A large chunk of your state income taxes goes to education, and schools benefit from a portion of your local property taxes, too.<\/p>\n
Now the federal government is considering a big increase in its spending on school construction — with your money.<\/p>\n
Already, as federal taxpayers, we pay $70 billion a year for K-12\u00a0education, much of it\u00a0going to teacher salaries and school lunches.<\/p>\n
Then last year,\u00a0Congress\u00a0approved another $56 billion<\/strong><\/a> for school construction, renovation and repairs in the economic stimulus bill.<\/p>\n But now Congress is considering another bill — the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act<\/strong><\/a> — sponsored by Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky., and 25 other Democrats. They say it would create a “healthier, safer and more energy-efficient teaching environment by requiring schools to use green materials.”<\/p>\n Some studies<\/strong><\/a>, however,\u00a0say “green” schools are notoriously over budget and consistenly fail to save the energy they promise.<\/p>\n The House has passed the bill, and it\u00a0now is under consideration in the Senate. The Congressional Budget Office’s estimate\u00a0puts the 5-year cost<\/strong><\/a> of the bill\u00a0at $32.9 billion.<\/p>\n What do you think? You can estimate how much the bill would cost you over those five years by using FoxNews.com’s latest tax calculator.<\/p>\n