The study, provided first to POLITICO, estimates that 15.2 million students were enrolled in school districts that discovered lead-based paint in their buildings. Lead from paint, including lead-contaminated dust, is among the most common causes of lead poisoning, according to the
All school districts that reported finding lead-based paint also reported taking action to reduce or eliminate it or having a schedule to do so, wrote Jacqueline M. Nowicki, GAO’s director of education, workforce, and income security issues, in the report addressed to Murray and Schatz. “Lead in a child’s body can slow growth and development, damage hearing and speech, and cause learning disabilities,” Nowicki wrote. “Therefore, EPA, CDC, and others recommend that lead exposure be prevented to the extent possible, recognizing that lead is widespread in the environment.”
The survey showed an estimated 48 percent of local education agencies reported inspection results to local school boards, 33 percent reported results to parents and 32 percent reported results to the general public, for instance, through the media.
Modeling class hardest hit