Senator Boxer Cosponsors New Bill to Aid in School Construction   

Tuesday, July 3, 2007  

Schools across America struggle with dated and sometimes crumbling facilities.  These dated schools are expensive to maintain, make learning more difficult and sometimes even posing health risks to our schoolchildren.  I am cosponsoring legislation that would provide funding to help school districts across the country build new schools and repair existing schools.

The America's Better Classroom Act of 2007, S.912, authored by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), would generate more than $25 billion for public school construction bonds over the next two fiscal years to help California and other states alleviate overcrowding and repair crumbling schools. 

This legislation would provide a federal tax credit to bond holders in lieu of interest on local school bonds. The state or local school district would thus be responsible only for repaying the principal. This will enable local officials to leverage about $25.2 billion in bonds for school construction and renovation while saving millions of dollars in interest payments.  It would also expand an existing program, the Qualified Zone Academy Bond program, which provides interest-free bonds for local educational agencies in low-income communities to help finance school repair and renovation projects.

The average public school building in America is 42 years old.  In a recent report, the Journal of Education Finance estimated that the unmet need for school infrastructure over the next decade is over $200 billion. S.912 provides a sensible federal contribution to help our schools fund needed construction to give our children better, cleaner, safer places to learn.  I strongly support this effort and will work for its passage.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer