Sponsors (98)
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 massively expands federal support and new financing tools to modernize and decarbonize K–12 school facilities — prioritizing high‑need districts and safety upgrades — but requires substantial state/local matching, adds compliance and eligibility constraints, and may raise project costs and federal outlays, shifting trade‑offs between speed, equity, and fiscal burden.
States, local educational agencies (LEAs), and public schools will receive substantial new federal funding and financing tools — including multi‑billion authorizations, targeted grants, bond/tax‑credit allocations, and reimbursements — to modernize, construct, and repair school facilities, lowering local capital burdens.
Students, teachers, and school staff will see improved health and safety as funds support repairs, HVAC and indoor air upgrades, lead/PFAS remediation, seismic/structural fixes, and professional standards for projects.
High‑need and low‑resource districts are prioritized: grant formulas and required analyses aim to direct more funds and access to covered programs toward high‑poverty and capital‑constrained schools.
States and LEAs (and ultimately local taxpayers) must provide non‑Federal matches, abide by maintenance‑of‑effort rules, or cover remaining shares for many projects, which can strain state and local budgets and limit which districts can afford to participate.
New compliance, reporting, planning, and data‑collection requirements at the ED, Treasury, States, and LEAs create significant administrative burdens that can delay projects and consume local staff time and resources.
Narrow eligibility rules, exclusions, and competitive grant structures risk leaving out Bureau‑funded schools, some charter schools (especially for‑profit or related‑party leases), small or rural LEAs, and other needy districts, producing uneven access to funds.
Based on analysis of 14 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a federal school‑infrastructure grant program, revives tax‑credit bond authorities for school projects, funds pyrrhotite repairs, and requires recurring school facility condition studies and reporting.
Provides new federal grants, revived tax-credit bond authority, and studies to modernize, repair, and upgrade public K–12 school buildings, with targeted set‑asides for Bureau-funded schools and outlying areas. The bill funds a wide range of capital, health, safety, accessibility, energy‑efficiency, and environmental remediation projects at public school facilities and creates federal programs and reporting requirements to track facility conditions. Also restores and amends several tax-credit bond authorities (including zone academy and new school infrastructure bonds) to help finance construction and retrofits, updates Impact Aid Construction authorization levels for 2027–2031, establishes a federal pyrrhotite foundation repair grant program, and creates an Office of School Infrastructure and Sustainability plus recurring federal studies and GAO reporting on school conditions and funded projects.