ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996 TAG: 9606260067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
A new federal study has found a third of America's schools are in need of major repair, reigniting a debate over who should pay the estimated $112 billion fix-up bill.
Some 60 percent of America's 80,000 elementary and secondary schools need at least some work on major building features, such as a roof, floor or wall, the General Accounting Office survey found.
And in almost every state, more than half of the schools reported they were an ``inadequate environment for learning'' because they lacked proper plumbing, lighting or ventilation.
Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, D-Ill., and other Democrats said the federal government, which now provides only 2 percent of all education funds, should supply the money needed for building repairs.
``We need a partnership between the federal and state and local governments because this is indeed a national problem,'' Moseley-Braun said.
But a spokesman for Rep. John Porter, R-Ill., who heads the House subcommittee that oversees federal spending on schools, said the federal government cannot afford the repair bill.
``At a time when this country is running deficits in the $200 billion a year range, it's not a time to talk about expanding funding,'' the spokesman, Dave Kohn, said.
Kohn said most Republicans believe decisions about school funding are best made at the local level.
``With federal money comes federal control,'' he said. ``The senator is suggesting a radical departure from the division of power between state and federal governments.''
The GAO concluded that state governments spent just $3.5 billion - about 3 percent of what was needed - on school repairs in fiscal year 1994. Only 15 states have a system in place for keeping track of the condition of schools, the agency noted.
The levels of physical deterioration varied from state to state but cut across all social, ethnic and economic sectors. In urban areas, 38 percent of schools reported at least one inadequate building; in rural areas, it was 30 percent; and in the suburbs, 29 percent.
``These problems cut across the board and come from years of neglect,'' Moseley-Braun said.
The nation's capital had the worst record in the study. Sixty-seven percent of the District of Columbia's schools reported needing a new roof, and 72 percent needed new walls. Only 1 percent of Washington's schools said they didn't need to spend any money on repairs.
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