This week, U.S. Representative John Garamendi (D-CA-08) introduced the “Impact Aid Infrastructure Partnership Act” – a bill that aims to provide a total of $1 billion over four years for Impact Aid Construction Grants to address the significant backlog of facility needs at federally impacted school districts.
In addition to Representative Garamendi, the bill was cosponsored by Representatives Marilyn Strickland (D-WA-10), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-37), Julia Brownley (D-CA-26), and Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07). This legislation was first introduced in the Senate by Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI).
The “Impact Aid Infrastructure Partnership Act” aims to ensure that federally impacted school districts have the resources needed to provide every student with a quality education and safe learning environment by authorizing $250,000,000 annually for four years for Impact Aid Construction Grants. Of this funding, 25 percent would be made available via formula funding to all eligible school districts. The Department of Education would disseminate the remaining 75 percent as competitive grants with priority for those school districts with acute emergencies in their facilities.