Sponsors (99)
Official title: To provide for the long-term improvement of public school facilities, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 4, 2026 by Robert C. Scott · Last progress February 4, 2026
The bill directs sizable federal resources and financing tools to modernize and make schools safer and greener—particularly in high‑need districts—but requires significant state/local matching, creates new administrative requirements, and includes rules (Buy American, wage and eligibility standards) that may raise costs and leave some schools excluded or delayed.
Millions of students, teachers, and local communities gain access to substantial federal funding to modernize, repair, and build school facilities (multi-year authorizations, bond credits, and targeted grants), reducing local capital burdens.
Students and staff in funded schools will see improved health and safety through HVAC upgrades, lead/PFAS remediation, seismic retrofits, foundation repairs, and other building-safety work.
Priority is given to high-need, high-poverty, and capital-constrained districts (Title I share and poverty-based targeting), directing more resources toward low-income students and under-resourced schools.
States and local districts face significant cost-sharing and ongoing maintenance‑of‑effort obligations (10% match, 50% caps for some programs, 90% MOE rules) that could strain state/local budgets and shift costs to local taxpayers.
Extensive new compliance, reporting, planning, and data‑collection requirements (10‑year plans, national databases, Treasury/GAO reporting, ED office guidance) create administrative burdens for States, LEAs, and issuers and could slow delivery of projects.
Narrow definitions, exclusions, and competitive eligibility rules (exclusion of Bureau‑funded schools, ineligible for‑profit charter arrangements, bonding limitations) risk leaving some tribal, rural, charter, or poorer districts without access to funds.
Based on analysis of 14 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a federal school‑infrastructure grant program, revives tax‑credit bonds for school projects, funds studies, raises Impact Aid construction authorization, and creates a pyrrhotite repair program.
Creates a federal grant program to help states and local school districts repair, modernize, and build public K–12 school facilities, with reserved set‑asides for outlying areas and Bureau-funded (Indian) schools. It also revives and changes tax-credit bond authorities to support school infrastructure financing, requires studies and reporting on school facility conditions, establishes an Office of School Infrastructure and Sustainability at the Department of Education, and funds a targeted program to repair concrete foundations damaged by pyrrhotite. The bill sets eligible uses (health, safety, accessibility, energy efficiency, decarbonization, asbestos/lead/PFAS remediation, seismic retrofits, classroom space needs), allocation formulas tied to Title I shares, grant application and review rules, labor standards for projects financed by revived bonds, program timelines, federal cost‑share limits for certain repairs, and multi‑year reporting and research requirements to track outcomes and conditions.