Sponsors (12)
The bill directs new federal resources to repair, modernize, and prioritize funding for high‑need, rural, and tribal school facilities—improving safety and equity—but does so through competitive grants, local matching, and administrative rules that create fiscal costs, complexity, and uncertainty that may leave some districts behind.
Students and school staff in federally impacted, rural, tribal, and other eligible districts will get safer, healthier, and modernized school buildings (repairs, hazard fixes, ventilation, lead remediation, structural upgrades).
High‑need, low‑wealth, and federally‑connected LEAs (including rural and tribal districts) are prioritized or receive tailored support (weighting, lower local shares, full federal payments for bond‑incapable LEAs) to improve equity in facility investments.
The bill creates a dedicated construction grant program with up to $1 billion authorized over four years and funds that remain available until expended, giving districts a predictable multi‑year funding stream for planning projects.
Taxpayers and the federal budget bear new spending (up to $1 billion over four years), which could increase federal outlays, add to deficits, or require offsets elsewhere.
Local matching requirements (up to 25% or other local shares) and consideration of other available resources risk straining local budgets and disadvantaging poorer districts that lack bonding capacity or matching resources.
The heavy competitive grant component (large set‑aside for competitive awards) and the need for grant‑writing capacity mean funds may cluster with successful applicants, leaving smaller, under‑resourced LEAs without awards.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a four‑year grant program with $250M/year to fund construction, renovation, and modernization projects for federally impacted LEAs via competitive and modified formula grants.
Official title: Provide Federal-local community partnership construction funding to local educational agencies eligible to receive payments under the Impact Aid program.
Introduced April 3, 2025 by Mazie Hirono · Last progress April 3, 2025
Creates a four‑year federal grant program to repair, renovate, and modernize school buildings owned or operated by local educational agencies (LEAs) that are federally impacted (for example, because of large amounts of non‑taxable federal land or federally connected students). It authorizes $250 million per year and divides funds between competitive facility grants and modified formula construction payments, sets competitive priorities (including emergency health and safety needs and teacher housing), establishes local matching rules tied to a LEA’s learning‑opportunity threshold, and requires application, reporting, and recipient rules for project delivery and oversight. The program pays full costs for LEAs that cannot issue bonds, provides reduced non‑Federal matches for LEAs with limited capacity, prioritizes projects with urgent health/safety deficiencies and high demonstrated need, and directs the Department of Education to manage allocations, technical assistance, and annual public reporting over the four‑year funding window.