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The U.S. Congress passed a $1.3 billion initiative to fund emergency repairs of deteriorated schools, marking an enormous step forward in NPA's efforts to deal with the ongoing overcrowding crisis nationwide.

"This victory represents a solid step forward in our efforts to rebuild America's schools. But we still have a long way to go," said Jeff Bates, a community leader from the Northwest Neighborhood Federation.

Since 1998, 20 community organizations from across the country have been working to alleviate this problem on a local and national level. In addition to funds from school construction legislation, those organizations have identified the Department of Education's proposal for emergency repairs as the best way to deal with the problems of schools in severe disrepair.

Groups provided testimony to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert late in the fall as he deliberated over a variety of solutions. The emergency repair bill is a companion bill to an even larger bi-partisan $25 billion bill providing local property tax-relief for communities building new schools. This bill is expected to be considered by Speaker Hastert this year.

NTIC documented the overcrowding crisis in the report, Recess is Over. NTIC jointly authored the report with the National Priorities Project, a federal budget think tank in March 2000. The report was also a major factor in winning the support of the U.S. Department of Education for an interlocking series of proposals for increasing Federal funds for building schools.