Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act Policy Proposals

The Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act would invest $100 billion through competitive, equity-focused grants to modernize our essential public school infrastructure. Below are our recommendations for amending the bill to ensure investments in K-12 infrastructure align with the national climate strategy.

Our K-12 public school facilities are in a dismal state, and the changing climate demands that we build back better. We collaborated with partners to provide the BASIC Coalition with a mark-up of the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act that aligns with President Biden’s promise to “build back better.” The mark-up focuses on retaining flexibility for schools to address urgent conditions while enhancing data collection and planning for zero carbon.

Why the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act?

Schools are infrastructure. As the COVID pandemic has made clear, schools must be operational for our economy to function.

Many of our schools are unsafe. A GAO report found that 4 in 10 districts need to update or replace Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems in at least half of their school buildings. Without major repairs, many schools will struggle to meet CDC guidelines for safe schools.

K-12 offers massive job creation. As the second largest form of public infrastructure after roads and bridge, modernizing our 100,000 schools is an opportunity to put people to work in every community in America. RASA will create over 2 million jobs according to analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.

Local communities can’t carry the (debt) burden alone. Local communities are carrying debts that reflect their good-faith attempts to modernize their school buildings. Localities need help from the federal government, especially those in high-poverty communities.

An opportunity to lower operating costs. Making capital investments in schools - for example in high-performance HVAC systems and energy efficiency measures - can substantially lower both energy costs as well as repair and maintenance costs. Timely and adequate capital investments are good fiscal management.