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| U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus |
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is paying 75 percent of the cost to install the new, temporary shelters, will pay for their demolition if school systems can't or won't buy or sell them at a fair-market price.
"This policy is, by any objective standard, short-sighted and indefensible," Bachus wrote to President Barack Obama on Wednesday. "It is yet another example of why the American people continue to lose confidence in the government and its ability to make choices in their best interest."
Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, said he also plans to introduce legislation to prohibit the demolition of the new shelters at four schools in DeKalb, Marion, Franklin and Tuscaloosa counties.
The combined price for the new shelters is about $1.5 million. Under a new policy established as a result of the Alabama tornadoes, FEMA agreed to pay most of the expense for the shelters, but only to protect students in temporary classrooms while their school buildings are rebuilt or repaired.
Under FEMA rules, when students are no longer in portable units, the school systems can keep the shelters only by paying FEMA a fair price for them, an expense most of the systems said they cannot afford. The schools also could sell the shelters at market rates and give the money to FEMA. Otherwise, in the option that most outraged Bachus, FEMA will simply pay to have the shelters torn down.
"The congressman, as soon as he heard about this, said this was one of the craziest things he's ever heard," said Michael Staley, Bachus' chief of staff. "It's boneheaded that the federal government would spend tax dollars to tear down life-saving shelters."
The White House steered calls about the issue to FEMA and, as of Thursday, had not responded to Bachus, Staley said.
FEMA spokesman Rachel Racusen said in a written statement Thursday: "We take the concerns raised by the superintendents and other officials seriously and are working with the state, schools and local communities to look at all alternatives for removal or re-use of the safe rooms once the schools are reconstructed. The intent of federal funding for temporary safe rooms is to ensure that students and staff are safer while local leaders rebuild."
In a Birmingham News story on Saturday, superintendents in DeKalb, Franklin and Marion counties criticized the FEMA policy. DeKalb County Superintendent Charles Warren was particularly frustrated, saying he would have little choice except to tear down a new, 3,000-square-foot shelter that his Plainview School students would continue to need.
In the other affected communities, new schools are being constructed and will have built-in safe rooms. But Plainview is simply being repaired, and there is no requirement and no insurance money to add a safe room, Warren said. He would like to keep the new storm shelter for use by his students during the day and by the community after school hours.
Bachus' letter to Obama cited the superintendents' comments in that story, including Warren's complaint that the policy "stinks" and is "not a wise use of taxpayer dollars." Bachus agreed with the assessment.
"It makes no sense to demolish perfectly good storm shelters just to satisfy a misguided bureaucratic requirement," Bachus said in a statement. "School administrators who find themselves caught in a classic government Catch-22 are rightly upset."
Of the four systems affected, only the city of Tuscaloosa said it anticipated buying the prefab shelter being installed at Tuscaloosa Magnet School for Alberta Elementary students who are meeting in mobile facilities on the campus. Marion County said it was unsure what it would do with the shelter being built for Hackleburg students. Franklin County said it probably would sell the four shelters being installed at Phil Campbell High School, and DeKalb County said its only option appeared to be demolition.
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