Last month, President-elect Donald Trump pledged in his acceptance speech to reinvest in U.S. infrastructure. He said on November 9, “We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, [and] hospitals. We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.”
So, what does Trump’s infrastructure plan look like? To what extent does it address school infrastructure needs?
Trump’s official campaign website calls for an “America’s Infrastructure First” policy that supports investments in “transportation, clean water, a modern and reliable electricity grid, telecommunications, security infrastructure, and other pressing domestic infrastructure needs.” Among other things, his $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan includes:
- Developing a “deficit-neutral plan” that focuses on new, substantial infrastructure investments.
- Refocusing federal infrastructure investment from a global to a local (American) perspective.
- Leveraging new revenues and working with “financing authorities, public-private partnerships, and other prudent funding opportunities.”
- Relying on “market-forces” to attract private-sector investments via infrastructure tax credits.
- Reducing bureaucratic red tape to streamline permits/approvals for completing infrastructure projects.
For state and local government infrastructure challenges (including school systems), Trump’s campaign website prioritizes clean water programs. The President-elect wants to develop a “long-term water infrastructure plan with city, state, and federal leaders to upgrade aging water systems” and increase funding for infrastructure loan programs. Fortunately, Congress got a head start on water infrastructure issues before they left for the holidays, but more will need to be done in 2017. However, beyond Trump’s website and a minor speech reference on December 1, he has shared few details about his full infrastructure plan.
The Hill says that although the final details “are still in flux,” Trump provided several clues about his infrastructure plan while on the campaign trail this year. Trump will likely:
- Rely heavily on private financing.
- Incorporate public-private partnerships (PPPs).
- Roll back regulatory hurdles to completing projects.
- Rely on tax credits offered to private investors to be offset by “tax revenue from new wages to construction workers and new profits from contractors” to have his plan “pay for itself.”
- Reach across the political aisle to incorporate Democrat policy ideas (e.g., establish a national infrastructure bank).
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Trump has proposed slashing taxes, expanding investment, and using investor tax credits to boost infrastructure. However, a full-blown federal stimulus package likely won’t make it through Congress. Republicans prefer to restrain federal spending and instead are considering funding projects with “new corporate income tax revenue from bringing foreign profits into the country…, an infrastructure revolving fund, raising the gasoline tax, or a new surface freight fee.” Trump’s transition team is still discussing this policy area, but plans to make it a top priority for the first 100 days of the administration after repealing the Affordable Care Act.
What does ASBO International think about Trump’s infrastructure plan?
While Trump’s idea to leverage PPPs to fix public infrastructure is great, it shouldn’t be viewed as a panacea for fixing all public facilities, including our schools. Indeed, PPPs can reduce financial burdens for cash-strapped state and local governments by allowing them to harness private-sector resources and innovations for infrastructure projects. However, there is a lot of regulatory red tape in the U.S. tax code that must first be removed for school systems to effectively benefit from PPPs, so it is important to couple this approach with regulatory reforms.
While ASBO International is advocating from this angle, we are not placing all our eggs in one basket. A multi-tiered solution is necessary to address our schools’ and broader national infrastructure needs. This includes increasing access to PPPs, reducing financial and regulatory burdens to finance projects, and increasing federal investment and support for infrastructure projects. That’s why our organization is collaborating with the Coalition for Healthier Schools and the Healthy Schools Network on a presidential whitepaper that urges President-elect Donald Trump to reinvest in our public school infrastructure.
ASBO International and more than 40 other organizations are asking President-elect Trump to create a “President’s Children’s Initiative for Environmental Health at School (EHS)” that incorporates policies to address today’s K–12 infrastructure and children’s health needs. The initiative recognizes children’s unique vulnerability to environmental health hazards in public schools and reduces environmental risks by investing in school facilities and infrastructure. Specific policy recommendations include:
- Funding school facility infrastructure and transportation. We’re asking the Trump Administration to invest in environmental improvements for PreK–12 and child care center buildings that promote healthy learning environments. We urge that the initiative focus particularly on low-wealth schools to reduce environmental health risks.
- Establishing public health services for children at risk or with environmental exposures. We’re asking for more federal investment in environmental health services by scaling up existing CDC, EPA, and other relevant federal agency programs and grants. We recommend the administration create an advisory committee of experts from several federal agencies and K–12 stakeholder groups to direct the initiative.
According to the Healthy Schools Network, there are more than 130,000
PreK–12 public schools across the U.S. with approximately 55 million
children and 6.5 million K–12 employees at risk for being exposed to environmental health risks due to deteriorating school infrastructure.
Within these schools, 9% of students have asthma, 10% have ADHD,
and 6.6 million are enrolled in special education programs.
ASBO International Executive Director John Musso recognizes all who are at risk and expressed his support for the initiative, saying, “ASBO International urges President-elect Donald Trump to launch an initiative that funds school infrastructure projects and promotes healthy learning environments for all students. We encourage him to appoint an advisory committee that includes all K–12 stakeholders at the table, including school business officials, to ensure school districts have the sufficient funding and support they need to make this initiative a success.”
To learn more about the whitepaper, read the document and follow/join the conversation on Twitter via hashtag #EnvHealthySchools. The coalition is still collecting signatures from individuals and organizations to broaden support and amplify our voice. Interested K–12 advocates can sign on here. (While policy recommendations have already been sent to Trump’s transition team, we plan to engage in several related advocacy activities in early 2017, which will include additional signatories at that time.)