HR7262-119

What This Bill Does

The READ Act authorizes the Secretary of Education to make payments to State educational agencies after covered disasters or emergencies close schools. States then deliver services or assistance to local educational agencies and non-public schools, prioritizing schools that lost at least 30 days of normal instruction. Allowable uses include student and personnel data recovery, school information-system replacement, transportation, mobile educational units, leased neutral sites, textbooks, curriculum redevelopment, education and support services, minor repairs, and other approved restart costs. The bill bars construction and major renovation, requires secular and neutral services, and forces repayment if another federal source later pays for the same loss.

Who Benefits and How

State educational agencies benefit because they receive the federal payment stream and can direct aid to the schools with the greatest closure-related needs. Local educational agencies and non-public schools benefit through reimbursement or services for concrete restart costs such as temporary classrooms, replacement materials, transportation, electronic records, and minor facility repairs. Students at disaster-affected schools benefit when schools can resume instruction and support services faster after a wildfire, hurricane, flood, or other declared emergency.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Education must operate the payment program, review State applications, enforce the supplement-not-supplant rule, and monitor repayment when FEMA, State, or other federal benefits duplicate the education aid. State educational agencies must collect applications from public and non-public schools, allocate aid using enrollment and severity factors, reserve a proportional share for non-public school students, control title to materials funded for non-public schools, and reallocate unused reserved funds after 120 days. Schools that accept aid must keep it secular, neutral, and nonideological and must avoid using it for construction or major renovation.

Key Provisions

• Authorizes federal payments to State educational agencies after covered disasters or emergencies close schools.
• Directs States to prioritize schools that lost at least 30 days of instruction and to allocate assistance based on enrollment, severity, and needs.
• Provides eligible restart uses including data recovery, information systems, transportation, mobile units, leased sites, textbooks, curriculum redevelopment, support services, and minor repairs.
• Requires equitable services for non-public schools while barring construction, major renovation, religious use, and duplicative federal recovery payments.