Construction NewsBRIEFS! 12-29-2011

Congress should fully fund EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council recommends in Rivers II: Green Strategies for Controlling Stormwater and Combined Sewer Overflows. The report cites the need to invest nearly $300 billion over the next 20 years in water and wastewater infrastructure, help states and local communities reach these investment levels by substantially increasing federal resources available to meet clean water needs through the creation of a trust fund or other dedicated source of clean water funding, and increase annual funding to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund for projects that repair and rebuild failing water and wastewater infrastructure.

Building infrastructure that frames and supports family involvement efforts would help school districts direct resources and programmatic efforts to support student learning, according to a recent report, NextEd: Transforming Connecticut’s Education System: Continuous Improvement Plan from the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents. The report, which could become the basis for legislative proposals, also recommends that the state build state and district capacity (knowledge and resources) for evolving an infrastructure for learning; capacity should be based on continually updated standards for an infrastructure that will support robust learning; and districts must design and implement infrastructure upgrade plans in order to have the structure to support technology-facilitated learning.