EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:  
HR. 2187 requires the Secretary of Education to make grants to States and local educational agencies (LEAs) for the "green" construction, modernization, renovation, or repair of public school facilities.  The bill requires LEAs receiving grants to use a percentage of the funding towards repair and modernization projects that meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating standards or any other environmental standards that have jurisdiction over the educational facility.  H.R. 2187 also extends federal Davis-Bacon requirements to all federally financed school construction projects.

House Republican Education and Labor Committee Members have argued that the H.R. 2187 "creates a massive and unproven $40 billion federal school construction program that would nationalize and regulate school construction projects; threaten state, local, and private support for educational infrastructure; jeopardize Congress' ability to reduce federal spending, pushing the country further into debt; dramatically increase the cost of building schools; and siphon resources from longstanding education priorities without improving academic achievement." 

SUMMARY:   
HR. 2187 requires the Secretary of Education to make grants to States and LEAs for the "green" construction, modernization, or repair of public kindergarten, elementary, and secondary educational facilities.

The bill requires that the funds be distributed among the States on the basis of the funds annually provided to LEAs under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-10), which is targeted to those areas with high concentrations of children in poverty.  Additionally, the bill reserves one percent of grant funds for assistance to Indian schools.

The bill authorizes $6.4 billion for FY 2010, and such sums for FY 2011-2015, of which, one percent must be used by States to provide technical assistance to LEAs, to develop a plan for a database that includes an inventory of public school facilities in the State and the modernization, renovation, and repair needs of, energy use by, and the "carbon footprint" of such schools, and to create voluntary guidelines for high-performing school buildings.  In order for LEAs to be eligible for the program, they must conduct an independent audit by a third-party entity substantiating the overall condition of the public school facilities in their local area and the need for modernization, renovation, and repair. 

The bill also authorizes $100 million in supplemental funds for each of the Fiscal Years 2011-2015 for public schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama damaged by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.  These supplemental funds will be allocated among the affected States based on the infrastructure damage inflicted on public school facilities in each district impacted by the Gulf Coast hurricanes relative to the total of such infrastructure damage in all districts in those States.

The legislation prohibits LEAs receiving funds under this Act from using funds for maintenance costs or for facilities that are used primarily for events that charge public admission, such as stadiums.  Funds are also not to be used to replace funds otherwise available for school repair and modernization.  The bill does allow the funds to be used for some of the following:

• intensive or semi-intensive green roofs,
• measures designed to reduce or eliminate human exposure to classroom noise and environmental noise pollution;
• modernizations, renovations, or repairs necessary to reduce the consumption of coal, electricity, land, natural gas, oil, or water;
• modernization, renovation, or repair of science and engineering laboratory facilities, libraries, and career and technical education facilities, including those related to energy efficiency and renewable energy, and improvements to building infrastructure to accommodate bicycle and pedestrian access;
• renewable energy generation and heating systems, including solar, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal, or biomass ;
• other modernization, renovation, or repair of public school facilities to:
  • improve teachers' ability to teach and students' ability to learn;
  • ensure the health and safety of students and staff;
  • make them more energy efficient; or
  • reduce class size; and
  • required environmental remediation related to public school modernization, renovation, or repair.

H.R. 2187 extends federal Davis Bacon requirements to all federally financed school construction projects.  Davis Bacon requires all laborers employed by contractors or subcontractors to be paid no less than the localities prevailing wage.  This provision will likely raise the costs of school construction by as much as one-third in some parts of the country, especially in those local communities that have lower costs and are not subject to the prevailing wage structure.

The bill mandates that LEAs receiving grants to use a specific percentage of the funding (increasing from 50 percent in 2010 to 100 percent in 2015) towards repair and modernization projects that meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating standards, Energy Star standards, Green Globes, or any other environmental standards that have jurisdiction over the educational facility.  LEED is a national third party certification program that provides environmental design recommendations for the construction of high performance environmentally friendly buildings.  LEED promotes raising energy performance in buildings in the areas of sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

Additionally, the legislation requires annual reports from LEAs to their State detailing their use of grant funds-outlining the projects which received funding, including any expected benefits from any energy savings incurred, improvement in environmental quality, or improved climate teaching and learning-and for the States to then report this information to the Department of Education. The Department of Education must report to Congress on grants made under this Act.

The bill also includes a rule on contracting, whereby each LEA receiving a grant under this Act must ensure that, if the agency carries out modernization, renovation, repair, or construction through a contract, the process for any such contract ensures the maximum number of qualified bidders, including local, small, minority, and women- and veteran-owned businesses, through full and open competition.

The bill contains a "maintenance of effort" provision which requires that States and LEAs spend at least 90 percent of their overall education funding to be eligible for grants under this Act. 

Finally, the bill prohibits funds included in the bill from being used to employ illegal immigrants or distributed to a local educational agency that does not have a policy that requires a criminal background check on all employees of the agency.