ACTION ALERT!! YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TODAY!!!!!!!

[Guest guest]

ALERT: please call your US Senator today and urge that s/he add their name

to the letter requesting funding for HHPS.

TO EASILY CONTACT YOUR SENATOR, GO TO CONGRESS.ORG. FROM THERE YOU WILL

FIND YOUR SENATOR'S PHONE NUMBER AND EMAIL ADDRESS. PICK UP THE PHONE AND MAKE

THE CALL!!!!!! ALSO SEND AN EMAIL!!!!!!!

US SENATE ALERT

REQUEST FOR FUNDS

FOR HEALTHY HIGH PERFORMANCE SCHOOLS ACT

Dear all,

Senator Clinton is circulating a letter in the US Senate, asking her Senate

colleagues to sign onto a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee

requesting funding for " Healthy and High Performance Schools " Act in NCLB.

Closing date for signatures is April 29th.

See cover letter and sign-on letter below.

___________________________________________________

cover letter to Senate colleagues from Senator Clinton

April 21, 2005

Dear Colleague:

We write to invite you to join us in signing the attached letter to Senators

Specter and Harkin to provide $30 million to adequately fund the Healthy,

High Performance Schools program (HHPS), in the fiscal year 2006 Labor, Health

and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. This investment will

help thousands of communities develop better designed and operated school

buildings while saving money, boosting student attendance and performance, and

reducing health risks to millions of children and staff nationwide.

Every day millions of students across the country attend schools plagued by

indoor air pollution and other environmental hazards, such as well-publicized

chemical spills and lead contaminated drinking water. According to U.S. EPA

and other studies, nearly half of the nation’s 94,000-plus public schools

enrolling 48 million U.S. schoolchildren have at least one serious

environmental problem. are Poor indoor air quality – one of EPA’s top five

human health

hazards-- affects half of all schools; worse, the poorest students who need

the most help to succeed often have the schools in the worst condition.

Research makes it clear that children benefit – for years to come – when

they go to school in healthy school buildings. The Department of Energy

estimates that schools could save $1.5 billion if they simply upgraded their

systems. Yet, the Department of Education has never funded the Healthy, High

Performance Schools program authorized in No Child Left Behind.

With your help we can set in motion enormous improvements in the conditions

of our nation’s schools by securing $30 million for the Healthy, High

Performance Schools Program. Please contact Susie Saavedra with Senator Clinton

at

4-2923 by April 29, 2005, if you have any questions or would like to sign the

letter.

Sincerely,

US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

____________________________________________________

SIGN ON LETTER FOR US SENATE MEMBERS

TO APPROPS COMMITTEE

April 12, 2005

Senator Arlen Specter

Senator Tom Harkin

Chairman

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Labor,

Subcommittee on Labor,

HHS, and Education

HHS, and Education

Senate Appropriations Committee

Senate Appropriations Committee

Washington, DC 20510

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Specter and Ranking Member Harkin:

We write to urge you to provide $30 million to provide adequate funding for

the Healthy, High Performance Schools program, which was authorized in the

No Child Left Behind Act. With new peer-reviewed scientific reports now

available on how school buildings affect children’s health and learning,

including

a study by the US Department of Education, we are deeply concerned that this

federal-state partnership program and research program has not been funded.

We urge you to make “Healthy and High-Performance Schools†a funded

priority

in the fiscal year 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

Appropriations bill.

Every day millions of students across the country attend schools plagued by

indoor air pollution and other environmental hazards, such as well-publicized

chemical spills and lead contaminated drinking water. According to U.S. EPA

and other studies, nearly half of the nation’s 94,000-plus public schools

enrolling 48 million U.S. schoolchildren have at least one serious

environmental

problem. are Poor indoor air quality – one of EPA’s top five human health

hazards-- affects half of all schools; worse, the poorest students who need

the most help to succeed often have the schools in the worst condition.

A recent Congressionally-mandated study by the Department of Education,

which examined the health and learning impacts of poor environmental conditions

in schools, concludes that “poor environments in schools, due primarily to

the

effects of indoor air pollutants, adversely influence the health,

performance, and attendance of students.†The Department of Energy has

estimated that

the nation’s schools could save $1.5 billion in energy costs by upgrading

their systems – money that could be rededicated to numerous other health and

safety repairs and other educational priorities.

The Healthy, High Performance Schools program will help our local students

and our local schools compete and produce healthy, educated adults, by engaging

in supporting and stimulating state initiatives for better facility design

and environmental management, and by facilitating needed federal research on

child learning. We urge you to provide $30 million for this critical

programprovide adequate for thisthh in fiscal year 2006. Thank you for your

consideration of this important request.

Sincerely yours,

_______________________________________________________________

L. Barnett, MBA, Executive Director

Healthy Schools Network, Inc.

and

Coordinator, Coalition for Healthier Schools

_www.healthyschools.org_ (http://www.healthyschools.org/)

212-482-0204, 518-462-0632

Mail:

773 Madison Avenue

Albany, NY 12208

or

29 Broadway, Ste. 1100

NY, NY 10006

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