VIDEO: Rep. TJ Cox Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Invest in School Infrastructure

This week, Congressman TJ Cox introduced H.R. 3647, the Impact Aid and Infrastructure Act, with Congressman Don Young of Alaska. This legislation would invest in facilities of federally impacted school districts by providing a one-time infusion of funds into the Impact Aid construction program to address the significant backlog of facility needs at federally impacted school districts. This bill ensures that federally impacted school districts have access to critical infrastructure funding they need to provide a quality education for all of their students.

“Kids learning in schools on bases like NAS Lemoore and economically distressed communities deserve the same shot at success as any other American student,” said Congressman TJ Cox. “That’s why Rep. Don Young and I are calling for a one-time, $1 billion infusion to address an unacceptable backlog of Impact Aid projects. There are few priorities as important as our kids’ education and there’s clear bipartisan agreement that we need to act now to level the playing field in education, especially for kids growing up in military families.”

Additional Background: 

Federally impacted school districts are located on or near nontaxable Federal property, including military installations; Indian Trust, Treaty and Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act lands; Federal low-income housing facilities; and national forests, dams and other Federal buildings and property. Because of the presence of the Federal government, these districts often have limited taxable property, minimal assessed land value and/or few local taxpayers. Therefore, they lack the capacity to raise funds for school construction or issue bonds in the way that most public school districts finance school construction. It is the responsibility of the Federal government to make-up for the lack of local resources and fund facility repairs and modernization upgrades to provide a safe, healthy and modern learning environment for students.

A recent survey by the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools identified more than $4.2 billion in pressing construction projects in 218 federally impacted school districts nationwide. These projects include emergency repairs for health and safety – such as roof and foundation maintenance, asbestos abatement, mold remediation and fixing fire code violations; modernization needs to implement technology infrastructure for today’s digital classrooms, and increased building capacity due to rising enrollments. A large majority of survey respondents cited lack of funds as a reason to defer these projects, and they also indicated these projects are “shovel ready” being able to commence these projects within a year of funding.