“All students and teachers deserve safe and healthy learning environments, but too often, their schools are literally falling apart,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and one of the bill’s sponsors. “This legislation is a victory for students, workers and our planet. It will help improve educational opportunities and boost student achievement, it will help transition us toward a green economy by making our classrooms more environmentally-friendly, and it will get Americans back to work by creating good-paying, clean energy jobs.”

"Many of our nation’s schools are in disrepair, creating an unsafe and unhealthy classroom environment that makes it more difficult to learn,” said U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Secondary and Elementary Education.  “This legislation will modernize and improve our educational facilities, providing a healthier learning and working climate for our students and teachers. Not only will this benefit our local schools, but it will create good jobs in our communities while helping to clean up the environment.”

“Today was a big step in the right direction—toward investing in our children, investing in our environment, and investing in long-term economic growth,” U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY) said. “How we educate our children today affects how our nation performs for generations to come, so it is absolutely unacceptable that some of our children are learning in schools with leaking roofs, asbestos, falling plaster, and faulty wiring.  I am so pleased that Congress stood today with Chairman Miller, Chairman Kildee, Congressman Loebsack, and me to fix our schools and secure the future of our great nation.”

“Our children deserve the best from us, and that includes all the educational advantages we can provide,” said U.S. Rep. Loebsack (D-IA). “I have been working on “greening” our schools since I have been a Member of Congress. Modernizing our school facilities keeps our students healthy and improves their academic performance. Repairing and upgrading our schools creates and saves good paying jobs while providing lasting long-term energy cost savings for taxpayers. Everything about green schools is a win-win for our taxpayers, our teachers, and most importantly, our children.”

According to recent estimates, the nation’s schools are hundreds of billions of dollars short of what it would take to bring them into good condition. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. schools a “D” on its national infrastructure report card for this year. A recent report by the American Federation of Teachers estimates it would cost almost $255 billion to fully renovate and repair all the schools in the country. Over the last eight years, the Bush administration provided almost no direct general federal funding for school improvements.

H.R. 2187 would authorize $6.4 billion for school renovation and modernization projects for fiscal year 2010, and would ensure that school districts quickly receive funds for projects that improve schools’ teaching and learning climates, health and safety, and energy efficiency.

To further encourage energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in schools, the legislation would require a percentage of funds be used for school improvement projects that meet widely recognized green building standards. It would require that 100 percent of the funds go toward green projects by 2015 – the final year of funding under the bill.

The legislation would also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and help improve local economies. According to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute, the legislation would support 136,000 jobs. Recent studies also show that school quality has a direct, positive impact on residential property values and can improve a community’s ability to attract businesses and workers. The legislation also applies Davis-Bacon protections to all grants for modernization and renovation projects guaranteeing fair wages and benefits for workers.

Congress recently endorsed this type of investment by enacting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allows school districts to use funds they receive under the state fiscal stabilization fund for school modernization, renovation and repair projects.

The legislation has received broad support including the Council of the Great City Schools, American Association of School Administrators, Rebuild America's Schools, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, AFL-CIO, and the U.S. Green Building Council. Congress passed H.R. 3021, similar legislation, last summer.

“The crisis we’re seeing in our nation’s high schools is real, it’s urgent, and it must be fixed,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the committee. “It’s become increasingly clear that addressing this dropout crisis is one of the most important things we can do to turn our economy around and regain our competitive footing for good. We have a moral and economic obligation to ensure that, at a minimum, every student in this country can graduate high school prepared to succeed in college or the workforce. Our intent is to address this problem in this Congress in the most comprehensive way possible.”
Nationwide, 7,000 students drop out every day and only about 70 percent of students graduate from high school with a regular high school diploma. Two thousand high schools in the U.S. produce more than half of all dropouts and a recent study suggests that in the 50 largest cities, only 53 percent of students graduate on time.  Research shows that poor and minority children attend these so-called “dropout factories” – the 2,000 schools that produce more than 50 percent of our nation’s dropouts – at significantly higher rates.

Studies also highlight the financial impact of the nation’s dropout rates. A recent report by the McKinsey Corporation showed that if minority student performance had reached white students by 1998, the GDP in 2009 would have been between $310 billion and $525 billion higher – or approximately 2 to 4 percent of GDP. The report also says the achievement gaps in this country are the same as having “a permanent national recession.

“Currently this Congress is grappling with massive economic problems. But the enormous cost of bailing out the banks, financial institutions, the auto industry, and AIG is still less than the economic cost of just five years of dropouts in the United States,” said Bob Wise, president, Alliance for Excellent Education and the former Governor of West Virginia. “That is why I believe that the ultimate economic stimulus package is a diploma.”

Cutting the dropout rate in half would yield $45 billion annually in new federal tax revenues or cost savings, according to a recent report by Columbia University’s Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education at Teachers College.



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The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 90 percent of new high-growth, high-wage jobs will require some level of postsecondary education.

Cutting the dropout rate in half would yield $45 billion annually in new federal tax revenues or cost savings, according to a recent report by Columbia University’s Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education at Teachers College.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 90 percent of new high-growth, high-wage jobs will require some level of postsecondary education.

“Simply put, the world has changed and there is no work for high school dropouts,” said Dr. Robert Balfanz, Ph. D, a research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University. “To meet its graduation challenge, the nation must find a solution for its dropout factories.”

Balfanz recent research findings show “it is often possible to identify as early as sixth grade up to half of the students who, absent effective interventions, will not graduate, and up to 80 percent by the ninth grade.”

Witnesses also presented data which shows African-America, Latino, American Indian and Alaska Native high school students have a far lower chance of graduating on time with a regular diploma.

“I echo the likes of Secretary Duncan and other education leaders when I say that education is the most important American civil rights issue of the 21st century,” said Michael Wotorson, executive director of the Campaign for High School Equity. “The one consistency in our education system is in our high schools that fail to provide students of color and youth from low-income neighborhoods with the high-quality education they need to succeed in college and in the modern workplace.”

Witnesses all agreed that a common core of rigorous internationally benchmarked standards will help ensure all students graduate career and college ready.

 “We do not have to live in a country where three out of 10 students do not graduate on time, and where on-time graduation for minority students is a 50-50 proposition,” said Marguerite Kondracke, President and CEO of America’s Promise Alliance. “We have solutions on the ground, and legislative proposals that will bring them to scale.”

Other witnesses called for reforms that to make schools and teachers more accountable to their students.

Scott Gordon, the CEO of Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia, where 47 percent of the city’s public school first graders graduate from high school, discussed strategies that help his school turn around high dropout rates and low performance.  The average scores for Mastery students increased 35 points per grade in every subject and violence decreased by 85 percent. The schools’ turnover rates dropped a third. 

He urged teachers to take more responsibility for the outcomes of their students, and urged administrators and state officials to reward teachers accordingly.

“The structure of the turnarounds required that Mastery continue operating as a neighborhood schools and enroll all of the students currently attending.  So, in many ways these turnaround schools are perfect controlled experiments on school reform,” said Gordon. “The same students, the same neighborhood, the same building – the only variable that changed was the adults.”

“For too long, students and teachers have suffered in school buildings that are literally crumbling, posing direct threats to their safety, health and learning,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the Committee. “This legislation presents us with a vital opportunity to help boost student achievement, enhance teachers’ effectiveness, and create good jobs that transition us toward a clean energy economy – all at once.”

"Many of our nation’s schools are in disrepair, creating an unsafe and unhealthy classroom environment that makes it more difficult to learn,” said U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Secondary and Elementary Education.  “This legislation will modernize and improve our educational facilities, providing a healthier learning and working climate for our students and teachers. Not only will this benefit our local schools, but it will create good jobs in our communities while helping to clean up the environment.”

“Everything about the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act makes sense,” said U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA). “By modernizing our schools to make them more energy efficient, we increase academic performance, student health, teacher retention, and cost savings for our schools while creating good paying construction jobs. That’s why I have been an advocate for Green Schools since I have been a Member of Congress, and I am pleased that we are moving forward to provide our children with a world class education in a safe, environmentally friendly learning environment.

For years, schools have been hundreds of billions of dollars short of what it would take to bring them into good condition, in part because the Bush administration provided almost no direct federal funding for school improvements over the last eight years.  In 2009, the American Civil Society of Engineers gave U.S. schools a “D” on its national infrastructure report card. According to a recent report by the American Federation of Teachers, it would cost almost $255 billion to fully renovate and repair all the schools in the country.

Congress recently endorsed this type of investment by enacting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allows school districts to use funds they receive under the state fiscal stabilization fund for school modernization, renovation and repair projects.

H.R. 2187 would authorize $6.4 billion for school renovation and modernization projects for fiscal year 2010, and would ensure that school districts quickly receive funds for projects that improve schools’ teaching and learning climates, health and safety, and energy efficiency.

To further encourage energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in schools, the legislation would require a percentage of funds be used for school improvement projects that meet widely recognized green building standards. It would require that 100 percent of the funds go toward green projects by 2015 – the final year of funding under the bill.

The legislation would also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and help improve local economies. According to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute, the legislation would support 136,000 jobs. Recent studies also show that school quality has a direct, positive impact on residential property values and can improve a community’s ability to attract businesses and workers.

Congress passed H.R. 3021, similar legislation, last summer.

“Especially in this economy, with state budgets dwindling, schools have fewer resources to make classrooms top-notch learning environments for students,” said Miller, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. “No student should have to learn in a classroom or school that is literally falling apart. Creating world-class school facilities helps boost student achievement, enhances teachers’ effectiveness, generates savings for schools and creates good jobs for Americans desperately looking for work. This is smart public policy that will help us revive our economy, improve our schools, and protect our planet all at once.”

“Many of our nation’s schools are in disrepair, creating an unsafe and unhealthy classroom environment that makes it more difficult to learn.  This legislation will modernize and improve our educational facilities, providing a healthier learning and working climate for our students and teachers. Not only will this benefit our local schools, but it will create good jobs in our communities while helping to clean up the environment,” said Kildee

“Our country will rise and fall based on how we educate our children,” Chandler said, “and safe, healthy, and functional learning environments are the very basics of a good education. Numerous government studies have shown that our nation’s schools are in an alarming state of disrepair. Since introducing this bill in 2007, Chairman Miller, Chairman Kildee, Congressman Loebsack and I have been working to make this issue a national priority, and reintroducing the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act today is another big step in the right direction. ”

“The environment in which our students learn and educators teach can have an immense impact on the quality of education our children receive,” said Loebsack.  “According to the Government Accountability Office, 79% of Iowa schools need to repair or upgrade their buildings and facilities. Our students deserve more from us. By making investments to repair and modernize our schools we will not only be providing improved learning environments for our students, but we will also be able to create new jobs, spur local investment, and create long term cost savings for schools.”

Recent estimates underscore the extreme funding shortfalls facing schools in need of improvement. It would cost approximately $254.6 billion to address the school infrastructure need across the fifty states, according to a report from December of 2008 by the American Federation of Teachers.  

The construction industry is also facing urgent needs. According to U.S. Department of Labor estimates, the construction industry lost 126,000 jobs in March. Overall, the construction field has shed 1.3 million jobs since January 2007 – almost half of which were lost in the last five months.

President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a $53.6 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund primarily to backfill budget cuts and help stave off teacher layoffs. School districts can also use this fund to improve school facilities, among other uses. H.R. 2187 will build on this effort, so that all school districts can access funds to make much-needed facility improvements.

H.R. 2187 would authorize $6.4 billion for school renovation and modernization projects for fiscal year 2010, and would ensure that school districts quickly receive funds for projects that improve schools’ teaching and learning climates, health and safety, and energy efficiency. To further encourage energy-efficiency in schools, the bill would require that the majority of funds for school improvement projects meet widely recognized green building standards and would encourage states to help schools track their energy use and carbon footprints, among other things. In the final year of funding, the bill would require 100 percent to be used for these types of projects.

In the Gulf Coast, where public schools still face hundreds of millions of dollars in damages caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the legislation would authorize separate funds – $600 million dollars over six years – for schools still trying to recover.

In addition, the legislation would ensure fair wages and benefits for construction workers by applying Davis-Bacon protections to all grants awarded for school improvement projects.  

“With standards varying vastly from state to state, a high school diploma no longer guarantees that students are proficient enough to succeed in college or a career or to compete with their international peers,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the committee. “It’s become increasingly clear that a rigorous, common core of standards is essential to help teachers teach and students learn. It’s critical to our goal of building world class schools that prepare all Americans to compete in 21st century jobs and our global economy.”

“We know that rigorous academic standards are necessary to prepare today’s students to succeed in tomorrow’s competitive world. And we also know that the federal government is ill-equipped – and ill-suited – to make decisions about what and how our children should learn,” said U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), the panel’s top Republican. “Today’s hearing was a clarion call for state and local leadership in the area of high standards, and common benchmarks, to improve student academic achievement. We know what needs to be done, and I’m pleased to see that states are stepping up to the challenge.”


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Over the past 40 years, America has fallen from first in the world to 18th in the number of students graduating from high school and our share of the world’s college graduates has dropped from 30 percent to 15 percent. On the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, the U.S. ranks near the bottom of all industrialized countries in math, science and problem solving.

Witnesses testified the current system encourages states to lower their standards instead of raising them. As a result, a lack of comparability is undermining both students and America’s competitiveness abroad.

“Common state academic standards will strengthen U.S. competitiveness and individual success,” said Greg Jones, the chair of the California Business for Excellence in Education. “If standards are watered down, or individual states refuse to join the common state standards effort, we will not succeed in creating the globally competitive workforce of tomorrow.”

In Mississippi, for example, 89 percent of students are reading at or above proficiency on state assessments, while only 18 percent are proficient based on the National Association Educational Progress (NAEP).

Witnesses also urged the federal government not to interfere with state-led efforts to develop common standards, but rather to encourage such efforts through incentives and better support. They argued that the leadership must continue to come from states.

“States must lead this effort for the good of our young people and for the good of our country,” said Dr. Ken James, Commissioner of Education in Arkansas and the president of the Council of Chief State School Officers. “Rather, the purpose of the common state standards initiative is to raise the bar for all states by drawing on the best research and evidence from leading states and experts regarding, among other things, college-and work-readiness, rigorous knowledge and skills, and international benchmarking.”

Witnesses pointed to a “Race to the Top Fund” included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allows the Secretary of Education to reward states that are using innovative approaches to raise student achievement, as a good starting point. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said he is considering using the $5 billion fund to help develop higher standards, among other things.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said many of the challenges teachers face in the classroom could be addressed by a common core of standards.

“Developing a new system of standards at first blush seems like a daunting task but it must be done,” Weingarten said. “The ‘Race to the Top’ program presents an historic opportunity to move toward common state standard by providing funds to get the job done. It would be the best possible use of that funding and could and should guide all future reform efforts.”

David Levn, co-founder of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), a charter school program whose students are performing at a much higher level than their peers, emphasized the need for standards that are grounded in research and proven effectiveness.

“We need to be careful not to replicate the vast and vague standards we see in too many states.” Levin said. “The standards should be identified based on proven evidence of what is necessary for students to know and do in order to succeed in college and in work.”

Rigorous, common standards will only be effective if they’re part of a larger, systemic approach to significantly improve the nation’s schools.

“We know that standards are critical, but aren’t sufficient on their own. Only a systemic approach will get us where we need to be,” said Governor James B. Hunt, chairman of the James. B. Hunt Institute for Educational leadership and Policy Foundation Board and the former governor of North Carolina.” Standards need to be supported by an integrated system, including curriculum, assessment, instruction, teacher preparation and professional development.”

For more information and to view witness testimony, click here.
 

 

“In light of the staggeringly high dropout rate and growing threats to our nation’s competitiveness, closing the achievement gap and building world-class schools for all students must be a top priority. Overall, this report is further proof that we must do better. While it’s good news that younger students are making meaningful gains in reading and math, it’s deeply troubling that many high school students are not. We must re-double our efforts to ensure that all students, at every age, in every state, get a world-class education that fully prepares them for college and careers. Raising the bar so that all states establish challenging, rigorous standards would be an important step toward this goal.”

This week, the Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing to examine the state-led effort to develop a common core of rigorous, internationally-benchmarked standards to help prepare our students to compete in today’s global economy. To learn more about hearing, click here.

In light of this report, U.S. Rep. George Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, announced the committee will hold a hearing on these abuses.

“These abuses are a shocking and disturbing betrayal of the trust that families and communities place in our schools. School administrators and teachers are tasked with providing not just productive and encouraging learning environments for students, but with keeping them safe. It is wholly unacceptable for children to be locked up in closets or for any staff member to use overwhelming – and in some cases deadly – force against their students.

“This report raises serious questions about the treatment of schoolchildren, the qualifications and training of staff, and what actions have been taken to address these unconscionable practices. No child should be at risk or in danger while at school, no matter what the circumstances. Our committee will hold a hearing to look at how we can address and hopefully end these horrific acts."

The report, “School is not supposed to hurt: An investigative report on abusive seclusion and restraint in schools,” provides an unprecedented look at the tactics used to isolate or restrain students. In one case, a seven-year old girl was killed in a special day program when four adult staff pinned her small body face down. The student had been blowing bubbles in her milk and would not follow directions to sit still.  In another example, a thirteen year old boy committed suicide in a locked concrete seclusion room, hanging himself with a cord provided by staff to hold up his pants, after pleading with his teachers that he could not withstand the isolation in the small room for hours at a time.

For a full copy of the report released today, click here.

Investigations conducted by the Government Accountability Office at Miller’s request have uncovered thousands of cases and allegations of child abuse at teen residential treatment programs around the country, including similar abusive uses of seclusion and restraint highlighted by today’s report. In June the House passed legislation authored by Miller and U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), to protect teens attending these programs from physical, mental and sexual abuse. For more information on the bill, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008, click here.