Sponsors (6)
The bill secures five years of predictable federal funding ($55M/year) to sustain and expand school-based health centers and improve access for students—especially low-income youth—while creating a $275M authorization cost and leaving schools exposed to appropriation uncertainty and limits if needs or costs rise.
Students in participating schools will have ongoing access to federally funded school-based health centers — $55 million authorized per year for FY2027–FY2031 to support on-site primary and behavioral health services.
Low-income families and their children will face fewer barriers to care because school-based centers often provide primary care and behavioral health services on-site or via referral.
Schools and community health providers can plan multi-year services and staffing because the program is reauthorized for five years at a fixed annual funding level.
If Congress does not actually appropriate the authorized funds, schools may still face uncertainty because authorization does not guarantee annual appropriations.
A fixed authorization level over five years may be insufficient if future needs, demand, or healthcare inflation rise, limiting program expansion or the ability to maintain services.
Taxpayers are responsible for the $275 million in authorized spending across five years, which represents a federal budget cost and potential trade-offs with other priorities.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Specifies a $55,000,000 annual authorization for the school-based health centers grant program for each fiscal year 2027–2031.
Introduced April 6, 2026 by Paul Tonko · Last progress April 6, 2026
Replaces an open-ended authorization for the school-based health centers grant program with a fixed annual authorization of $55,000,000 for each fiscal year 2027 through 2031, effectively reauthorizing the program at that level for those years. The change sets a specific annual authorized amount (totaling $275 million across five years) but does not itself appropriate the money—Congress must still provide funding through the appropriations process.