Thanks to Seattle’s The Green Parent for alerting us to the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public Schools Facilities Act (aka H.R. 3021). It’s a school construction program with a green building requirement. Makes good sense to require green building if you’re gonna fund building, but what I want to know is this: if Congress can drum up huge sums of money for this, why so few teachers? Old text books? Don’t states fund schools? I’m all for eco-friendly school buildings, just makes a girl wonder. Not surprisingly, the good folks at The National Review wonder, too. A little more than me, not surprisingly, but it’s an interesting angle. Plus it’s always fun to be lumped in the ‘liberals’ category. And CBS News wants it vetoed - for pretty compelling reasons. Its editorial is worth a read to hear the ‘we like green building and public schools but not this bill’ perspective.
So Contact Your Senators. The bill passed the House (250-164), so now it’s the Senate’s turn. If you think this is a grand idea - or not, let our fellas know so they can vote on your behalf. It’s just so neat when it works that way.
