Access to School Supplies Act of 2026

(a) Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to demonstrate the feasibility of providing grants to local educational agencies to enable such agencies—

(1) to provide school supplies at no cost to students and instructional staff;

(2) to increase the number of students who have access to the school supplies needed to maintain a stable learning environment; and

(3) to improve student academic achievement in schools, particularly for low-income students.

(b) Definitions. In this Act:

(1) Instructional staff. The term instructional staff includes, at a minimum, teachers, paraprofessionals, librarians, and other staff deemed necessary to provide classroom instruction (including virtual and in-person instruction), as determined by the Secretary.

(2) ESEA terms. The terms elementary school, local educational agency, and secondary school have the meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).

(3) High-poverty school. The term high-poverty school means a public school that is in the highest 2 quartiles of schools in a State, based on the percentage of enrolled students from low-income families.

(4) Outlying area. The term outlying area means American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands.

(5) Qualified local educational agency. The term qualified local educational agency means a local educational agency that—

(A) serves one or more high-poverty schools; and

(B) provides an assurance to the Secretary that the agency will use any funds received under this Act only to serve such schools.

(6) School supplies. The term school supplies refers to books, supplies, and supplementary materials used by students and instructional staff in the classroom, as determined by the Secretary.

(7) Secretary. The term Secretary means the Secretary of Education.

(8) State. The term State means each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.