Democrats Ask Trump to Invest in Fixing Crumbling School Infrastructure
Many of the nation’s schools are crumbling, according to 150 Democratic members of Congress. They want President Trump to help change that.
On Wednesday, the lawmakers, including Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, sent a letter to Trump, asking him to support legislation Scott wrote last year to invest $100 billion in school upgrades.
“In addition to upgrading our bridges and roads, we must also invest in the critical infrastructure that affects every city and town in the nation — our public schools,” the lawmakers wrote. “Too many of the over 50 million students and six million staff who learn and work in our public schools spend their days in facilities that fail to make the grade.”
The letter cites a 2014 U.S. Department of Education study that found it would take nearly $200 billion to upgrade public schools to “good” condition.
Democratic committee staffers said they were highlighting the issue now because of Trump’s promises to promote infrastructure. If an infrastructure bill is signed, they want to make sure schools are a part of it.
School facilities made national news this month when Baltimore Public Schools shut down because of inadequate heating during frigid snowstorms. The Baltimore Sun reported that since 2009, the city schools have had to return about $66 million in state funding for building repairs because heating and roof upgrades got too expensive or took too long to complete.
Last week, the rains in Los Angeles created challenges in some schools. Over the course of the week, L.A. Unified received 1,166 rain-related service calls, said district spokeswoman Elvia Perez Cano. By Friday, 128 had been completed and the district had a backlog of 1,344 rain-related requests — some predating the rain.
At Dyer Elementary School, the auditorium roof had sprung a leak. A storm drain was clogged at Lantern High School. At Normandie Elementary, administrators observed water coming from a wall.
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