MEETING FEDERAL INFRASTRUCTURE MANDATES

WHEREAS, the federal government has placed upon local school districts the burden of such infrastructure projects as removing asbestos and lead paint and making buildings accessible to the handicapped; and

WHEREAS, it has done so without providing the full funding such projects require, causing local school districts to spend very precious and ever-dwindling local and state dollars; and

WHEREAS, the expenditure of these local and state funds on federally mandated projects reduces the amount of money school districts have available to spend on the improvement of the instructional program, which is necessary to keep America competitive in the global economy; and

WHEREAS, due to improvements in the international climate, the United States can now spend considerably less on the development of weapons, the staffing of the armed services and other significant expenses on the Cold War era:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers support and call for legislation that would require the federal government to use money formerly spent on defense to pay for all the infrastructure repairs and improvements it mandates; and

RESOLVED, that in preparation for such legislation to be introduced, the AFT conduct a survey to determine the economic impact that federally mandated infrastructure projects have had on local school districts.