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+
+ - UNDERPAID TEACHERS AND CRUMBLING SCHOOLS: HOW UNDERFUNDING PUBLIC EDUCATION SHORTCHANGES AMERICA'S STUDENTS
+
+[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
+[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
+
+
+ UNDERPAID TEACHERS AND
+ CRUMBLING SCHOOLS:
+ HOW UNDERFUNDING PUBLIC
+ EDUCATION SHORTCHANGES
+ AMERICA'S STUDENTS
+
+=======================================================================
+
+ HEARING
+
+ BEFORE THE
+
+ COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
+ AND LABOR
+ U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
+
+ ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
+
+ FIRST SESSION
+
+ __________
+
+ HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
+
+ __________
+
+ Serial No. 116-3
+
+ __________
+
+ Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
+
+ [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+
+
+ Available via the World Wide Web: www.govinfo.gov
+ or
+ Committee address: https://edlabor.house.gov
+
+
+ __________
+
+
+ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
+35-269 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office,
+http://bookstore.gpo.gov. For more information, contact the GPO Customer Contact Center,
+U.S. Government Publishing Office. Phone 202-512-1800, or 866-512-1800 (toll-free).
+E-mail, [email protected].
+
+
+
+
+
+ COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
+
+ ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman
+
+Susan A. Davis, California Virginia Foxx, North Carolina,
+Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona Ranking Member
+Joe Courtney, Connecticut David P. Roe, Tennessee
+Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania
+Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Tim Walberg, Michigan
+ Northern Mariana Islands Brett Guthrie, Kentucky
+Frederica S. Wilson, Florida Bradley Byrne, Alabama
+Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
+Mark Takano, California Elise M. Stefanik, New York
+Alma S. Adams, North Carolina Rick W. Allen, Georgia
+Mark DeSaulnier, California Francis Rooney, Florida
+Donald Norcross, New Jersey Lloyd Smucker, Pennsylvania
+Pramila Jayapal, Washington Jim Banks, Indiana
+Joseph D. Morelle, New York Mark Walker, North Carolina
+Susan Wild, Pennsylvania James Comer, Kentucky
+Josh Harder, California Ben Cline, Virginia
+Lucy McBath, Georgia Russ Fulcher, Idaho
+Kim Schrier, Washington Van Taylor, Texas
+Lauren Underwood, Illinois Steve Watkins, Kansas
+Jahana Hayes, Connecticut Ron Wright, Texas
+Donna E. Shalala, Florida Daniel Meuser, Pennsylvania
+Andy Levin, Michigan* William R. Timmons, IV, South
+Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Carolina
+David J. Trone, Maryland Dusty Johnson, South Dakota
+Haley M. Stevens, Michigan
+Susie Lee, Nevada
+Lori Trahan, Massachusetts
+Joaquin Castro, Texas
+* Vice-Chair
+
+ Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
+ Brandon Renz, Minority Staff Director
+ ------
+
+
+ C O N T E N T S
+
+ ----------
+ Page
+
+Hearing held on February 12, 2019................................ 1
+
+Statement of Members:
+ Scott, Hon. Robert C. ``Bobby'', Chairman, Committee on
+ Education and Labor........................................ 1
+ Prepared statement of.................................... 144
+ Foxx, Hon. Virginia, Ranking Member, Committee on Education
+ and Labor.................................................. 146
+ Prepared statement of.................................... 147
+
+Statement of Witnesses:
+ Contreras, Ms. Sharon L., Superintendent, Guilford County
+ Schools.................................................... 151
+ Prepared statement of.................................... 152
+ King, Ms. Anna, Board Member, National PTA, Past President,
+ Oklahoma PTA............................................... 157
+ Prepared statement of.................................... 159
+ Scafidi, Dr. Ben, Professor of Economics and Director,
+ Education Economics Center, Kennesaw State University...... 164
+ Prepared statement of.................................... 166
+ Weingarten, Ms. Randi, President, American Federation of
+ Teachers................................................... 170
+ Prepared statement of.................................... 172
+
+Additional Submissions:
+ Dr. Scafidi:
+ Letter dated February 26, 2019 to Chairman Scott......... 226
+ Chairman Scott:
+ Letter dated January 2, 2019 from Rebuild America's
+ Schools................................................ 5
+ Report: No Time to Lose.................................. 6
+ Report: How Money Matters for Schools.................... 34
+ Report: A Punishing Decade for School Funding............ 63
+ Report: the Case for Federal Funding for School
+ Infrastructure......................................... 80
+ Report: State of Our Schools............................. 86
+ Report: Fixing Chronic Disinvestment in K-12 Schools..... 133
+ Coalition for Healthier Schools, Support: Rebuild
+ America's Schools Act, H.R. 865........................ 228
+ Release: Build America's School Infrastructure Coalition
+ (BASIC)................................................ 230
+ Letter dated January 31, 2019, from the National
+ Association of Federally Impacted Schools.............. 232
+ Letter dated January 31, 2019, from North American
+ Concrete Alliance...................................... 233
+ Release: AFT's Randi Weingarten on the Rebuild America's
+ Schools Act............................................ 234
+ Release: AFSCME Applauds Congressional Proposal to Invest
+ $100 Billion in America's Public Schools............... 235
+ Letter of Support for ``Rebuild America's Schools Act''
+ (RASA) - H.R. 865...................................... 236
+ Ms. Weingarten:
+ Article: Dennis Smith: words of caution from experience
+ in failed charter system (Gazette Opinion)............. 237
+ Article: Evidence shows collective bargaining-especially
+ with the ability to strike............................. 240
+ Letter from Portland Public Schools, Lincoln High School. 243
+ Article: We can expect more from teachers when we pay
+ them like pros: Bloomberg and Weingarten............... 246
+ Questions submitted for the record by:
+ Bonamici, Hon. Suzanne, a Representative in Congress from
+ the State of Oregon
+
+
+
+ Chairman Scott
+
+
+
+
+ Responses to questions submitted for the record:
+ Ms. Contreras............................................ 254
+ Ms. King................................................. 256
+ Dr. Scafidi.............................................. 258
+
+
+ UNDERPAID TEACHERS AND CRUMBLING
+ SCHOOLS: HOW UNDERFUNDING PUBLIC
+ EDUCATION SHORTCHANGES AMERICA'S STUDENTS
+
+ ----------
+
+
+ Tuesday, February 12, 2019
+
+ House of Representatives,
+
+ Committee on Education and Labor,
+
+ Washington, DC.
+
+ ----------
+
+ The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:17 a.m., in
+room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Robert C.
+``Bobby'' Scott
+ (chairman of the committee) presiding.
+ Present: Representatives Scott, Grijalva, Courtney, Fudge,
+Sablan, Takano, Adams, DeSaulnier, Jayapal, Morelle, Wild,
+Harder, McBath, Schrier, Underwood, Hayes, Shalala, Omar, Lee,
+Castro, Foxx, Roe, Thompson, Guthrie, Grothman, Stefanik,
+Allen, Banks, Walker, Comer, Cline, Fulcher, Taylor, Watkins,
+Wright, Meuser, Timmons, and Johnson.
+ Also present: Representative Horn.
+ Staff present: Tylease Alli, Chief Clerk; Jacque Chevalier
+Mosely, Director of Education Policy; Mishawn Freeman, Staff
+Assistant; Christian Haines, General Counsel, Education; Ariel
+Jona, Staff Assistant; Stephanie Lalle, Deputy Communications
+Director; Andre Lindsay, Staff Assistant; Richard Miller,
+Director of Labor Policy; Max Moore, Office Aide; Veronique
+Pluviose, Staff Director; Loredana Valtierra, Education Policy
+Fellow; Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information
+Technology; Lakeisha Steele, Professional Staff; Cyrus Artz,
+Minority Parliamentarian; Marty Boughton, Minority Press
+Secretary; Courtney Butcher, Minority Coalitions and Members
+Services Coordinator; Blake Johnson, Minority Staff Assistant;
+Amy Raaf Jones, Minority Director of Education and Human
+Resources Policy; Hannah Matesic, Minority Legislative
+Operations Manager; Kelley McNabb, Minority Communications
+Director; Jake Middlebrooks, Minority Professional Staff
+Member; Brandon Renz, Minority Staff Director; Alex Ricci,
+Minority Professional Staff Member; Mandy Schaumburg, Minority
+Chief Counsel and Deputy Director of Education Policy; Meredith
+Schellin, Minority Deputy Press Secretary and Digital Advisor;
+and Brad Thomas, Minority Senior Education Policy Advisor.
+ Chairman Scott. Good morning. A quorum being present, the
+Education and Labor Committee will come to order.
+ I would like to welcome everyone here for this legislative
+hearing on Underpaid Teachers and Crumbling Schools: How
+Underfunding Public Education Shortchanges America's Students.
+ Pursuant to committee rule 7(c), opening statements are
+limited to the Chair and Ranking Member. This allows us to hear
+from our witnesses sooner and provides members an adequate time
+to ask questions. And I now recognize myself for the purpose of
+making an opening statement.
+ This morning, we are here to discuss how chronically
+underfunding public education is affecting students, parents,
+teachers, and communities. This is a discussion our
+constituents are eager for us to have and a challenge the
+American people were calling us to solve. In Oklahoma, West
+Virginia, Virginia, Arizona, Los Angeles, and many other cities
+and States in between, voters are demanding greater support for
+public education.
+ In a time of extreme polarization, support for public
+education is a rare bridge across our political and cultural
+divisions. A poll conducted after the 2018 midterm elections,
+in that poll, an overwhelming majority of Americans, both
+Democrats and Republicans, said increasing K-12 funding is a,
+quote, extremely important priority for the 116th Congress.
+ Widespread support for public education makes our
+longstanding unfortunate tradition of failing to prioritize
+public education both confounding and frustrating. You can look
+no further than Title IA of the Elementary and Secondary
+Education Act, the largest grant program in K-12. Title IA
+supports public schools with large numbers of students living
+in poverty. In the 2017-2018 school year, Congress gave schools
+less than a third of the full authorization amount for this
+basic grant program.
+ The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known as
+IDEA, is another example. IDEA protects students with
+disabilities in making sure they can receive a free and
+appropriate public education in the least restrictive
+environment. To help achieve this goal, it authorizes grants to
+offset extra costs associated with supporting students with
+disabilities. IDEA has not been fully funded at any point in
+its 44-year history. In fact, funding levels for IDEA have
+never reached even half of the authorized levels.
+ And despite the evidence linking well-resourced facilities,
+well-supported teachers, and healthy buildings to better
+economic and life outcomes, the Federal Government dedicates no
+money to public school infrastructure improvements. The lack of
+Federal support--the lack of Federal support has exacerbated
+the issues caused by lack of commitment to robust public
+education funding at the state level.
+ According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
+adjusted for inflation, 29 states spent less per student in
+2015 than they had in 2008 before the Great Recession. In 17 of
+those states--in 17 of those states, funding per pupil was cut
+at least 10 percent.
+ Today, despite the long and growing list of school
+buildings' failures that have endangered students and
+educators, 12 states contributed no money to support school
+facilities, and an additional 13 states cover between 1 and 9
+percent of school facility costs.
+ A combination of chronic Federal and State underfunding in
+public education has left many schools at a literal breaking
+point. According to one study published in 2016, public K-12
+facilities are, on average, underfunded about $46 billion
+dollars every year compared to building industry and best
+practice standards.
+ In 2014, the Department of Education estimated that it
+would cost $197 billion dollars to bring all schools into good
+condition. This problem is not limited to physical
+infrastructure. As technology becomes increasingly central to
+providing quality education, the lack of funding for basic
+school upgrades is for schools to put off needed investments in
+digital infrastructure.
+ In a 2017 Education Super Highway report, that report found
+that more than 19,000 schools serving nearly a quarter of
+public school students are without the minimum connectivity
+necessary for digital learning.
+ Now, our nation primarily funds public education using
+property taxes, so the erosion of Federal and State support has
+had a particularly harmful effect on low-income districts where
+revenue is lacking and where schools are, therefore,
+chronically underfunded. And this underfunding has
+consequences.
+ For example, in September 2018, dozens of New Jersey
+schools closed for weeks because of mold. Baltimore closed
+schools the same month during a heat wave because many schools
+did not have air-conditioning. And notably, in Baltimore, only
+3 percent of the schools are less than 35 years old.
+ Five years after the discovery of lead in--lead
+contamination in the water, schools in Flint, Michigan, finally
+have a water filtration system, incredibly only because of a
+private donation. So 2 weeks ago, I joined Congressman Norcross
+and Senator Jack Reed, along with 180 Members of Congress, to
+introduce the Rebuild America's Schools Act. This bill would
+create a $70 billion grant program and a $30 billion tax credit
+bond program targeted at improving the fiscal and digital
+infrastructure at high-poverty schools. In doing so, it would
+create roughly $1.9 million good paying jobs. In fact, Rebuild
+America's Schools Act would actually create more jobs than the
+recent $1.9 trillion Republican tax bill at approximately 5
+percent of the cost.
+ At the start of his Presidency and again in the State of
+the Union last week, President Trump called on a massive
+infrastructure package to rebuild America. School
+infrastructure must be part of that package when we consider
+it. And this should be a bipartisan effort. An overwhelming
+majority of Americans understand the correlation between
+consistent nationwide failure to support public schools and
+inequality in educational opportunity.
+ We can do better. The total U.S. spending on education
+accounts for 2 percent of the Federal budget. That is less than
+most other developed nations. It will take a long-term
+commitment to public schools in order to see the consistent
+results we expect. We must be willing to make that commitment.
+ And I want to close by recognizing the burden we continue
+to place on America's educators. While crumbling schools are a
+visible risk to students, the effect of chronic underfunding on
+our teachers is equally, if not more, concerning.
+ Accounting for inflation, teacher pay actually fell $30 a
+week from 1996 to 2015. Public school teachers already earn
+just 77 percent of what other college graduates with similar
+work experience earn in weekly wages. Teachers who live at the
+intersection of declining salaries and undersourced schools
+continue to demonstrate their dedication to their students. And
+making matters worse, as an example of that they spend an
+average of $485 of their own money every year to buy classroom
+materials and supplies.
+ If we cannot attract and retain the most talented,
+passionate teachers in the classroom, we will fail to fulfill
+our promise to students of their quality education.
+ And so without objection, I would like to enter into the
+record the following documents: First, a list of organizations
+that endorse the Rebuild America's Schools Act and their
+endorsing statements, and the following reports: One by the
+National Conference of State Legislatures, No Time to Lose: How
+to Build a World-Class Education System State By State; the
+Learning Policy Institute, How Money Matters to Schools; by the
+Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Punishing Decade for
+School Funding; by the Center for American Progress, the Case
+for Federal Funding for School Infrastructure; one by the 21st
+Century School, U.S. Green Building Council, and the National
+Council on School Facilities, the State of our Schools:
+America's K-12 Facilities; and finally, Fixing Chronic
+Disinvestment in K-12 Schools, the Center for American
+Progress. I ask all those documents be placed in the record.
+ Without objection, so ordered.
+ [The information referred to follows:]
+ [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Scott. I look forward to discussion.
+ And now I recognize our distinguished ranking member, Dr.
+Foxx, for her opening statement.
+ [The statement of Chairman Scott follows:]
+
+ Prepared Statement of Hon. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott, Chairman,
+ Committee on Education and Labor
+
+ This hearing is now called to order. This morning, we are here to
+discuss how chronic underfunding of public education is affecting
+students, parents, teachers, and communities.
+ This is a discussion our constituents are eager for us to have, and
+a challenge the American people are calling on us to solve. In
+Oklahoma, West Virginia, Virginia, Arizona, Los Angeles, and many
+cities and states in between, voters are demanding greater support for
+public education.
+ In a time of extreme polarization, support for public education is
+a rare bridge across our political and cultural divisions. In a poll
+conducted after the 2018 midterm elections, the overwhelming majority
+of Americans, both Democrats and Republicans, said increasing K-12
+funding is an ``extremely important priority'' for the 116th Congress.
+ The widespread support for public education makes our longstanding
+tradition of failing to prioritize public education both confounding
+and frustrating.
+ Look no further than Title I of the Elementary and Secondary
+Education Act the largest grant program in K-12 education. Title I
+supports public schools with large concentrations and numbers of
+students living in poverty. In the 2017-2018 school year, Congress gave
+schools less than a third of the full authorization amount for the
+basic grant program.
+ The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known as IDEA, is
+another example. IDEA protects the right of children with disabilities
+to receive a free, appropriate, public education in the least
+restrictive environment.
+ To help achieve this goal, it authorizes grants to offset extra
+costs associated with supporting students with disabilities. IDEA has
+not been fully funded at any point in its 44-year history. In fact,
+funding for IDEA has never reached even half of the authorized levels.
+ And despite the evidence linking well-resourced facilities, well-
+supported teachers, and healthy buildings to better academic and life
+outcomes, the Federal Government dedicates no money to public school
+infrastructure improvements.
+ The lack of Federal support has exacerbated the issues caused by a
+lack of commitment to robust public education funding at the State
+level.
+ According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 29 states
+spent less per student in 2015 than they had in the 2008 school year,
+before the Great Recession. In 17 states, funding per student was cut
+by at least 10 percent.
+ Today, despite the long and growing list of school building
+failures that have endangered students and educators, 12 states
+contribute no money to support school facilities, and 13 states cover
+between 1 percent and 9 percent of school facility costs.
+ The combination of chronic Federal and State underfunding in public
+education has left many schools at a literal breaking point. According
+to a State of our Schools report published in 2016, public K-12 school
+facilities are on average underfunded by $46 billion every year
+compared to building industry and best-practice standards.
+ In 2014, a Department of Education study estimated that it would
+cost $197 billion to bring all public schools into good condition.
+ This problem is not limited to physical infrastructure. As
+technology becomes increasingly central to providing a quality
+education, the lack of funding for basic school upgrades has forced
+schools to put off needed investments in digital infrastructure.
+ A 2017 ``Education Super Highway'' report found that more than
+19,000 schools serving more than
+ 11.6 million students, nearly a quarter of public school students,
+``are without the minimum connectivity necessary for digital
+learning.''
+ In a nation that primarily funds public education using property
+taxes, the erosion of Federal and State support has had a particularly
+harmful impact on low income school districts, where schools are
+chronically underfunded, and the needs are the greatest.
+ For example, in September 2018, dozens of New Jersey schools closed
+for weeks because of mold. Baltimore also closed schools the same month
+during a heatwave because many schools did not have air conditioning.
+Notably, only 3 percent of Baltimore schools are less than 35 years
+old.
+ Five years after the discovery of lead contamination in the water,
+schools in Flint, Michigan finally have water filtration systems, but
+only because of a private donation.
+ Two weeks ago, I joined Congressman Norcross and Senator Jack Reed,
+along with 180 Members of Congress, to introduce the Rebuild America's
+Schools Act.
+ This bill would create a $70 billion grant program and $30 billion
+tax credit bond program targeted at improving the physical and digital
+infrastructure at high-poverty schools.
+ In doing so, it would also create roughly 1.9 million good-paying
+jobs. In fact, the Rebuild America's Schools Act would create more jobs
+than the Republican tax bill, at just 5 percent of the cost.
+ At the start of his presidency, and again in the State of the Union
+last week, President Trump called for a massive infrastructure package
+to rebuild America. School infrastructure must be part of any package
+we consider.
+ This should be a bipartisan effort. An overwhelming majority of
+Americans understand the clear line between the consistent, nationwide
+failure to support public schools and its role in perpetuating
+inequality in education. Unfortunately, not everyone has drawn the same
+conclusion.
+ Rather than understanding the achievement gap as the inevitable
+result of structural inequality and chronic underfunding of low-income
+schools, some attribute the achievement gap to the failure of
+individual parents, students, and educators.
+ Rather than seeing the urgent need for a robust public education
+system, some see an opportunity to cut funding and expand the role of
+private schools and voucher programs.
+ Others have also argued that our existing investment has not
+produced uniformly positive results and, therefore, it is time to
+divert funding into private options. But those individuals fail to
+acknowledge the larger community-based issues that contribute to
+student performance. Students succeed when they are surrounded by
+strong local economies, thriving businesses, successful human services
+programs.
+ They need access to health care, adequate transportation,
+affordable housing, and nutritious food. As other developed nations
+have demonstrated, this support system is a critical component for
+students' success.
+ Critics of public schools also ignore the chronic underfunding of
+education to date. Total U.S. spending on education accounts for 2
+percent of the Federal budget, which is less than many other developed
+countries.
+ And supporters of funding cuts for public schools do not
+acknowledge the devastating impact that efforts to privatize public
+education have had on low-income communities.
+ It will take a long-term commitment to public schools in order to
+see the consistent results we all expect. And we must be willing to
+make that commitment.
+ I want to close by recognizing the burden we continue to place on
+America's educators. While crumbling school buildings are a visible
+risk to students, the effect of chronic underfunding on America's
+teachers is equally, if not more concerning.
+ Accounting for inflation, teacher pay fell by $30 per week from
+1996 to 2015. Public school teachers earn just 77 percent of what other
+college graduates with similar work experience earn in weekly wages.
+ Teachers who live at the intersection of declining salaries and
+under-resourced schools continue to demonstrate their dedication to
+their students. Teachers spend an average of $485 of their own money
+every year to buy classroom materials and supplies.
+ If we cannot attract and keep talented and passionate teachers in
+the classroom, we will fail to provide students the promise of a
+quality education. That is simply not an option.
+ I look forward to this discussion and I now recognize the Ranking
+Member, Dr. Foxx.
+ ______
+
+ Ms. Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Teachers work hard on behalf of American students and
+families, and they deserve paychecks that reflect their
+tireless efforts. And all students deserve access to safe,
+clean, and healthy school facilities regardless of zip code. To
+dispute these two facts would make anyone out of touch with
+reality.
+ Over the past year, there has been a steady stream of well-
+publicized strikes across the country. Teachers' unions in West
+Virginia, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, Los Angeles, and most
+recently Denver, all called attention to these matters. So
+given the recent uptick in teachers union strikes, a reasonable
+person would assume that State and local governments are
+cutting budgets and disinvesting in public schools. Quite the
+contrary.
+ In fact, most states have actually increased public school
+spending, but instead of increasing salaries, improving
+structures, and investing in classroom equipment, many school
+districts have ended up pouring taxpayer funds into
+administrative bloat that leaves students and teachers high and
+dry.
+ It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing
+the same thing over and over again and expecting different
+results. When it comes to these two issues, teacher pay and
+school construction, Democrats have not had a new idea in
+decades.
+ Any time a challenge arises, Democrats look to refill the
+same prescription of more money, more bureaucracy, and more
+power punted to distant figures in Washington. Is the answer
+more control from Washington? Well, having just emerged from a
+government shutdown, I think most Americans would agree that
+the less politicians can control and leverage, the better.
+ Teachers and students deserve more than the same tired
+fights over money. We need to find new and innovative
+approaches to public school success. Republicans still and will
+always believe that the best solutions for serving children
+emerge from the communities in which they live and grow.
+ I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve
+my community as a member of the local school board, so I know
+firsthand how complicated it can be trying to make resources,
+regardless of whether they are local or Federal resources
+coming from taxpayers, actually serves students in a way they
+can recognize. That is why we need to engage thoughtfully and
+hopefully in new initiatives to make education a central focus
+in community development.
+ Community development can come in all shapes and sizes, and
+one of the most interesting new concepts to emerge has been
+opportunity zones. Opportunity zones are areas of the country
+that look very much like the community in which I was raised
+and which I proudly represent today. These are communities
+where the poverty rate exceeds 30 percent and local industry
+has struggled to rebound from the 2008 recession. Opportunity
+zones, which are home to over 50 million Americans, will spur
+private industry and make long-term investments in these
+communities.
+ This bipartisan community development initiative was
+initially championed by Senators Tim Scott and Cory Booker, and
+in 2017, was signed into law by President Trump as a provision
+of the Republican Tax Cuts & Jobs Act.
+ The provisions in this law have the potential to unleash
+trillions of dollars in private capital for long-term
+investment in impoverished parts of the country. Time will tell
+if opportunity zones and other new initiatives will finally
+help us solve the problems of low teacher pay and poor school
+facilities, but time has already told us that higher price tags
+and more bureaucracy in Washington don't deliver higher
+results.
+ Today we are going to be listening for fresh ideas and
+signs of innovation as we pursue our shared goals of better
+environments for students and teachers.
+ Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
+ [The statement of Mrs. Foxx follows:]
+
+Prepared Statement of Hon. Virginia Foxx, Ranking Member, Committee on
+ Education and Labor
+
+ Teachers work hard on behalf of American students and families, and
+they deserve paychecks that reflect their tireless efforts. And all
+students deserve access to safe, clean, and healthy school facilities,
+regardless of zip code. To dispute these two facts would make anyone
+out of touch with reality.
+ Over the past year, there's been a steady stream of well-publicized
+strikes across the country. Teachers unions in West Virginia, Oklahoma,
+Colorado, Arizona, Los Angeles, and most recently Denver, all called
+attention to these matters.
+ So, given the recent uptick in teachers union strikes, a reasonable
+person would assume that State and local governments are cutting
+budgets and disinvesting in public schools. Quite the contrary. In
+fact, most states have actually increased public school spending. But
+instead of increasing salaries, improving structures and investing in
+classroom equipment, many school districts have ended up pouring
+taxpayer funds into administrative bloat that leaves students and
+teachers high and dry.
+ It's been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same
+thing over and over again and expecting different results. When it
+comes to these two issues--teacher pay and school construction--
+Democrats have not had a new idea in decades. Any time a challenge
+arises, Democrats look to refill the same prescription of more money,
+more bureaucracy, and more power punted to distant figures in
+Washington.
+ Is the answer more control from Washington? Well, having just
+emerged from a government shutdown, I think most Americans would agree
+that the less politicians can control and leverage, the better.
+ Teachers and students deserve more than the same tired fights over
+money. We need to find new and innovative approaches to public school
+success.
+ Republicans still, and will always believe, that the best solutions
+for serving children emerge from the communities in which they live and
+grow. I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve my
+community as a member of the local school board. So I know firsthand
+how complicated it can be trying to make resources, regardless of
+whether they're local or Federal resources, coming from taxpayers,
+actually serve students in a way they can recognize.
+ That's why we need to engage thoughtfully and hopefully in new
+initiatives to make education a central focus in community development.
+ Community development can come in all shapes and sizes, and one of
+the most interesting new concepts to emerge has been ``Opportunity
+Zones.'' Opportunity Zones are areas of the country that look very much
+like the community in which I was raised and which I proudly represent
+today. These are communities where the poverty rate exceeds 30 percent
+and local industry has struggled to rebound from the 2008 recession.
+Opportunity Zones, which are home to over 50 million Americans, will
+spur private industry to make long-term investments in these
+communities.
+ This bipartisan community development initiative was initially
+championed by Senators Tim Scott and Cory Booker, and in 2017 was
+signed into law by President Trump as a provision of the Republican Tax
+Cuts and Jobs Act. The provisions in this law have the potential to
+unleash trillions of dollars in private capital for long-term
+investments in impoverished parts of the country.
+ Time will tell if Opportunity Zones and other new initiatives will
+finally help us solve the problems of low teacher pay and poor school
+facilities. But time has already told us that higher price tags, and
+more bureaucracy in Washington, don't deliver higher results. Today, we
+are going to be listening for fresh ideas and signs of innovation as we
+pursue our shared goal of better environments for students and
+teachers.
+ ______
+
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you, Dr. Foxx, and I wanted to thank
+you for your comments. I was especially delighted to hear your
+compliment that we have been consistent in our refrain that we
+need more Federal funding for education, and we haven't backed
+off on that. And I want to thank you for that compliment.
+ Without objection, all other members who wish to insert
+written Statements can do so by notifying the committee clerk
+within 7 days.
+ In introducing the witnesses, I note that the first witness
+is from North Carolina, and two members have insisted on the
+privilege of introducing her. So I will first yield to the
+gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Walker.
+ Mr. Walker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ I am pleased to introduce Dr. Sharon Contreras to our
+committee today. Dr. Contreras is the Superintendent for the
+Guilford County Schools in my district in North Carolina. We
+have enjoyed working together on several occasions since she
+first joined the Guilford County School District in 2016. She
+has an extensive career in education, since she first began her
+career as a high school English teacher in Rockford, Illinois.
+Dr. Contreras has a real heart to serve the students of
+Guilford County. She is a woman of faith, if I might add. We
+don't always agree with exact approach, but most importantly,
+she is my friend.
+ Dr. Contreras has accomplished all of this while being
+hearing impaired. So as we talk to her today or ask questions,
+just make sure that she has eye contact and she will deliver in
+a very accomplished manner today.
+ I would now like to yield to the gentlewoman from North
+Carolina, Ms. Adams, to say a few words about Dr. Contreras.
+ Ms. Adams. Thank you. I thank my friend for yielding.
+ As some of you may know, before a change in the district
+lines in our State, for 31 years, I represented parts of
+Guilford County and Greensboro, and began my service in public
+office as the first African American woman elected to the
+school board, so I do have some sense of the Guilford County
+schools.
+ Dr. Contreras is the first woman and the first Latina
+superintendent of Guilford County schools. Guilford County has
+126 schools and serves more than 71,000 students, 40 percent
+Black, 30 percent White, 16 percent Latino, 6 percent Asian.
+Seven percent of Guilford County school students have
+disabilities, and 64 percent of its students are low income.
+And under Dr. Contreras' leadership, the high school graduation
+rate has reached 89.8 percent, the highest in Guilford County
+history.
+ I just want to mention as a personal note that Dr.
+Contreras is a woman of vision. She spearheaded the first
+assistant principal's leadership academy through the new
+leaders program, and my daughter is a member of that academy,
+and I want to thank her for not only her leadership.
+ Dr. Contreras, welcome to the committee. And I thank the
+gentleman from North Carolina for allowing me a brief comment
+in this introduction, and I yield back to him.
+ Mr. Walker. I thank the gentlelady for yielding and
+refraining from too much shade. And with that, I yield back to
+the chairman.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ Our next witness is also represented by a person with us
+today. I would like to yield to the gentlelady from Oklahoma,
+who is not a member of the committee, but without objection,
+will be recognized for purposes of an introduction.
+ Ms. Horn. Thank you so much, Chairman Scott, for the
+opportunity to address the committee and the privilege of
+introducing Anna King.
+ I am honored to introduce a proud Oklahoman with a strong
+history of advocating for public education. Anna has dedicated
+over 20 years of her life to not only improving educational
+quality for her children and grandchildren through local PTAs,
+but also to advocating for every single child across the
+country through her current role as the Vice-President of
+Membership of the National Parent Teacher Association, which
+has over 3.5 million members nationwide.
+ I have had the privilege, as she resides in my district, of
+watching and working with Anna and seeing her passionate
+support for public schools and students. Anna firmly believes
+that education is the cornerstone of opportunity in this
+country. The best investment that we can make in America's
+future is an investment in the minds of our youth. And as our
+nation grows and diversifies, our schools must have the tools
+and resources to keep pace, something which I know Ms. King
+will speak about.
+ Across this country, including my home state, teachers are
+far too often forced to work second and multiple jobs because
+their salary simply isn't enough to pay the bills, and parents
+and advocates like Anna are speaking up because their kids
+deserve better.
+ In 2018, we have some experience with this, as you
+mentioned, Chairman Scott, Oklahoma saw more than 50,000
+individuals, educators, parents, and community members walk out
+in support of our public schoolteachers, our students, and our
+communities. Simply put, quality public education is a
+cornerstone of our communities and a strong economy, and if we
+want communities to thrive, we can no longer ignore the
+challenges our schools face.
+ So thank you, Anna, for your passion, your advocacy, and
+for wanting the best for all kids regardless of their zip code.
+The thousands of future leaders in Oklahoma's 5th Congressional
+District and children across the nation will benefit from your
+advocacy.
+ Thank you again, Chairman, for allowing me to speak, and
+thank you to the members of the committee, and I look forward
+to your testimony.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you very much.
+ Next witness is Dr. Benjamin Scafidi, who is a Professor of
+Economics and Director of Educational Economics--the Director
+of the Education Economic Center at Kennesaw State University
+in Georgia. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of
+Virginia and his B.A. from Notre Dame. His research is focused
+on urban policy and education, and he was previously an
+Education Policy Advisor to Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia.
+ Randi Weingarten is president of the 1.7-million member
+American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. As president, she has
+overseen the development of AFT's quality education agenda,
+which advocates for reforms grounded in evidence, equities,
+scalability, and sustainability. She has used her platform to
+advocate for more State and Federal investment in public
+education, as noted by AFT's recent report, A Decade of
+Neglect: Public Education Funding in the Aftermath of the Great
+Recession. She holds degrees from Cornell University's School
+of Industrial and Labor Relations and the Cardozo School of
+Law.
+ We appreciate all the witnesses for being with us today and
+look forward to your testimony, and remind you that we have--
+your full statements are available and will appear in full in
+the record pursuant to committee rule 7(d) and committee
+practice. Each of you is asked to limit your presentation to a
+5-minute summary of your written statement. We remind the
+witnesses that pursuant to Title 18 U.S. Code, Section 101, it
+is illegal to knowingly and willfully falsify any statement,
+representation, writing, document, or material fact to Congress
+or otherwise conceal or cover up a material fact.
+ Before you begin your testimony, please remember to press
+the button on the microphone in front of you so that it will
+turn on and members can hear you. As you speak, the light in
+front of you will turn green. After 4 minutes, it will turn to
+yellow, indicating 1 minute remaining, and when the light turns
+red, your 5 minutes have expired, and we would ask you to
+please wrap up your testimony.
+ We will let the entire panel make presentations before we
+move to member questions. When answering a question, please
+remember, again, to turn your microphone on.
+ We will first recognize Dr. Contreras.
+
+ STATEMENT OF SHARON L. CONTRERAS, SUPERINTENDENT, GUILFORD
+ COUNTY SCHOOLS
+
+ Ms. Contreras. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member
+Foxx, Congressman Walker, Congresswoman Adams, and members of
+the committee. I am Sharon Contreras, Superintendent of
+Guilford County schools in Greensboro, North Carolina. With me
+today are my colleagues, Angie Henry, the chief financial
+officer; and Julius Monk, the executive director of facilities.
+Thank you for inviting me to speak today.
+ As an educator and administrator of nearly 30 years who has
+worked in public schools in several states, I have seen
+firsthand how good facilities can create healthy, safe, and
+innovative spaces that truly support 21st century learning. I
+have also seen firsthand how inadequate facilities, broken HVAC
+systems, and dilapidated buildings negatively affect learning.
+The substantial obstacles we face in bringing America's schools
+up to par date back generations and are found in every state,
+particularly in our urban and rural areas, which serve the
+highest concentrations of children and adults living in
+poverty.
+ Guilford County schools serves more than 73,000 PreK-12
+students in 126 schools in a countywide district that spans
+about 650 square miles and encompasses urban, suburban, and
+rural areas. Our students come to our doorsteps eager to learn.
+Unfortunately, our doors don't always open to facilities
+designed to meet the needs of students in the postindustrial
+era.
+ Our average school building is about 50 years old and was
+designed for an industrial era that no longer exists. We have
+469 mobile classrooms, 58 percent of which are more than 20
+years old. We have five mobile units that date to 1972. We had
+to move one last year. It was so old it broke apart while we
+were transporting it, blocking traffic for hours. Our
+maintenance staff responds to more than 30,000 work orders
+annually for failing HVAC units, plumbing systems, leaky roofs,
+and other basic building needs. Schools routinely use buckets
+and trash cans to catch the water during heavy rains. Water
+seepage and flooding is also common, especially since our
+county has, during just the past year, experienced a
+devastating tornado, two hurricanes, an unusual 12-inch
+snowfall, and a record 64 inches of rain.
+ A recent comprehensive facility study indicated we need
+more than $1.5 billion in capital investment to renovate and
+upgrade current facilities and build new schools. According to
+the study, more than 45 percent of our schools were rated as
+unsatisfactory or in poor condition. Many of the schools rated
+as unsatisfactory or poor are also Title I schools educating
+the poorest and most vulnerable students. Ten schools were in
+such bad shape that they were recommended for possible closure.
+ The deferred maintenance backlog in our district was pegged
+at $800 million, while renewal funding for preventative
+maintenance and reasonable replacement cycles was estimated at
+$6.9 billion over a 30-year period. Our current maintenance
+budget, however, is only around $6 million a year.
+ While the physical condition of our buildings is troubling,
+our greatest concern is that most of our schools do not meet
+the baseline standards required to adequately support 21st
+century learning, with the average school rated as poor in
+terms of educational suitability on the same recent facility
+study. I could give many more examples from school districts in
+North Carolina and some are outlined in my written testimony.
+ Our crumbling school infrastructure requires national
+leadership and Federal funding to assist state and local
+efforts to upgrade our schools for our students. I support
+Chairman Scott's introduction of the Rebuild America's Schools
+Act of 2019, and encourage this committee and Congress to come
+together and prioritize investments in our school buildings and
+our students. Transforming learning and life outcomes for
+children and young people is not a partisan issue. It is the
+issue our nation must address if we want future generations to
+prosper, if we want our children and grandchildren to live
+fulfilling lives, and if we intend to preserve our great
+democracy.
+ Again, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today
+about the infrastructure needs of our nation's public schools.
+I look forward to any questions you may have.
+ [The statement of Ms. Contreras follows:]
+ [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you very much.
+ Ms. King.
+
+ STATEMENT OF ANNA KING, BOARD MEMBER, NATIONAL PTA, PAST
+ PRESIDENT, OKLAHOMA PTA
+
+ Ms. King. Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Foxx, and members
+of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today on
+this panel to share the perspectives of parents and families on
+a lack of investments and resources for our nation's students,
+teachers, and schools. I am speaking on behalf of the National
+PTA, the Nation's oldest and largest child advocacy association
+with members in all 50 states, D.C., Virgin Islands, Puerto
+Rico, and Europe.
+ Since 1897, National PTA has been a strong advocate for all
+families to effectively change their child's education. Long-
+term success of our nation depends on robust and equitable
+public investments in our education system. Public education is
+a major vehicle for preserving the basic values of a democratic
+system of government. It must be strengthened and continue to
+be governed by public officials accountable to the public and
+funded fairly.
+ National PTA has long advocated to ensure all children have
+access to equitably funded public schools that improve overall
+well-being and help them achieve their academic success.
+ While I come to you today as the vice-president of
+membership of the National PTA, the most important role I have
+is a mother and a nana. I am a proud mother of three and a
+grandmother of nine. Like me, every parent wants to be
+successful, and as an association, we want all kids to be
+successful, not just one school or one group of kids. I am here
+today to speak for every child with one voice on the need to
+adequately fund our nation's public schools.
+ In 2002, my daughter Annalishia was a freshman at Frederick
+A. Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. She could not
+complete her homework because her and all her ninth grade
+classmates did not have regular access to textbooks for her
+English class. There were some old books available, but they
+were old, pages were missing, and students had to share them
+during class. No one could take them home to do homework. I had
+to speak up not only for Annalishia but for every child in my
+daughter's class.
+ We were told that the district, the school district didn't
+have the money for additional textbooks, so we as parents
+testified at the next school board meeting and showed up at
+every one to push until we got the funding. Finally, the school
+district provided funding to purchase textbooks and put parents
+on decisionmaking committees. However, 17 years later, the same
+equity challenges remain.
+ Our teachers in Oklahoma walked out of their classrooms in
+2018 for the same reasons I started advocating in 2002:
+underfunding and a lack of resources. We can't continue to
+repeat this vicious cycle.
+ Bottom line, Oklahoma does not invest enough in our
+schools. My state ranks 47th per pupil spending. Funding has
+been steadily cut, and teachers are underpaid. Also, Oklahoma
+is one of the 12 states, 12, that does not provide any funding
+to school districts to build, improve, or renovate schools.
+ As a grandparent now, I see my children are fighting the
+same fight and facing the same challenges in education that I
+went through years ago. PTA appreciates Congress' recent
+investments in increasing funding; however, student and
+educator needs still are not met.
+ Congress must raise discretionary spending caps. Without an
+increase in these caps, education, health, and work force
+funding will face close to $20 billion cuts. This means 10
+percent less funding for students with disabilities, 10 percent
+less spent on low-income students, and less spending to support
+teacher professional development.
+ Congress needs to better fund critical programs in the
+Every Student Succeeds Act and the Individuals with
+Disabilities Education Act. In particular, Congress must ensure
+Title I and the State grants for special education services are
+fully funded.
+ Additionally, more resources need to be provided for
+educator professional development, English learners, safe and
+supportive schools, technology and access to the well-rounded
+education with robust student support services.
+ Congress should also increase its investments in family
+engagement through the statewide engagement family centers.
+This initiative is assisting parent centers in 13 states around
+the country to ensure families can engage in their child's
+school to support their education. We urge Congress to increase
+funding to at least $15 million in the Fiscal Year 2020 and put
+this program on a funding path to ensure all states can benefit
+in the coming years.
+ Budgeting is a reflection of priorities. In Oklahoma and
+across the nation, our priorities should be investment in all
+children. All schools should be equally resourced, and Congress
+must do its part to make sure that every child's potential
+becomes a reality. If you are not already a member of PTA, I
+welcome all of you here today to become members of the Nation's
+oldest and the largest child advocacy association, PTA.
+ Thank you for the opportunity to be here to testify on
+behalf of our nation's children and families for increased
+investments in public education, and I am happy to answer any
+of your questions.
+ [The statement of Ms. King follows:]
+ [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ Dr. Scafidi.
+
+STATEMENT OF BEN SCAFIDI, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND DIRECTOR,
+ EDUCATION ECONOMICS CENTER, KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY
+
+ Mr. Scafidi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Chairman Scott and distinguished representatives, since
+1992, according to publicly available data at the National
+Center for Education Statistics, NCES, at the U.S. Department
+of Education, real inflation adjusted spending per student in
+American public schools increased by 37 percent.
+ First slide, please. Thank you. There it is.
+ That is public school students in 2016 had 37 percent more
+in real resources devoted to their schooling relative to
+students in 1992. So where did these increased resources go?
+Over this period, there was a 20 percent increase in the number
+of public school students and a 30 percent increase in the
+number of public schoolteachers. This fact is commonly known as
+class size reductions were implemented throughout the nation.
+We reduced class sizes. So where did the rest of the money go?
+ Second slide, please.
+ First, using publicly available data from NCES, one can
+sort public school employees into two categories: teachers and
+everybody else. I call this second category all other staff,
+and it literally includes all public school employees who are
+not teachers. This category of all other staff increased by 52
+percent over this time period. When compared to the 20 percent
+increase in students, this category of all other staff
+increased by more than 2-1/2 times as the increase in students.
+I do not believe this fact is widely known.
+ As you know, some dislike economists. Perhaps we are too
+nerdy. Perhaps we do not brush our teeth regularly. Perhaps
+there are many other good reasons for these negative feelings,
+but another reason why some dislike economists is because we
+point out that in real life when we make choices, there are
+uncomfortable opportunity costs.
+ You might expect that if public schools are given a 37
+percent increase in real resources, the teachers would get a
+real increase in their salaries, but you would be mistaken.
+Real teacher salaries actually declined by 1 percentage--just
+under 1 percentage point. That means on average a teacher in
+1992 had a slightly higher real salary than a teacher in 2016.
+Why? One reason for this stagnation in teacher salaries was the
+tremendous increase in all other staff.
+ For the sake of illustration, let's keep the class size
+reductions. However, suppose that the increase in all other
+staff had only been 20 percent to match the increase in
+students. If the all other staff had increased 20 percent to
+match the increase in students, then a cautious estimate of the
+savings to the public education system is $40.8 billion per
+year in annual recurring savings. This tremendous increase in
+all other staff presented a significant opportunity cost.
+ What could we have done instead with $40.8 billion per
+year? One thing would be to give all American public school
+teachers a $12,900 per year increase in compensation. Another
+possibility would have been give over 5 million children
+scholarships to attend the private schools of their choice.
+ Next slide, please.
+ In a sharp break with American public school history, as of
+2016, the majority of public schools' employees in the United
+States were not teachers. This staffing surge in public schools
+began long before 1992.
+ Next slide, please.
+ In fact, the staffing surge has been going on since at
+least 1950. Since 1950, the number of public school students in
+America has roughly doubled. The number of teachers has
+increased almost 2-1/2 times that amount. But the increase in
+all other staff has been seven times the increase in students.
+ These trends could be forgiven if outcomes have improved
+tremendously or if American public schools were the envy of the
+world. According to long-term trend scores on the NAEP,
+National Assessment for Educational Progress, scores for 17-
+year-olds have been stagnant since 1992.
+ Next slide, please.
+ If taxpayers continue to provide significant increases in
+resources to the conventional public education system,
+literally decades of history has taught us there will be
+significant increases in employment of all other staff,
+stagnant teacher salaries, and stagnant outcomes for American
+students.
+ Mr. Chairman and distinguished representatives, there is a
+better way. We now have a large research base that indicates
+that increasing opportunities for American families to exercise
+choice to both charter and private schools would improve long-
+run outcomes for American students. First, virtually all the
+evidence shows that students who are allowed to exercise choice
+have significant gains in postsecondary attainment and in
+wages. NAEP scores have gone up dramatically in Arizona and
+Florida, the two states with the most choice.
+ Thank you for listening, and I look forward to your
+questions and discussion.
+ [The statement of Mr. Scafidi follows:]
+ [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ Ms. Weingarten.
+
+ STATEMENT OF RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION
+ OF TEACHERS
+
+ Ms. Weingarten. Good morning, Chairman Scott, Dr. Foxx. And
+as this high school social study and government teacher on
+leave from Clara Barton High School in Brooklyn New York, I am
+very grateful for the opportunity to testify in our democracy
+and to testify about how deep and chronic underfunding of
+public education has led to a lack of investment in school
+infrastructure and public services, which in turn, has
+shortchanged the 90 percent of America's school children that
+attend public schools. AFT members and our students live with
+the effects of this every single day.
+ For example, I just returned from visiting schools in the
+Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, where teachers are
+spending 10 cents per page in their local Staples to adding up
+to hundreds of dollars a week of their own money to ensure that
+kids have learning materials before them. And there are still
+mold-infested schools, mold that any asthmatic, including
+myself, could detect in a brief time there. You are seeing some
+of the pictures that we have just taken over the course of the
+last couple of years about the building conditions.
+ Speaking of mold, last year, two Philadelphia elementary
+schools were closed because of mold throughout the buildings.
+Of course, many schools that have mold are not closed because
+we need them to educate our kids. And a recent survey of
+Detroit's schools found that nearly a third of the school
+buildings are in unsatisfactory or poor conditions with exposed
+electrical wires, leaky roofs, and rodent infections, and as
+the Chair said, we have been at this for 25 years. I filed a
+suit in New York City 25 years ago about these issues.
+ Baltimore, last winter, teachers called on the city to
+close schools because of chronic heating problems as indoor
+temperatures plunged into the 30's, and children tried to learn
+bundled in coats and hats.
+ And speaking about Florida, in Hillsborough County, the
+district could afford to fix or replace air conditioners at 10
+schools this summer leaving 38 still in major repairs, and so
+when schools opened or reopened in August, indoor temperatures
+were at 88 degrees.
+ Last, teachers across the country tell me all the time
+about having to clean up mouse droppings in the morning and
+brand-new white boards rendered unusable because of no access
+to electricity. Frankly, we can do better, and that is why
+teachers in Oklahoma, Arizona, and other places actually went
+on walkouts this year to say we can do better.
+ Teachers are helping. We are digging into our own pockets
+literally, as the Chair said, almost $500 of their own money
+every year to buy school supplies, but in Title I schools, that
+number goes up to almost $600. The Chair talked about the
+systematic way that we have looked at this, and, Dr. Foxx,
+listen, we actually looked at these things, and in 25 states,
+we are spending less on public education than we did before the
+recession, and in 41 states we are spending less on higher
+education. We did this district by district, state by state.
+ Ultimately, we are trying to help. We will do whatever we
+can, regardless of the conditions in schools, but we need help
+from others too. And the communities are engaged in self-help
+too. During the 2018 election, Wisconsin taxpayers passed
+referendums to direct at least $1.3 billion to school districts
+for capital projects while maintaining or expanding
+programming. In Florida, every local ballot initiative for
+school funding passed 20 out of 20, and there are similar
+stories throughout the country, but we know that property
+taxation only exacerbates inequality.
+ The AFT is helping too. We are doing what we can in terms
+of funding community schools, in terms of engaging in this
+help, and in terms of fighting to fund our future, but we need
+Congress to help too, and that is why we completely endorse
+Chairman Scott's proposal to pass the Rebuild America's Schools
+Act, because that will direct funding for capital projects. We
+also think we have to fund Title I so that every Title I
+student has access to physical and mental health services, such
+as the full-time teacher assistants and the librarians and the
+guidance counselors that they need and that this anniversary of
+Parkland are showing that we need. We need to fund the IDEA.
+The government promised 40 percent of funding, yet the
+contribution never exceeded 16 percent.
+ Look, I am passionate about this. I live these schools. I
+work these schools. My kids have done really well in these
+schools, but it is a defining moment to work together on real
+sustainable solutions to this disinvestment.
+ Thank you.
+ [The statement of Ms. Weingarten follows:]
+ [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ I will now have questions from members, beginning with the
+gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Grijalva.
+ Mr. Grijalva. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
+ Just, Ms. Weingarten, and the questions--I am going to
+present you with a question somewhat jumbled because I
+haven't--and I know you will be able to provide a response. You
+know, part of the reason we are at this point in terms of
+school funding facilities, teacher pay, et cetera, is, I think
+part of the reason is the movement during this period of time
+intensifying of privatizing public education and the
+incentivizing with taxpayer dollars, that growth. This policy
+shift has affected many things: classroom teachers, basic
+facilities' renovations and upgrades, new construction. Can you
+talk about that correlation?
+ Ms. Weingarten. Yes. Yes, I can, Congressman. So, look, I
+brought an op-ed that was dated 2/12/2019, which we will put in
+the record, from Dennis Smith in the West Virginia Gazette,
+entitled, Words of caution from experience in failed charter
+systems. This was a charter school administrator and authorizer
+that ended up talking about what happened in Ohio. We all know
+what happened in L.A. where charters take the first dollar,
+$600 million dollars out of the public school systems, and it
+syphons off that money in that way.
+ And let me just say, before I read his quote here, that I
+actually run one of the highest performing charter schools in
+the United States. It is called UNI PREP. It is in New York
+City. It is a public charter school. It is a unionized school.
+We have between a 95 and 100 percent graduation rate for the
+last 6 years, and what we have done is actually put one
+guidance counselor for every hundred kids.
+ But what Mr. Smith says is take Ohio, where charters have
+operated for 20 years. From a high point of 400 schools, 340
+are operating today. Moreover, there is a junk pile--this is
+his words, not mine--of failed charters that have closed. The
+Ohio Department of Education website lists 290 schools that are
+shuttered, with some closing midyear, disrupting the lives of
+students and their family. Moreover, total charter school
+enrollment in the state is down by 16,000.
+ Mr. Grijalva. Thank you. Thank you.
+ Ms. Weingarten. My point is just this: Charters have to
+operate within a public school system. They have to be
+accountable. They have to be transparent. And they cannot
+syphon off money that other children need.
+ Mr. Grijalva. Thank you.
+ If I may, Ms. King, a question along that same topic.
+Having been a school board member way back when back home in
+Tucson Unified School District, one of the issues with
+charters, whether they be public or private for-profit as well,
+is the issue of accountability and oversight, that public
+school systems are required by law, and justifiably so, to
+produce financial records, disclosure, conflict of interest,
+keep your minutes, board members are bound by the open meetings
+law. Charters don't have that. Do you think it is important
+that, if we are going to have this public charter or private
+for-profit, that they too have some level of accountability for
+their finances and their work, that be public and that be
+noted?
+ Ms. King. Absolutely. When we are talking about public
+education and the funding that goes into our schools, that is
+important. We have accountability for a reason. And listening
+to our guests today speak passionately about public education
+and even why public education is needed. Our charter schools,
+and whether they are public or for charter or, you know--Ok. So
+I am nervous. And I am very passionate about kids. So if I feel
+like I am getting ready to cry, I have to calm myself down,
+because our students right now need resources. Our schools--our
+teachers need to be paid, right? And it is not fair when we are
+taking public dollars and putting them in for-profit charter
+schools and there is no accountability on anything that they
+are doing to run their schools, but we are held at a higher
+level of accountability for public schools. It is not fair for
+the students in our communities and in our schools and for the
+families that they serve.
+ Mr. Grijalva. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ Dr. Foxx.
+ Ms. Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank all
+of our witnesses here today. I will make one brief personal
+comment.
+ Dr. Contreras, I wanted to be a high school English
+teacher, but I was too poor to do student teaching, so I wound
+up, look at this, with a wasted life here. Instead of
+becoming--I could have become a teacher and a superintendent.
+Look at that. Thank you very much for what you do.
+ Dr. Scafidi, I have argued publicly several times before
+that teachers should be paid more. I appreciate that your
+testimony backs up my impression, which is that teacher
+salaries have not kept pace with the cost of living. I can
+understand why teachers are upset. Unfortunately, your research
+shows that all the activism from teachers is generating public
+education spending, which is largely directed away from
+instruction.
+ If you were advising teachers how they should approach
+negotiations with state and local leaders, what would you
+suggest they advocate for to ensure that new resources benefit
+them?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Ok. Thank you, Dr. Foxx. There are powerful
+forces in the public education system driving this increase in
+all other staff, and so if teachers, you know, their priorities
+should be what their priorities are, but if their priority is
+salaries, they should focus on that issue, because my kids are
+in public school in Georgia, and I wrote a paper about what I
+called the 13-layer cake.
+ There are 13 layers of public officials that have a say in
+what goes on in my children's classroom. Congress, the
+President, Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of
+Education, Governor, state House, we have a bunch of state
+education agencies, school board. All of them have policy
+priorities, and all those policy priorities might be great, but
+what it has led to over many decades is an increase in all
+other staff. If teachers want salary increases, they should
+focus like a laser beam on that.
+ Ms. Foxx. Thank you, Dr. Scafidi. You have pointed out that
+since 1992, public education has received a 37 percent increase
+in real resources, and you have pointed out that student
+performance hasn't significantly changed over that time. And
+yet we are constantly told that if we just spend a little more,
+we will unlock the secret to vast improvements in performance.
+ Do you think you could highlight for me the level of
+magical spending we need to see an increase in performance?
+ Mr. Scafidi. You can always grab a study that says if we
+increase spending by X, we will get an achievement increase of
+Y, right? And some of those studies are well done by great
+researchers with great data, great methods, great research
+designs, what have you. But then when you look at the spending
+increases that they say will lead to this increase in
+achievement, then in the real world, we typically increase
+spending by even more than that, and the achievement gains
+don't materialize.
+ So it is perhaps ironic that the economists are saying we
+need to look at the real world. If in the real world spending
+increases aren't translating into achievement gains, then we
+have got to question that research. So there is no magic number
+in the current system.
+ Ms. Foxx. Thank you. Thanks. One more question. This may
+offend you, but as I was saying before, I have argued publicly
+several times that teachers should be paid more. What I have
+actually said is that elementary and secondary education
+teachers should be paid more and college professors should be
+paid less, because the teachers at the elementary and secondary
+have the tougher job.
+ I believe K-12 teachers have a harder job, but I also know
+that postsecondary salaries are much more market driven. Are
+there steps that state and local policymakers could take that
+would make teacher salaries more market responsive?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Sure. There is a professor retired at Stanford
+University, Mike Kirst. You should look him up. He shares your
+views about salaries.
+ Yes. In higher ed, our salaries are largely market driven.
+Disciplines like business, law, medicine, engineering that have
+good outside options, even economics, we are paid quite well.
+Disciplines like the humanities that have less good outside
+options, actually, they probably financially would have been
+better off being a K-12 teacher instead of spending all that
+time and money getting a Ph.D. So for humanities professors, it
+is rough.
+ So how could we make teacher salaries more market driven?
+All of our rage in policy debates is about monopsonistic labor
+markets, one buyer of labor. The most monopsonistic labor
+markets in the United States is the public education system,
+because in a community or even a county, you have one buyer of
+labor that is the big player. And when there is one buyer of
+labor in any walk of life, the workers can be exploited. We
+need to have a more market-driven education system, and then
+teachers will get paid more and they will be treated a lot
+better.
+ Ms. Foxx. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Connecticut, Mr. Courtney.
+ Mr. Courtney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to yield my
+time to my colleague from Connecticut, Congresswoman Hayes, the
+2016 National Teacher of the Year.
+ Mrs. Hayes. Good morning. Thank you all for being here.
+ First of all, Ms. King, please don't ever apologize for
+being passionate about children. And my apologies to Randi
+Weingarten. I could have given you a proper introduction, had I
+known. But we are here today to discuss a topic that hits home
+for me. As you heard my colleague say, I am a public school
+educator. In fact, this time last year, I was teaching high
+school social studies at John F. Kennedy High School before
+going on to be named the National Teacher of the Year.
+ Something very interesting that I would like everyone to
+know. In my year as National Teacher of the Year, there are
+four finalists for this honor that are celebrated in their
+profession, the top teachers in the nation. Last year, three of
+those four finalists went on strike.
+ I would say to you, Mr. Scafidi, if you think this is just
+about salaries, that is not how this works. That is not how any
+of this works. My colleagues from Oklahoma, Washington, and
+LAUSD went on strike not for salaries, for resources and to
+make sure their students got what they needed.
+ So I am interested to learn--I know a lot about education.
+I know a lot about what the other members of the panel said,
+but I am trying to unpack your testimony and perhaps gain some
+valuable insight.
+ In reviewing your testimony and your previous writings, I
+found that you spent your career advocating for school choice
+and for voucher programs. In your 2015 paper, The Integration
+Anomaly, you argue that for choice to improve integration, it
+should be free from regulation. We also heard at the start of
+this hearing that the last thing schools need is more control
+from Washington.
+ Mr. Scafidi, would you categorize the Individuals with
+Disabilities Act as a regulation? Yes or no.
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes.
+ Mrs. Hayes. Yes. Would you categorize Title IX of the
+Educational Amendments of 1972 as a regulation?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes.
+ Mrs. Hayes. Would you categorize Title VI of the Civil
+Rights Act of 1964 as a regulation?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes.
+ Mrs. Hayes. Would religious private schools that accept
+vouchers be allowed to ignore any of these regulations on the
+basis of religious freedom?
+ Mr. Scafidi. In my paper, I advocated, the paper you
+referred to, that they should have to abide by civil rights
+laws.
+ Mrs. Hayes. Not what you advocated, would they be able to
+ignore any of those regulations?
+ Mr. Scafidi. It depends on the plan. It depends on how the
+bill is written or the law is written, but I would advocate
+that they should follow civil rights.
+ Mrs. Hayes. Not what you would advocate. Yes or no.
+ Mr. Scafidi. It depends on the law.
+ Mrs. Hayes. Yes, they would. Do you think that skirting
+Federal civil rights protections that are codified in
+regulations would help achieve greater integration?
+ Mr. Scafidi. No, and I wrote that they should not.
+ Mrs. Hayes. Would it make public schools safer or better
+for all students?
+ Mr. Scafidi. If--
+ Mrs. Hayes. If they were allowed to skirt the regulations.
+ Mr. Scafidi. No.
+ Mrs. Hayes. No. In my time as National Teacher of the Year,
+one of the things I was able to do was travel all around the
+country, visit over 40 states and view firsthand their
+educational opportunities, experiences, settings for kids, and
+I promise you, trust me, they do not all look the same, and we
+don't want to leave that up to states and local municipalities.
+ Can you help explain how it is possible to achieve greater
+integration through school choice without any of these
+regulations in place?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Sure. What we have done in this country in
+public education, and a lot of it is great, is making schools
+similar. We have equalized funding, which is great, but now
+states have common standards and common testing, and so schools
+are becoming more similar, so students are sorting by
+sociodemographic characteristics in this country. There is my
+study and another study by some sociologists have found that
+since 1980 or so, public school segregation increased between
+then and 2000 by race. After 2000, public school integration
+has lagged neighborhood integration. Public school integration
+by income has increased dramatically in this country since
+around 1970.
+ I think a well-designed school choice program giving, for
+example, bigger scholarships to low-income children and what
+have you, and I list a whole list in my report that you
+referred to, would promote integration, and I think that is the
+only best hope to promote integration by race and class in this
+country in schools.
+ Mrs. Hayes. I am almost at the end of my time, but I can
+assure you that I have lived, worked, educated my children in a
+Title I school district. That was not by choice. For many
+people, it is their only option. And it sounds like, under your
+plan, this idea that export the highest performers out and keep
+those people right there will not work.
+ Mr. Chair, I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you. And the gentlewoman yields back
+her time.
+ The gentleman from Tennessee, Dr. Roe.
+ Mr. Roe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ First of all, Ms. King, I want to tell you that the most
+difficult political job I ever had was president of the Towne
+Acres Elementary School PTA. I am going to start with that. And
+anyone who has ever been a school director, your life
+expectancy is not that long around the country, 3 years, I
+think. I am a public school proponent. I didn't go to
+kindergarten. They didn't have one. And the facility I started
+in was a two-room country school without indoor plumbing or
+running water. But I had great teachers. And I want to thank
+those teachers at that little country school that I started at.
+ And I want to thank the teachers at New Providence
+Elementary School I went to and then the high school I went to
+because I would not be sitting here today if I did not have a
+great public education. All of my children went to public
+schools in Johnson City, Tennessee.
+ And I think when you look at a public school, its product
+are its students and the outcome of those students and how well
+they do. That is what we should look at. In a previous life, my
+wife taught in an inner city school in Memphis when I was in
+school in Memphis, and it was much different than the rural
+system that--I now represent rural Appalachia in northeast
+Tennessee in a very rural area.
+ Now, I talked to my school director yesterday in my
+hometown who is a friend of mine, and I asked him, I said: What
+are the challenges that you have?
+ And many of you have mentioned some of those. I will go
+through them: a limited amount of money for a lot of
+compliance; No. 2, the way we fund Title I or special
+education; and, three, for him, was the English language
+learners. We have 14 teachers in our system with 8,000 students
+we have had to hire for English--limited English, and that adds
+a huge burden in cost.
+ Now, having said that, I listened to the--it sounds like
+with Dr. Contreras in their school system, we are not in a
+wealthy area. But in the last 10 years, we have invested almost
+$200 million in our schools. We have made the tough choices. I
+was a city commissioner and the local mayor, and we made those
+tough choices, and we had to raise property taxes to do it, but
+we believe in education, and we funded that.
+ There are no charter schools in the First District of
+Tennessee. There are faith-based schools in there because of
+the education that some parents want and home schoolers--we
+have sort of left them out--some people that don't feel like
+that the school system is meeting their needs. But no charter
+schools.
+ In my district, we have heavily invested in those schools
+and it is not just the facility. And I don't--I would encourage
+all of you all--many of you all probably have read M. Night
+Shyamalan's book ``I Got Schooled.'' And he mentions five
+things in his book that result in good outcomes: One is get rid
+of ineffective teachers, not many of them, but if you are
+ineffective in the classroom, you do damage. No. 2 is get the
+principal out of office and put them in the class. A good
+principal in a school is absolutely critical. And then frequent
+collaboration and feedback about what you are doing, school
+size, not these big, huge mega schools, but the smaller the
+school, not necessarily the classroom, and then adding
+classroom time, making sure that students stay in the classroom
+long enough.
+ So I think it is a local issue. And, Dr. Scafidi, I would
+like to have you comment on that. Where the Federal Government
+comes in, I know in higher education, our good friends up at
+Vanderbilt University stated that just complying with Federal
+regulations--if it came on those strings, that would be one
+thing, but it all comes with strings--adds $10,000 per student
+for their tuition, just complying with Federal regulations. It
+is ridiculous. And that goes along where you all are. You spend
+an enormous--and that is some of that big bar graph you saw.
+The other is compliance that you have had. Would you comment on
+that?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes. Just in higher ed, my prior university,
+an email went out that the university was having a job search
+for a director of institutional effectiveness. And, you know,
+economists are kind of wiseacres, so one of my colleagues
+immediately forwarded that email to the rest of us--we had all
+gotten it--and said: If you have to have a director of
+institutional effectiveness, that is prima facie evidence your
+institution isn't effective.
+ Well, now universities have offices of institutional
+effectiveness just a few years later. The compliance in higher
+ed is terrible. In K-12, it is even worse. And so when I give
+this talk to like local audiences, before I am done with the
+first paragraph the local public educators immediately blame
+State and Federal mandates.
+ I have looked at data. That is not completely true. All
+three levels of government have contributed to the staffing
+surge, but definitely compliance is an issue, yes, sir.
+ Mr. Roe. Well, I would like to have the educators that are
+here point out those things. That is something we could do to
+actually help them have more resources at a local level, is to
+reduce that somewhat.
+ Mr. Chairman, my time is expired. I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentlelady from Ohio, Ms. Fudge.
+ Ms. Fudge. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
+ And thank you all for being here today.
+ I just want to make a couple comments before I get to my
+questions. I mean, certainly, I think Dr. Foxx is right; you
+know, sometimes government is not the answer, especially when
+we have a shutdown that the President bragged he would be proud
+to own. So the leadership does make a difference.
+ Second, I think it is important for us to understand that
+education has become the civil rights issue of our time. If you
+are wealthy, you are guaranteed at least a chance at getting a
+good education; if you are poor, you are not.
+ We look at Dr. Scafidi's charts. If you just looked at them
+in a vacuum, you would assume, oh, we are spending so much more
+money on education, which, in fact, is not true. It is true in
+some places but not in others, in particular, not in my state
+where most of my schools get their local funding through
+property taxes.
+ So, if you are a community that does that and you are a
+poor community, property taxes are not the same anymore. They
+are going down every year. We are not only not giving more
+money in most instances, in some times, we are giving less,
+especially when we do things like cut the eState tax, which
+they thought was such a great idea, or we do things like cut
+corporate taxes, or we do things like say: You know what? You
+pay too much money for your property taxes.
+ It is not a tax cut; it is a tax shift. And so, as it
+funnels down, local communities get less and less. So they can
+call it what they want. It is a scam is what it really is.
+ I want to just say--I was going to actually talk to Dr.
+Scafidi about some of his charts, but after I heard his answers
+about what he thinks is onerous, I thought I would just ignore
+it.
+ I do want to recognize, I have some sorority sisters
+sitting out there--how are you all?--who have traveled here to
+hear Dr. Contreras.
+ Dr. Contreras, I have a question for you. In your
+testimony, you say that inadequate facilities, things like
+broken HVAC systems, et cetera, put students at a competitive
+disadvantage. Could you explain to me how that is?
+ Ms. Contreras. So many of our facilities have--
+ Ms. Fudge. Is your mike on?
+ Ms. Contreras. Thank you. Many of our facilities have basic
+mechanical problems, HVAC problems. As I said, there are 50--
+the average age of the facility is 52 years old. We have
+deferred maintenance needs in the amount of $800 million, and
+we have received $6 million a year for capital needs,
+maintenance needs.
+ So we have to take operations money to try to address some
+basic needs for students. In fact, when I first got to Guilford
+County, we had a HVAC issue in one middle school that cost $5
+million. It took us 3 years to fix the cooling system because
+it would have totally taken all of our capital money for the
+year. It would have depleted the budget.
+ So our students are in old classrooms, buildings with
+technology infrastructure but without modern technology. The
+students are collecting the rain in buckets.
+ Ms. Fudge. Dr. Contreras, I don't really--I need to just
+cut you off because I have one other quick question. I think
+that we get the point. I bet you could do a whole lot with
+$1.375 billion dollars. What you think? Ok.
+ Randi Weingarten, last question here quickly. When Chief
+Justice Earl Warren delivered the majority opinion in Brown v.
+Board, he stated that education was a right that must be
+available to all on equal terms. We know now that we are more
+segregated than we probably were in 1968. Can you explain to me
+how the underfunding of Title I and IDEA are creating part of
+this problem?
+ Ms. Weingarten. So, thank you, Representative Fudge.
+ The underfunding, there is a new report by AROS that showed
+that the underfunding of Title I and of IDEA together leaves
+about $580 billion dollar hole. So this is what it means: Our
+kids who have the least should get the most from the Federal
+Government.
+ We know that property taxes, as you just said, exacerbates
+inequality, but yet some of these districts are doing that
+because they are trying to fund their schools as, you know, Dr.
+Roe had said. But that is where, if it is a civil right, which
+it is, that is where we need to actually fund the schools in
+urban and rural areas where kids are not getting what they
+need.
+ And that is what we thought the Brown decision was intended
+to do, and that is what we thought IDEA and Title I is intended
+to do. So guidance counselors, nurses, lower class sizes, the
+kind of technology you need to have the engagement in career
+tech ed, Title I issues, or IDEA issues. When kids need an
+individual education plan, how do you actually make that happen
+other than the compliance?
+ Ms. Fudge. Thank you so much. My time is up. And I just
+want you to know that is the law. It is not a regulation, sir.
+ Thank you. I would yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. Guthrie.
+ Mr. Guthrie. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it.
+ And, Congresswoman Fudge, you have your sorority sisters
+here. I know you have them in Bowling Green, Kentucky, because
+you came to speak at Western Kentucky and your sorority
+sisters. So you have a wonderful group of sisters.
+ I want to start, Dr. Scafidi, teacher salary stagnation and
+the growth of nonteacher staff has gone on a long time. Why do
+you think this has not been yet addressed?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I think partly people didn't know it was going
+on. I mean, I got the idea for the paper when I first wrote it
+from public school teachers. But, again, I think there is so
+many elected officials and government employees at three levels
+of government that have a say in how our public schools are
+run, that is causing the problem.
+ I am starting new research to investigate this, and a big
+issue that I kind of forgot in my 13 layers is the courts, when
+there are school funding lawsuits periodically in states, and
+they kind of rotate around to all the states, after a school
+funding lawsuit is won for more funding for public schools,
+there is a big increase in nonteaching staff in those schools
+right after that.
+ Mr. Guthrie. Ok. Thank you.
+ And it kind of leads me into my next question. You have
+talked about the inefficiencies in our education system that
+lead to a misallocation of resources. Maybe this is your next
+paper you are talking about. Have you looked specifically at
+what decisions made by Federal, state, and local policymakers
+might be the main drivers?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Again, I am starting to investigate that, but
+in some sense, it is all of the decisions. I mean, this has
+been going on a long, long time. And people have good ideas,
+you know, legislators and state officials and Federal officials
+in saying: We should do this in the schools or that in the
+schools.
+ And then it is just layer, layer, layer on top. And, you
+know, that is a choice, right. And that money that goes to
+increasing the staff is not used in other places like building
+schools or rehabbing schools or salaries.
+ Mr. Guthrie. Ok. Thanks.
+ And then you note in your testimony that one of the
+benefits of addressing the misallocation of resources could be
+to give every teacher in the country a $12,900 raise. If we
+could reallocate resources into teacher pay, would an across-
+the-board increase provide the greatest benefit to teachers and
+students?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I don't think an across-the-board raise is the
+right answer. I would support more market-driven pay for
+teachers because I think that would get more people to come
+into the profession because then people would be paid what they
+are worth.
+ Mr. Guthrie. Ok. You know, I was in the state legislature
+in Kentucky, and we have struggled with a lot of other states
+in getting the right formula to our students and to our
+schools. And our general fund budget since I first got there,
+like 2000, was about $14 billion, and that is just property tax
+that goes with the state government, sales tax, income tax.
+Last year, I think it was $24 billion, so we have gone up $10
+billion.
+ And one of the issues we are having here is that so much
+money is now obligated, particularly like Medicaid, Medicaid
+expansion, and so forth obligates so much money, the room to
+move and to do the things I think our state citizens say: These
+are priorities we really want to move forward.
+ So I know our state legislature is struggling. I know they
+want to make it right. I think we do too, but it needs to be
+done at the right level, you know, and so right level of
+government without putting too much more bureaucracy in place
+and other things.
+ Because I always said when I was a state legislator, every
+time we would require a report, and there are a lot of bills
+that say report on this, report on that, report on--which are
+important, because if you measure it, you manage it, but it
+also requires somebody to write the report that is not teaching
+the students. So those are the, I am sure, issues that you are
+looking at.
+ And I appreciate you all being here. I appreciate you being
+here, for your testimony. And I will yield back my time.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands, Mr.
+Sablan.
+ Mr. Sablan. Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for
+holding today's hearing, and I thank the witnesses for being
+present.
+ A caveat, my two youngest are school teachers. One teaches
+English in the tenth grade and the other is a special education
+teacher, and so I do have little bit of interaction whenever I
+am home with two teachers.
+ But, Dr. Contreras, 3 months ago, the students in my
+district, in the Northern Mariana Islands, went through Super-
+Typhoon Yutu, the second strongest storm to hit U.S. soil in
+history. Multiple schools were lost, which means these students
+are now going to have their courses in FEMA-built temporary
+tent classrooms, like ones in huts.
+ Our public school system serves around 10,000 students on
+three islands on the Western Pacific where typhoons are common.
+You stated in your testimony that you have spent time teaching
+in different school districts across the nation. If you and
+your school district colleagues would design a school at this
+scale for students in this environment, what elements would you
+say are the most important?
+ Ms. Contreras. One moment. She is going to repeat what you
+said because of my hearing loss.
+ Thank you. I think certainly there are ways to design
+schools to make sure that you are less likely to experience
+some of the massive damage that you experienced in your
+district or that we experienced with three of our schools in
+Guilford County. However, that does take significant funding.
+You know, you would have to speak to someone who is an expert
+in that specific design.
+ But I think that speaks to the need for the school funding
+and for making sure that districts are receiving adequate
+funding, not just for building schools but for building schools
+that can withstand earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, which is
+more complicated, complex, and does take some additional
+funding than just renovating a school. That takes significant
+funding.
+ Mr. Sablan. Thank you. And I have another question. Not
+only is the--on the policy is--not only is the percentage of
+funding for IDEA actually at its lowest it has been in decades,
+but we also have a Secretary of Education and a President who
+failed to prioritize students with disabilities in their annual
+budgets.
+ In the Fiscal Year 2018 budget, President Trump proposed a
+massive cut to IDEA funding, and in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget
+he proposed flat funding, which would have resulted in an
+essential cut.
+ Schools in the Northern Marianas and across the nation need
+the resources to train teachers and support students with
+disabilities. In fact, in the insular areas, the Marianas,
+Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands are not included
+in the special education preschool grant program under IDEA.
+ So, Dr. Contreras, how has the deprioritization of IDEA
+funding impacted students, teachers, and decisions you have
+made about how dollars are spent?
+ Ms. Contreras. Absolutely. Not prioritizing IDEA is causing
+significant problems in schools. In fact, in Guilford County,
+we have one nurse for 1,700 students. And teachers, classroom
+teachers are having to catheterize students themselves because
+we do not have adequate staff to meet student needs.
+ We are not able to handle their transition plans
+accordingly, and we cannot provide the state-of-the-art kind of
+instruction and technology that those kids need and deserve to
+meet their IEP goals. So flat funding would not be a way, in my
+educational opinion, to meet the needs of the most vulnerable
+students in the district.
+ Mr. Sablan. Thank you. I don't mean to cut you off. I do
+have a question for Ms. King, if I may.
+ Ms. King, could you share from a parent's perspective why
+it is important to provide more funding to the Individuals with
+Disabilities Education Act to support students with
+disabilities?
+ Ms. King. Yes. Funding Title I in IDEA would give our
+children less--some less--disadvantage in schools, more
+resources that they need. We have students in our classrooms
+that the teacher-to-student ratio is huge. It is much larger.
+They can't get the one on one that they need to be successful,
+not even with creating their own individual planning for them
+to be successful inside of their schools.
+ The fact of thinking that children with special needs is
+not important to put funding to is very difficult to think
+about as a parent or as a grandparent who actually has a son
+right now that is classified as having a disability. My
+daughter is going through things right now to get him help. And
+to think that we don't think that our students need or have the
+want, the capability of having any kind of resources or funding
+is ludicrous to me as a parent.
+ Mr. Sablan. Ok. Thank you.
+ I will submit other questions for the witnesses to answer,
+but we will be holding additional hearings on IDEA and Title I.
+Thank you. Thank you very much.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Grothman.
+ Mr. Grothman. Yes, a few questions.
+ First of all, for Mr. Scafidi--I know I am pronouncing that
+wrong. There is a popular talk show host in Milwaukee spells
+his name the same way.
+ Just a followup. I noticed in one of the things that you
+prepared, over an almost 20-year period, staff was going up so
+much more than the number of students. It looks like
+nationwide, during a period in which there was an increase in
+students of 17 percent, an increase of staff of 39 percent.
+ Could you comment on that? I mean, it looks to me like
+either resources are being horribly misallocated or something
+is going on. I mean, it seems to me if you have that big of an
+increase in staff, something was going on. Could you comment on
+that?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes, sir. That was a different time period
+than what I presented today, a little bit shorter time period.
+But this has been going on for a long, long, long time. So, if
+we keep the same system, I don't know why we think it would
+change. And, second, I wouldn't care about the increase in all
+other staff if we were getting a return. It is not clear we are
+getting a return on that, and so that is why I argue that is
+inefficient.
+ Mr. Grothman. Ok. And just to look what I have here, when
+you are increasing the number of staff by about 40 percent when
+the increase in students is about 17 percent, that would not
+indicate a lack of funding, right?
+ Mr. Scafidi. No.
+ Mr. Grothman. Ok. Next question for you, something that
+just kind of mystifies me here: In the State of Wisconsin right
+now, we have a substantial budget surplus. And just doing a
+quick google, that is true of other states. Apparently, Ohio
+has a surplus of hundreds of millions of dollars too.
+ Right now, might have changed in the last couple months,
+but last time I checked, it looks like this year the Federal
+Government is going to be borrowing about 22 percent of our
+budget. I mean, irresponsible beyond belief.
+ Could you comment psychologically as to why, when you have
+two levels of government, the level of government closest to
+the people running surpluses of hundreds of millions of
+dollars, and here in Washington, we are borrowing over 20
+percent of our budget already, why, when people feel we need
+more money for schools, do they think it is the Federal
+Government who ought to be kicking in more money when we are
+broke out of our mind and the states are running surplus, and
+when the states are closest to the people so presumably would
+be able to do a better job of seeing where it should be spent
+or what ties we put with it?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes. I have actually worked for two Georgia
+Governors, a Democrat and a Republican, and it really rankles
+them that the Federal Government can spend--deficit spend--
+seemingly to a large extent, and they have balanced budget
+amendments in their states.
+ Mr. Grothman. But why would you--and I understand--it
+scares me when I hear people in education, you know, who are
+educating the next generation of children, who are apparently
+coming up here and their role model for young people is ask
+this completely broken Federal Government for more money when
+you are running surpluses locally. It just amazes me that
+anybody would do that, but comment.
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes. It is just a different system. I mean,
+the Federal Government can run deficits. The state governments
+have balanced budget amendments. And, you know, it has led to
+very different outcomes. You know, one has big fiscal problems
+and states, you know, balance their budget every year.
+ Mr. Grothman. Ok. That is true. I mean, it is just kind of
+a scary thing.
+ Next thing, people talk about teachers' pay, and I don't
+know--there is one in our papers today, but at least when I
+have looked at things in the past, frequently don't take into
+account fringe benefits. And when you take into account fringe
+benefits, I mean, very generous health benefits, very generous
+pension benefits, the gap kind of closes or disappears. Do you
+think that is true nationwide?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Sorry. I didn't hear the last part of your
+question.
+ Mr. Grothman. Is that true nationwide?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes, sir. Public school employees, and I am in
+a public university, we have very generous health and
+retirement benefits, including retiree health benefits.
+ Mr. Grothman. That is one of the reasons--
+ Mr. Scafidi. And my analysis did not take into account. I
+am just looking at salary.
+ Mr. Grothman. Ok. So, if you take into account the fringe
+benefits, maybe things disappear.
+ I will point out it bothers me when people in the education
+system try to discourage people from getting involved. I
+remember even when I was a child, I think everybody just thinks
+about being a teacher. I had a teacher who decided to take time
+out from his class and rip how much he was making. And I think,
+for people who care about education, I think people ought to
+take that into account.
+ Chairman Scott. Yield back?
+ Ms. Foxx. Do you yield back?
+ Mr. Grothman. Oh. I yield back, yes. When we are out of
+time, you can just grab it back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you very much.
+ Dr. Adams.
+ Mr. Adams. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
+ And thank you, Ranking Member.
+ And thank you to all the witnesses for being here today,
+and thank you for your testimony. Many years ago, when I was a
+member of the school board, I ran because I was an angry
+parent, and today I am an angry grandparent about what is not
+going on that should be going on.
+ But, Dr. Contreras, I want to thank you for all you do to
+educate our children back home in North Carolina. And, you
+know, there is no reason why when Guilford County Schools needs
+more than $1.5 billion in capital investment, that local and
+state school funding per student in our state has fallen 19.6
+percent since 2008 as of 2015.
+ As Dr. Contreras stated in her testimony, our state has
+increased public education funding since 2011, but the fact of
+the matter is it is just not enough. Now, I served as a member
+of the state House for 20.5 years, and I have got to tell you
+that our state legislators, not just North Carolina, but North
+Carolina specifically, need to do better.
+ We need to make public education a priority. But we cannot
+think that our schools can improve our children for the 21st
+century work force in an increasingly global economy and still
+have schools that not only not have up-to-date technology in
+workplaces but also threaten the health and safety of our
+children.
+ Dr. Contreras, can you tell me the last time Guilford
+County built a new school, and is that school up to model
+standards and codes?
+ Ms. Contreras. I do not have the--
+ Mr. Adams. You want to put your microphone on? Your
+microphone.
+ Ms. Contreras. I am sorry. I do not have the date of the
+last time we built a school, but the latest schools are built
+to current code and standards. But we have far too few that
+have been built recently. And about, as I mentioned, about half
+of them need--are rated poor, half of the schools are rated
+poor or unsatisfactory, meaning they need to be rebuilt or we
+need to demolish them and build totally new schools.
+ Mr. Adams. Ok. Now, you mentioned that Guilford County is
+stretching dollars for mobile units due to the class size
+mandate. Is North Carolina not helping counties to fund that
+mandate?
+ Ms. Contreras. The state would say they are funding the
+teachers, but that mandate has required that we increase the
+number of classrooms by about 940, which causes a problem with
+facilities.
+ We also are not funded for any of the textbooks,
+technology, and materials. And 58 percent of all new teachers
+in the district are lateral entry, have no formal training
+because of the mandate.
+ Mr. Adams. Ok. So, quickly, is learning different in the
+mobile units versus the mortar buildings, the brick and mortar?
+ Ms. Contreras. Is there a difference in the mobile units?
+ Mr. Adams. Yes, in terms of the learning of our children.
+ Ms. Contreras. I think it is obviously preferable that they
+were in the building with the rest of the students. Obviously,
+students are moving in and out of the building in bad weather,
+and we have students who are very vulnerable students in those
+mobile units. We are grateful that the tornado occurred on a
+Sunday because the mobile units were completely destroyed,
+leveled to the ground.
+ Mr. Adams. Right. That is a safety issue too.
+ You know, I have got a lot more I want to say, but I do
+want to get back to something Dr. Scafidi said in terms of all
+of the increases and--but more specifically the claim about
+nonteaching staff and their value or nonvalue. And so, Ms.
+Weingarten, if you would just give us your reaction to that,
+please.
+ Ms. Weingarten. So the title that--
+ Ms. Adams. Your microphone.
+ Ms. Weingarten. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you, Representative
+Adams. The timetable that Dr. Scafidi was talking about also
+included the timetable of the Individuals with Disabilities and
+Education Act and the Disabilities Acts, and those actually
+required that or promised that the Federal Government would
+spend 40 percent of those requirements. It only ever spent
+sixteen.
+ Mr. Adams. This is for the nonteaching folks. That is where
+I am going.
+ Ms. Weingarten. Right. This is what it means--
+ Ms. Adams. And I have only got--
+ Ms. Weingarten [continuing]. the paraprofessionals, the
+nurses, the psychologists, the social workers, all of the
+physical and other kind of hardware and instructional supplies.
+And all of that, if you did an audit, you would, I think, see
+that most of the nonteacher increases in schools across America
+was because of the needs in IDEA.
+ Mr. Adams. Thank you very much. And, you know, just one
+point, we need all of those individuals to help facilitate the
+learning that has to go on in the classroom that students do
+need that support.
+ Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Banks.
+ Mr. Banks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Dr. Scafidi, your testimony was quite compelling. And I
+want to go back for a moment to your definition of teachers
+versus everybody else. Are you aware of any Federal definitions
+that do lay out the difference between in the classroom versus
+out of the classroom cost in education?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Well, the NCES, National Center for Education
+Statistics, right down the street, they have a definition of
+who is a teacher and who is not. And they ask states to report
+that data to them in that way.
+ Mr. Banks. Do those definitions perhaps change from state-
+to-state as to how they are quantified at the state level
+versus the Federal definition?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I have worked a lot with state personnel data,
+and states have what are called job codes, and so each public
+school employee has a job code. And so states could have
+different definitions, but they are supposed to conform to the
+Federal definition when they report it to the state--sorry,
+report to the Federal Government.
+ Mr. Banks. In my state, the State of Indiana, there is
+currently legislation working through the state legislature
+that would provide more transparency when it comes to in the
+classroom versus administrative costs in education. Is that the
+answer?
+ Is that the way to go, greater transparency of these dollar
+figures to show the American people, in my case to show
+Hoosiers, the incredible statistics that you shared with us in
+your testimony, or is there a better way to go? Should we
+mandate certain metrics of in the classroom versus
+administrative cost, in your opinion?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I think transparency is a great thing because
+it lets public school employees, teachers, parents, taxpayers,
+elected officials see the tradeoffs, and then they can make
+better decisions, so, yes.
+ Mr. Banks. Do you have any examples of where you have seen
+that type of transparency effectively drive down that startling
+metric that you provided before?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Not yet. There are strong forces against
+transparency, so--
+ Mr. Banks. What are those strong forces?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Often State departments of education, they
+report spending on their website, you know, how much we spend
+in public schools, they often exclude funds. In my State of
+Georgia, we exclude well over $3 billion a year in funding. And
+so, when state legislators are debating education, when the
+newspaper is talking about how much we spend in public schools,
+they report the official number that is over $3.5 billion less
+than the truth.
+ And the website is very Orwellian. It has a spreadsheet
+that says here is how much we spend in each district. It has
+the categories. Then, if you scroll down below the spreadsheet,
+it has a list of included funds and a bunch of fund codes over
+there. Then it has excluded funds and a bunch of fund codes. So
+we just exclude funding from the total. That seems silly.
+ Mr. Banks. Along those lines, is it your opinion that
+Federal mandates and Federal involvement in K-12 education has
+driven up that ``everything else'' category?
+ Mr. Scafidi. If you listen to public school officials at
+the local level, that is the first thing they will say. And
+that appears to be true, yes.
+ Mr. Banks. Well, thank you very much. Again, your testimony
+is quite compelling. I hope to share it with everybody that I
+know back home because it makes an incredible case for how we
+can do what we need to do to award teachers the salaries that
+they deserve for the important work that they do. Thank you
+very much.
+ I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentlelady from Washington, Ms. Jayapal.
+ Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for
+your incredible commitment to this issue for so long.
+ I am a mother of a proud public school kid, and I just want
+to say thank you so much to all three of you that have done so
+much work for our public education system.
+ Last week, I met with this amazing group of dedicated
+teachers from my home State of Washington, and they showed me
+this very simple but disturbing photograph that echoes what,
+Ms. Weingarten, you mentioned and many of you have talked
+about, which is a thermostat at 52 degrees Fahrenheit when the
+kids came in the morning.
+ A teacher at that school, Mrs. Copeland, later showed me a
+picture of her and a student sitting on a lab bench warming
+their feet over a hot plate. That is what this is: a hot plate.
+And she wrote to me, and she said: By the fifth period, I
+didn't care anymore about decorum. We had kids huddled over hot
+plates all day to try to stay and get warm. Sergio came to me
+asking if he could go to another classroom so that he could get
+warm. It about broke my heart. Tommy and I both found blankets
+for our kids, and I brought in any extra warm clothes I had.
+ These are our public schools. These are not shelters. They
+are our public schools. And it is just crazy to me that we
+would not be investing everything we can into making sure that
+our kids and our teachers and our communities have the
+resources they need.
+ So my first question is to Ms. Weingarten. In your
+testimony, you expose how teachers are often forced to make do
+with inadequate and often very dangerous working conditions.
+Can you tell us why giving teachers more latitude to meet
+children's needs could improve student achievement and what
+that looks like?
+ Ms. Weingarten. So, yes. Thank you--
+ Ms. Jayapal. Turn on your microphone.
+ Ms. Weingarten. Sorry. Thank you, Congresswoman.
+ You know, there are actually some studies that show that
+when you have collective bargaining in schools, that teachers
+can actually sculpt the conditions in their schools to what
+their kids need. And, frankly, they do not start with salaries,
+as you have heard before. They start with things like nurses
+and guidance counselors, even though they know that they need
+higher salaries.
+ But there is a recent EPI study, which we can put in the
+record, that shows that collective bargaining, especially,
+frankly, with this ability to strike, actually does far more
+than any kind of other market conditions to create the
+conditions in schooling.
+ And so what you see, to answer your question directly, we
+see teachers of kids with special needs who are out there all
+the time talking about ensuring that those kids get the
+instructional materials they need.
+ We see that, when the debate was raging about the ACA and
+Medicaid expansion, it was superintendents and teachers that
+were out there saying, ``We need the equipment,'' like
+wheelchairs, like other kinds of catheterization equipment that
+Dr. Contreras was talking about so that kids can be educated in
+the mainstream.
+ But what happens is that they actually know the needs of
+their kids and want to start with well-being and an engagement,
+and they will often forsake their own salaries in order to
+actually get the needs that kids need.
+ Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Ms. Weingarten.
+ I think that was made clear with teacher strikes where
+teachers were not just advocating for their own salaries. They
+were advocating with the community, with their families, for
+all of the resources.
+ Ms. King, thank you so much for your moving testimony. I
+hope you don't ever stop being passionate about schools and
+education. It is a blessing for all of us.
+ You mentioned in your testimony that, from 2010 to 2015
+low-income student enrollment grew by 4 percent, becoming the
+majority of public school students. Despite the increase in
+low-income student enrollment, Title I funding for schools has
+essentially remained the same. So can you tell me how we are
+supporting today's increasingly diverse learners?
+ Ms. King. We aren't. More money doesn't mean that our kids
+are getting educated. As Dr. Scafidi has said on many times, we
+are having more staff and more funding for these schools. Our
+schools are crumbling in the education system. Our schools are
+having more students attend with less money.
+ In Title I schools, I am a parent that has had children
+that graduated from a Title I school and a school that I serve
+as a PTA leader right now is a Title I school. And the funding
+that they have doesn't help them with the needs of the children
+in the schools when we are talking about counselors, when we
+are talking about books in the classroom, technology, and any
+and everything that we need for our students is important.
+ Title I right now is a big issue across the country with
+funding. And a lot of people think that the more funding that
+you get, that your schools will be successful, and they are not
+because they don't have a lot of funding, as the person to my
+left, Dr. Scafidi, has personally stated that it is working and
+that we have to have some kind of mechanism to make sure that
+it is working.
+ OK. So I am nervous right now. I am getting nervous.
+ Ms. Jayapal. No problem. You are doing great. I am out of
+time, so let me just say that this is, I think, an incredibly
+important issue in my state. Washington state was actually--the
+state supreme court actually ruled that the state was not
+meeting its constitutional obligation to fund public education
+way back in 2012, and we finally are correcting that situation
+and putting more in, but we need Congress to act.
+ Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Allen.
+ Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Scott.
+ And thank you, panel, for being here with us. I switched
+chairs and--but I am glad to be able to hear what we are
+covering in this hearing.
+ One of the first things that I wanted to clear up was, Dr.
+Scafidi, you indicated in your research that the surge in
+nonteaching staff in our schools, and point out that this surge
+have significantly boosted--hasn't significantly boosted
+achievement. Many staff in nonteaching positions provide our
+schools valuable leadership and services.
+ Could you clear up: Are you saying nonteaching staff aren't
+needed, or can you clear that up a little bit, be a little
+clear about what you see--where you see the real problem is
+and, of course, like bus drivers and things like that? Can you
+give us some feedback as far as your research on that?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes. Absolutely, nonteaching staff are crucial
+and essential, but the issue is in what numbers and in what
+capacities. And so I guess I have to ask: Where does it end?
+That is one reason why I started my data in 1992 in my main
+analysis. Like Ms. Weingarten said, you know, in the 1970's, we
+started paying attention to special needs students, which was
+great and long overdue. And that led to a big increase in
+staff. But it is still going on today, and it is even going on
+literally in the school year right now, which is after my data.
+So the question is, where does it end?
+ Mr. Allen. As far as--well, my parents were farmers and
+educators. My dad served on the Board of Education. We lived
+education. Growing up I didn't have a choice. And, of course,
+now, in my role as Republican leader on the Early Childhood,
+Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee, I am going to
+be traveling the country to look at, you know, K-12 education,
+see what is being done.
+ But I think, you know, where we are innovating, where we
+are doing the things we need to do, and then certainly, you
+know, what I have learned here today. I mean, it is shameful
+some of the things that we are seeing here today.
+ But I do want to congratulate you on our success in
+Georgia. We have had great leadership in Georgia. Obviously,
+one of the fastest growing states in--I mean, we added 800,000
+jobs. GDP, economic growth has a lot to do with education and
+as far as innovation in education.
+ You know, one of the things I realized in serving on this
+committee is how do you motivate young people. I mean, this
+one-size-fits-all, top-down approach, this does not seem to
+work. We are seeing that in Georgia, you know, for example,
+themed schools, things like that, that really get students
+motivated.
+ Could you give us a little background on how we are
+accomplishing so much in Georgia because, I mean, we have, you
+know, in my district, we pretty much have all new schools. And
+so can you talk about how you have worked in Georgia to make it
+what I think is, you know, one of the best school systems in
+the country right now?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes. I can talk to you long, but I will just
+tell one quick story. In 2003, I used to have lunch every week
+with Superintendent Kathy Cox, the state school Superintendent.
+I had only been, you know, working for Governor Perdue for a
+couple weeks.
+ And she said: Ben, can you ask the Governor if we can move
+this one position in the State Department to be like the AP
+coordinator?
+ And I said: Yes.
+ And she said: Don't you have to ask the Governor?
+ I said: Well, I will ask forgiveness later. I said: Of
+course, he'll support this.
+ She said: Are you sure?
+ And I said: Yes.
+ She said: Well, you know, you have to call the budget
+director.
+ And so I pulled out my cellphone, and, you know, I called
+the budget director and said: Can you move one position from X
+to AP?
+ So this person, she was a teacher before. She drove around
+to every low-income school in Georgia and said: Here is how
+there is Federal resources--sorry, state resources and AP--
+college board resources to put AP programs in your schools.
+ And so, in Georgia now, I wrote a paper on this years
+later, disadvantaged students and also minority students are
+more likely to take AP than similarly situated students not in
+those categories. Florida had the same results. They did it
+with Jeb Bush. So, yes, you can do more if you use your
+resources quite well.
+ Mr. Allen. Exactly. And that is why I mentioned that,
+again, this top-down, one-size-fits-all concept is not really
+working. One of the biggest complaints that I hear is where we
+have funding for X and the school system needs Y and they can't
+do anything about it. So there is very little room to do the
+kind of things we need to do and innovate.
+ My time is up. And I yield back, sir.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentlelady from Georgia, Mrs. McBath.
+ Mrs. McBath. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ I would like to thank my colleague, Mr. Morelle for
+switching spots with me.
+ Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for holding this hearing
+today.
+ And I would like to thank the witnesses for being here and
+for their prepared testimonies and your remarks.
+ In my home State of Georgia, our Governor Brian Kemp, has
+called for a $3,000 permanent salary increase for certified
+Georgia teachers in his proposed budget. In his State of the
+Union address, he delivered--or excuse me, State of the State
+address he delivered last month, he said, and I quote: To
+enhance educational outcomes and build a 21st century state, we
+must invest in those who educate, inspire, and lead our
+students. To recruit and retain the best and brightest our
+schools, we must remove heavy burdens in the classroom and keep
+teacher pay competitive.
+ Now, I believe this is truly a step in the right direction,
+and I applaud our Governor Kemp for making the hardworking
+teachers of Georgia a priority. In 2017, the average teacher
+salary in Georgia was $55,532, and we are paying our teachers
+less than the national average.
+ On top of that, in 2015, the Georgia Professional Standards
+Commission reported that 44 percent of the state's public
+school teachers leave the education profession within the first
+5 years of employment.
+ To find out why the rate is so high, the Georgia Department
+of Education in 2015 conducted a survey of 53,000 teachers, and
+the study included elementary, middle, and high school teachers
+with varying years of experience. And the results were truly
+striking.
+ Two out of three teachers who responded to the survey said
+that they were unlikely or very unlikely to recommend teaching
+as a profession to a student about to graduate from high
+school. The teachers also reported that they feel devalued and
+constantly under pressure. Now, we must address this, and we
+must make sure that we are attracting and retaining the best
+and the brightest educators in our schools.
+ My question is for Dr. Weingarten. Your testimony speaks to
+what led to this national movement across the country, and we
+are seeing that very thing now in Denver. Teachers are
+galvanized for increased school support. Can you speak to where
+we are now and the work that is left to ensure the success of
+teachers?
+ Ms. Weingarten. So teachers--as you were talking,
+Representative, I was thinking back to when I was the President
+of The Teachers Union in New York City. And Mayor Bloomberg and
+I didn't agree on much, but we agreed that in order to have the
+best and the brightest, there needed to be significant salary
+increases.
+ And over the course--we just did an op-ed last year on
+this--over the course of 6 years, we were able to negotiate an
+increase in pay of 43 percent so that people could actually
+live in the neighborhoods in which they taught, which is what
+people want.
+ So what you are seeing in--but what teachers will tell you
+is that they are very shy about talking about their own wage
+increases. They would rather work two or three jobs instead of
+talk about that. And it could be psychological. It could be--
+you know, whatever.
+ But they will tell you there are two things. And the
+research, Ingersoll's research, other research will say: It is
+about the latitude by which to do our jobs, the conditions we
+need to actually meet the needs of children. That is No. 1. And
+No. 2 is, can we actually pay our bills including student debt,
+which is greater and greater, which is why the public service
+loan forgiveness is so important?
+ And what you are seeing in all these strikes is that people
+are actually focused on the top-of-the-mind issue. So that is
+why, in Los Angeles, they were focused on nurses in schools,
+guidance counselors in schools to meet mental health and well-
+being issues, that the issue of people feeling afraid, as you
+know so well, about the safety of communities.
+ So but it is really, what are the conditions I need to do
+my job? And, second, am I being paid enough so that I can
+afford my student loan issues as well as my own family's needs?
+ Mrs. McBath. Thank you so much. And I appreciated hearing
+your remarks about the lack of state funding for public
+education after the Great Recession.
+ And, Dr. Contreras, my question for you, could you talk a
+little bit more about how underinvestment in the public
+education system impacts the economy?
+ Ms. Contreras. I believe that we know that the academic
+outcomes of students is related to the education of the parent
+and the socioeconomic status of the parent. So, when parents do
+not have jobs and we are not investing in the community and in
+schools, you continue to see the sort of persistent
+underachievement from generation to generation. It is important
+that we address this situation, or we will be talking about
+this for the next 50 years.
+ Mrs. McBath. Thank you so much.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. Comer.
+ Mr. Comer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ And, Dr. Scafidi, there is no question that everyone on
+this committee in both parties want to support every child in
+public education, and we want to do everything we can to change
+the schools that are low performing. In your experience, what
+do we need to know about what works in improving low-performing
+schools, and how should that inform policymakers at all levels?
+ Mr. Scafidi. We should be very humble. I think in the large
+part, we don't know how to turn around low-performing schools.
+And even if there is a study that says this one program worked
+with these two schools, that was idiosyncratic. You know, you
+had one really good guru go in and help turn around those
+schools, but is that person replicable? So I would be very
+humble about having any programs at any level of government to
+turn around, you know, low-performing schools.
+ Mr. Comer. As you know, Congress passed the Every Student
+Succeeds Act in 2015. However, the role of testing continues to
+be debated. What advice do you have for us as we consider the
+role assessments should play in evaluating school performance?
+ Mr. Scafidi. There is a lot of new research in the last few
+years, very new research that the state-based tests, you know,
+states--tests created by states or Consortium of states are not
+super predictive of later-life outcomes for students.
+ So I don't know the exact flexibility ESSA gives on
+testing. I am not an expert on that flexibility. But I think
+states should look to switch to more norm-referenced testing,
+you know, using tests that have been around a long, long time
+instead of these state-based tests. It seems like states aren't
+great at making their own tests.
+ Mr. Comer. Right. And let me say this: I went to public
+schools. My wife went to public schools. And our three children
+now go to public schools. And it does seem that there has been
+a big change in teaching from the time when my wife and I were
+in school compared to our students today. And a lot of people
+wonder if we are, in public education, spending too much time
+teaching for the test instead of teaching basic skills. Is that
+something that you have encountered in your research?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Well, I have encountered that in real life.
+For nine years, we lived in a rural area in Georgia, and about
+day three, my kids, when they were in second grade, my two
+oldest, they were scared of something called the CRCT, the
+Criteria-Referenced Competency Test.
+ But here is the rub: I don't think policymakers, the
+business community, parents want to go back to the 1990's,
+where we just sort of give a bunch of money to the public
+education system and say, ``We are going to trust you.''
+ I think schools are going to be held accountable one way or
+the other, and it is either going to be through some kind of
+centralized system, like we do now, or it is going to be
+through a decentralized system where parents hold schools
+accountable directly when they make choices of where to go to
+school. And we have just got to pick as a society what do we
+think is best for students.
+ Mr. Comer. And I certainly support public education and
+have a lot of respect for teachers. I believe classroom
+teachers are underpaid when you consider the education that
+they are required to have to teach as well as the number of
+students, and they can't pick or choose which students they
+want to teach like in many private schools. Public school
+teachers inherit whatever they are given. And because of that,
+I have always had great respect for teachers. My mother was a
+public school teacher.
+ One of the things that I have noticed with respect to
+teachers' pay in the school systems in Kentucky, in my
+congressional district, and Congressman Guthrie touched on this
+a little bit, is the fact that the budgets have actually
+increased even though teachers pay, classroom teachers pay, has
+not increased significantly.
+ And it appears in most school systems, in Kentucky anyway,
+that the highest salaries, aside from the superintendent, are
+in the central office. And I have always believed that--and
+when I say ``central office,'' I am talking about
+administration. I have always believed that the three highest
+paid employees in the school system should be the
+superintendent, the principal, and the classroom teachers,
+because many classroom teachers are like me in business or most
+Americans want to make the most money. And I feel like we need
+to reprioritize where we pay the highest salaries in public
+education.
+ Mr. Scafidi. I think if we had a choice-based system of
+education, the compensation across different types of public
+school employees would be very different. And I think their
+most important staff, the teachers, would be the big winners.
+ Mr. Comer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentlelady from Pennsylvania, Ms. Wild.
+ Ms. Wild. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Thank you to all of you for being here to address this very
+important subject.
+ I am the mother of two children who are now in their 20's.
+Both of them were educated in a very fine public school
+district in Pennsylvania, which happens to be immediately
+adjacent to a very distressed school district. And I worked in
+the school district that was distressed. I went home to the
+school district that was better funded and where the children's
+outcomes were significantly better. So I feel as though, at
+least from the outside, I have seen it.
+ Ms. King, I also want to thank you for your role with the
+PTA. I was very active in my children's school's PTO
+organizations throughout their elementary school years until my
+children banned me from ever entering their school when they
+got to middle school, at which point I stopped. But it is
+important work that is done.
+ There are so many questions that could be asked here, but I
+want to direct my first question to you, Dr. Contreras, because
+by my count, you have either taught or been in five different
+school districts over the course of your career. Is that
+correct?
+ Ms. Contreras.
+ [Nonverbal response.]
+ Ms. Wild. Yes?
+ And Illinois, Georgia, Rhode Island, New York, and North
+Carolina?
+ Ms. Contreras.
+ [Nonverbal response.]
+ Ms. Wild. So I assume you have seen some schools that have
+better funding than others. Is that fair to say?
+ Ms. Contreras. With respect to facilities, I have, yes.
+ Ms. Wild. Ok. Can you speak just to that issue then, the
+issue--what you have seen based on your personal experience in
+five different school districts about how the students do when
+they have better facilities?
+ Ms. Contreras. So I will say that I have dedicated my
+career primarily to working in poor communities, but there are
+some states that do contribute more to funding their capital
+needs. So, in Georgia, I did see that the school facilities
+were much newer and that students had a greater opportunity to
+participate in career technical education programs because of
+the educational suitability.
+ So it wasn't just a matter of maintaining the buildings;
+they actually could participate in programming that helped them
+with career education and, you know, career college readiness.
+I just implore us all to not simply look at data, which is
+important, but also to believe what we see what our own eyes
+and hear from the one-sixth of U.S. population that spends
+eight hours in our schools every single weekday who are telling
+us that they are struggling with dilapidated schools, with
+significant environmental issues, and that is what I have seen
+primarily throughout my 26, 27 years in education.
+ Ms. Wild. And do you consider digital connectivity to be
+part of a school's infrastructure?
+ Ms. Contreras. It is absolutely necessary, yes.
+ Ms. Wild. And have you taught in school districts where the
+students did not have access to computers or laptops or
+whatever?
+ Ms. Contreras. Absolutely. So I am in a district where we
+have 100 percent connectivity, but the students do not have
+devices.
+ Ms. Wild. And what about those same students when they go
+home? Do you have any kind of information, even anecdotal,
+about their ability to access the internet and other learning
+tools?
+ Ms. Contreras. We know that quite a few of the students do
+have internet connectivity or access to the internet. We don't
+know about their access to devices, but in primarily poor
+areas, this is going to become an issue for our families. So,
+not only do they not have access in school in many communities,
+they go home and they also do not have access, widening the
+opportunity gap for these children.
+ Ms. Wild. Thank you.
+ I have one series of questions--or one question for Dr.
+Scafidi, if I may. Your written testimony and your testimony
+today talks about the big increase in all other staff. What
+kinds of employees do you include in all other staff? Do you
+include librarians?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes.
+ Ms. Wild. And school psychologists?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes.
+ Ms. Wild. Guidance counselors?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes.
+ Ms. Wild. Reading specialists?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes, ma'am.
+ Ms. Wild. Tutors?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes, ma'am.
+ Ms. Wild. School bus drivers?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes, ma'am.
+ Ms. Wild. So all of those fall into that all other staff
+category, as well?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Correct.
+ Ms. Wild. Do you dispute that any of those categories are
+necessary in today's schools?
+ Mr. Scafidi. No, I do not.
+ Ms. Wild. Thank you. That is all I have.
+ Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Taylor.
+ Mr. Taylor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ I appreciate this hearing, and this is certainly an
+important topic. I know, in my time in the state legislature, I
+was a strong advocate for increasing teacher pay, and it was
+incredibly frustrating to me to see what Dr. Scafidi you really
+pointed out here in your testimony today. And I just--and I
+think there is confusion about this. I mean, even in this
+hearing, I hear confusion about this. I mean, so, in 1992, we
+were spending $5,626 per child, and then, in real dollars in
+2016, we are now spending $13,847. So, in real dollars on a
+per-child basis in public education in America today, we are
+spending a lot more than we were when I went to public school,
+right? Is that a fair statement or surmise from your testimony
+so far?
+ Mr. Scafidi. That is correct.
+ Mr. Taylor. Ok. So we are spending a lot more money on
+public education on a per-child basis in real dollars since
+when Van Taylor was in public school back in the eighties,
+right? So what is frustrating to me is that teacher pay is
+basically flat. So we are spending more, but teacher pay is
+flat. And, again, there is confusion about that. I mean, even
+in this hearing, I have heard people saying, you know, sort of
+saying we are cutting--we are not investing enough. Well, we
+are investing more and more and more, but it is not going to
+the teachers. And I was very frustrated at my time in the
+legislature. I was very happy that this legislative session the
+Governor of Texas and the Speaker/Lieutenant Governor made it
+an emergency item and said, ``This is something really
+important; we are going pay teachers more,'' as they try to
+restructure education.
+ So, do parents--Dr. Scafidi, in your experience, do parents
+understand that the funding is going up, but it is not going to
+the teachers? I mean, it is clear to me that some of my
+colleagues don't understand that, but do parents understand
+that in your experience and your time in Georgia or elsewhere?
+ Mr. Scafidi. In my experience, you know, talking to parents
+when I was working at the state level, but also just in my
+kids' public schools parents do know about the increase in all
+other staff, and they talk about the number of assistant
+principals, you know, curriculum specialists curriculum
+directors. They do witness that. I am not sure they know about
+the increase in real spending.
+ Mr. Taylor. Why is that? I mean, I am very blessed to
+represent some really phenomenal public schools in my district,
+and I refer to them frequently as the crown jewels of my
+community, and they are clearly the driving force for why I
+represent a successful district or why I have a successful
+community. We have got great public schools. But even then, I
+find lot of confusion about the actual funding per child. There
+is a lot of confusion about what is spent. I hear people that
+really should know better saying we are spending $7,000 a kid,
+or we are spending--and then when you do the math, you do the
+total dollars divided by the number of kids and the per capita
+it is very different. And, actually, you spoke a little bit
+about that earlier about excluding certain numbers, excluding
+certain funds. Can you speak more about that in your
+experience?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes. I will tell another true story. One time
+I was sitting at my office, you know, we had caller ID, and the
+phone rang. And it said call transferred from the president of
+the university's office. I was like: Oh, no, what did I do now?
+ I answer the phone.
+ They said: Call transfer.
+ I said: Ok.
+ And the person said his name--I thought this was made up--
+he said his name was Mick Zais, the state school Superintendent
+of South Carolina. And so I am quickly googling it because I
+thought it was one of my friends pranking me, but that is a
+real person actually, and I believe he is up here now.
+ He said: This report, Dr. Scafidi, and it says we are not
+telling the Feds how many people work in our public schools.
+ I said: Well, yes, you guys have not told us how many
+people work in your public schools for decades.
+ And he said: What? I am going to fix that.
+ I said: Ok.
+ So he said: What do I do?
+ I said: Have a transparency button on the home page of your
+DOE website at the state level and just have three or four
+graphs that are very easy to understand, show the increase in
+spending, show the increase in staff relative to the increase
+in students, things like that, make it really simple so that
+parents and taxpayers and elected officials can know this.
+ And he did that.
+ But then he left office, and I went to go get that link
+because I was going put it in a paper, and the link was there,
+but it said the page had been taken off. We just need very
+simple transparency, and then people will understand.
+ Mr. Taylor. Sure. And I appreciate this hearing and this
+purpose because the key to great education is parental
+involvement.
+ And, Ms. King, I appreciate your involvement as a parent.
+The PTA members are so important for our public schools in
+Collin County, and it is local control, and it is great
+teachers. And if you are not paying teachers enough, you are
+not going to have great teachers. So I think it is really a
+question of local districts making the investment in teachers.
+ Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from New York, Mr. Morelle.
+ Mr. Morelle. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, first of all, for
+holding this critically important hearing and for all the work
+that you are doing and also thank you to the panelists for
+being here. All of you make significant contributions, and if
+it is ok I will give a special shout out to Ms. Weingarten for
+her long leadership in my home State of New York and all the
+incredible contributions she has made and is now making
+nationally.
+ In my district Rochester, New York, I as a state
+legislator, authored two different phases of school
+modernization totaling probably about $8 million in
+construction dollars, something I am proud of but really
+scratches the surface of what we need to do in one urban school
+district in upstate New York, which has just shy of 30,000
+students.
+ But school modernization and school reconstruction is
+beyond just brick and mortar, and I am sort of interested, Dr.
+Scafidi, in some of the things you said, which I found
+fascinating, but I actually take a different--I guess reach a
+different conclusion than you might or others have. I think it
+is important to look at the expansion of nonteaching personnel
+in the schools, but to me the importance of that is sort of
+drilling down and figuring out why. People don't just hire
+folks for no reason, and I thought, Ms. Weingarten, your
+comments relative to it were right on point in the sense that
+there are other needs now, and that is sort of what I want to
+get into.
+ More and more, in areas of high poverty in particular,
+there are multiple needs that children face, family needs,
+needs that the schools weren't intentioned to have to deal with
+nor do they necessarily have the expertise or the authority. So
+bringing more services into the schools where kids, frankly,
+are a lot of the day seems to me part of the rationale for the
+increase in the nonpedagogical staff there. So that is just my
+comment about the testimony that you gave, and I think it is
+important, but I reach I think in my mind a different
+conclusion.
+ Child poverty in Rochester ranks third in the nation, and
+something that we are--even as we are rebuilding the schools.
+ But I wanted to ask Ms. Weingarten, if I might, in your
+testimony, you talked about the importance of fully funding
+Title I to support schools that serve poor students. And I just
+wanted to get your thoughts as I was talking about health
+services, social services, human services, educational service,
+all sort of combining, how important are those resources? When
+you think about particularly low-income schools, just your
+thoughts on trying to combine those services, integrating them
+and how important that is in the welfare and the development of
+children.
+ Ms. Weingarten. So, No. 1, I want to give a shout out to
+Chairman Scott and those who did ESSA because they read and saw
+the research then, and that is why they kind of reenvisioned
+and recreated Title IV of ESSA, which is specifically intended
+to fund these things. The Aspen Institute and frankly any
+school teacher--Congresswoman Hayes will tell you this, as
+well--we have shifted to thinking about the well-being of
+children as first and foremost. You need to meet the needs of
+children before you can get to their instructional needs, and
+so that is part of the reason why schools that have these
+panoply of services, community schools, mental health services,
+physical health services, after-school childcare are really
+important in terms of not just custodial care but to the social
+economic well-being of kids, and so that is absolutely
+imperative. There is a lot of research around that.
+ Mr. Morelle. I very much appreciate that. I also, it seems
+to me--and I had the benefit of being married to what is now a
+retired middle school teacher, and I think, no disrespect to
+elementary or secondary education teachers, but I think there
+is a special place in heaven for middle school teachers.
+ But I did want to ask Ms. King, and thank you for your
+testimony, but in your mind, what does effective family
+engagement in the schools look like?
+ Ms. King. Family engagement--
+ Mr. Morelle. Your microphone, I'm sorry.
+ Ms. King. I am sorry about that. Because I want to read
+something that we have from National PTA. National PTA believes
+that there are four guiding principles to effective family
+engagement. First is inclusive, so that all families are valued
+and engaged. Second is individualized to meet the unique needs
+of each family and student. Third, it is integrated into the
+school system as part of the job responsibility, calendars, and
+instructional priorities. Last, it is impactful so that all
+families have the information and tools to make their child's
+potential a reality.
+ So, as a parent, what that says to me is that family
+engagement is a two-way communication. It empowers and it
+engages between families and the schools. Families no longer
+are being viewed as an enemy but as a child's partner with the
+teachers and the staffs inside of the schools. And by engaging
+and empowering families and parents in a meaningful way and
+including families on decisionmakings on the committees, not
+because you were told to but because you want to, says a lot
+and that you are valued and that your voice matters. So
+anything that involves family engagement is a plus for a
+school.
+ Mr. Morelle. Thank you.
+ Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Wright.
+ Mr. Wright. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ I want to thank all of you for being here today, and I want
+you to know that I, too, get a little passionate about this
+issue. My late wife was a school teacher and a darn good one.
+My dad was a school teacher, went back and got his masters in
+counseling and guidance and became a high school counselor. I
+have always supported public schools. I served on the Board of
+Directors of the Education Foundation in Mansfield, Texas. It
+was a great experience. We engaged the private sector, engaged
+businesses, and raised and continue to raise millions of
+dollars and gave away millions of dollars for teacher grants in
+the Mansfield School District and greatly enhanced what they
+were able to do because I can tell you that there were times
+that my wife and I dipped into our own personal bank account to
+benefit her classroom, and I think that story plays out all
+over America with every public school teacher probably in the
+country.
+ But I also get passionate about when school children are
+denied the quality education they could have because of bad
+decisions and sometimes downright stupidity of adults when it
+comes to allocating education dollars. And, Dr. Scafidi, the
+information you provided today is disturbing, although I can't
+say I am shocked by it. But one of the most salient facts is
+the fact that, since 2016, the majority of public school
+employees in the United States are not teachers. That kind of
+hits home with me and that we have had these increases in
+spending across the country that didn't go to teachers, didn't
+go to the classroom, and I know that there is a lot of jobs in
+every school district that are important to the education of
+school children. I am not going argue that point, but I would
+say that when the majority of employees are not teachers, it is
+upside down because they are the ones that are delivering more
+than anybody else the education. They are the ones that are
+spending time with those students. And so I share my colleague
+from Collin County's frustration with the level of spending
+that goes to children, and I will tell you that if school
+districts are--and I know that a lot of this 736 percent, you
+know, nonteacher employees are administrators, and I am not
+here to beat up administrators. I know they are important, too.
+But I also know there has been a huge spike, a huge increase in
+the number of administrators vis and vis teachers. Would you
+know what that number is or what that percentage is?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I do not.
+ Mr. Wright. Ok. Well, we both know it is a significant
+number. And here is the thing--because all of us on this
+committee want a quality education for every child in America;
+there is no question about that. How we deliver that is
+something we can have an honest debate about, but if a school
+district or a state is choosing to spend their money on more
+administrators instead of teachers, that is a bad decision in
+my opinion. If they are spending more money on administrators
+for additional administrators than fixing the plumbing in their
+buildings, that is a bad decision in my opinion.
+ So my concern with what we are talking about today, and,
+Mr. Chairman, I applaud the good intentions of what you are
+trying to achieve is there is no accountability here. And we
+are going to wind up subsidizing the bad decisions that have
+been made when it comes to the allocation of education dollars
+at the local and state level.
+ As Mr. Taylor just mentioned in the State of Texas, we have
+right now our legislature is meeting, and the state Senate,
+they have already filed a bill to increase teacher pay by
+$5,000 a year. That is a good thing. But this is what we are
+talking about today, these grants, do not do anything to impact
+the performance nationwide of students, and that should be the
+goal: to improve student performance.
+ And let me tell you: I get it as far as how crumbling
+infrastructure can affect the environment of people, student
+and teacher alike. I was in high school before I ever attended
+a school with air-conditioning. And if you haven't sat in a
+classroom in August in Texas, believe me, you will appreciate
+air-conditioning. So I get it, believe me. But there is no
+accountability here. And the last thing Congress should be
+doing is subsidizing bad decisions that have been made at the
+local level. And I have a real problem with that.
+ Let me ask you, based on all the studies you have seen, is
+there any correlation between student performance, improvement
+in student performance, and additional administrators?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Not to my knowledge.
+ Mr. Wright. Is there a study that--I mean, intuitively we
+all know this, but is there a study that would indicate any
+correlation between student performance and the quality of the
+infrastructure of a classroom or school building?
+ Mr. Scafidi. The evidence on that is mixed, and I think
+that is because of what Dr. Contreras said is--in some areas,
+we need more and better facilities, and some we don't, so--
+ Mr. Wright. Well, I would certainly, you know, advocate for
+air-conditioned buildings in Texas based on my own experience.
+ Chairman Scott. The gentleman's time has expired.
+ Mr. Wright. Ok. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentlelady from Connecticut, Mrs. Hayes.
+ Mrs. Hayes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ So many things. You put an educator on the Education and
+Labor Committee, you should see the notes I have on this paper.
+So I am going try to reel myself in so that I don't run down my
+time. I didn't realize that one of my colleagues that I spoke
+about earlier Shawn Sheehan from Oklahoma is in the room. I am
+glad you are here.
+ We hear lot about regulations, and, Mr. Scafidi, you talked
+about how schools should be free from regulation. So not a
+question, a statement. I am glad that my colleague Marcia Fudge
+brought in the fact that these are not regulations; these are
+laws. That is what I was getting to. So just rest on this for a
+minute: If you had to rank order which laws you would move out
+of the way so that schools of choice could move along more
+quickly and move some of the regulations, would it be the laws
+that provide equitable access to women and girls under Title
+IX? Would it be the laws that require that we provide equitable
+access for students and children with disabilities under IDEA
+or ADA? Which student protections are we willing to gut in
+order to make these schools a lot more profitable?
+ The next thing I would ask you, and Mr. Scafidi's testimony
+argues that $41 billion--a $41 billion dollar investment would
+give over 5 million children scholarships to attend private
+schools of their choice. My question for everyone on the panel,
+and it doesn't require an answer because I think it is self-
+evident, what happens to the other 45 million children that
+attend our public schools? What happens to those kids?
+ So, finally, I come from a state where we have the largest
+equity gap in the country. My district houses some of the
+wealthiest and some of the poorest communities. We are talking
+about bringing it back down to the local level. One thing that
+I will agree with Mr. Scafidi on is that we need to listen to
+teachers. And the people who are closest to the pain are
+closest to the solutions. We have some valuable information to
+provide, so I guess there is some value in having a teacher on
+this committee.
+ What happens if there is no school in the area that I am
+living in that decides to cater to students with disabilities?
+How does a student in a city like Waterbury, Connecticut, not
+get left behind in this type of a system? And then I think more
+importantly, because this is the thing we haven't talked
+about--we talk about the connection with, Ms. King, you talked
+very eloquently about the role of parents and the role of
+communities. What happens to a kid who doesn't have a parent
+who knows how to advocate for them? Anyone who has heard me
+speak knows that my grandmother raised me. My grandmother
+didn't drive. She had a fifth grade education. My mother was an
+addict. Am I not entitled to a high-quality public education?
+Who is advocating for me and children like me if what we are
+saying is only the people with the loudest voice and the
+biggest megaphone and who live in the best communities should
+have the best public education? Isn't it our role as
+legislators, as educators, as leaders to advocate for the
+people who don't have a voice? Just yes or no.
+ Ms. Contreras. Yes.
+ Mrs. Hayes. I am sorry because I, too, Ms. King, am very
+passionate about this. So, as we are talking about these
+things, I hear everyone talk about the level of respect they
+have for teachers. Everyone has a teacher in their family. So,
+if we respect teachers and we respect public education, why
+aren't we looking at it as an investment? And I think the thing
+that we are all confused about in this room--I agree with my
+colleague; there is some confusion, but about something very
+different. The confusion lies in the fact that we are thinking
+that it is one or the other: pay teachers or improve
+facilities. I want both. I want both. It is not a tradeoff. We
+are not talking about hire more staff or improve facilities and
+conditions. I want both. We are talking about this from an
+economic standpoint in dollars and cents. That is not what
+education looks like.
+ This is not an economist problem, and I appreciate what you
+bring, but if we are looking at it as a business, if we are
+treating education and schools like corporations, then I would
+say we also need a $2 trillion dollar bail out. We need for
+government to save teachers, to save schools. We would like
+that bail out.
+ In this last tax plan, the $250 that I used to be able to
+claim as an educator to offset the thousands of dollars that I
+spent in my classroom was taken away. So, if you truly value
+education and you truly value teachers, then why are we
+continuing to take away and saying: But we appreciate you.
+ This is a profession. This is not mission work. We deserve
+the same rights, protections, benefits--fringe benefits, don't
+even let me go there--as every other profession.
+ Mr. Chair, I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Meuser.
+ Mr. Meuser. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Thank you all very much, an extremely qualified
+knowledgeable panel. I thank you. I am certainly getting
+educated here myself, so it is very appreciated.
+ As my friend just mentioned from Connecticut, a good
+teacher has a profound effect on our children. Great teachers
+have a profound effect on our society. My three children, one
+in high school, public high school, and my daughters are older,
+but I would ask them at least two or three times a week: How
+are your teachers? Tell me which one of your teachers are
+great, which ones are good, and which ones maybe not so much.
+ It is probably one of the most important things outside of
+parenting. So we certainly all agree with that.
+ But I also believe, and I think we would agree that this is
+more about students, not so much, you know, the teachers and
+the staff. So I certainly believe teachers deserve to be paid
+very well. I think our young people should have modern schools.
+We are an affluent society for the most part, and I think these
+modern schools should certainly exist in every school district.
+That should be without exception, and that I find unacceptable
+when that is not the case.
+ We do, however, must also have respect for the taxpayers
+that expect results and expect achievement in our students due
+to the high level of spending that does, in fact, take place.
+There have been over the last 15 years Federal increases--and
+the numbers are the numbers--have gone up over 30 percent of
+Federal dollars. In Pennsylvania, the state general fund
+increases hundreds of millions every year. We have a school
+property tax situation in Pennsylvania that is getting to be
+unmanageable for many taxpayers. School property taxes just
+going through the roof, forcing people to move, many retired
+people. Pensions, pensions are something that certainly comes
+up and needs to be managed better, and it is billions of
+dollars in Pennsylvania alone. And this issue comes up with the
+growth of nonteacher staff. I agree some is necessary, but I
+think we might all agree probably not all. So, and then, when
+Mr. Scafidi brings up that 37 percent increases per student
+since 1992 after inflation adjustment--so now granted computers
+cost more than notebooks, and, you know, I get all that, but we
+have got a lot of money going into this very important
+investment.
+ So my question, and I will start with Mr. Scafidi is, are
+our children now receiving a better education than 20 years
+ago?
+ Mr. Scafidi. In terms of national test scores, it doesn't
+appear to be so. Just a little history, from 1970 to 2000,
+actually public high school graduation rates fell in this
+country in a very stark way, but in this century, they have
+actually come back up. So, in that respect, things have
+improved, but, you know, so we are kind of slightly higher than
+we were in 1970 now, even though we are spending a whole lot
+more money.
+ But you would expect the high school graduation rate to go
+up given changes in the economy because there has been a big
+return to high-skilled jobs. So more people--students on their
+own should be rationally choosing more education. So, on
+balance, I think the evidence is weak that schools are a lot
+stronger than they were decades ago.
+ Mr. Meuser. What about versus other countries? I have seen
+the data, seen the rating systems. I am asking your opinions.
+ Mr. Scafidi. In terms of if you compared the U.S. compared
+to other rich countries, we are very mediocre on achievement.
+ Mr. Meuser. Ok. Why do you think that is?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Lots of things. I mean, definitely it is
+probably culture, but also I think we could be getting more for
+our education dollars in our current education system if we
+change it.
+ Mr. Meuser. Ok. And my other question is really to the full
+panel, if I could. Is there a model that exists out there in a
+particular state or school system that one could use to improve
+our overall system? And overall question is, is there a better
+way? Is there a better way? I leave it to the panel, but I will
+start with you, Mr. Scafidi.
+ Mr. Scafidi. Start with?
+ Mr. Meuser. The question is to you, is there a model that
+you admire and should be followed?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I think Arizona and Florida have increased
+choice significantly. They still don't have a whole lot when
+compared to other countries that have choice, but their NAEP
+scores gains have been impressive.
+ Ms. Weingarten. So I would disagree with Dr. Scafidi. I
+would just actually look at Massachusetts. If you look at all
+the states in the nation, the state that has actually done more
+in terms of investment on both standards and the teaching of
+standards, not the testing, is Massachusetts, but I would also
+go back to the fifty some odd years of Title I, the Johnson
+program, the Kennedy-Johnson program against poverty. And what
+you see is a huge increase in achievement of kids who are
+underprivileged in the first 25 years when you saw the kind of
+spending that was done at that time, and then you saw somewhat
+of a stagnation because of the fixation on testing and
+accountability as opposed to the investment that Representative
+Hayes was talking about. And what your colleagues did with ESSA
+led by Mr. Scott and others was to try to get to that
+flexibility on a local level to mimic--to try to replicate the
+results that we saw in the first 25 years with having
+appropriate oversight, and what you are starting to see is an
+increase again in graduation rates particularly in the C-tech
+programs. C-tech programs where you have real engagement with
+students you see two things. You see increased graduation
+rates, and you see lots of kids who go to career technical
+education also then go to college.
+ Mr. Meuser. Thank you.
+ Ms. Contreras. Do you want--
+ Mr. Meuser. Sure, if you wouldn't mind.
+ Chairman Scott. Briefly because the gentleman's time has
+expired. Very briefly.
+ Ms. Contreras. Thank you. I believe that if we continue to
+invest in our teachers through fair compensation and also
+making sure they have mentors and professional learning
+opportunities, if we provide wraparound supports for those
+teachers so that they can teach--and I just want to clarify
+that each state categorizes licensed professionals differently.
+So, in the State of North Carolina, a homebound teacher who is
+a teacher who teaches students every day is not categorized as
+a classroom teacher, but they are still a teacher. That is true
+of the social workers or the counselors. So 73 percent of all
+of our staff are teachers, and TAs and supporting students
+providing direct services.
+ So I believe the more we provide support for teachers and
+leaders, that is the model for improving outcomes for students
+while we simultaneously provide wraparound services in the form
+of making sure that we continue to fund food programs for these
+children, making sure they have physical and mental health
+programs in schools, and making sure they have social workers,
+counselors, and other support staff.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you. The gentleman's time has
+expired.
+ The gentlelady from Illinois, Ms. Underwood.
+ Ms. Underwood. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this
+hearing.
+ Federal investment in public schools is absolutely
+essential. And in my community in Illinois, we also have higher
+state and local taxes that goes toward funding our amazing
+public schools like Neuqua Valley High School where I went to
+school. But when I was home last weekend, I heard from so many
+of my neighbors whose tax bills skyrocketed this year because
+of the Republican tax law.
+ The Republican tax law limited the state and local tax, or
+SALT deduction, which helps offset the taxes we use to pay for
+public schools. Our community doesn't mind paying our taxes,
+but we expect a return on our investment. We want our tax
+dollars going to our children's schools, not to tax cuts for
+corporations.
+ Ms. Weingarten, can you please describe how limiting the
+SALT deduction impacts public schools especially in states like
+Illinois that have higher local taxes to fund public education?
+ Ms. Weingarten. So, thank you, Representative Underwood,
+and what we have seen for the first time in the Tax Code is
+that the states that actually thought about the Lockean social
+good, social contract compact are now being hurt because of it.
+So that states that actually invested in public safety, safe
+streets, and public education, and public services where their
+constituents paid state and local taxes for that, they no
+longer--they now are subject to double taxation on that. And
+that we are seeing that in California, in Illinois, in New
+York, in Connecticut, and in New Jersey. And, you know, so
+there were real losers in the last tax bill. That was not
+simply that the rich got richer, but that those states that
+actually believed in that are seeing real limitations.
+ New York, for example, there is about a $2 billion dollar
+drop in revenues. And one of your colleagues earlier talked
+about an increase in revenues in some of the other states, but
+in the states that actually really made this commitment, there
+is drop, and many of us are trying to see if we can go back at
+this because this is really a defiance of federalism.
+ Ms. Underwood. Some versions of the Republican tax law also
+eliminated tax deductions for teachers who spend their own
+money to buy classroom supplies, as my colleague just outlined.
+Thankfully that provision was not in the final law, but placing
+this financial burden on teachers is not sustainable long-term.
+Ms. Weingarten, almost every public school teacher pays for
+classroom supplies out of their own pocket, right?
+ Ms. Weingarten. Yes. There is all these studies that show
+that, on average, it is about $480. For Title I teachers who
+actually teach poor kids, it is higher. And you will hear many
+stories from myself and others about the thousands of dollars
+that we have spent on our kids.
+ Ms. Underwood. Yes. Now more than ever it is clear that
+students and teachers need support from the Federal Government.
+Last month, I sent a letter to the IRS asking them to help
+families in our community and across the country who are being
+hurt by the limited SALT deduction.
+ In addition, though, the Republican tax law, as you
+outlined, does need a legislative fix from those of us in
+Congress. As my colleagues and I work on legislation to stop
+the limited SALT deduction from hurting students and teachers,
+in your opinion, and this goes to the panel, what other fixes
+to the Republican tax law should we be looking at? And we can
+start with Dr. Contreras.
+ Ms. Contreras. I am sorry. I would have to supplement the
+record. I don't have the information.
+ Ms. Underwood. Thank you. Ms. King?
+ Ms. King. I don't have any information, as well.
+ Ms. Underwood. Ok. Sir?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I am not an expert on tax policy.
+ Ms. Underwood. Ok. Ms. Weingarten, did you have anything
+else to add?
+ Ms. Weingarten. So what I would add, Representative
+Underwood, is there are--you know, we went into huge deficit
+spending to create this artifice of trickle-down economics.
+What happens if some of that got moved to the spending of
+infrastructure like Representative Scott and others, Chairman
+Scott and others, have suggested. The kind of real priming the
+pump that would do if we actually took a trillion dollars that
+went for tax cuts and moved them to the kind of spending that
+Chairman Scott and others are talking about that would create
+good jobs all throughout the country that would deal with the
+crumbling infrastructure not only in our schools but throughout
+our society, and it would actually create a real economic
+engine.
+ Ms. Underwood. Ma'am, as you describe it is reinvestment in
+our local communities.
+ Thank you so much. I yield back the remainder of my time to
+you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentlelady from Nevada, Mrs. Lee.
+ Mrs. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing
+on underfunding public schools and how it shortchanges students
+in America. I represent a large part of the Clark County School
+District in Nevada, one of the fifth largest school districts
+in this country. We have infrastructure challenges of somewhat
+a different sort. Average class sizes in our school district
+are the largest in the country at 25.86 students per teacher;
+230 of our 336 schools are at or above capacity; and 24 schools
+are year-round; 21,000 students now are forced now to take
+online classes. All the while, our school district projects
+$8.3 billion is needed for capital improvements, not including
+deferred maintenance. And I want to thank all of you for first
+of all your commitment to education, commitment to our
+students, and I want to ask Ms. Weingarten, given the chronic
+underfunding of education can you address how inadequate
+funding of schools exacerbates overcrowding and how this
+impacts students' success?
+ Ms. Weingarten. So, as you just talked about,
+Representative Lee, when you have that level of overcrowding in
+a school, there are lots of different impacts to it. No. 1, the
+kind of courses that Dr. Scafidi talked about--look, I taught
+AP government. I taught my Title I kids bioethics. You are not
+going to be able to have the space in a school to be able to do
+those classes, and because they may not be part of the core
+instructional requirement to get to a diploma, so they will
+always fall off. No. 2, band, music, those kinds of things. So
+course electives that are how kids--why kids actually come to
+school, you are not going to have. No. 2, the issues about
+infrastructure, both technology as well as crumbling
+facilities, very much impact kids. Take the health and safety
+issues of mold, of ventilation, that for many kids who have
+respiratory illnesses, that really impacts kids.
+ And then the issue that Representative Morelle raised
+earlier, if you actually can--and that Dr. Contreras raised--if
+you actually wrap services in a school, you need some places
+for those medical services and things like that, which are not
+there, but when you have those services, that actually hugely
+helps kids. So those are just some, off the top of my head,
+impacts.
+ Mrs. Lee. Thank you. Speaking of wraparound services, you
+have publicly stated numerous times your support of the
+community schools strategy, especially in schools serving a
+high percentage of students living in poverty, which unites
+resources and assets of the school family community through
+strong partnerships facilitated by a coordinator and at the
+school site, which ensures students' success. As the former
+president of communities and schools of Nevada, I couldn't
+agree with you more.
+ Your organization has directly supported the strategy in
+McDowell County, West Virginia, the poorest county in West
+Virginia. Can you tell me what you discovered there about the
+county's needs and how this community school strategy is an
+effective way to bring about collaboration needed to increase
+investment and resource alignment at our schools?
+ Ms. Weingarten. So, first, I would invite any person on
+this panel to come visit the McDowell County schools with us.
+McDowell County, like some of the schools that some the other
+representatives have testified about, is right in the middle of
+Appalachia. It is former coal mining--it is a former coal
+mining county. It is the eighth poorest county in America. It
+is a county that has been afflicted by opioid addiction.
+ After all sorts of other top-down ways of trying to create
+better outcomes for kids, the then Governor's wife, Gayle
+Manchin, asked us to take over the schools. We said: We don't
+believe in privatization. We could do, though, a public-private
+partnership.
+ And so for the last 6 years the AFT has done a public-
+private partnership with the McDowell County schools and
+others, and in those years, we have increased graduation rates
+over 12 percent. We have doubled the number of kids who are
+going to college. We have wrapped services around various
+schools. What we haven't been able to do is create jobs, but
+the other emotional and instructional impacts we have been able
+to change outcomes for kids, and so, when you see kids who used
+to actually look down, never talk to adults now talking about
+how they can use Lego to create code themselves, that is what I
+consider a success in schooling.
+ Mrs. Lee. Thank you. I do agree. I mean, you know, some of
+our site coordinators are in closets in some of our schools,
+and it really comes down to having that personal relationship,
+and you need to have space to have personal relationships. So
+thank you very much.
+ I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ My colleague from Virginia, Mr. Cline.
+ Mr. Cline. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ I think the underlying theme in this hearing both sides can
+agree on is that education matters. Having access to good
+education at an early edge exponentially opens opportunities
+for students and can accelerate a student's trajectory. And
+while we consider solutions, we have to remember that just as
+each student is their own individual, each school and school
+division is as well, and painting them with broad brush and
+trying to push money and regulations that have no ability to be
+customized does a disservice, not only to those schools and
+those students but also to the taxpayers who are funding fixes
+that do not actually seek to fix the underlying problems.
+ So I would ask Dr. Scafidi what inefficiencies do you see
+at the Federal level that can be eliminated to make room for
+state and local solutions?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I would ask school superintendents in your
+state and school board chairs what Federal regulations are
+causing them to misallocate funds. Ask them directly, and I
+think they will talk to you for a long, long time.
+ Mr. Cline. And we heard from your testimony about the top-
+heavy administrative trend, the impact on students is felt
+through, among other things, larger class sizes because
+resources have to be allocated to that administrative burden.
+What other trends, what other impacts on students does this
+misallocation of resources have?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes, it is an opportunity cost. I mean, money
+spent on A is money that can't be spent on B, and there are
+lots of worthy B's. So the question is, if what we are spending
+on doesn't seem to be moving the needle, we should reallocate
+those dollars, and that is going to differ in different
+communities. It is going to differ for different students. Like
+you were talking about customization, if certain kids need
+different things, and we shouldn't have one-size-fits-all from
+the Federal Government, from the state governments, or even
+within school districts or even within schools. So that is
+going change depending on the students' needs.
+ Mr. Cline. In fact, can you see perhaps an inverse
+discouragement of states and local governments from addressing
+some problems with an allocation of Federal resources that
+might be inefficiently applied or inefficiently allocated that
+can disincentivize action at the Federal--at the state or local
+level?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes. Two things. I do worry that if there was
+a big Federal infrastructure spending bill, that it might not
+hit where it is needed most in terms of schools. Second is yes.
+If states and school districts have Federal money coming in,
+that might take the pressure off from them using their own
+money for those items, and so they might choose not to spend as
+much, say, on infrastructure or what have you.
+ Mr. Cline. Thank you.
+ Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentlelady from Florida Ms. Shalala.
+ Ms. Shalala. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ I apologize for being late. We flew to Detroit, circled and
+flew back, so we never landed for our colleague's funeral.
+ Ms. Weingarten, under the administration's proposal to
+drastically cut the education budget, dozens of schools in
+Miami-Dade County will lose close to $500,000 dollars in
+funding for afterschool programs, and teachers of the district
+could see more than $17 million in cuts for professional
+development.
+ The administration has repeatedly said that eliminating
+funding for afterschool programs is correct due to lack of
+evidence that such programs improve student achievement. Can
+you comment on that and on the importance of afterschool
+programs? And I think the superintendent might want to comment
+as well. Thank you.
+ Ms. Weingarten. So the administration--any time the
+administration says this, it says to me that they actually
+haven't spent a minute with children. So because--and so part
+of the administration talks about how important childcare is
+and wanting to give deductions for childcare, but then, when
+you do it in an organized way by having afterschool programs or
+summer programs where you both have instruction and custodial
+care, you get a double value for that funding, so why would
+they cut this off? This is money that, frankly, every wealthy
+parent will do, spend money in terms of afterschool care in
+terms of piano lessons, ballet lessons, but why don't we give
+this to those kids who can't afford it? This is what
+Representative Fudge was talking about earlier in terms of
+civil rights, civil rights responsibility.
+ So there is a lot of research on this. The Aspen Institute
+just put research out on this. Others put research out. I don't
+know why they are saying that there isn't, but at the end of
+the day, this is the heart of what we think about schools.
+Schools should be centers of community. There should be
+wraparound services. They should be open for a long period of
+time, and so that parents can actually have both--can actually
+see that their kids are safe after school, as well as having
+great instructional opportunities after school and in summer
+school as well as during school.
+ Ms. Shalala. Dr. Contreras?
+ Ms. Contreras. Thank you. Proposed cuts to afterschool
+programs would have a significantly negative impact on our
+school district and the most vulnerable children in the
+district who participate in these programs. Many of these
+students who are participating are exposed to toxic stress,
+such as experiencing violence or witnessing violence, having
+parents who may be incarcerated, the death of a parent, poor
+academic outcomes. They have high levels of trauma and
+experience a great deal of adverse childhood experiences that
+negatively impact their overall well-being.
+ We work very closely with our partners who provide these
+afterschool programs like Communities in Schools, and they
+align their programming to our academic program as well as
+provide other kinds of supports for these children and
+experiences. So cutting these programs would have a very
+negative impact.
+ Ms. Shalala. Thank you.
+ Ms. King?
+ Ms. King. For poor students, afterschool programs allow
+them to escape the streets. And if children who cannot afford
+extra activities during school or after school, they have an
+opportunity to participate in something that will keep them
+safe, whether it is mentoring programs after school where they
+could learn, whether it is a possibility of playing an
+afterschool sport where they don't play it regularly inside of
+a school, but they could play it inside of an afterschool
+program or just teach them a technical trade. There are many
+things that are possible for children in afterschool programs,
+and so, for us, to cut a program would be detrimental to our
+students.
+ Mr. Scafidi. I would prefer that we decide how much money
+we want to subsidize each child in this country. I would give
+bigger subsidies to low-income kids. Let they choose schools,
+and if they want afterschool programs, let me choose schools
+with afterschool programs. If they want schools with different
+afterschool programs, let them choose that. If they don't want
+afterschool programs and they want the money spent elsewhere,
+let them decide what is best for their children.
+ Ms. Shalala. Are you actually talking about the children
+making those choices?
+ Mr. Scafidi. No, the families.
+ Ms. Shalala. All right.
+ Mr. Chairman, I have one more question, if possible.
+ Chairman Scott. Very briefly.
+ Ms. Shalala. Ok. Fine. I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you. The gentleman from South Dakota,
+Mr. Johnson.
+ Mr. Johnson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
+ Mr. or Dr. Scafidi, I am trying to tease out the proper
+relationship between the state and the Federal Government here.
+I mean, I represent South Dakota, and in my state, as I suspect
+there are in many states, there is constitutional obligation
+for them to adequately fund education. Of course, I am glad
+that is in our state's constitution. It is critically
+important. So state policymakers understanding that
+constitutional obligation have established a special capital
+outlay tax levy so that South Dakota can avoid some of the
+tragic nightmares as the chairman opened today's discussion
+with highlighting. State policymakers also recently instituted
+a substantial tax increase, statewide tax increase to allow for
+a significant increase in teacher salaries, and the money was
+targeted to that effect. And I don't think anybody would say
+that the job is done, but I think most South Dakotans would
+acknowledge that there have been good attempts by policymakers
+to meet their constitutional obligations.
+ So, as we talk about the creation of an additional, you
+know, $100 billion grant program to help out those who have not
+taken those prudent steps, I am concerned that we are rewarding
+bad behavior. Is my concern misplaced?
+ Mr. Scafidi. It is similar to the question that the
+Representative from Virginia asked. Money is fungible. If the
+Federal Government gives states and school districts money,
+they can use money that they were dedicating for that purpose,
+and move it somewhere else. And so, yes, I mean, you are
+allowing states to do that and school districts to do that if
+you increase Federal funding for schools for any purpose.
+ Mr. Johnson. Well, maybe even more of a concern long term,
+doesn't that send the message to states that if they lag in
+educational investment, if they don't make the uncomfortable
+decisions to properly invest in education, then, you know,
+perhaps the Federal Government will step up and maybe paper
+over their deficiencies?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes.
+ Mr. Johnson. So it seems to me that quite a number of
+people believe that our Federal Government is not properly
+funding Title I. It seems to me that there are quite a number
+of people who feel our Federal Government is not properly
+investing in IDEA, and lots of people, certainly in my state,
+think those things and also think we are not properly investing
+in impact aid, making good on our commitments that the Federal
+Government has promised.
+ I look at this, and I think: Well this seems like a very
+Washington, DC, thing to do. Rather than coming together to try
+to figure out how we properly invest in our existing programs
+and in our existing obligations, we are instead going to create
+another program so that we can once again overpromise and
+underdeliver. Am I just being too cynical?
+ Mr. Scafidi. No, it is just math. If you spend money here
+on any purpose, you can't spend that same money here. And that
+is true for any organization, any walk of life, government,
+nonprofit, for profit. That is just math.
+ Mr. Johnson. Well, and maybe I might close, Mr. Chairman,
+by just noting that, in any given day, this town doesn't work
+very well, and if we continue to concentrate more and more of
+our educational leadership and our educational investment in
+this town, I have grave concerns that the American people and
+the American school children will be disappointed in our
+efforts and our investment.
+ I yield back. Thank you.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentlelady from Minnesota, Ms. Omar.
+ Ms. Omar. Thank you, chairman.
+ Thank you all for taking the time. I know it has been a
+couple of hours, and we really appreciate your patience and
+your ability to help us have a critical conversation about
+investment, as my colleague from Connecticut said. This is an
+investment. This is an investment in our children, which is an
+investment in the future. I know that there is a clear
+correlation between graduating kids to getting higher income,
+which is future opportunity to tax, which, again, right,
+becomes future investment in the well-being of all of us.
+ Dr. Contreras, thank you so much for sharing your story
+today. I have a set of questions for you that I would like a
+yes-or-no answer to. We are going to try to do this real quick.
+Have you heard of kids sitting in classrooms that are infested
+with mold or dripping with humidity?
+ Ms. Contreras. Because of the--I am sorry. Because of the
+age of the facilities and of the HVAC systems, because the
+schools across the country are undermaintained, I think it is
+reasonable to say there is mold in classrooms across this
+country, significant cases.
+ Ms. Omar. That is a yes?
+ Ms. Contreras. Yes.
+ Ms. Omar. Yes. So kids sitting in classrooms where there is
+mold, yes. Has there been an instance where the circuits blow
+when the teachers plug in a computer or a space heater that you
+have heard of?
+ Ms. Contreras. Where they brought in a computer?
+ Ms. Omar. Yes, plugged in a computer or space heater and--
+ Ms. Contreras. Oh. Absolutely.
+ Ms. Omar. Yes. All right. Do the security cameras work in
+your children's school?
+ Ms. Contreras. No.
+ Ms. Omar. Are the sidewalks at your children's school
+turning into gravel and their playgrounds deteriorating?
+ Ms. Contreras. Are the sidewalks turning into gravel?
+ Ms. Omar. Yes.
+ Ms. Contreras. There are cases of that across the district.
+ Ms. Omar. So yes?
+ Ms. Contreras. Yes.
+ Ms. Omar. Thank you. While your answers are very
+informative, they are also extremely alarming. Elevated levels
+of mold spores cause children with existing respiratory
+conditions, such as allergies or asthma, to have higher risk
+for health problems. Asthma attacks are triggered by damp
+buildings and mold growth.
+ So my question to you is, what are the asthma rates in
+North Carolina compared to the national average?
+ Ms. Contreras. You are asking why are the asthma rates
+higher?
+ Ms. Omar. No, no. What are the rates? Do you know?
+ Ms. Contreras. What are the asthma--in my school district,
+we have about 5,500 cases of asthma that we know about in the
+schools. Fifty-seven percent of those cases are in the poor
+schools.
+ Ms. Omar. All right. Thank you. In North Carolina, the
+total is 9.2 percent. The national average is 9 percent, so we
+could clearly see there is a correlation, so I do appreciate
+you for helping us talk about that.
+ Randi, I had a question for you. I know in your testimony,
+you cited the findings from a recent AFT report, A Decade of
+Neglect: Public Education Funding in the Aftermath of the Great
+Recession, that 25 states spent less on K-12 education in 2016
+than they did prior to the recession.
+ Chronic underfunding explains why in 38 states the average
+teacher's salary is lower in 2018 than it was in 2009, why the
+people-teacher ratio was worse in 35 states in 2016 than in
+2008. I know my colleague earlier, from South Dakota, mentioned
+the constitutional obligations that exist, but I am a little
+baffled about this statistic that you lay out in that report.
+ And so I wanted to ask you that, in the United States, do
+you think there is less value in education today than, let's
+say, in the previous 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50
+years?
+ Ms. Weingarten. So let me just say, I think that parents
+value public education and value education as much today as
+they ever have. I think this is a creation of choices that post
+every--virtually every state has an obligation, as South Dakota
+does, to its students. They say it differently, but every state
+basically has it.
+ What we have seen over the course of time, particularly in
+the last 10 years, is that when the recession hit, there were
+lots of cuts, and there were many states that made different
+choices. And, frankly, some of the states that made the choices
+to actually fund education are now getting hit worse because of
+the cutting of SALT.
+ And so you see a terrible situation that the Federal
+Government in the last--the tax bill has actually--is actually
+going to penalize the states that made more effort to fund
+education.
+ Ms. Omar. I believe in every district in this country
+education is a top priority. Our children are a top priority.
+In every community you go into, people talk about how important
+teachers are. So it is time that we put our values first and
+invest in our teachers, invest in our students, and invest in a
+proper future that all Americans deserve. Thank you so much for
+your testimonys today.
+ I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Idaho, Mr. Fulcher.
+ Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ And once again, committee, hang in there. You are getting
+close, all right.
+ First of all, just an observation and then a question for
+Mr. Scafidi. It is not a whole lot different but a little bit
+from what Mr. Cline, Mr. Johnson had to say.
+ In terms of an observation, this has been informative for
+me because the perspectives on these issues is so incredibly
+different on the legislative panel here.
+ And, for example, the scenario that my colleague,
+Representative Hayes, described in Connecticut is pretty much
+diametrically opposed to what we experience in Idaho. But it is
+a totally different demographic. It is a totally different set
+of needs and circumstances, which just, I will share my own
+bias in that sense, absolutely convinces me that there has got
+to be local governance over education.
+ But here is our situation in Idaho. We put a little bit
+over 50 percent of our general fund into K-12, another 12 or 13
+into higher ed. So that is about 63 percent of our general fund
+goes toward education in some fashion. Interestingly enough,
+with medical costs raising and expansions of Medicaid and those
+type of things, we have healthcare competing with education for
+government money. And that puts some really interesting
+stakeholders at each other's throat.
+ But to further complicate things, we have nearly two-thirds
+of our land mass is federally owned, and we have a heavy
+dependence on property tax. So you take out two-thirds of the
+base and things have to get real creative in order to fund your
+education and, for that matter, anything else. So we have had
+to get creative. We have had to do different things.
+ And so two things have kind of been the focus for us. No. 1
+is we have gotten away from the paradigm or we are trying to
+get away from the paradigm that throwing money at stuff helps.
+Yes, of course, you have got to have resources, but there is
+not an automatic connection between money and performance
+within the school system.
+ The second thing is, we have got a tremendous amount of
+rural areas. School choice has been--we have had to do it. And
+it is--it has worked. And it is not fun in a lot of cases
+because it has inserted some competition, but the results have
+really helped.
+ But you put up a slide right at the very beginning of your
+presentation. We see it. The administrative cost has gone up
+significantly.
+ Mr. Cline talked about Federal administrative, and there
+has definitely been some burdens there. If we had our choice,
+we wouldn't want any Federal money. We would send the whole
+thing to Connecticut or to New Hampshire, and I am sure that
+they would be fine with that. We don't want the regulations,
+and a lot of us don't want the money at all.
+ We have to do something because we don't have land mass to
+tax, but administrative cost is where I am trying to go with
+this diatribe here.
+ Can you provide any counsel or any guidance on are there
+ways--given our circumstances where we have got to be very
+creative in how we fund things, have you seen examples or
+patterns of success in reducing administrative cost so we can
+focus on keeping that in the classroom and to the teachers?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I have not. Forty-eight states, plus the
+District of Columbia, have had the staffing surge since 1992.
+Only Nevada and Arizona have not. Their student populations
+have grown dramatically, and their funding, you know, is just
+keeping up, so they are kind of roughly holding serve depending
+on the time period you look at.
+ I think we need more transparency in how public education
+dollars are spent. We need more transparency on what the total
+amount spent per student is, but also historical.
+ And finally, I think if we let educators choose how to run
+schools and we let parents choose which of those schools they
+think is best for their children, I think they would be
+choosing something very different in a lot of cases than what
+our kids are getting today.
+ Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ The gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Thompson.
+ Mr. Thompson. Chairman, thank you. Thank you for this
+hearing. Thanks for each member of the panel for being here.
+Important topic.
+ I am a recovering school board member. Obviously, before
+that I was a dad. My oldest was just going into kindergarten
+when somebody asked me, there was a vacancy on the school
+board, and they told me it was only 1 hour a month. Yes. It was
+a pastor that told me that. That is when I figured out pastors
+lie sometimes. But I am so glad that I did that. My wife went
+along for 8 years after I had served our school board. And I
+really--a lot of--and I appreciate the conversation.
+ You know me, I do think it comes to--my assessment, having
+spent so much time and been so passionate about education,
+there really is local leadership can make all the difference
+too, and state leadership, no doubt about it. States need to
+recognize that is a priority. Our school boards get their
+authority delegated through the state government. But at the
+local level, we need school board members, quite frankly, that
+hold our administrations accountable.
+ I was honored to work with a school board member that
+actually was--my wife and I went to school there. He was our--
+he taught problems of democracy. So if I mess up as a Member of
+Congress, I blame it on Mr. Fisher. But he was a great
+superintendent, you know. He had--he knew that we had to
+constantly invest in our schools, that you couldn't wait till
+things imploded and then expect somebody else to bail you out
+or do a huge tax increase all at once.
+ You know, we kind of nibbled at it, and we kept--and it is
+a very rural school district. Geographically it is one of the
+largest in Pennsylvania. Enrollment is not that big, though. I
+don't know if they have 1,200 students today. It is probably
+less than that.
+ And so I want to start with, Ms. King. First of all, thank
+you for your leadership of PTA. I really have enjoyed my
+relationship with the National PTA. We have worked together on
+a number of projects, including the family engagement center
+where--and I was pleased that, you know, we authorized that as
+part of ESSA, and it actually got appropriated for $10 million.
+Sometimes that is the hard part, getting the checks written.
+And we are at $10 million. And it just models really your
+engagement, which I so much appreciate.
+ And so my thoughts are, I am just curious, with the family
+engagement centers, which is something I worked hard with PTA
+and we put it into ESSA, you know, do we see that? And it is so
+important to engage families. But I am also hoping that we
+raise up our next generation of school board members, you know,
+by engaging families there that a mom or dad then will step
+forward, you know, and just take it that next step. Are we
+seeing any evidence of that yet?
+ Ms. King. Well, any parent resource center is going to have
+even just a tad bit of progress inside of them where they can
+get information to families to be engaged inside of their
+schools. As far as the 12 states or the 13 states that have
+these resources, these family engagement centers inside of
+their states, right now, we don't have any information that
+could tell us if they are being successful or not.
+ But as a parent, anything that I can receive to empower me
+and engage me inside of my students' schools and communities is
+very important. So regardless if we don't have the data to tell
+us right now, I can say that any and everything that they are
+doing is empowering and engaging parents that are receiving
+information.
+ Mr. Thompson. And we hope--and I hope that motivates some
+parents to take that next step too--
+ Ms. King. Absolutely.
+ Mr. Thompson [continuing]. in terms of that local
+governance. And thank you for what you have done.
+ Dr. Scafidi, I want to talk a little--just briefly, because
+I don't have much time, about Title I funding. You know, we
+were--we successfully put into the Student Succeeds Act at
+least a requirement for the Department of Education to do a
+study. It is not--to the best of my knowledge, it hasn't been
+completed yet, at least the results haven't been shared. It was
+about the equity of the distribution of those funding. That is
+something I have always championed in terms of--the act was
+called the ACE Act, All Children are Equal. Because depending
+what zip code you lived in, there was more money per child to
+offset the impact of poverty.
+ You know, is that something--in terms of Title I and the
+distribution, the equity of those funds, because right now,
+most of the money goes to large suburban districts that have
+poverty. There is not a zip code that doesn't have poverty, but
+the instance of poverty is smaller compared to, you know, rural
+and urban districts where it can be higher.
+ Any thoughts on the rule if we actually get that Title I
+funding fixed so it is distributed equally?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Just two comments. Does anyone know the lowest
+child poverty rate in this country since 1960, when that is?
+Right now. Second, Federal funding targeted to low-income
+students should go to low-income students. It should go where
+it is needed the most. And, you know, state departments of
+education need to, you know, make sure that is happening, and
+school districts within should work on that as well.
+ Mr. Thompson. So hopefully the Department of Education will
+get that study done in a timely manner. It is already passed
+that point, I think, and--so that we can perhaps fix those, a
+distribution system for those Title I funds.
+ Thank you, Chairman.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ I now recognize myself for questions and start with Mr.
+Scafidi. You showed this chart. The purpose of statistics is to
+make a point, and we have said that the apparent point of this
+is that we are wasting all the money on other staff that could
+be spent somewhere else and what could be done with all that
+money. And I was surprised--initially surprised that it is
+about even-steven teachers and nonteachers. Then I thought
+about it, teacher aides are not included as teachers, right?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Correct.
+ Chairman Scott. Ok. So if you had a teacher aide in each
+classroom, you would be up to even-steven already. All
+classrooms don't have teachers. But because of Individuals with
+Disabilities Education Act, you will have a lot of teacher
+aides.
+ Does this study include bus drivers?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Bus drivers are counted as all other staff.
+ Chairman Scott. Ok. So if you have a 30 classroom--30
+classrooms, about how many bus drivers do you think you would
+have?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Thirty classrooms?
+ Chairman Scott. Yes.
+ Mr. Scafidi. Oh, it is--I guess, it depends on class size
+as well, but a bunch.
+ Chairman Scott. A bunch, Ok. Cafeteria workers?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes.
+ Chairman Scott. A bunch?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes.
+ Chairman Scott. Custodians?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Need them too.
+ Chairman Scott. Secretaries in the front office?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Need--well, they are more of a fixed cost,
+but, yes.
+ Chairman Scott. Ok. But, I mean, the idea--you are getting
+pretty close to 50/50, and I think I understood you, in
+response to the gentlelady from Pennsylvania, saying you
+couldn't figure out who to cut. We haven't gotten to guidance
+counselors. We never have enough of those. And we haven't
+started talking about superintendent's office, and you would
+expect a superintendent staff doing research and
+administration.
+ What would be a reasonable ratio?
+ Mr. Scafidi. The point I was making with that chart was
+that is a sharp break with American public school history.
+ Chairman Scott. Well, you didn't say anybody would be--when
+I grew up, they didn't have school buses for African American
+students, so, I mean, there is a lot of stuff that we are doing
+now that we weren't doing before.
+ Mr. Scafidi. That is a great point.
+ Chairman Scott. But you didn't indicate anybody that could
+be left off. And so the conclusion that all of this money is
+being wasted, isn't it an accurate conclusion that you ought to
+draw from the fact that it is 50/50? Isn't that right?
+ Mr. Scafidi. To your first point, that is why I start my
+main analysis at 1992, to allow for school integration and
+integration of specialty needs students.
+ Chairman Scott. Ok. But you said by the time you have
+gotten through teacher aides and bus drivers, you are almost to
+50/50 already.
+ Mr. Scafidi. Well, if you are increasing students by 20
+percent--
+ Chairman Scott. I am not talking about students. We are
+talking about what it is today.
+ Mr. Scafidi. Yes. What I am saying is--
+ Chairman Scott. You haven't indicated anybody in a normal
+school system, just in the school, 30--I mean, you don't have a
+football coach. I mean, there are a lot of things that would
+add up a nonsupervisory.
+ Who would you cut out from the list that is there today?
+ Mr. Scafidi. I actually got this email from the CFO of a
+large school district in Florida when he saw one of my reports.
+And he said, what should I do? And I said, do what they do in
+other walks of life. Look at every single expenditure and every
+single person and say, is that the best use of those funds? And
+if the state government or the Federal Government is making you
+spend the money that way or hire that person, ask them to let
+you out of that requirement.
+ Chairman Scott. But the initial reaction that most people
+have is a 50/50 ratio is not--should not be shocking.
+ Ms. Weingarten, is there anything shocking about a 50/50
+ratio of school employees?
+ Ms. Weingarten. Not right now, given how much we do in
+terms of feeding kids and how much we do in terms of
+transportation, IDEA, and all the remedial kind of work and,
+frankly, all the testing kind of issues that have happened in
+schools.
+ Chairman Scott. Ok. And, Mr. Scafidi, you have indicated
+that we are talking about math. If we are talking about school
+construction and you are trying to discuss salaries with the
+school board and they show you what they are spending on
+eliminating mold, on fixing leaky roofs, on air-conditioning,
+and things like that, how does that affect your ability to
+discuss teacher salaries?
+ Mr. Scafidi. Different school districts, different
+individual schools have different needs.
+ Chairman Scott. This is to Ms. Weingarten. Thank you.
+ Mr. Scafidi. Oh, I am sorry.
+ Chairman Scott. How does that affect your ability to
+discuss teacher salaries?
+ Ms. Weingarten. The--if--what is happening is that every
+issue, the most important, immediate issue is the one that
+teachers always want fixed first. So when schools are leaky or
+when there is this much mold or this much respiratory illness,
+you are going to hear everyone, including teachers, say fix
+that first. And so having a pot of money that goes for
+infrastructure will then enable locals and others to negotiate
+teacher salary and teacher conditions. That is why your bill,
+sir, is so important.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ Dr. Scafidi, I cut you off. I didn't mean to. Did you have
+a comment on that?
+ Mr. Scafidi. No. I was just saying different schools have
+different needs, and, yes, they should address their highest
+priority.
+ Chairman Scott. And if you are talking arithmetic, if you
+are spending a lot of money on fixing a leaky roof, you don't
+have the money for teacher salaries. Thank you.
+ This ends the questioning. Dr. Foxx, do you have a closing
+comment?
+ Ms. Foxx. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have
+some brief closing comments.
+ And I want to begin by thanking the witnesses for being
+here today. It has been a long hearing, and I appreciate your
+patience in being here. And I want to thank the Chairman for
+his attention to the issues.
+ This hearing is taking me back to my school board days. And
+even though that experience was one of the most formative in my
+life, a congressional hearing in Washington that sounds like a
+school board meeting is not necessarily a good thing.
+ Teachers and students deserve the best working and learning
+environments money can buy. And if the money we are spending at
+every level of government isn't buying what students need, the
+answer isn't more money. On that, our distinguished Chairman
+and I are just going to have to continue to disagree. But that
+doesn't mean our work in this area is done. Far from it. We are
+all very proud of the bipartisan work that went into the Every
+Student Succeeds Act. That law is now at a crucial stage of
+implementation, particularly as Mr. Thompson pointed out.
+ So I am committed, and I hope every member of this
+committee is committed to ensuring that law is funded at the
+levels we have already authorized and that it is implemented in
+the way we intended, and that is to serve students.
+ So we have talked about ESSA. We have talked about
+opportunity zones. But we have barely touched in this hearing
+on the historic economic growth communities are experiencing
+and what that means for local revenues.
+ And I very much appreciate what Dr. Scafidi said about the
+lowest rate of poverty for children right now in our country.
+You know there is more to Main Street than small businesses.
+There are an awful lot of schools on Main Street too. So,
+again, as Dr. Scafidi has pointed out, perhaps we need to spend
+more time thinking about how to reform the system to better use
+the resources we already have.
+ I am certain that if we put our heads together, we could
+find a new idea that would actually work for students that just
+might enter the realm of fiscal responsibility.
+ Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
+ Chairman Scott. Thank you.
+ And I want to thank you again for--in your opening
+statement reminding everyone that Democrats have been
+advocating for more funding in education. We intend to continue
+that. And I appreciate your reminding everybody.
+ As we have heard today, this is not a moment for
+incremental change or of small increases. Title I is at a third
+of its authorized amount. IDEA has never gotten anywhere close
+to the authorized amount. And conversations around local
+government ignore the reality that low-income communities are
+receiving nowhere near the funding they actually need, and the
+Federal Government has provided some in closing that gap.
+ And we mentioned Every Student Succeeds Act. One of the
+things we put in there is that the additional funding should
+supplement, not supplant, what the school systems are doing.
+But the Federal role in education has traditionally been to
+kind of plug the gaps of areas where, in the normal course of
+things, don't happen, and that is why the school construction
+is one area that we have indicated. It is just not happening,
+and the Federal role can close that gap.
+ We did the same thing with special ed, IDEA funds things
+that are not being funded today, Title I, addressing low-income
+students, bilingual education. There are a lot of areas that--
+where we need to close the gap, and I think school construction
+is certainly one of them.
+ I remind my colleagues that the record will be open for 14
+days for additional comments, and witnesses may be--you may
+receive questions, written questions. We would ask you to
+answer them as soon as possible. And if members have questions,
+that those be submitted within 7 days so that the witnesses can
+have adequate time to respond.
+ If there is no further business, the committee is now
+adjourned.
+ [Additional submissions by Dr. Scafidi follow:]
+ [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ [Whereupon, at 1:44 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
+
+ [all]
+