Discussion · Senate
Tim Kaine Democrat
“I want the Senate to pass my bill. Right now, it is hard to use federal tax credits to fix old schools if they stay open as schools. My bill makes it easier to use this money to repair old school buildings so children can keep learning in them.”
“Mr. President, today I want to discuss legislation I am introducing, the School Infrastructure Modernization Act, with my colleague Senator Warner. The Federal tax credit for historic preservation is a critical source of funding for renovating historic and aging buildings across the country. While the credit can often be used for turning an aging school building into a commercial building, such as an office or retail location, it is difficult to use the credit to rehabilitate a school while continuing to use it as a school postrenovations. The intent of this bill is to make it easier for schools to benefit from this funding while continuing to serve as a school. As a Richmond city council member and later mayor, I faced challenges familiar to many municipalities--overcrowded schools, aging buildings, and limited dollars in the budget. But in one particular case, I and a group of local stakeholders identified a creative solution. On one hand, we had an overcrowded Thomas Jefferson High School with in-zone and magnet students. On the other hand, we had a closed Maggie Walker High School that needed renovations. We put together a financing package that made use of Federal and State historic tax credits to renovate Maggie Walker High School and satisfied the prior use rule by consolidating the magnet program from Thomas Jefferson into a new Maggie Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies. Today, over 20 years later, this is one of America’s highest performing public high schools. Without the Federal historic tax credit, this would have been too expensive to make happen. This bill will make it easier to do similar projects around the country. More modern school buildings will bolster the quality of public education, and carrying out these projects will generate private sector infrastructure investment and jobs. In Virginia alone, according to a 2021 study, more than 1,000 K through 12 schools are at least 50 years old, representing more than half of all the K through 12 schools in the Commonwealth. I encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense incentive that is good for education, good for infrastructure, and good for jobs.”
Mr. President, today I want to discuss legislation I am introducing, the School Infrastructure Modernization Act, with my colleague Senator Warner. The Federal tax credit for historic preservation is a critical source of funding for renovating historic and aging buildings across the country. While the credit can often be used for turning an aging school building into a commercial building, such as an office or retail location, it is difficult to use the credit to rehabilitate a school while continuing to use it as a school postrenovations. The intent of this bill is to make it easier for schools to benefit from this funding while continuing to serve as a school. As a Richmond city council member and later mayor, I faced challenges familiar to many municipalities--overcrowded schools, aging buildings, and limited dollars in the budget. But in one particular case, I and a group of local stakeholders identified a creative solution. On one hand, we had an overcrowded Thomas Jefferson High School with in-zone and magnet students. On the other hand, we had a closed Maggie Walker High School that needed renovations. We put together a financing package that made use of Federal and State historic tax credits to renovate Maggie Walker High School and satisfied the prior use rule by consolidating the magnet program from Thomas Jefferson into a new Maggie Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies. Today, over 20 years later, this is one of America’s highest performing public high schools. Without the Federal historic tax credit, this would have been too expensive to make happen. This bill will make it easier to do similar projects around the country. More modern school buildings will bolster the quality of public education, and carrying out these projects will generate private sector infrastructure investment and jobs. In Virginia alone, according to a 2021 study, more than 1,000 K through 12 schools are at least 50 years old, representing more than half of all the K through 12 schools in the Commonwealth. I encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense incentive that is good for education, good for infrastructure, and good for jobs.