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School
districts are increasingly turning
to Washington lobbyists like Robert
M. Brooks,
shown above at his office near Capitol Hill,
to give them a helping hand in obtaining
federal aid.
(Photo
by James W. Prichard/Education Week)
In
a May 29, 2002 article reporting the increase
of school districts hiring lobbying firms,
Education Week, a national education newspaper,
featured Evergreen Associates and our president,
Robert Brooks. Education Week is one of
the country’s most recognized professional
journals covering the field of elementary
and secondary education.
The
article chronicled Washington’s Medical
Lake School District’s dilemma in acquiring
funding for a new facility to serve the
schoolchildren of the military families
from Fairchild Air Force Base. For several
years Medical Lake sought funds for a new
school. Local taxpayers were reluctant
to fund a school on federal (non-taxable)
property, and school district officials
could not gain access to federal resources.
As a result, military dependent students
at Blair Elementary were forced to eat lunch
in the hallways and endure leaking roofs.
In
late 2000, Dr. Pam Veltri, (pictured below,
with Representative George Nethercutt {R-WA}),
became superintendent of Medical Lake School
District. Shortly thereafter, as Education
Week writer Michelle R. Davis points out,
“the 2,300-student district hired a lobbyist
here in the nation’s capital, Robert M.
Brooks... Before long, the Department of
Defense budget included $6 million for a
new school on the base...” The project
was included in the FY 2002 budget and groundbreaking
occurred in August 2002. Representative
Nethercutt was the driving force behind
Congress approving the Blair Elementary
School project. Representative Nethercutt
included it in the original House Defense
Appropriations measure and overcame leadership
efforts to cut 20% of the project’s funding
in conference committee.
“This
was one of those ideal projects where everyone
worked together for a much needed result,”
said Brooks. “The school district
and Dr. Veltri, Congressman Nethercutt,
the Air Force, the state legislators, everyone
was needed to make this happen and everyone
came through.”
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