§2005 Facilities construction

Summary

The Government Accountability Office must, within 12 months after January 8, 2002, collect the information needed for a national survey of the physical condition of every Bureau-funded school building. The GAO must use the Department of Defense’s condition formula, past reliable school data, and methods from recognized architecture or engineering groups. GAO should work with national, regional, and tribal Indian education groups and the schools must answer reasonable requests for information. GAO must give the survey results within 2 years after January 8, 2002 to Congress and to the Secretary, who must share them with school boards and tribes. Within 6 months after that report, the Secretary must set up a negotiated rulemaking committee to make: a catalog of each school’s condition (including rate of wear, useful life, routine maintenance schedule, missing needed facilities, and funding needs tied to accreditation); a report on school replacement and new construction with a funding formula that uses factors like school size, enrollment, age, condition, environment, and isolation; and a renovation/repair report and formula for major and minor repairs including disability access and health and safety needs. Those replacement and renovation reports must be delivered within 24 months after the committee starts. The Secretary must keep the information in an electronic Facilities Information Systems Support Database, updated every 3 years by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, checked by GAO, and available to school boards, tribes, and Congress. The Secretary must immediately begin bringing all Bureau-operated or Bureau-funded school buildings, dorms, and related facilities into compliance with the strongest applicable tribal, federal, or state health and safety standards (tribal rules not to exceed federal or state), with section 794 of title 29, and with the Americans with Disabilities Act. At each annual budget request the Secretary must send Congress a detailed plan showing each facility’s compliance status, cost estimates, and timelines. The Secretary must also publish annually how construction and replacement priorities are set, create a long-term replacement list within 18 months after January 8, 2002, propose an orderly 40-year replacement schedule, publish it for at least 120 days for public comment, revise it as needed, and publish the final list. A school may be closed or consolidated for an immediate health or safety hazard only after a Bureau health and safety officer and a tribe-designated qualified inspector check and agree; they must inspect within 20 days. If they disagree, the tribal governing body must decide within 10 days. If a closure will last more than 1 year, the Secretary must report to Congress, the tribe, and the local board within 90 days explaining reasons, fixes, an estimated end date, and plans for alternate education. The Secretary must allow temporary use of nearby or satellite facilities for classes or administration if safe, and may waive only minor standards so long as no immediate threat is created. Any closure over 30 days but under 1 year is treated as an emergency repair project. Tribes or local boards may use certain allocated funds to fix hazards without waiting for Congress. Beginning with the first fiscal year after January 8, 2002, all operations and maintenance funds for Bureau schools must go to schools by formula and cannot be held back for Bureau facility offices; funds can be withheld from a school only if the school agrees in writing and may cancel that agreement with 30 days’ notice at year end. Temporary — if a school will be closed for under 1 year, temporary means 3 months or less; if 1 year or more, the Bureau decides the appropriate time. Federal funding to a school is not reduced because the school gets state or other funds for facilities.