[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12128]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION AND MODERNIZATION

  (Mrs. NAPOLITANO asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Madam Speaker, I would like to certainly call upon 
all my colleagues to join us in bringing the issue of school 
construction and modernization up for debate this year.
  In my home State of California, we are facing a very critical and 
potential crisis in providing adequate school facilities for our 
children. With the number of students increasing in grades K through 12 
by about 270,000 during the next 5 years, California will need 10,000, 
10,000, new classrooms. That is six new classrooms each day for the 
next 5 years.
  In addition to building new classrooms, more than two-thirds of 
existing school buildings are in desperate need of repair. State and 
local resources are currently only covering half of these construction 
costs and modernization needs.
  We, therefore, all of us, owe it to our children from throughout the 
United States to address this issue right here in Washington. The 
children of my State who are the future of California and the children 
of other States are depending on us to take action to build and 
renovate our schools.

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