Green New Deal for Public Schools Act

Key Points

• The bill creates a $446 billion program to turn public schools into healthy zero-carbon buildings. It would remove lead, mold, asbestos, and PCBs, add solar power and all-electric heating, and improve air and water quality to make schools safer for kids and cleaner for the environment.
• It provides $250 billion to hire teachers, school psychologists, counselors, social workers, nurses, and other staff, aiming for class ratios of 12 to 1 in elementary grades and 15 to 1 in high school. Schools would also expand mental health and restorative justice programs.
• The most vulnerable schools, ranked by the CDC Social Vulnerability Index, would get 100 percent of retrofit costs covered. The least vulnerable schools would get one-third covered and could apply for low- or no-interest loans up to $446 billion total for the rest.
• The bill makes federal special education funding mandatory and raises it each year until the government covers 40 percent of the cost of educating students with disabilities by 2036. It also appropriates $74 billion a year for ten years for Title I schools in low-income areas.
• Schools would become community resiliency centers that can shelter people and provide food, power, and mental health services during disasters. The bill funds electric school buses, community gardens, and high-speed internet, and requires prevailing wages, union-friendly labor rules, and local hiring.
• At least half of the climate resiliency grants must go to environmental justice communities, and construction must use American iron, steel, and manufactured products under Buy American rules.