Sponsors
The bill would expand and prioritize funding and technical support to create greener, educational, and climate‑resilient schoolyards—especially for low‑income and tribal schools—while shifting costs, administrative burdens, and some liability/risk to local districts and creating trade‑offs in funding distribution and federal budget predictability.
Students at affected public elementary and secondary schools gain improved outdoor learning spaces (trees, gardens, stormwater features, lesson plans) that support hands-on education, health, and state learning standards.
Low-income and climate‑vulnerable school communities are prioritized, increasing equitable access to greener, cooler, and more flood‑resilient schoolyards for students and surrounding neighborhoods.
The Act funds ecological and resilience upgrades (trees, biodiversity, green infrastructure) that can reduce heat and flood risks and improve local environmental quality around schools.
Local school districts, taxpayers, and local governments may face significant new costs for maintenance, liability, supervision, and construction tied to open‑access schoolyards and ecological upgrades.
The 20% non‑Federal match requirement for implementation grants can be unaffordable for many districts without waivers, limiting access to funded projects for under‑resourced schools.
Opening schoolyards for public use creates potential security, scheduling, and liability conflicts that districts must manage to protect student safety and school operations.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Establishes federal planning and implementation grants to design and build park-like "revitalized schoolyards" at public K–12 schools, prioritizing high-poverty and tribal schools.
Introduced March 26, 2026 by Martin Heinrich · Last progress March 26, 2026
Creates a federal grant program to help public K–12 schools design and build “revitalized schoolyards” — park-like outdoor spaces for hands-on learning, nature play, and community use. Grants fund two-stage projects: planning grants to develop detailed concept plans and implementation grants to build and operate the spaces, with priority for low-income schools and a reserved portion for Bureau of Indian Education and tribally-operated schools.