Sponsors (2)
The bill promotes cheaper, more equitable access to STEM course materials through grants for open educational resources, but benefits are limited to grant recipients and may shift modest costs and workload to institutions while providing only short-term adoption metrics rather than long-term learning evidence.
Students at colleges that receive grants will pay less because more STEM courses will use free, downloadable open educational resources instead of paid textbooks.
Low-income and racial-ethnic minority students gain prioritized access to grants, increasing equitable access to free course materials at institutions that serve them.
Faculty and librarians receive incentives and institutional support to adopt and create open educational resources, which can improve the availability and potentially the quality of course materials.
Colleges and campus staff may need to spend time and modest funds to implement open-course programs, creating administrative burdens and costs that institutions must cover if grants are insufficient.
Students at institutions that do not receive grants will likely experience slower adoption of free materials and continue to face textbook costs.
Requiring courses to use only open reading materials (or strong incentives to do so) could limit instructor choice or impose extra workload on faculty to adapt materials, potentially affecting course quality or faculty autonomy.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes IMLS grants to create, adapt, and adopt free, downloadable open educational reading materials and STEM courses that use only those materials, prioritizing institutions serving low-income and minority students.
Introduced December 12, 2025 by Bill Foster · Last progress December 12, 2025
Creates a new grant authority at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to fund adoption, adaptation, and creation of free, downloadable, redistributable digital texts called “open educational reading materials,” and to support STEM courses at colleges that use only those materials. Applications must show library leadership and faculty collaboration, include plans to review material quality, and will be prioritized for institutions serving large numbers of low-income or minority students. The Director must report to Congress within two years of the first grant award on grants made, course adoption, and student cost savings. The bill only authorizes IMLS to make these grants and defines eligible materials and courses; it does not itself appropriate funds or create a funding amount. Program impact will depend on future appropriations and how IMLS implements application priorities and quality-review requirements.