Artificial Intelligence Education and Workforce Readiness Act of 2026

(a) Establishment. The Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, shall establish a program to award grants on a competitive basis to eligible consortia to promote equitable access to artificial intelligence education in—

(1) elementary schools;

(2) secondary schools; and

(3) institutions of higher education.

(b) Eligible consortium. In this section, the term eligible consortium means a consortium consisting of 2 or more of the following:

(1) A local educational agency.

(2) A State educational agency.

(3) A public library or public library system.

(4) A museum, as defined in section 273 of the Museum and Library Services Act (20 U.S.C. 9172).

(5) Any other entity that demonstrates expertise in creating accessible educational materials related to digital literacy.

(c) Use of funds. An eligible consortium may use a grant awarded under this section for the following:

(1) Developing curricula to increase artificial intelligence literacy.

(2) Translating curricula developed under paragraph (1) into the 5 languages other than English most common among students, as determined by the Commissioner for Education Statistics.

(3) Conducting public awareness campaigns on artificial intelligence safety and artificial intelligence ethics directed at educators, families, and communities served by such eligible consortium.

(4) Providing training on the teaching of artificial intelligence literacy to teachers and librarians from such eligible consortium.

(d) Reports

(1) Eligible consortium reports. Not later than 1 year after the date on which such grant is awarded and annually thereafter during the period of such grant, each eligible consortium receiving a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary of Education a report describing with respect to the 1-year period covered by such report—

(A) the curricula developed by such eligible consortium using such grant;

(B) the extent to which such curricula are multilingual and accessible;

(C) statistics regarding the usage of such curricula; and

(D) any feedback received by such eligible consortium regarding the effectiveness of such curricula.

(2) Reports to Congress. Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary of Education shall submit to Congress a report describing the grants awarded under this section during the 1-year period covered by such report and the outcomes achieved during such 1-year period by eligible consortia receiving such grants.

(e) Compliance. Each eligible consortium receiving a grant under this section shall be subject to the requirements under section 6.