Pingree Gets Funding for New School at Pleasant Point Reservation

Statement

Representative Chellie Pingree, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said the "Omnibus" spending bill that passed the House late last night contains up to $20 million to fully fund the construction of a new a new K-8 school on the Passamaquoddy Pleasant Point Indian Reservation to replace the Beatrice Rafferty School. The school is a U.S. Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) funded school and serves approximately 125 students. There are 183 such schools around the country, mostly on Indian reservations.

Pingree, who is on the Appropriations subcommittee that sets the budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has pushed for funding for the school. Pingree visited the school earlier this year with Congresswoman Betty McCollum, the top Democrat on the subcommittee. In the spending bill up for a vote this week, the Pleasant Point school was the only one in the United States to get construction funding in the Bureau's budget.

"The school has been targeted for replacement for a decade. It's in terrible shape with mold and weakened walls," Pingree said. "That's a bad learning environment and it's time to replace it. This funding will allow the community to build a new school that will last for generations to come."

A spending bill passed earlier this year included funding for planning and design of the new school. The bill that passed the House last night and is expected to pass the Senate by this weekend completes the job by providing full construction funding.

Ron Jenkins, Superintendent of Maine Indian Education, said construction could begin as early as April or May and take eighteen months to two years.

"This is the best news I've heard in a long time," Jenkins said. "I know how hard Representative Pingree has worked on this and everyone here really appreciates what she's done for us."

Pingree is a member of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over this funding. At a hearing last February, Pingree made the case for funding the construction to Kevin Washburn, Assistant Secretary ofIndian Affairs in the Department of the Interior.

In her testimony, Pingree said:

The Beatrice Rafferty School in Maine was included on the 2004list of priority construction projects, yet today, nine years later, they are still only in the planning stages, and have yet to receive any funding for design, let alone for construction.

In the time they have waited for their funding to come through the school has needed extensive repairs just to ensure that the building remains usable. That means hundreds of thousands of additional dollars have been spent rebuilding walls that have been compromised, replacing a portion of the roof, and conducting ongoing mold inspections to make sure that their extensive mold growth hasn't become too toxic.

Every day this continues we are sending the message that it isacceptable to allow 125 kids in Maine to breathe, play, and learn in an extremely dangerous environment. This is simply unconscionable.

Given the length of time they have already waited, the uncertainty around sequestration, and recent proposals to zero out funding for new construction, they told me they don't even know if they can be sure the money will come at all.

Can I have your assurance that someone will contact the school to confirm the timing and next steps for this funding?

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