$1.25-Billion School Renovation Bill
Would Include Nation’s Libraries
Legislation that would provide $1.25 billion over five years to rebuild the nation’s schools and libraries was introduced in the House of Representatives April 29. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) said it was the first school-construction legislation to reflect the fact that libraries face the same modernization needs as schools.
The State Infrastructure Bank for Schools Act (H.R. 1648) would establish a revolving loan fund that would allocate about $250 million a year in federal seed money to establish state loan banks, the San Francisco Chronicle reported April 23. States would match 25% of the federal funds. Local schools and libraries would bid for the loans.
“There is a serious need in our schools,” said Tauscher. “But libraries are in even more dire straits. California libraries . . . are about $2 billion in the hole.” In Tauscher’s home district, the library in downtown Walnut Creek, which hasn’t been renovated or expanded in its 37-year history, houses nearly twice as many books as it was designed for.
Posted May 3, 1999.
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