I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6698 

To provide Federal-local community partnership construction funding to local 

educational agencies eligible to receive payments under the Impact Aid 

program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 11, 2023 

Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. 

BROWNLEY, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To provide Federal-local community partnership construction 

funding to local educational agencies eligible to receive 

payments under the Impact Aid program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Impact Aid Infrastruc5 ture Partnership Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) A significant percentage of federally im9 pacted local educational agencies serve schools with 


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1 facilities that fall far short of meeting basic life-safe2 ty standards that ensure a safe learning environ3 ment for students and staff alike. 

4 (2) The American Society of Civil Engineers 

5 rated school facilities nationally a D+. Many school 

6 buildings of schools served by federally impacted 

7 local educational agencies were built more than 65 

8 years ago. 

9 (3) A 2009 study by the Government Account10 ability Office found that better school facilities were 

11 associated with positive student outcomes in aca12 demic achievement, attendance, and higher gradua13 tion rates. A second Government Accountability Of14 fice study conducted in 2020, concluded that many 

15 school facilities of schools served by federally im16 pacted local educational agencies are in need of re17 pair, modernization, renovation, or replacement. 

18 (4) Data compiled through surveys of federally 

19 impacted local educational agencies by both the Na20 tional Association of Federally Impacted Schools and 

21 the National Indian Impacted Schools Association 

22 revealed the following: 

23 (A) 65 percent of respondents indicated 

24 their facilities are in fair to poor condition. 


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1 (B) 26 percent of respondents have build2 ings that are more than 80 years old. 

3 (C) 53 percent of respondents have no 

4 practical capacity to issue bonds. 

5 (D) 82 percent of respondents identified 

6 ‘‘lack of funds’’ as a reason for delaying con7 struction projects. Construction costs in rural, 

8 many times geographically remote, local edu9 cational agencies have increased by 30 percent 

10 or more in recent years making facility up11 grades and replacement even more challenging. 

12 (5) Local educational agencies with some bond13 ing capacity or that have access to other sources of 

14 funding are still in need of assistance to improve 

15 their buildings to ensure a safe learning environ16 ment. 

17 (6) Federally impacted local educational agen18 cies located in rural settings have generally higher 

19 labor costs and transportation costs for workers and 

20 materials that have to be brought to a school con21 struction site than local educational agencies located 

22 in an urban setting with school construction costs. 

23 Such costs are normally built in by the contractor 

24 affecting the total cost of the project. 


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1 (7) Teacher recruitment and retention is a 

2 major challenge for local educational agencies serv3 ing students residing on Indian Treaty and Federal 

4 trust land as well as land conveyed pursuant to the 

5 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 

6 1601 et seq.). Because there are no private housing 

7 or rental units available to non-Tribal members, the 

8 local educational agency must build and maintain 

9 rental units. Without local educational agency owned 

10 housing, the daily commute can be as much as 90 

11 miles or more each way. One Arizona local edu12 cational agency estimated that the cost to rebuild 

13 antiquated teacher housing to be $100,000,000. 

14 (8) It is common practice that State edu15 cational agencies compile infrastructure needs in the 

16 local educational agencies located in the State. For 

17 example, the Hawaii Department of Education has 

18 identified more than $2,000,000,000 in needed re19 pair, renovation, and construction projects to ad20 dress— 

21 (A) structural and health and safety needs; 

22 (B) compliance with the Americans with 

23 Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et 

24 seq.) and title IX of the Education Amend25 ments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.); and 


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1 (C) various other infrastructure and con2 struction needs. 

3 (b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

4 a collaborative Federal-local community partnership that 

5 will provide both Federal and local funding to address the 

6 facility needs of federally impacted local educational agen7 cies. The partnership shall be designed to— 

8 (1) provide formula grants to federally im9 pacted local educational agencies that have no capac10 ity to issue bonds because of the presence of large 

11 parcels of non-taxable Federal property; 

12 (2) provide partnership grants requiring a local 

13 match to local educational agencies that have a lim14 ited capacity to provide facility funding; 

15 (3) base local matching dollars on the learning 

16 opportunity threshold total percentage, as described 

17 in subparagraph (B)(i) of section 7003(b)(3) of the 

18 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

19 (20 U.S.C. 7703(b)(3)); and 

20 (4) provide grants under section 7007(a) of the 

21 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

22 (20 U.S.C. 7707(a)) to address local educational 

23 agency needs to modernize and provide basic build24 ing improvements. 


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1 SEC. 3. IMPACT AID CONSTRUCTION GRANTS AUTHORIZED. 

2 (a) FUNDING AND SUNSET.— 

3 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to 

5 be appropriated $250,000,000 for the first fis6 cal year that begins after the date of enactment 

7 of this Act, and each of the 3 succeeding fiscal 

8 years. 

9 (B) DESIGNATION.—Of the amount appro10 priated for each fiscal year, the Secretary of 

11 Education shall designate— 

12 (i) 75 percent for grants awarded 

13 under paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 4; 

14 and 

15 (ii) 25 percent for grants awarded 

16 under section 4(3). 

17 (2) SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING.—The amount 

18 authorized under paragraph (1) shall be in addition 

19 to any amounts authorized to be appropriated or 

20 otherwise made available to carry out section 7007 

21 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

22 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7707). 

23 (3) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Any amounts 

24 appropriated under paragraph (1) shall remain 

25 available until expended. 


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1 (4) SUNSET.—The authority to award grants 

2 under this Act shall expire at the end of the 4-year 

3 period beginning on the date in which funds are first 

4 made available to award a grant under this Act. 

5 (b) RESERVATION FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, 

6 MANAGEMENT, AND OVERSIGHT.—From the funds appro7 priated under subsection (a)(1), the Secretary of Edu8 cation may reserve not more than half of 1 percent for 

9 technical assistance, management, and oversight of the ac10 tivities carried out with those funds. 

11 SEC. 4. COMPETITIVE GRANT AWARDS BASED ON FACILITY 

12 CONDITION. 

13 The Secretary of Education shall, based on applica14 tions submitted by local educational agencies under sec15 tion 6 and eligible for payments under section 7002 of 

16 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

17 U.S.C. 7702) or section 7003 of the Elementary and Sec18 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7703), establish 

19 a facility condition priority listing for grant awards as fol20 lows: 

21 (1) EMERGENCY GRANTS PRIORITY ONE.—The 

22 Secretary of Education shall award grants by first 

23 identifying those local educational agencies— 

24 (A) that have a facility— 


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1 (i) as certified by a State, county, 

2 city, or Tribal official or a licensed archi3 tect or engineer, that is in violation of a 

4 Federal, State, county, city, or Tribal 

5 building code representing a health hazard 

6 to students and school personnel; 

7 (ii) that fails to meet building and 

8 classroom standards to ensure the health 

9 and safety of students and staff, as set by 

10 the Centers for Disease Control and Pre11 vention, requiring classroom building modi12 fication or replacement to— 

13 (I) ensure quality ventilation sys14 tems; 

15 (II) ensure classroom space to re16 duce class sizes and ensure social 

17 distancing guidelines when required; 

18 (III) address structural defi19 ciencies; and 

20 (IV) address other health, safety, 

21 and environmental conditions that 

22 would impact the health, safety, and 

23 learning ability of students; 

24 (iii) that is not in compliance with 

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1 quired by the State, including failure to 

2 meet accessibility standards for persons 

3 with disabilities; or 

4 (iv) that lacks adequate service capac5 ity or infrastructure necessary to utilize 

6 technology to offer a curriculum that 

7 meets the current academic standards in 

8 the State in which the local educational 

9 agency is located; or 

10 (B) in the case of local educational agen11 cies eligible for payments under section 

12 7003(a)(1)(C) of the Elementary and Sec13 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

14 7703(a)(1)(C)), that have teacher housing that 

15 is in need of repair or new construction to meet 

16 the needs of school personnel residing in such 

17 housing. 

18 (2) EMERGENCY GRANTS PRIORITY TWO.— 

19 After identifying those local educational agencies as 

20 described in paragraph (1) for priority in grant 

21 awards, the Secretary of Education shall then award 

22 grants by identifying those local educational agencies 

23 that— 

24 (A) have a facility that— 


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1 (i) does not meet minimum structural 

2 or health and safety standards as adopted 

3 by the American Society of Civil Engineers 

4 and is considered to be in poor condition 

5 and represents a potential health or safety 

6 hazard to students and school personnel, 

7 including due to— 

8 (I) poor indoor air quality; 

9 (II) the presence of hazardous 

10 and toxic substances and chemicals; 

11 (III) the lack of safe drinking 

12 water at the tap and water used for 

13 meal preparation, including due to the 

14 level of lead and other contaminants 

15 in such water; 

16 (IV) energy and water ineffi17 ciency; 

18 (V) excessive classroom noise; 

19 (VI) structural deficiencies; or 

20 (VII) other health, safety, and 

21 environmental conditions that would 

22 impact the health, safety, and learn23 ing ability of students; 

24 (ii) is not in compliance with meeting 

25 student capacity standards as required by 


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1 the State, including failure to meet accessi2 bility standards for persons with disabil3 ities; or 

4 (iii) lacks adequate services necessary 

5 to utilize technology to offer a curriculum 

6 that meets the current academic standards 

7 in the State in which the local educational 

8 agency is located; or 

9 (B) in the case of local educational agen10 cies eligible for payments under section 

11 7003(a)(1)(C) of the Elementary and Sec12 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

13 7703(a)(1)(C)), have an identified need for 

14 teacher housing to ensure a safe living environ15 ment for teachers and their families or a need 

16 for repair of existing housing or new construc17 tion to meet the basic needs of school personnel 

18 residing in such housing. 

19 SEC. 5. FORMULA GRANTS. 

20 From funds designated under section 3(a)(1)(B)(ii), 

21 the Secretary of Education shall make payments in ac22 cordance with section 7007(a) of the Elementary and Sec23 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7707(a)), ex24 cept that— 


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1 (1) when calculating the total number of 

2 weighted student units as described in paragraph 

3 (3)(A)(i)(II) of section 7007(a) of the Elementary 

4 and Secondary Education of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

5 7707(a)), the Secretary of Education shall also in6 clude the total number of weighted student units of 

7 children described in subparagraphs (B) and (D)(i) 

8 of section 7003(a)(1) of such Act for the preceding 

9 year for all local educational agencies not meeting 

10 the requirements as described in section 

11 7007(a)(2)(B) of such Act but that meet the re12 quirements of section 572(a)(2) of the National De13 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (20 

14 U.S.C. 7703b(a)(2)); and 

15 (2) when calculating the total number of 

16 weighted student units as described in section 

17 7003(a)(1)(C) of the Elementary and Secondary 

18 Education of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7703(a)(1)(C)), the 

19 Secretary of Education shall include the number of 

20 children determined under section 7003(a)(1)(C) of 

21 such Act for the preceding school year that con22 stituted at least 20 percent of the total student en23 rollment in the schools of the agency during the pre24 ceding school year. 


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1 SEC. 6. APPLICATION. 

2 A local educational agency eligible to apply for a 

3 grant under paragraph (1) or (2) of section 4 that desires 

4 to receive a grant shall submit an application at such a 

5 time and containing such information as determined ap6 propriate by the Secretary of Education. 

7 SEC. 7. AWARD CRITERIA. 

8 When awarding a grant under paragraph (1) or (2) 

9 of paragraph (4), the Secretary shall first apply the facil10 ity condition priority listing established under such sec11 tion, and after such priority requirements are applied, the 

12 Secretary of Education shall then— 

13 (1) first consider those local educational agen14 cies (or, in the case of a local educational agency 

15 that does not have the authority to tax or issue 

16 bonds, the agency’s fiscal agent) that have limited or 

17 no capacity to issue bonds or have a total assessed 

18 value of real property that may be taxed for school 

19 purposes of less than $50,000,000; 

20 (2) next consider those local educational agen21 cies not described in paragraph (1) that— 

22 (A) have a total assessed value of real 

23 property that may be taxed for school purposes 

24 of less than $100,000,000; or 

25 (B) have an assessed value of real property 

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1 dent that is less than the average of the as2 sessed value of real property that may be taxed 

3 for school purposes per student in the State in 

4 which the local educational agency is located; 

5 and 

6 (3) finally consider— 

7 (A) the number and percentages of chil8 dren described in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), 

9 and (D) of section 7003(a)(1) of the Elemen10 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

11 U.S.C. 7703(a)(1)) enrolled in the school facil12 ity to be supported with grant funds; 

13 (B) the learning opportunity threshold 

14 total percentage as described in subparagraph 

15 (B)(i) of section 7003(b)(3) of such Act (20 

16 U.S.C. 7703(b)(3)); 

17 (C) with respect to local educational agen18 cies eligible for payments under section 7002 of 

19 such Act (20 U.S.C. 7702), the percentage of 

20 land in the local educational agency that is 

21 Federal property; 

22 (D) the potential use for community pro23 grams and events in the school facility to be 

24 supported with grant funds; 


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1 (E) the feasibility of project completion 

2 within 24 months from the grant award; and 

3 (F) the availability of other resources for 

4 the proposed project including the use of in5 kind contributions. 

6 SEC. 8. PAYMENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—When making payments for 

8 grants awarded under this Act, the Secretary of Education 

9 shall comply with the following: 

10 (1) Make payment as required in full for those 

11 local educational agencies described in section 4(1) 

12 with no capacity to issue bonds. 

13 (2) Require those local educational agencies not 

14 described in paragraph (1) to pay a percentage of 

15 the total cost of the project supported with grant 

16 funds as follows: 

17 (A) For those local educational agencies 

18 with a learning opportunity threshold total per19 centage, as described in subparagraph (B)(i) of 

20 section 7003(b)(3) of the Elementary and Sec21 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

22 7703(b)(3))— 

23 (i) that is 80 percent or greater, such 

24 agencies shall pay a non-Federal share 


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1 equal to 10 percent of the total cost of the 

2 project; 

3 (ii) that is less than 80 percent, but 

4 50 percent or greater, such agencies shall 

5 pay a non-Federal share equal to 20 per6 cent of the total cost of the project; and 

7 (iii) that is less than 50 percent, such 

8 agencies shall pay a non-Federal share 

9 equal to 25 percent of the total cost of the 

10 project. 

11 (B) For those local educational agencies el12 igible to receive a payment under section 7002 

13 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

14 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7702) that are not de15 scribed in paragraph (1) of section 4, such 

16 agencies shall pay a non-Federal share equal to 

17 25 percent of the total cost of the project. 

18 (3) Make payment as required in full for those 

19 local educational agencies described in paragraph (1) 

20 or (2) of section 4, whose payment is $5,000,000 or 

21 less for the year in which they are to receive the 

22 grant. 

23 (4) Make payment to those local educational 

24 agencies described in paragraph (1) or (2) of section 

25 4, whose payment is more than $5,000,000 for the 


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1 year in which they are to receive the grant, after 

2 final drawings and specifications have been approved 

3 by the Secretary of Education and the construction 

4 contract has been entered into, in accordance with 

5 requirements as determined by the Secretary and at 

6 such times and in such installments as may be rea7 sonable. 

8 (b) REDISTRIBUTION OF PAYMENTS.—Any funds 

9 paid to a local educational agency under this Act and not 

10 expended, by such a time as determined by the Secretary 

11 of Education, for the purposes for which such funds are 

12 paid shall be redistributed to make payments under sec13 tion 7007(a) of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

14 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7707(a)). 

15 SEC. 9. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

16 (a) USE OF FUNDS.— 

17 (1) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Grant funds 

18 under this Act may be used for one or more of the 

19 following: 

20 (A) Construction. 

21 (B) Renovation. 

22 (C) Repair of school facilities. 

23 (2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—A local edu24 cational agency may use in-kind contributions to 


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1 meet the non-Federal share requirement under sec2 tion 8(a)(2). 

3 (3) PROHIBITIONS ON USE OF FUNDS.—A local 

4 educational agency may not use a grant awarded 

5 under paragraph (1) or (2) of section 4 for— 

6 (A) a project for a school facility for which 

7 the agency does not have— 

8 (i) full title; 

9 (ii) a long-term Tribal lease agree10 ment; or 

11 (iii) another interest as defined in reg12 ulation by the Secretary of Education; and 

13 (B) the acquisition of real property. 

14 (4) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—A local 

15 educational agency shall use funds awarded under 

16 this Act only to supplement the amount of funds 

17 that would, in the absence of the Federal funds pro18 vided under the grant, be made available from non19 Federal sources to carry out construction, renova20 tion, or repairs of school facilities as described in 

21 section 4 and not to supplant such funds. 

22 (b) ANNUAL REPORT ON GRANT PROGRAM.—Not 

23 later than September 30 of the first fiscal year after the 

24 Secretary of Education first awards grants under this Act 

25 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary of Education 


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1 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees, 

2 and make publicly available, a report on the projects car3 ried out with funds made available under this Act. 

4 (c) CARRY-OVER OF CERTAIN APPLICATIONS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—A local educational agency 

6 that applies for a grant under this Act for a fiscal 

7 year and does not receive the grant for the fiscal 

8 year shall have the application for the grant consid9 ered for the following fiscal year not to exceed the 

10 end of the 4-year period as described in paragraph 

11 (4) of section 3(a), subject to the priority require12 ments of paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 4. 

13 (2) PRIORITY LISTING.—The Secretary of Edu14 cation shall— 

15 (A) maintain a priority listing of local edu16 cational agencies meeting the eligibility require17 ments found in— 

18 (i) paragraph (1) of section 4; and 

19 (ii) paragraph (2) of section 4; and 

20 (B) update the listing for each of para21 graphs (1) and (2) of section (4), including 

22 those local educational agencies that applied for 

23 the previous fiscal year, but were not funded 

24 and for those agencies applying the succeeding 

25 fiscal year. 


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1 (d) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY DEFINED.—In 

2 this Act, the term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the 

3 meaning given the term in section 7013 of the Elementary 

4 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7713). 

Æ 


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