[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 131 (Wednesday, October 18, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H10229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               EDUCATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the 
public schools in our country. I know that should not be a major 
statement, but after hearing all of what people want to do with 
vouchers and everything else, maybe we need to have an affirmative 
affirmation that says, yes, we support our public schools in our 
country.
  Some of the key priorities for our public schools are class size 
reduction, school modernization, and technology improvements of both 
our elementary and our secondary schools.
  We need to fund the President's plans for school modernization and 
class size reduction, to ensure that our most valuable national 
resource, our children, will not continue to suffer from substandard 
school facilities and overcrowded classrooms.
  Studies by the National Center for Education Statistics show that, on 
the average, public schools in America are 42 years old. School 
buildings begin rapid deterioration after 40 years. Additionally, 30 
percent of our schools were built before 1970 and have never been 
renovated.
  These schools are also lagging behind in our efforts to connect every 
classroom to the Internet. Only 42 percent of schools built before 1985 
are connected to the Internet, compared to almost 60 percent of those 
built since.
  According to GAO's estimate, it would cost $112 billion to bring all 
our Nation's schools into good overall condition.
  In my home State of Texas, where my wife teaches algebra, we have 
over 4 million students in almost 7,000 schools. Of those schools, 76 
percent of the Texas schools need repairs or upgrades just to reach the 
``good'' condition; 46 percent need repairs to a building such as 
plumbing, electrical, heating or cooling systems; 60 percent have at 
least one environmental quality like air quality, ventilation, or 
lighting; and the student-to-computer ratio stands 11 to 1, 11 to 1 
student-computer ratio. So one just has to wait one's turn for the use 
of that computer.
  The cost for this alone in Texas is estimated to be $10 billion to 
modernize school infrastructure and over $4 billion to address the 
technology needs.
  Aging schools, however, are not the only problem we have before us. 
We have to address the growing student population.
  Again, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 
elementary and secondary school enrollment, already at a record-high 
52.7 million, will climb to 54.3 million by 2008.
  Again, in Texas, we see similar trends. Our education system has 
stretched past a breaking point when one adds in the expected growth in 
the number of students.
  Over the next decade, the number of students in the elementary and 
secondary schools are expected to grow almost 8 percent in Texas alone, 
approximately 316,000 students. It is estimated almost 13,000 new 
classrooms will have to be built to handle this influx of new students.
  Voters in my own hometown in Houston are trying to address this 
problem. In a recent Houston ISD bond election, they approved $678 
million to repair over 70 schools and to build 10 new ones. Fifty of 
the schools in HISD are over 50 years old. Twenty-five are over 70 
years old. Much more is needed because they downsized it.
  Also, voters in the Aldine school district where my wife teaches just 
approved a $115.8 million bond package that would fund six new schools, 
a transportation center, and would provide upgrades for existing 
campuses.
  Aldine Independent School District is already feeling the impact of 
increased enrollment with the number of students having grown over 
1,200 each year for the last 7 years.
  $678 million and $115 million sound like a lot of money, but it is 
really a drop in the bucket. School populations continue to increase, 
newer schools are beginning to show wear and tear; and facilities must 
be upgraded to keep our schools equipped with the cutting edge 
technology our children will need to be competitive in tomorrow's job 
market.
  These numbers show that it is absolutely vital that Congress address 
the conditions of our Nation's schools now because the situation will 
obviously get worse.
  Now, most of the school construction comes from, first, local money 
but also State money. But we need to make sure that we help what we 
can. Even if it is only a few pennies on the dollar, Mr. Speaker, we 
can help. That is the reason I support the President's plan to reduce 
the class size and build more classrooms.
  Additionally, I join my colleagues from around the country sponsoring 
legislation that will make tax credit bonds available to our schools, 
offer incentives for teachers who choose to teach at low-income or 
underserved areas and offer tax credits and student loan forgiveness 
for college students who choose to make teaching their profession.
  I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting these important 
initiatives, and that we can work together and provide funding for our 
schools to educate our children. Our most important natural resource is 
the brains in our children that are being educated today.




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