Public school facilities: New data on condition, funding, impact

Posted at 09:46 PM ET, 04/20/2011

By Valerie Strauss

You almost never hear in debates about student achievement and school reform how the condition of school buildings affects a child’s ability to learn, but it is a very real issue.

Here is a new fact sheet on the condition of school buildings, the level of public funding for facilities and their upkeep and the impact degrading schools has on students and teachers.

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It was researched and written, in the absence of a national database with this information, by the 21st Century School Fund — a non-profit organization dedicated to improving urban public school facilities — together with its Building Educational Success Together (BEST) partners. You can find this fact sheet, along with sources for the information, here at the fund’s web.

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How many elementary and secondary public school buildings and grounds are there in the United States?

*98,706 PK-12 grade public schools, including 4,694 public charter schools in 2008-2009.

*Nearly 90% of all of the 55.5 million school age children in the United States attend public schools.

*School districts manage over 1 million acres of school building site area.

* There is an estimated 6.6 billion gross square feet of public school building space.

What is the condition of public school facilities?

*School districts have an estimated $271 billion of deferred building and grounds maintenance in their schools, excluding administrative facilities, which averages $4,883 per student.

*In a 2010 state survey, 10 states (CO, DE, GA, HI, IL, KY, LA, ME, MT, NJ) reported needing an average of $4,400 per student for deferred maintenance.

*Public school facility investment aligns with the wealth of the community in which the school is located. Between 1995-2004, schools in low-income zip codes had one-third the funding for capital projects as schools in high-income zip codes.

What difference does facility condition make?

*Teachers in Chicago and Washington, DC reported missing 4 days annually because of health problems caused by adverse building conditions (with poor indoor air quality being the biggest problem).

*A national survey of school nurses found over 40% of the nurses knew children and staff adversely impacted by avoidable indoor pollutants.

*Students from 95 New York City Public Schools attended fewer days on average in schools with poor facilities and had lower grades in English language arts and math which could be correlated to lower attendance.

*Schools that implement energy-saving strategies – from following green building design to using energy-efficient building components to behavioral change – can reduce energy use by as much as one-third, resulting in major environmental and cost-savings benefits.

What do elementary and secondary public school facilities cost?

*In 2008, school districts spent $58.5 billion for capital outlay on construction and land and building acquisition and they reported $369.4 billion of long term capital debt.

*Since 1999, an average of 80% of capital outlay has been spent on new construction and additions, with 20% spent on alterations or improvements to existing buildings.

*Schools districts spent $49 billion, almost 10 percent, of their operating budgets on maintenance and operations of their school buildings in 2008.

*Public school districts spent an estimated $9.4 billion for utilities in 2008.

Who funds elementary and secondary public school facilities?

*Nearly all capital outlay funding is from state and local taxes, with the federal share at less than 86 cents per 1,000 dollars of state and local spending. This federal contribution is targeted to Indian, military, and charter schools, as well as a pilot program for Iowa public schools.

*Between 2005 and 2008, the average state share of funds for capital projects was 30%. However, this ranged from 11 states contributing no funds for school facility projects to 3 states and the District of Columbia paying 100% of the cost of school facility projects.

*Annual costs for maintenance repair and operations, including utilities and cleaning are part of the school district operating budget, which on average, is paid for with 90% from local and state sources and 10% from the federal government.

Koch Industries Says That Koch Political Activities Are Motivated By Considerations Of Corporate Profit

Apr 21st, 2011 at 12:16 pm

Yglesias

Political movements need money. And that means that political movements tend to owe some debt to rich people who give them money. One question that naturally arises is whether those rich people are giving money out of ideological conviction, or as part of a business oriented lobbying strategy. And certainly this has been one interpretive front in the ongoing battle over how to understand the political activities of the Koch Brothers. Their defenders would like you to believe that these are just two rich guys who happen to love liberty. Their detractors tend to note that the liberty to pollute mankind’s commonly owned atmosphere is actually a pretty strange form of liberty, albeit one that serves the interests of a firm heavily involved in the natural resource extraction industry.

Nobody in life is purely cynical, and doubtless the Koch Brothers believe in their own mission, but time and again they seem primarily interested in a conception of liberty that’s good for their bottom line. A report in the Nation yesterday that Koch Industries was instructing its employees how to vote offers some compelling evidence in favor of the progressive interpretation of these events. This kind of conduct used to be illegal,but thanks to Citizens United it’s now arguably permitted for firms to try coerce their employees to vote for favored candidates. But are the Kochs trying to use their economic power to advance abstract political ideals, or are they trying to boost Koch Industries’ profits?

According to the Koch Industries PR team it’s all about the bottom line:

Today’s article in The Nation Magazine contains a series of inaccurate and irresponsible claims about Koch Industries and its outreach to employees regarding the endorsement of individual political candidates. Our October 2010 letter to employees clearly stated, ” …deciding who to vote for is a decision that is yours and yours alone, based on the factors that are important to you. Koch and KOCHPAC support candidates we believe will best advance policies that create the economic conditions needed for employees and businesses such as ours to survive and prosper.”
The materials in the packet are entirely consistent with the law and Koch Industries’ record of public statements in support of free-market policies and previously disclosed contributions by KOCHPAC to candidates for public office. Unions have long communicated their preferences to their members knowing full well that inside the voting booth those members would make their own decisions. We are confident that our employees who reviewed the information we sent them did the same.

That seems pretty clear cut. The Kochs are rich businessmen and their wealth gives them social and political influence that they want to use to advance the interests of their company.

Gov. Christie's legal team tells N.J. Supreme Court to keep hands off education dollars

Published: Thursday, April 21, 2011, 8:30 AM     Updated: Thursday, April 21, 2011, 5:31 PM

 By Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau 

EnlargeJohn O'Boyle / The Star-LedgerFormer Attorney General Peter Verniero waits for the beginning of a hearing in the Abbott vs. Burke school funding case before the New Jersey Supreme Court in Trenton. (John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger)Abbott vs. Burke school funding hearing gallery (18 photos)

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TRENTON — Back off.

That was the Christie administration’s message today to the state Supreme Court as New Jersey’s legendary battle over the state’s obligations to its poorest students was renewed in nearly two hours of arguments.

With former Supreme Court Justice Peter Verniero leading the charge, the Christie administration basically told the state’s highest court it should step aside and let the other two branches of government handle school funding.

Verniero said the court should tread lightly in a high stakes battle that could blow a $1.7 billion hole in Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed budget if it decides he violated the constitution by slashing funding last year.

"Before the court injects itself, it has to be absolutely certain that the violations that occurred are of a significant magnitude to justify its involvement," said Verniero.

Lawyers for the state’s poorest students countered that the court should act to preserve New Jersey’s constitutional obligation to them.

And Associate Justice Jaynee LaVecchia, who wrote the opinion approving the school funding formula the state is trying to back away from, at one point told Verniero the state’s plan for education can’t be "whatever we think we can afford."

Justices did not say when they will issue their opinion.

The hearing, the latest round in the long-running case of Abbott v. Burke, touched on many of the state’s most controversial topics, including the achievement gap between rich and poor students and whether the state should bring back an income tax surcharge on millionaires.

Although the governor has pledged to avoid tax increases to balance the budget, Associate Justice Barry Albin pointed out that the state gave up additional revenue by not renewing the so-called "millionaires tax."

Abbot v. Burke arguments touch on the millionaires tax debateOn Wednesday the New Jersey Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of Christie's education budget cuts in regards to previous rulings of Abott v. Burke. Here Supreme Court Justice Barry Albin questions attorney and former justice Peter Verniero on the idea of the millionaires tax. (NJN Pool feed)Watch video

Central to today’s arguments was the very issue of the court’s involvement. Ordering more school funding would jeapordize the state’s ability to balance the budget, another constitutional obligation, Verniero said.

"We cannot, in the name of the constitution, violate the constitution itself," he said.

Verniero said Christie and lawmakers deserve "breathing room" when dealing with the state’s precarious fiscal situation. Justices contested his arguments at every turn, with Albin at one point saying he was "cherry picking" facts.

David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, focused on a report issued last month by Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne, who was asked by the Supreme Court to study the impact of Christie’s budget cuts.

Doyne concluded the cuts disproportionately harmed at-risk students, violating the state’s educational obligations.

"It’s entirely appropriate for the court to weigh in when there is a constitutional breach," Sciarra said after the hearing.

The question of the Supreme Court’s role in state government is also being debated outside of the courtroom. Christie has repeatedly said justices have overstepped their bounds by influencing policy and budget decisions best left to the governor and the Legislature.

James Harris, president of the New Jersey NAACP, who attended the hearing, said the court has repeatedly intervened because elected officials haven’t fulfilled promises to schoolchildren.

"The state has consistently proven it’s not willing to provide for constitutional guarantees," he said. "What is the purpose of the court except to decide disputes?"

The 30-year-old Abbott v. Burke case has gone through so many twists and turns that Sciarra and the state argued positions practically opposite from the ones they took two years ago.

Then, Sciarra said the funding formula devised by the Corzine administration, which sent money to poor students across the state rather than focusing on the 31 so-called Abbott districts, was the wrong approach. Albin today pointed out he fought it "tooth and nail."

Sciarra said he’s accepted the formula: "Frankly, we’re happy that at-risk students in other districts are going to get the help they need."

Attorney David Sciarra speaks after Supreme Court hears Abbott v. BurkeOn Wednesday the New Jersey Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of Christie's education budget cuts in regards to previous rulings of Abott v. Burke. After the arguments, attorney David Sciarra spoke the press. Sciarra spoke on behalf of the former "abbot districts" in Wednesday's hearing. (Video by Michael Monday/The Star-Ledger)Watch video

Meanwhile, Verniero said the state didn’t need to fully comply with the formula to provide a constitutional education. LaVecchia said that’s a shift from when the state treated the formula like "tablets from the mountain," and the court approved it based on the state’s promise to provide full funding. "I don’t see how you can stand before us and take a different position," she said.

The case was heard by only five justices. As in previous cases, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, who was counsel to Gov. Jon Corzine when the funding formula was developed, recused himself. Associate Justice Virginia Long, who sat on previous school fudning hearings, was also absent. No reason was given.

Also missing was Assistant Attorney General Nancy Kaplen, who had led the state’s case before Verniero was brought in last month. A spokesman said Kaplen will retire after 26 years.

Previous coverage:

• Advocate tells N.J. Supreme Court state aid cuts deprived children of adequate education

• Supreme Court hears Abbott arguments - live coverage

• Poll: What should the Supreme Court decide in the Abbott case?

• N.J. school funding battle returns to state Supreme Court

Year After Oil Spill, Obama Energy Policy Endangers Economy

Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Apr 19, 2011

The Heritage Foundation and the Institute for Energy Research traveled to Harvey, LA, to film Leslie Bertucci, owner of R and D Enterprises, for this oil spill anniversary video. Bertucci welcomed us to her warehouse with a weary smile, handed us hard hats and cheerfully guided us through her equipment yard, even as she explained the difficulties she's endured since the spill -- most especially as a result of the offshore drilling moratorium and the subsequent slowdown in deepwater permits.

Mom jailed for records falsification

Akron teacher's aide who sent girls to Copley also loses chance at license

By Ed Meyer 
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Wednesday, Jan 19, 2011

Kelley Williams-Bolar is sentenced to sentenced to 10 days in the Summit County Jail, three years of probation following her release and 80 hours of community service by Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove as she stands next to her lawyer, Kerry O'Brien (left), in the Summit County Courthouse. She was found guilty of two third-degree felonies for having her children attend Copley schools while being an Akron resident. (Karen Schiely/Akron Beacon Journal)

View more photos>>

An Akron woman was sentenced to 10 days in the Summit County Jail, placed on three years of probation and ordered to perform community service after being convicted of falsifying residency records so that her two children could attend Copley-Fairlawn schools.

Summit Common Pleas Judge Patricia Cosgrove, who handed down the sentence Tuesday afternoon in a packed courtroom, ordered Kelley Williams-Bolar, 40, to begin serving the sentence immediately.

Williams-Bolar, who was standing before the bench with her lawyer, sagged into the arms of sheriff's deputies as she was led away, sobbing loudly, to begin her jail time.

After seven hours of deliberations, a jury convicted her late Saturday of two counts of tampering with records.

While her two girls were registered as living with her father in Copley Township within the Copley school district, prosecutors maintained that they actually were living with Williams-Bolar on Hartford Avenue in Akron, in subsidized housing provided by the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority.

In addition to the tampering offenses, Williams-Bolar and her father, Edward L. Williams, 64, were charged with fourth-degree felonies of grand theft, accused of defrauding the school system of two years of educational services for the girls.

School officials testified that those services were worth about $30,500 in tuition.

The jury failed to reach unanimous verdicts on those charges, and Cosgrove declared a mistrial.

A decision on whether to re-try the grand theft charges against Williams-Bolar and her father is pending, prosecutors said.

On the tampering conviction, Cosgrove gave Williams-Bolar the maximum prison sentence — five years — for each of the two charges, with the sentences to run concurrently.

The judge then suspended all but 10 days of the sentence, which will be served in the county jail. Cosgrove also ordered Williams-Bolar to perform 80 hours of community service in mentoring programs sponsored by her church or the NAACP.

Teaching pursuit derailed

Cosgrove noted Williams-Bolar faces another form of punishment.

Williams-Bolar, a single mother, works as a teaching assistant with children with special needs at Buchtel High School. At the trial, she testified that she wanted to become a teacher and is a senior at the University of Akron, only a few credit hours short of a teaching degree.

That won't happen now, Cosgrove said.

''Because of the felony conviction, you will not be allowed to get your teaching degree under Ohio law as it stands today,'' the judge said. ''The court's taking into consideration that is also a punishment that you will have to serve.''

Williams-Bolar addressed Cosgrove briefly before being sentenced, saying ''there was no intention at all'' to deceive school officials.

She pleaded with Cosgrove not to put her behind bars.

''My girls need me,'' she said. ''I've never, ever gone a day without seeing them off. Never. My oldest daughter is 16.

''I need to be there to support them.''

Williams-Bolar's two girls, now 16 and 12, are attending schools elsewhere. They left the Copley-Fairlawn district before the 2009 school term.

The Rev. Lorenzo Glenn of Macedonia Baptist Church also pleaded for leniency, saying his church has a mentoring program well suited for probation in lieu of prison time.

Glenn told the judge that he has known Williams-Bolar for more than 20 years and was overwhelmed by her convictions.

''This is a serious matter, but by all means,'' Glenn said, ''it was done to help her children.''

Glenn noted the attention the case has drawn and the resources used to prosecute the case.

All of Cleveland's major television stations had cameras at the sentencing.

''When I see all the media here today, you'd think it was a serial killing,'' Glenn said.

Cosgrove said some incarceration was appropriate, ''so that others who think they might defraud the school system perhaps will think twice.''

Assistant county prosecutor Terri Burnside, one of the two government lawyers assigned to the case, did not object to probation for Williams-Bolar.

After the sentencing, Brian Poe, Copley-Fairlawn school superintendent, said the prosecution of Williams-Bolar and her father ''obviously is a very difficult and uncomfortable case.''

According to court testimony, there were 30 to 40 similar residency cases involving other families from August 2006 to June 2008, when Williams-Bolar's children were enrolled in Copley schools.

Williams-Bolar was the only parent prosecuted, according to testimony.

Poe said an effort was made to avoid criminal charges.

''We were able to resolve 99.9 percent of our residency disputes with the folks we called in for residency hearings,'' he said. ''In this case, we were not able to resolve that.

''So, therefore, with the information that we were able to uncover, we felt it necessary to provide that information to the prosecutor's office.''

Prosecutors presented several hours of videotaped evidence — much of it shot by a private investigator through a wrought-iron fence. The videos showed Williams-Bolar dropping off her children at a bus stop, a short walk from her father's home, for the ride to school.

Poe said this case was not pursued as a deterrent.

''We have, for the past three and a half years, gone after residency cases and had residency hearings,'' he said. ''It's something that's important to us. We are not an open-enrollment district.''

Laurie Cramer, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said Edward Williams has outstanding theft and tampering charges in connection with a case involving the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Those charges were separated from the Copley-Fairlawn residency case before it went to trial. A pretrial hearing involving Williams is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday in Cosgrove's court.

 

Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove sentences Kelley Williams-Bolar sentenced to 10 days in the Summit County Jail, three years of probation following her release and 80 hours of community service. Williams-Bolar was found guilty of two third-degree felonies for having her children attend Copley schools while being an Akron resident. (Karen Schiely/Akron Beacon Journal)

 

Pastor Lorenzo Glenn of Macedonia Baptist Church of Akron (center) leads a prayer with the family and friends of Kelley Williams-Bolar before her sentencing in Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove's Summit County Court. Williams-Bolar was found guilty of two third-degree felonies for having her children attend Copley schools while being an Akron resident. (Karen Schiely/Akron Beacon Journal)

 

Edward L. Williams, the father of Kelley Williams-Bolar talks to the media after his daughter is sentenced to 10 days in the Summit County Jail, three years of probation following her release and 80 hours of community service by Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove in the Summit County Courthouse. She was found guilty of two third-degree felonies for having her children attend Copley schools while being an Akron resident. (Karen Schiely/Akron Beacon Journal)