House Hearing Puts Spotlight on Dilapidated US Schools
WASHINGTON (CN) – Reminded about the human toll of their funding decisions, House lawmakers heard unsettling testimony Tuesday on the efforts by public schools to educate America’s youth in crumbling and moldy classrooms.
“Most of our schools do not meet the baseline standards required to adequately support 21st century learning,” Sharon Contreras, a 30-year educator who serves as superintendent for Guilford County Schools in North Carolina.
Part of a bevy of witnesses who testified today before the House Education and Labor Committee, Contreras described how some of the teachers at her school have had to repurpose their classroom trash cans as water buckets for leaky roofing.
The buildings in her district, Contreras said, are “designed for an industrial era that no longer exists.”
“it is important that we address this situation, or we will be talking about this for the next 50 years,” she added.
Against calls by Democrats to appropriate more funding for school infrastructure, however, Republicans say that irresponsible money management is precisely the problem.
“Instead of increasing salaries, improving structures and investing in classroom equipment, many school districts have ended up pouring taxpayer funds into administrative bloat that leaves students and teachers high and dry,” ranking member Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said in her opening statement. “Higher price tags, and more bureaucracy in Washington, don’t deliver higher results.”
Foxx’s sentiment was echoed Tuesday by Ben Scafidi, an economics professor at Kennesaw State University who testified that non-teaching staff has been the only thing to increase in the last few CONTINUE READING: House Hearing Puts Spotlight on Dilapidated US Schools