James Rogan: “First, with respect to the challenge that was made to Republicans on the issue of supporting school construction…”

“First, with respect to the challenge that was made to Republicans on the issue of supporting school construction, neither party has a monopoly on virtue on this particular subject. The question is, how are we going to fund school construction, and which party is truly standing for proposals that will increase school construction? Back in my home State, when I was majority leader of the California State Assembly, we passed more money for education last year than had been appropriated in almost 30 years. Members then went home after the session and congratulated themselves for that accomplishment. But the reality was that the victory was somewhat Pyrrhic in nature, because in California the manner in which school construction is funded is impeded in two significant ways. In California, like with the Federal Government, we pay construction contracts with a labor union prevailing wage. The California prevailing wage law works like this: if a school is being built in a rural area of the State, the government pays those with whom it contracts the highest union wage paid to workers in urban areas like San Francisco or Los Angeles, where the cost of living is significantly higher.”