The House this week will consider the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School facilities Act that invests in our schools to boost the U.S. economy now and help prepare our children for the jobs of the future -- building on the efforts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It will boost student achievement, enhance teachers’ effectiveness, generate savings for schools and create good jobs.
According to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute, this legislation’s construction funding would support as many as 136,000 new construction jobs – many in areas that will give workers the skills to excel in a clean energy economy.
Upgrading school buildings to make them more energy efficient and more reliant on renewable sources of energy can help reduce pollution and transition us to a clean American energy economy.
This bill will get us closer to our goal of providing every child with a world class education by giving more students and teachers a safe, healthy, environmentally- friendly learning environment.
School buildings should be safe and healthy learning environments for children. The quality of a school isn’t just important for children’s health – it’s critical for their learning. But, according to recent estimates, America’s schools are hundreds of billions of dollars short of the funding needed to bring them up to good condition.
A safe and healthy learning environment has been proven to improve both student achievement and teacher recruitment and retention.
