Flanked by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), AIA President John D. Anderson, FAIA, today urged Congress to pass the "America's Better Classroom Act of 2001." Introduced March 14 in Congress, the school construction and modernization bill would make $25.2 billion in funds available for building new classrooms and renovating existing schools across the country.

"The bipartisan Johnson-Rangel measure is important because it allows the use of tax-credit bonds that emphasize federal support rather than federal control over local school districts requesting assistance," Anderson stated.

Anderson noted that each day parents send 15 million school-age children to substandard facilities. "Nearly 60 percent of the schools need either new roofs, plumbing and heating systems, or electrical power and lighting systems," he added.

Additionally, he said, many of these substandard schools were built nearly 50 years ago and can't accommodate growing enrollments. He cited a recent study that found 36 percent of the nation's schools use portable classrooms. In California alone, two million school children attend classes in portable classrooms, while Florida has 16,000 portable classrooms in use.

"This is a problem that touches all states from coast to coast, and it needs to be corrected immediately," Anderson asserted.

Citing the Johnson-Rangel bill as the solution, Anderson concluded: "In every community, we need to replace the little red schoolhouse of the past with the learning laboratory of the future."

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.