[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1275 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1275
To provide Federal-local community partnership construction funding to
local educational agencies eligible to receive payments under the
Impact Aid program.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 3, 2025
Ms. Hirono (for herself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Gallego, Mr.
Heinrich, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Smith, Mrs.
Gillibrand, and Mr. Kelly) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide Federal-local community partnership construction funding to
local educational agencies eligible to receive payments under the
Impact Aid program.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Impact Aid Infrastructure
Partnership Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) A significant percentage of federally impacted local
educational agencies serve schools with facilities that fall
far short of meeting basic life-safety standards that ensure a
safe learning environment for students and staff alike.
(2) The American Society of Civil Engineers rated school
facilities nationally a D+. Many school buildings of schools
served by federally impacted local educational agencies were
built more than 65 years ago.
(3) A 2009 study by the Government Accountability Office
found that better school facilities were associated with
positive student outcomes in academic achievement, attendance,
and higher graduation rates. A second Government Accountability
Office study conducted in 2020, concluded that many school
facilities of schools served by federally impacted local
educational agencies are in need of repair, modernization,
renovation, or replacement.
(4) Data compiled through surveys of federally impacted
local educational agencies by both the National Association of
Federally Impacted Schools and the National Indian Impacted
Schools Association revealed the following:
(A) 65 percent of respondents indicated their
facilities are in fair to poor condition.
(B) 26 percent of respondents have buildings that
are more than 80 years old.
(C) 53 percent of respondents have no practical
capacity to issue bonds.
(D) 82 percent of respondents identified ``lack of
funds'' as a reason for delaying construction projects.
Construction costs in rural, many times geographically
remote, local educational agencies have increased by 30
percent or more in recent years making facility
upgrades and replacement even more challenging.
(5) Local educational agencies with some bonding capacity
or that have access to other sources of funding are still in
need of assistance to improve their buildings to ensure a safe
learning environment.
(6) Federally impacted local educational agencies located
in rural settings have generally higher labor costs and
transportation costs for workers and materials that have to be
brought to a school construction site than local educational
agencies located in an urban setting with school construction
costs. Such costs are normally built in by the contractor
affecting the total cost of the project.
(7) Teacher recruitment and retention is a major challenge
for local educational agencies serving students residing on
Indian Treaty and Federal trust land as well as land conveyed
pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C.
1601 et seq.). Because there are no private housing or rental
units available to non-Tribal members, the local educational
agency must build and maintain rental units. Without local
educational agency owned housing, the daily commute can be as
much as 90 miles or more each way. One Arizona local
educational agency estimated that the cost to rebuild
antiquated teacher housing to be $100,000,000.
(8) It is common practice that State educational agencies
compile infrastructure needs in the local educational agencies
located in the State. For example, the Hawaii Department of
Education has identified more than $2,000,000,000 in needed
repair, renovation, and construction projects to address--
(A) structural and health and safety needs;
(B) compliance with the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.) and title IX of
the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et
seq.); and
(C) various other infrastructure and construction
needs.
(b) Purposes.--The purpose of this Act is to provide a
collaborative Federal-local community partnership that will provide
both Federal and local funding to address the facility needs of
federally impacted local educational agencies. The partnership shall be
designed to--
(1) provide formula grants to federally impacted local
educational agencies that have no capacity to issue bonds
because of the presence of large parcels of non-taxable Federal
property;
(2) provide partnership grants requiring a local match to
local educational agencies that have a limited capacity to
provide facility funding;
(3) base local matching dollars on the learning opportunity
threshold total percentage, as described in subparagraph (B)(i)
of section 7003(b)(3) of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7703(b)(3)); and
(4) provide grants under section 7007(a) of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7707(a)) to
address local educational agency needs to modernize and provide
basic building improvements.
SEC. 3. IMPACT AID CONSTRUCTION GRANTS AUTHORIZED.
(a) Funding and Sunset.--
(1) Authorization of appropriations.--
(A) In general.--There are authorized to be
appropriated $250,000,000 for the first fiscal year
that begins after the date of enactment of this Act,
and each of the 3 succeeding fiscal years.
(B) Designation.--Of the amount appropriated for
each fiscal year, the Secretary of Education shall
designate--
(i) 75 percent for competitive grants
awarded under section 4; and
(ii) 25 percent for formula grants awarded
under section 5.
(2) Supplemental funding.--The amount authorized under
paragraph (1) shall be in addition to any amounts authorized to
be appropriated or otherwise made available to carry out
section 7007 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7707).
(3) Availability of funds.--Any amounts appropriated under
paragraph (1) shall remain available until expended.
(4) Sunset.--The authority to award grants under this Act
shall expire at the end of the 4-year period beginning on the
date in which funds are first made available to award a grant
under this Act.
(b) Reservation for Technical Assistance, Management, and
Oversight.--From the funds appropriated under subsection (a)(1), the
Secretary of Education may reserve not more than half of 1 percent for
technical assistance, management, and oversight of the activities
carried out with those funds.
SEC. 4. COMPETITIVE GRANT AWARDS BASED ON FACILITY CONDITION.
The Secretary of Education shall, based on applications submitted
by local educational agencies under section 6 and eligible for payments
under section 7002 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7702) or section 7003 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7703), establish a facility condition
priority listing for grant awards as follows:
(1) Emergency grants priority one.--The Secretary of
Education shall award grants, on a competitive basis, by first
identifying those local educational agencies--
(A) that have a facility--
(i) as certified by a State, county, city,
or Tribal official or a licensed architect or
engineer, that is in violation of a Federal,
State, county, city, or Tribal building code
representing a health hazard to students and
school personnel;
(ii) that fails to meet building and
classroom standards to ensure the health and
safety of students and staff, as set by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
requiring classroom building modification or
replacement to--
(I) ensure quality ventilation
systems;
(II) ensure classroom space to
reduce class sizes and ensure social
distancing guidelines when required;
(III) address structural
deficiencies; and
(IV) address other health, safety,
and environmental conditions that would
impact the health, safety, and learning
ability of students;
(iii) that is not in compliance with
meeting student capacity standards as required
by the State, including failure to meet
accessibility standards for persons with
disabilities; or
(iv) that lacks adequate service capacity
or infrastructure necessary to utilize
technology to offer a curriculum that meets the
current academic standards in the State in
which the local educational agency is located;
or
(B) in the case of local educational agencies
eligible for payments under section 7003(a)(1)(C) of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 7703(a)(1)(C)), that have teacher housing that
is in need of repair or new construction to meet the
needs of school personnel residing in such housing.
(2) Emergency grants priority two.--After identifying those
local educational agencies as described in paragraph (1) for
priority in grant awards, the Secretary of Education shall then
award grants, on a competitive basis, by identifying those
local educational agencies that--
(A) have a facility that--
(i) does not meet minimum structural or
health and safety standards as adopted by the
American Society of Civil Engineers and is
considered to be in poor condition and
represents a potential health or safety hazard
to students and school personnel, including due
to--
(I) poor indoor air quality;
(II) the presence of hazardous and
toxic substances and chemicals;
(III) the lack of safe drinking
water at the tap and water used for
meal preparation, including due to the
level of lead and other contaminants in
such water;
(IV) energy and water inefficiency;
(V) excessive classroom noise;
(VI) structural deficiencies; or
(VII) other health, safety, and
environmental conditions that would
impact the health, safety, and learning
ability of students;
(ii) is not in compliance with meeting
student capacity standards as required by the
State, including failure to meet accessibility
standards for persons with disabilities; or
(iii) lacks adequate services necessary to
utilize technology to offer a curriculum that
meets the current academic standards in the
State in which the local educational agency is
located; or
(B) in the case of local educational agencies
eligible for payments under section 7003(a)(1)(C) of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 7703(a)(1)(C)), have an identified need for
teacher housing to ensure a safe living environment for
teachers and their families or a need for repair of
existing housing or new construction to meet the basic
needs of school personnel residing in such housing.
SEC. 5. FORMULA GRANTS.
From funds designated under section 3(a)(1)(B)(ii), the Secretary
of Education shall make payments in accordance with section 7007(a) of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7707(a)),
except that--
(1) when calculating the total number of weighted student
units as described in paragraph (3)(A)(i)(II) of section
7007(a) of the Elementary and Secondary Education of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 7707(a)), the Secretary of Education shall also include
the total number of weighted student units of children
described in subparagraphs (B) and (D)(i) of section 7003(a)(1)
of such Act for the preceding year for all local educational
agencies not meeting the requirements as described in section
7007(a)(2)(B) of such Act but that meet the requirements of
section 572(a)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2006 (20 U.S.C. 7703b(a)(2)); and
(2) when calculating the total number of weighted student
units as described in section 7003(a)(1)(C) of the Elementary
and Secondary Education of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7703(a)(1)(C)), the
Secretary of Education shall also include the number of
children determined under section 7003(a)(1)(C) of such Act for
the preceding school year that constituted at least 20 percent
of the total student enrollment in the schools of the agency
during the preceding school year.
SEC. 6. APPLICATION.
A local educational agency eligible to apply for a grant section 4
that desires to receive a grant shall submit an application at such a
time and containing such information as determined appropriate by the
Secretary of Education.
SEC. 7. AWARD CRITERIA.
When awarding a grant under section 4, the Secretary of Education
shall first apply the facility condition priority listing established
under such section, and after such priority requirements are applied,
the Secretary of Education shall then--
(1) first consider those local educational agencies (or, in
the case of a local educational agency that does not have the
authority to tax or issue bonds, the agency's fiscal agent)
that have limited or no capacity to issue bonds or have a total
assessed value of real property that may be taxed for school
purposes of less than $50,000,000;
(2) next consider those local educational agencies not
described in paragraph (1) that--
(A) have a total assessed value of real property
that may be taxed for school purposes of less than
$100,000,000; or
(B) have an assessed value of real property that
may be taxed for school purposes per student that is
less than the average of the assessed value of real
property that may be taxed for school purposes per
student in the State in which the local educational
agency is located; and
(3) finally consider--
(A) the number and percentages of children
described in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) of
section 7003(a)(1) of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7703(a)(1)) enrolled
in the school facility to be supported with grant
funds;
(B) the learning opportunity threshold total
percentage as described in subparagraph (B)(i) of
section 7003(b)(3) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 7703(b)(3));
(C) with respect to local educational agencies
eligible for payments under section 7002 of such Act
(20 U.S.C. 7702), the percentage of land in the local
educational agency that is Federal property;
(D) the potential use for community programs and
events in the school facility to be supported with
grant funds;
(E) the feasibility of project completion within 24
months from the grant award; and
(F) the availability of other resources for the
proposed project including the use of in-kind
contributions.
SEC. 8. PAYMENTS.
(a) In General.--When making payments for grants awarded under this
Act, the Secretary of Education shall comply with the following:
(1) Make payment as required in full for those local
educational agencies described in section 4(1) with no capacity
to issue bonds.
(2) Require those local educational agencies not described
in paragraph (1) to pay a percentage of the total cost of the
project supported w