Friend,

This week, I joined Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott, Rep. Donald Norcross, Rep. Jahana Hayes, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry T. Jordan, and National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García at a news conference in support of a bill that is crucial to the fight to fund our future.

As president of the AFT, I witness all too frequently the ways in which our members and their students are affected by the lack of investment in public school facilities and public education as a whole.

From Philadelphia and Scranton to Baltimore and Chicago, we’re seeing the impact that decades of neglect are having on our public schools’ infrastructure. Schools are laden with mold; classrooms operate without heat or air conditioning; ceilings are leaking; and water is contaminated. But our members remain on the frontlines, fighting any way they can to make sure their students are in safe and welcoming environments.

These conditions are unacceptable, and that’s why I’m urging you to write to your senators right now, asking them to co-sponsor the Rebuild America’s Schools Act (S. 266).

If passed by the Senate, this bold bill would invest more than $100 billion to address critical physical and digital infrastructure problems in public schools and libraries in your community and in other communities that need the most help.

President Trump promised he would put together a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan, but he has failed to do so. Instead of fulfilling his responsibility to provide all children—regardless of their family circumstances—with a great education in public schools that are healthy, safe and welcoming, he proposes a $2 trillion tax cut for corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

We know that students’ success depends, in part, on whether we provide them with the actual tools necessary to compete in the 21st century, including facilities that are healthy, safe and welcoming. This bill would help achieve this and also would create more than 1.9 million jobs based on an Economic Policy Institute analysis that each $1 billion spent on construction creates 17,785 jobs.

More important, the Rebuild America’s Schools Act seeks to improve health, safety, and learning conditions in school buildings located in high-poverty school districts. Will you ask your senators to co-sponsor this bill and push for its immediate passage in the Senate?

As the Senate works to develop legislation to improve our nation’s infrastructure, it should not neglect its duty to help with repairing and modernizing school infrastructure as a crucial component of our country’s future.

Tell your senators to join the fight to fund our future by co-sponsoring the Rebuild America’s Schools Act.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
American Federation of Teachers President