000 new teachers. I just hope we will
be able, before we go out of session this year, to get the next
installment on that.
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I think we all have to push toward that
end, and I hope we can have a good bipartisan effort on that. There is
no reason before we go home that we should not have the next sizable
installment of those 100,000 new teachers on the way into classrooms in
those early grades across this country, and there is no reason that we
should not have this school construction program in place so that local
school authorities, who know firsthand what the needs are, can take
advantage of this and get those facilities on line.
There has been a lot of talk about whether this Congress is going to
go down in history as a high achiever or a low achiever. Right now it
is looking more on the low side. What could change that would be for us
to catch on fire here in these remaining weeks and do a job for public
education.

{time} 1900

Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I would also,
before we finish this, just commend the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Etheridge) for his very attractive tax credit school bond
proposal. It would be of great benefit to districts like mine. New
Jersey would be able to get on with building a couple hundred million
dollars worth of school construction, just in my State, if this
legislation goes through. I certainly am doing all I can to advance
this legislation, and I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for
bringing it forward and for pushing it. There are only a few precious
weeks of legislative time left this year, and this is surely one of the
most important things that is remaining on our agenda.
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will
yield, let me chime in and also thank my colleague from the neighboring
district in North Carolina. We have worked together cooperatively on so
many things, and there is nothing more important than this. I thank the
gentleman for calling this Special Order and for focusing all of our
attention on the unfinished business in the days ahead.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank my colleagues who are still
on the floor and others who have left this evening, because we really
are serious about this issue. It is an issue that is critical to
America's future as we talk in this Special Order about creative
solutions to these problems. Certainly school construction is part of
it as we invest in a national commitment to educational excellence
where schools are accountable to our taxpayers for raising standards
and every child has an opportunity to learn. One cannot learn when one
is not in the right kind of conditions. Improving education in this
country is about creating a classroom environment where children can
learn and teachers can teach.
Mr. Speaker, I was in Sampson County on Sunday and dedicated a new
school. It was amazing how important

[[Page H7646]]

that school, on the outskirts of a small community, identifies a
community. Our schools do identify communities. We need to foster a
greater connection between students, teachers, and parents. Our schools
can do better; and with our help, they will do better, and we have to
quit pointing fingers and start joining hands.
Mr. Speaker, it is amazing what a hand is about when we give a
helping hand instead of pointing fingers. We are good at pointing
fingers around here. One of the best ways we can improve education, as
we have talked about this evening, is to help provide for smaller class
size, help provide for more teachers, where we can have orderly and
disciplined classrooms, where children get the additional attention
that is so badly needed.
We have children coming to our public schools to start from a variety
of backgrounds, children who are loved; unfortunately, some who are not
loved like they should be. Some who are well advanced and others who
are not. But teachers try not to differentiate; they love and care for
all of them and try to ignite that flame of learning in each child.
They can only do it if we give them the help and support they need.
We do need a national commitment to the notion that parents in
America have the right to expect that their children will have the best
teacher in the world in that classroom. There are places in this
country where they absolutely do not have the money; they do not have
the resources to do it. They cannot build the buildings, and they
cannot hire the teachers. Dagburnit, we ought to be about helping them.
That is what America is about. We need to provide support for teachers
as they do this difficult, difficult task.
It is a critically important job. It is the most important job we are
about in rearing children early. We have had enough teacher-bashing in
this body the last few years; and an awful lot of it, I am sorry to
say, has come from my Republican colleagues on the other side of the
aisle, and that must end and it must end now. We have to come together
and help. We are in this thing together. Our children deserve no less.
We must make every neighborhood school in this country work, and work
as they should.
That is why we are working to help pass H.R. 4094, and that is a
bipartisan piece of legislation. I am thankful that we have finally
gotten there. It does provide $25 billion for school construction money
across the country. A lot of money? Yes. Not nearly enough to get the
job done, but enough to get started and say we do have a commitment at
the national level; and yes, we are going to be a partner.
Unfortunately, this Congress has failed to act, and the leadership has
not brought it to the floor to provide our local communities with the
assistance they need.
Mr. Speaker, our schools are bursting at the seams. In communities
throughout my district and across this country, the flood of student
enrollments keep coming, and at the public school level, there will not
be and cannot be a sign on the door that says, no vacancy. We can do
that in a lot of other schools. Private schools can say, we cannot take
anyone else. Colleges and universities can find a way not to accept,
but when school opens in September and August and they keep coming as
they transfer, they take them, and classes get overcrowded. We must
continue to take them and help them. We have to help our schools meet
this challenge.

This Congress must take action to help these communities cope with
this urgent problem, and we must act this year. We cannot wait another
year. For many of these children who will be stuck in trailers, shoved
in closets, crammed in the bathrooms and in converted other rooms,
gymnasiums, substandard facilities, that is not acceptable in a country
that has the resources we have. This country needs to help schools
where better order and discipline can foster better learning for all of
our children.
Mr. Speaker, I urge this Congress to stop playing partisan games, to
lay down our swords and pick up the language of working together and
put our Nation's children first. Pass school construction legislation
without further delay.
Mr. Speaker, I have written a letter to the President with the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) and a number of my colleagues
insisting that school construction, in any final budget compromise with
the congressional Republicans, be the highest priority. More than 150
of my colleagues have joined me; and I trust before early next week, we
will have over 200 names, as we have on the bill.
The American people consider this their highest priority. They want
to improve education by building new schools, hiring new teachers,
reducing class sizes and improving order and discipline in the
classrooms so that our children can get the attention they need and
learn as they should learn.
Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank my Democratic colleagues for
joining me this evening in this very important Special Order. There are
a lot of things we deal with in this body that are important, no
question about it. This is the people's House, one of the greatest
Nations in the world. But I am here to tell my colleagues that there is
no issue that we face on the threshold of the 21st century that is more
important to the security of this Nation, to the prosperity that we
hope to have in the 21st century, than that we have the resolve and the
commitment to do what needs to be done for the children of America.
Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, back in July this body unfortunately
rejected a motion to instruct conferees on the FY 2001 Labor/HHS/
Education appropriations bill--a motion that insisted on more education
funding and dedicated funding for class size reduction and school
renovation. Personally, I couldn't believe this motion to instruct
failed. I say this because as parents all across America know, our
nation's schools are overcrowded.
Children in Texas returned to school in August, and I can tell you
that over the past several weeks I have heard again and again from
parents talking about the need to address the challenge of overcrowded
schools.
Total public and private elementary and secondary school enrollment
has continued to rise, from 52.8 million in 1999 to a projected all-
time record of 53.0 million this fall. These numbers are projected to
rise for most of the century.
The point I simply want to make today is that as the United States
embraces these new generations and new arrivals to our schools, we must
be prepared to be able to provide a quality education to all students.
We must help communities nationwide modernize their schools and we must
support class size reduction so that America's children are in an
environment where they can realize their full potential. These are
smart investments--investments that merit broad bipartisan support.

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