Good afternoon,
During the Senate's debate on ESEA reauthorization last week, three amendments from Senator Brian Schatz' (D-HI) office were introduced to be added to the legislation. Here is the status of his amendments:
1. Recognizing the Value of School Facilities Assessments (Supported by ASBO International)
-Would ask states to report in their state plans under Title I whether they conduct periodic assessments of the condition of their school facilities. Incorporates the link between quality school facilities and student achievement in Title I language for the first time, acknowledging the important role school facilities play in providing a quality education. The amendment would have the Department of Education collect valuable information on which states are currently conducting periodic assessments. (PASSED)
See this summary of the amendment: RecognizingValueofSchoolFacilitiesAssessments_Summary.pdf
2. INSPIRES Act (Not supported; concerns of over prescriptive reporting requirements)
-Would create a STEM and CTE-focused facilities renovation and construction grant program. (REJECTED)
3. School Building Fairness Act (Not supported; concerns of over prescriptive reporting requirements)
-Would create a comprehensive facilities renovation and construction grant program. (REJECTED)
Passed amendments are subject to the House/Senate ESEA conference between both versions of the bill. As we learn more about what amendments will be included on the conference bill, we will post alerts regarding these specific amendments here.
Thank you.
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Elleka Watts
Government Affairs & Communications Coordinator
ASBO International
ewatts@asbointl.org
Reston, VA
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-19-2015 08:21
From: Elleka Watts
Subject: ASBO International Supports New School Facility/STEM Bills
Good morning,
Senator Brian Schatz' (D-HI) Office is working on a third school facility amendment (in addition to the INSPIRES and SBF Acts, mentioned in the previous post) to add to the Senate's reauthorization bill for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No Child Left Behind (NCLB). ASBO International and AASA have already signed on in support and would like to provide your organization a chance to do so as well.
Schatz’ “data-sharing facility amendment” would amend Title I of ESEA/NCLB to support the assessment of school facilities. It would require that if a State is already conducting periodic assessments of its school facilities, then that data should be included in the annual state report to the Secretary of Education. (Amendment text is attached.)
Staff from Sen. Schatz' office noted our concerns with imposing additional administrative burdens on school officials and state education officers, and said that because this amendment would only ask States to send data they are already collecting to the Department of Education, it should not significantly increase the burdens on school administrators and state education officers. However, it would help the Department of Education with constructing a more coherent picture of the state of school facilities across the nation.
If you would also like to have your organization (no individuals please) support the “data-sharing facility amendment,” please contact Reba Bandyopadhyay from the Office of Senator Brian Schatz, at Reba_Bandyopadhyay@schatz.senate.gov.
Thank you.
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Elleka Watts
Government Affairs & Communications Coordinator
ASBO International
ewatts@asbointl.org
Reston, VA
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2015 10:06
From: Elleka Watts
Subject: ASBO International Supports New School Facility/STEM Bills
This message has been cross posted to the following Discussions: Legislative Committee and Legislative Affairs .
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Good morning!
The Office of Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) recently reached out to ASBO International to request our support on several school facilities-related bills that have either been recently introduced, or will soon be introduced, for Congress' consideration this week.
1. The Inspiring New STEM Professionals by Investing in Renovation of Education Spaces (INSPIRES) Act of 2015.
This bill would create a competitive grant program to provide LEAs and community colleges with dedicated funds for updating/upgrading their STEM and/or Career & Technical Education facilities. (See the attachment for more information.)
2. The School Building Fairness Act.
This is an updated version of a bill previously introduced in 2011. The bill would allocate funds to states for competitive matching grants to LEAs for school repair, renovation, and construction. It focuses particularly on "green schools" and high-need schools. In addition, a required component of any awarded grant would be the creation or support of a State-level database on the condition of its public schools; at a minimum, this database must include the age, total educational square footage, and year of last major renovation for each school. (Sen. Schatz' office is working on a fact sheet for this bill, which should be released next week.
Stay tuned to the Legislative Affairs Community for more information about these bills and their progress on Capitol Hill.
Thank you,
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Elleka Watts
Government Affairs & Communications Coordinator
ASBO International
ewatts@asbointl.org
Reston, VA
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