Obama Pledges Schools Upgrade In Stimulus

Educators Say President-Elect's School Modernization Plan Could Help Student Achievement

(AP)  Barack Obama probably cannot fix every leaky roof and busted boiler in the nation's schools. But educators say his sweeping school modernization program - if he spends enough - could jump-start student achievement.

More kids than ever are crammed into aging, run-down schools that need an estimated $255 billion in repairs, renovations or construction. While the president-elect is likely to ask Congress for only a fraction of that, education experts say it still could make a big difference.

"The need is definitely out there," said Robert Canavan, chairman of the Rebuild America's Schools coalition, which includes both teachers' unions and large education groups. "A federal investment of that magnitude would really have a significant impact."

Educators argue that spiffy classrooms help children learn and also remove health risks. But they warn that Obama's school spending plan won't stimulate the economy if it requires matching funds from state and local governments whose tax revenues have been slashed by the recession.

And they caution that throwing huge sums of money at programs that haven't proven effective, such as the federal "E-Rate" program that gives technology discounts to schools, won't help student achievement or the economy.

Obama is promising to give every student access to the Internet

the federal "E-Rate" program. Outgoing Education Secretary Margaret Spellings pointed out that billions already has been spent through the "E-Rate" program.

"It's made very little difference in enhancing student achievement," she said.

"We should never spend money in the public sector, especially in education, unless we're getting something for it, unless it's to some good end," Spellings said. "I commend him (Obama) for taking that on. That's another very ripe area. But not unless it's moving the needle for kids."

There's widespread agreement, however, that improving classrooms helps student performance. Studies in Houston, New York City and North Dakota have made a link between classroom conditions and performance; in the New York study, researchers found kids in crowded classrooms scored lower in math and reading.

Nearly half the principals in primary and secondary schools said deteriorating conditions are interfering with learning, according to the Education Department.

Judi Caddick, a middle school math teacher in blue-collar Lansing, Ill., just south of Chicago, said in the older part of her World War II-era school, classrooms had just two power outlets, forcing teachers to string multiple extension cords into the rafters or to unplug a TV power point presentation in order to plug a computer in for a child.

"It looked like a spaghetti bowl," Caddick said.

Special education classrooms flooded when plumbing backed up, leaving an unmistakable smell on hot days, not to mention allergy and asthma problems, despite efforts to clean the carpet, she said. And hallways were so dark and crowded, teachers often couldn't see shoving and bumping in time to stop fights.

A new building to replace that old school is now almost complete. The last group of students, the eighth graders, moved in earlier this year.

"It's a huge difference," Caddick said. "We don't have to have necessarily state-of-the-art and fluffy stuff. But at least when you don't have mold problems, and you don't have things that are broken, and you don't have an inability to use the technology, it's an investment."

Upgrades can also make kids healthier; measures to prevent mold can decrease asthma, which is the No. 1 chronic illness making kids miss school.

Obama has given few specifics about his economic recovery plan, which could cost as much as $850 billion over two years. There is no word on how much of that would go to schools, or on how much would go toward repairs versus new construction.

The only dollar figure from Obama so far is that schools would share with roads in an immediate infusion of $25 billion for repairs and rebuilding.

It would take 10 times that amount or more to fully modernize schools, according to an analysis last month by the American Federation of Teachers. In all, schools need about $255 billion in maintenance, new construction, renovation and retrofitting for computer technology, among other things, the union said.

An earlier estimate from the National Education Association placed the cost even higher, in the range of $360 billion.

However, it might not take nearly that much money to make a dent. Federal dollars usually account for only a portion of construction and other school needs; state and local governments also kick in a share.

But with state and local tax revenues plummeting because of the recession, where would states get the money to match school upgrade dollars from the feds? Already, 19 states have lowered their tax revenue forecasts for 2009, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"If there is any kind of matching requirement, it's going to be more problematic for state and local governments to match," said David Shreve, education policy analyst for NCSL. "Because everybody is hurting badly and cutting everything else."

The new Congress begins work on the economic recovery plan on Wednesday with a hearing by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. California Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said school modernization will be part of the hearing.

Obama aides working on the stimulus package say they want projects that can start immediately, putting people back to work. A study by the Economic Policy Institute estimates that spending $20 billion on deferred maintenance in school districts across the country would create nearly 250,000 skilled maintenance jobs.

[mitch5511]

To understand the problems of education in America, it is necessary to look at the way public schools are financed. The disparate funding for public schools and between states and within metropolitan areas has turned some public schools into meccas for affluent students and others into decaying infrastructures with overcrowded classrooms and soaring drop-out rates.

Expenditures on schooling are not equal from state to state. Some of the disparity can be explained by differing costs of educational input costs such as real estate and teacher salaries. However, when the numbers are adjusted to reflect regional wages and prices, there is still a large gap between state spending.

School funding comes from a variety of federal, state, and city money pots. About 46 percent of public spending on elementary and secondary schools is derived from local government budgets. The size of the local tax base is one reason for the large disparity in spending.

There are no easy answers to the problems facing the U.S. public school system. But running away from the complicated details of school funding cannot help the debate. School vouchers and restructuring the Department of Education must be put in the context of already crumbling schools with classrooms overflowing with students and teachers lacking adequate books and basic supplies.

[tiredparent]

Parents need school choice and good educators, not more money to improve our schools. They have A LOT of money already from taxpayers (local, state and federal money), the lottery, the NYC foundation that receives contributions. Public schools right now need more monitoring.

[unlresources]

A start to improve the conditions of the American education system would be to stop rewarding failure. Washington D.C. is a prime example of throwing money at failure. D.C. has the highest expenditure per student than anywhere in the country and in return some of the lowest test scores. Imagine that, the U.S. Capitol area spending billions and not getting anything in return!!! Another idea would be to get rid of the Teacher Unions, this makes it nearly impossible to fire ineffective teachers. Look at NYC and all the teachers there that sit in a seperate lounges during school hours and aren''t required to teach but still draw pay since the Unions fought to keep these ineffective teachers on the payroll. Fraud is everywhere but nothing is said or done about it. Fraud is what toppled the Roman Empire and next in line the United States.

[wardoglrs]

Government schools government cars government houses government food government power government everything.
All because Americans have lost there way. They think freedom comes from the end of a barrel this thinking will get you all killed. America is terrorism best friend

[runningralph]

Spending more money on schools will not improve the quality of the average student. The average started backsliding when the US taxpayers started paying women to breed indiscriminately.

[mizzerz]

NO! Do NOT let O''''''''bungler near your locally funded and structured education programs!


Posted by TexHillGirl

It seems that the texan does not want the children of texas to learn to read and write. To bad she doesn''t want Obama to improve he education system of Texas. I guess Texas should not receive any federally funded money, they can rely on lottery money

[hatesthecolt]

Keep the federal government out of your schools! It''''''''s dangerous! It allows brainwashing!


Yeah, and there are UFOs in Area 51 and the CIA killed Kennedy.

[hatesthecolt]

Local school funding and control can only do so much. States try to fill the gaps, but obviously in places like Mississippi, there''s still a significant problem. It''s time for some federal input or we are going to be stuck with a generation of undereducated kids and will not be able to compete in the global economy. Sorry, states-righters, you had your chance and you blew it.

TexHillGirl''s Obama Alert "wake up call" asserts that
"Your schools are locally funded and locally regulated!" The remainder left behind simply proves its failure.


.

[flsunjnky]

Whoa! You have found a fertile field! Congrats. I''m not going to get into the foray here, I''ve retired to the grill, but I just had to look at what was going on. Hey people, these gals/guys are relentless. Hehe. Brace yourselves!

[impeach_o]

this is amazing the liberal media is giving obama all the room he wants.

[impeach_o]

this is amazing the liberal media is giving obama all the room he wants.

[homespunlady]

I give Obama points for trying and will still withhold judgment until I see the full plan and some action.

Letting this nation simply continue to slide down into educational, financial and social ruin is a very unappealing option.

On the "bearer of bad news" front - Yellowstone is getting much more active and the New Madrid Fault is also overdue. The increasingly unstable weather will be keeping the world occupied and in need of competent people to handle it.
Simply playing musical chairs on the political scene is not going to prevent the upcoming natural disasters although preparation and putting competent people in charge of the disaster recovery offices would go a long way to help.

Some of the potential curve-balls this nation could face soon are frightening and it''s going to take people with both intellect and common sense to recover.

Improving schools AND getting common sense things like civics, personal finance, and health education back on the agenda as well as the basics in math, science, literacy, history, technology and yes - VOCATIONAL training might just help prepare and prevent the mistakes of the recent past when dealing with such crisis.

[homespunlady]

Posted by morphndol8 at 07:56 AM : Jan 01, 2009

I''m worried for you.
It seems you''re trying to make an important point but what you''re writing is terribly jumbled and confusing.
Please talk to your doctor and get back to writing so we can understand you.

Take care of yourself - hope things go better for you this year.

[homespunlady]

Letting these people get control of our schools is a HUGE MISTAKE! And they''''ll do it by claiming to put money in it and creating jobs, when they won''''t give the locals a damned dime, they''''ll keep the money, but they''''ll make the local schools meet THEIR standards...in other words, we''ll have little pinko commmie training camps for our KIDS!
Posted by RowdynTex at 05:48 PM : Dec 31, 2008

Simple solutions to your rant -Private schooling or homeschooling - then you can insure YOUR kids get that "decent" education they "deserve".

Take it from a person that did so during W''s NCLB FIASCO - it takes a lot of your time and expenses but then again if your priorities are NOT the priorities of those in control of your child''s school at least this nation still allows options.

Now if they take away those options I''ll be one of the first to be screaming bloody murder even now when my kids are grown and doing well for themselves.

[ginger20051]

Doing away with "No (every) child left behind" would be a good place to start. All men may be created equal but by age 6 they are not. There are smart, average and dumb kids and they can not all learn at the same level. Where I live as many over achievers drop out from boredom as under achievers from it being too hard. Educate to the level a person can attain, not put everyone in a box.
Get rid of the NEA and other teacher unions, mandate 20 teachers (or more) for every administrator in school and teach math, science, personal finance, English and history first, then the "Johnny has two mommies" *** if there''s time.
These two things would do more to improve education then anything else will ever do.

[whatchange09]

You see, one of Lenin''''s foremost tenets was "To learn, to learn, to learn".

Posted by anon00 at 05:16 AM : Jan 01, 2009 *************** Yeah, Baby. Just look at all those raging intellects over in Russia now? Lenin was a putts and communism, as well as socialism, doesn''t work.

It''s just like liberal democrap Presidents. They refuse to spend "their" money on "their" dream but jump at the chance to spend "your" money on "theirs". "We know the way to govern you and will tax you enough to afford and implement our new governmental programs to pay for it".

"Just shut up. We know what is best for you."

[whatchange09]

How ya gonna pay for it, Homey? Your stimulus is far too costly for us to pay for it''s catalyst. You open your checkbook and pay for it, if it''s that important to you. I can''t afford any more political dreamer Messiahs.

[irmcvet971]

Oh yes. Obama and his ponzi scheme. Where is the money going to come from?? I know, Madoff.

Just a billion here and a billion there, then you are talking about real money. Let''''''''s see, a trillion dollars that no one knows where it is going or how it is going to be spent. Ponzi lives in the US Congress.


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Posted by Platteman at 07:15 PM

He''''ll borrow it from China...

He doesn''''t quite get it that Americans are spent up...and don''''t have $2 TRILLION for his new spending programs and greenie weenie bull *****.

Posted by RowdynTex at 07:27 PM : Dec 31, 2008


Where were you losers when Bush and the Fascist were LEADING us into this? LOL Same tired old garbage from the same tired old bootlickers!!

[alancontact]

"A private investigator in Hawaii has uncovered the divorce decree for Barack Obama''''s father and mother, which indicates they had "one child under the age of eighteen..."

And while he''s at it, I suppose he''s going to prove the existence of UFOs and that JFK was assassinated by the CIA. I can hardly wait to read about it! Seriously, people like you who post *** like that make me sick.