Federal funding for greener schools, with mandatory focus on low-income districts.

What it does

This bill expands the Green Ribbon Schools Program at the Department of Education to recognize and support schools making progress toward three environmental goals: ensuring graduates are environmentally literate, reducing the environmental impact of school buildings and operations, and improving the environmental health of students and staff. It provides grants to state education agencies (at least 40% directed to under-resourced schools), creates a similar award program for museums and libraries, establishes a new federal Office of School Infrastructure and Sustainability, and authorizes $10 million annually through 2032 for these efforts.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a federal grant and recognition program designed to expand environmental literacy and sustainable school operations. It is a straightforward public-education initiative with no hidden deregulation, liability shields, or narrow private carve-outs.

What the text implies

• The 40% under-resourced school requirement may create administrative burden on state agencies to identify and track eligible schools, potentially delaying grant deployment.
• The bill's success depends on appropriations; if Congress does not fund the authorized amounts, the program will operate at reduced scale, limiting reach to schools in disadvantaged communities.
• The Office of School Infrastructure and Sustainability (3 FTE) may lack capacity to provide meaningful technical assistance to all state and local agencies seeking support, creating a bottleneck.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill expands environmental education and school facility improvements with a mandatory 40% allocation to under-resourced schools, addressing equity gaps. It creates no new restrictions on citizens' rights or remedies, imposes no costs on households, and funds voluntary school participation in environmental best practices aligned with public health (EPA, CDC guidance).

Who stands to gain

• state education agencies (grant recipients)
• schools and school districts (technical assistance, recognition, facility improvement support)
• nonprofit green school organizations and environmental nonprofits (potential partners in state progr

Named in the bill

Department of Education, State educational agencies, Bureau of Indian Education, Environmental Protection Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Office of School Infrastructure and Sustainability

Where it stands

4 cosponsors: 4 Democrats.

• Jun 24, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Jun 24, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $670,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 50 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Cory Booker, the sponsor, reported $495,800 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• National Education Association — $670,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.