The students may not be in the classroom, but District officials and activists are still working to find ways to address the problem of the city’s crumbling schools.

Legislation currently working its way through the City Council’s Finance and Education Committee’s would allow the city to borrow up to $1 billion for much-needed school repairs, an issue that has repeatedly dogged D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and D.C. Schools Superintendent Clifford Janey and may well become an important issue in the 2006 mayoral race. The legislation, known as the “School Modernization Financing Act of 2005,” has been endorsed by 10 of the Council’s 13 members, though Finance Committee Chairman Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) has noted he will abstain and Council Chair Linda Cropp and Council-member Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5) have not yet expressed opposition or support.

The legislation would allow the city to sell $1 billion worth of bonds for school renovations and maintenance, and would earmark the proceeds from the D.C. Lottery, roughly $60 million a year, to cover the interest payments on the debt. While the money would fall short of the estimated $2.5 billion total needed for repairs and maintenance, education activists have applauded the initiative and worked furiously to ensure Council support.

Both the Examiner and the Common Denominator have expressed support for the legislation, while the Washington Times has instead advocated selling and consolidating underused or closed schools for the sake of protecting the city’s credit worthiness and has promoted extending a pilot charter school program funded by Congress.

The Council is slated to vote on the legislation on Thursday.

The picture above is from Payne Elementary School in Southeast, and was taken from the website of Fix Our Schools, a group advocating for school repairs and renovations.