Media Release - April 1, 2022
Contact: Mary Filardo - MFilardo@21csf.org - 202-285-8947
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Washington D.C. - April 1, 2022––BASIC, a coalition of education, civic, labor and industry organizations is excited to see that the President’s FY23 budget proposal includes a request for funding for a new Office of School Infrastructure and Sustainability in the U.S. Department of Education (ED), and for funds to re-establish a national clearinghouse on school facilities. These are important steps forward in establishing a federal role in school facilities.
Our public school facilities support critically important purposes in addition to supporting the education of our children and youth. School facilities support school breakfast and lunch preparation and delivery to millions of children; they house nurses offices and school-based health centers; they share space with before and after-school care programs for working parents and guardians; they provide outdoor green space and recreation areas for towns and neighborhoods; and act as emergency shelters for entire communities. There is an urgent need to modernize our existing facilities so they are safe, healthy, green, and resilient schools that support student learning, health, the environment, and keep our children and communities safe.
The U.S. Department of Education has a critical role to play in guiding federal policy that improves school facilities across the nation. The proposal to establish an office of school infrastructure and sustainability would provide much needed technical assistance and training to SEAs and LEAs on issues related to educational facility planning, design, financing, construction, improvement, operation, and school safety, national activities and maintenance, including green building design and operation practices. Additionally, the clearinghouse will be critical in supporting the work of the new office aiding in the development of resources and assembling best practices on issues related to ensuring equitable access to healthy, educationally adequate and environmentally and fiscally sustainable public school facilities and grounds.
BASIC appreciates the positive step forward from the Department of Education in realizing its role in supporting the second-largest infrastructure sector in the country––education––which plays a critical role in healthy community ecosystems, but for far too long have been sorely neglected. We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to build off of this first step and authorize and fund a stand-alone program that would provide direct grants to our nation’s poorest districts, like those in the Rebuild America’s Schools Act (RASA), led by Chairman Scott and Senator Reed.
WHAT ORGANIZATIONS ARE SAYING
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21st Century School Fund Executive Director Mary Filardo, said: “This is an important start, but without a federal, state, and local partnership to address the decades of facilities neglect, the structural inequalities in building conditions will not be alleviated. This Administration must fully support this important new office, but also work with Congress to secure bipartisan support for direct grants to help low wealth and high need districts modernize their buildings and grounds.”
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American Library Association President Patty Wong said, “The American Library Association welcomes the proposal to create a new Office of School Infrastructure and Sustainability within the Department of Education and applauds the administration’s recognition of the need for additional investment in education facilities, which include school libraries.”
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Healthy Schools Network Executive Director Claire L. Barnett, MBA, said: “This is a great step forward in advancing the science and the practices to advance healthier school facilities. A National Clearinghouse of Educational Facilities, with an advisory committee, could go a long way towards building the knowledge and the will to guarantee that all schools will be healthy places for all children.”
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International WELL Building Institute President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon said: "We commend the Biden Administration for this major step in the right direction. With this new office, we have the chance to create a true center of gravity at the Department of Education focused solely on school facilities, which we know play an outsized role on student learning, health and safety. Together, these steps help lay the foundation for meeting our shared goal to advance safer, healthier and more equitable schools for all students."
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NAESCO Executive Director, Timothy Unruh said: “School facilities that are efficient, properly maintained and operated are crucial to student success, NAESCO and its over 100 members applaud this step towards assuring our students can learn in the best environment possible.”
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National Association of Secondary School Principals CEO Ronn Nozoe said: “Schools are the cornerstones of our communities and we should treat them as such. Yet decades of underinvestment have resulted in outdated and crumbling K-12 facilities. As a result, millions of students attend school in buildings that need major repairs and upgrades, creating unsafe conditions that are harmful to the students, educators and community members they serve. This proposed new office is a welcome and much needed step towards ensuring that our schools are the safe and welcoming places where our students will thrive.”
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National Wildlife Federation Counsel to the CEO, Kevin Coyle said: “Our schools play an essential role in educating and inspiring tomorrow’s conservation champions, so the president’s proposal to invest resources in facilities is a welcome step forward. Congress should support the U.S. Department of Education’s ability to lead in making educational facilities greener, more energy efficient, and sustainable and to help students prepare for the future.”
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North American Association for Environmental Education Director of Policy, Sarah Bodor said: “We applaud this first important step towards ensuring equitable access to vibrant and healthy schools, and to providing meaningful improvements to a school’s indoor and outdoor environments for hands-on, real world learning opportunities.”
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UndauntedK12 Co-Founder and CEO, Jonathan Klein said, “By proposing a new office of school infrastructure and sustainability, the U.S. Department of Education has taken a necessary step in developing the capacity that is urgently needed to support states and districts to address inequitable access to healthy and climate-resilient school buildings and grounds. We also know more funding and support is needed, and we look forward to working with ED to enhance the climate-resiliency of our nation's schools.”
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The Re[Build] America's School Infrastructure Coalition (BASIC) is a non-partisan coalition of civic, public sector, labor, and industry associations who support federal funding to help under-served public school districts modernize and build K-12 public school facilities. We believe that ALL children should attend healthy, safe, and educationally appropriate school facilities. It's BASIC.
To learn more: Visit BASIC's website, which includes resources and recent school facilities news. Follow BASIC on Twitter @BuildUSschools
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