[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13493]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                IMPACT AID SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, last week, I was successful in achieving 
the inclusion of a bipartisan amendment in the Manager's Amendment on 
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriation bill, on 
one of the most important issues we will deal with in this Congress--
the poor condition of our Nation's school buildings.
  Let me briefly describe this amendment before I talk about the larger 
problem this amendment is seeking to address.
  This amendment is co-sponsored by Senator Bingaman, Senator Domenici, 
and Senator Hutchison from Texas--this bipartisan group should send a 
very strong signal that this amendment is worthy of support.
  This is a very simple amendment. Both the House and Senate versions 
of the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill set aside $25 million for Impact 
Aid school construction. This amendment increases that amount to $10 
million.
  It offsets the increase by reducing the administrative and related 
expenses of the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and 
Education on a pro rata basis by $10 million.
  Allow me to explain why this amendment is so important to me and to 
the bi-partisan group of Senators that support this amendment.
  As you know, there are a number of pending bills that address our 
nation's school construction needs. And in the past days, we have voted 
on a number of amendments addressing school construction issues 
generally.
  These funds assist local school districts who are then able to raise 
the remainder of their construction funds through bond issues. Like 
other school costs, the bonds are paid for by taxes on local property.
  Issuing bonds is a time-honored approach to school construction. But 
in the heated national debate, one group of children is continually 
left out in the cold--students who live on federally owned land, 
usually an Indian reservation or a military installation.
  In Montana, some 12,000 children fall into this category.
  These schools are located in areas where much of the local property 
can't be taxed because of Federal activities. This tax-exempt property 
may be a military base or an Indian reservation.
  In many cases, the local public schools have to educate the children 
of families that live on the property. These so-called ``Federal 
Students'' could come from military families. They could come from 
civilian families. They could come from Native American families.
  The Congress has recognized its responsibility for these schools 
through payments authorized by Title VIII of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act.
  The House and Senate bills allocate $25 million for school 
construction to be distributed under Section 8007 of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act.
  This is simply insufficient to meet the needs of these federally 
impacted schools.
  In fiscal year 2000, Montana had 28 school districts that were 50 
percent or more impacted with either Indian land children or military 
students. Nationwide, there were 249 such districts.
  In FY2000, the average allocation per school district in Montana of 
Impact Aid funds is just below $18,000. The average dollar received per 
student is $57.
  Think about that for a moment. $57 for construction is not going to 
do a heck of a lot of good for schools that are literally falling down.
  Now, under the FY2001 appropriations bill, funding would increase to 
approximately $90 per student. And while that's better than $57, it 
still falls way short of meeting the needs of our students.
  Let me tell you a couple of stories to illustrate this point.
  I remember talking last year with the Superintendent for the Harlem 
School District Don Bidwell. His district is so crowded, he has 
students using a closet, where they used to keep the snow blower, for a 
classroom. Now the snow blower is in the hall and the students are in 
the closet.
  And let me tell you about a recent visit with Steve Smyth, the 
Superintendent of the Browning school district in Montana.
  Browning is situated in one of the windiest areas of Montana. Mr. 
Smyth informed me that a year ago, the students, teachers, 
administrators and community watched the roof on the high school 
building literally curl up like the lid on a sardine can because of the 
harsh winds.
  Just to replace that roof, the district spent $115,881. And yet, they 
only received $27,000 for school construction and repairs in FY 2000. 
How can we justify giving them only enough money to pay for one-fourth 
of their roof? That is a disgrace.
  Let me give you another example. In 1998, the Box Elder school 
received $13,000 in Impact Aid construction funding. In FY 2000, they 
received $19,500. That might be enough to give half the building a 
paint job, but not for much more.
  It's like trying to put out a fire with squirt gun. What this school 
really needs is a new building or a major renovation.
  The condition of these schools is not a Montana problem. Nor a 
Nebraska problem. Nor a partisan problem.
  Instead, it's a national problem.
  As a nation, we can no longer pretend that this is a problem in a few 
schools in a few states that can be solved with a few scraps from our 
federal education appropriation.
  Every child in the United States deserves a healthy learning 
environment. An important and vital part of that environment is the 
physical structure the learning takes place in. Our children should be 
confident their school will still be standing by the end of the day. 
Our children shouldn't fear that their school is going to burn down 
because of faulty wiring.
  Mothers and fathers should know that when they drop their children 
off at school or send them off to the school bus, that they are sending 
them to a safe place.
  I am pleased the managers of this bill saw this amendment fit to be 
included in their amendment. I thank Senators Bingaman, Domenici, and 
Hutchison from Texas for their support. I hope that the conferees will 
maintain this increased level of funding.

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