Thursday, August 18, 2011

President’s Job Ideas Could Include Public Works Funding of School Maintenance | FDL News Desk

President’s Job Ideas Could Include Public Works Funding of School Maintenance | FDL News Desk

President’s Job Ideas Could Include Public Works Funding of School Maintenance

Roosevelt High SchoolThe LA Times gets some more intelligence on what this September jobs package is going to be all about. And it includes one idea that, I think it’s fair to say, is finally a public works program:

The jobs package that President Obama plans to unveil shortly after Labor Day could include tens of billions of dollars to renovate thousands of dilapidated public schools and a tax break to encourage businesses to hire new workers, according to people familiar with White House deliberations [...]

“I like the optics of it,” said Jared Bernstein, a former administration economics advisor and a proponent of the school rehab program. “It’s the public school in your community, not a bunch of