School Infrastructure
Mason contractors throughout the country have been watching over the past year as Congress and the President continue to discuss the need and desire to pass a broad based infrastructure investment package and stand ready to assist in rebuilding our nation’s critical infrastructure.
While we all agree that our nation’s roads, bridges, and ports remain critical infrastructure that must be addressed in the near future, the MCAA would argue that our nation’s schools should likewise be considered as critical infrastructure that must be invested in, restored, and rebuilt. Estimates have shown that our nation has roughly 100,000 public schools and according to the National Center on Educational Statistics in 2012-13 the average age of school buildings in the United States was 44 years.
The MCAA fully supports adding language to any broad based infrastructure investment package that would include funds to repair and renovate our nation’s public school buildings and would support language in the vein of the Rebuild America’s Schools Act (H.R. 865/S. 266). The Rebuild America’s Schools Act would provide federal financial assistance partnering with states and local school districts to provide safe, modern, healthy, energy efficient schools for our students. Federal financial support through grants and bonds in the Rebuild America’s Schools Act will help repair, renovate and modernize America’s schools, create local jobs, and provide America’s students modern, technologically and energy efficient schools and classrooms where they can develop the educational skills necessary to thrive in our nation’s workforce.
