School indoor air quality
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Clearing Up Air Quality Problems at Schools

Much of the indoor air quality problem at schools is related to the need for repairs that schools cannot afford. Faced with the need to buy books, pay teachers and fund other critical education-related issues, improving air quality often ends up at the bottom of the funding priorities.

The federal government could help, but has traditionally veered away from providing any sort of financial support to school construction, insisting that such matters are a state and local funding concern. Below are some updates on issues in Washington, D.C. that could help schools out, and what you can do to help.

Education Legislation Includes Environmental Measures…But Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Included in the education appropriations bill passed by the U.S. Congress in December 2001 were elements that address environmental concerns. Specifically, the legislators incorporated some provisions of bills that had been sponsored by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Robert G. Toricelli (D-N.J.).

The measures include several elements that address school-related environmental concerns, such as provisions to study characteristics of school environments that could be unhealthy. Researchers will examine how such factors as poor indoor air quality, inappropriate use of chemicals, lead-based paint, and contaminated water might adversely impact student achievement, student concentration, student behavior and other education-related effects.

This will go a long way toward helping to quantify risks of environmental problems in schools, including indoor air pollution. However, there is one catch.

The federal government did not make provisions to help schools fix such problems.

Instead, legislators created a grant program to fund such issues as analyzing building strategies, designs, materials and equipment—as well as to conduct research and obtain technical assistance. While this might sound promising, there is still a catch.

Congress didn’t dedicate any funds to the grant program. Instead, they left funding up to the discretion of the Secretary of Education.

Implementing this grant program would be an important first step—so that we can begin working on the next steps. Please contact Rod Paige, Secretary of Education, to urge him to implement the environmental health study and  to allocate $50 million a year for the grant program. He can be reached at the U.S. Department of Education; 400 Maryland Avenue, SW; Building FOB-6; Room 7W301; Washington, DC 20202 or via e-mail at Rod.Paige@ed.gov.

Below is a sample letter to help get you started:

Dear Secretary Paige:

Please don’t let indoor air quality at schools be ignored. Toxins in classrooms, cafeterias and elsewhere are creating more cases of kids with asthma—a staggering 4.8 million so far. These same indoor air pollutants are worsening the health of children who already have asthma.

In the recent Education Appropriations Bill, Congress acknowledged this by authorizing a study on healthy school environments and establishing a grant program to assist school districts in their efforts to make schools environmentally healthy places to learn and work. I urge you to make funding for this program a high priority and allocate $2 million for the study and $50 million for school districts.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Building Up Building Funds

With regard to federal aid for actual school repairs, help may come from a different legislative action.

In April 2002, Senators Jean Carnahan (D-MO), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced legislation to address the lack of federal support for school construction (and the fact that schools don’t have many options to generate financing for such work). Like a House bill introduced last year by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), the bill calls for capitalizing State Infrastructure Banks (SIBs). These SIBs would help schools with construction and repairs while maintaining state and local flexibility and responsibility. This would be a middle ground for legislators who are opposed to any federal role and others who want federal tax credits for school bonds. Futhermore, the SIBs would eventually become self-sufficient “revolving loan funds,” so in essence they will pay for themselves.

Find out if your legislators support this legislative action. If they do, encourage them to continue their support. If they don’t already support it, let them know how important the issue is to you. To keep tabs on the progress of this (or any other) legislation, visit the government Web site “Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet.” To reach that site’s search page, click here.