Sponsors (20)
The bill would expand and prioritize federal investment in green, educationally focused schoolyards—benefiting students, disadvantaged and tribal schools, and communities—while shifting meaningful planning, matching, and long‑term maintenance costs and administrative burdens to districts and leaving some fiscal and oversight uncertainty at the federal level.
K-12 students (especially in participating districts) will get improved outdoor learning spaces and green schoolyards that support hands-on education, physical and mental health, and environmental resilience.
Students in high-poverty schools will have greater access to funded schoolyard revitalizations through prioritization and potential waiver of the 20% match for schools with large shares of low-income students.
Tribal schools and tribally controlled organizations receive a dedicated funding set‑aside (5% of annual appropriations), increasing resources for schoolyard projects on tribal lands.
Local school districts and taxpayers may face substantial new costs because districts generally must provide a 20% non‑Federal match (unless waived), which can strain local budgets and delay projects.
The program’s funding through 2027–2031 without specified appropriations creates open‑ended potential costs for taxpayers and reduces predictability and congressional control over total spending.
Smaller, rural, and under‑resourced districts may be disadvantaged because they lack access to nonprofit partners, grant-writing capacity, or the staff/technical capability to prepare compliant plans and implement projects.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Creates a competitive two-stage grant program to plan and build revitalized schoolyards at K–12 public schools, with priority for high-poverty and tribal schools.
Official title: To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to revitalize schoolyards.
Introduced April 15, 2026 by Summer Lee · Last progress April 15, 2026
Creates a federal grant program to help public elementary and secondary schools plan and build "revitalized schoolyards": park-like outdoor learning spaces that support ecology, health, nature play, and shared public use. Grants are awarded in two-stage biennial cohorts (planning grants, then implementation grants), include competitive priorities for high-poverty schools, set match and waiver rules, reserve a small share for Bureau of Indian Education and tribally operated schools, and require a public clearinghouse of outdoor-learning resources.