H.R. 10277 — Access to School Supplies Act of 2026

This section establishes the purpose of the Act to demonstrate the feasibility of grants to local educational agencies for free school supplies to students and instructional staff, with the goals of increasing access to supplies and improving academic achievement particularly for low-income students. It defines key terms including instructional staff, high-poverty school, qualified local educational agency, school supplies, outlying area, and State.

This section reserves one-half of 1 percent of amounts appropriated under section 8 for allotments to outlying areas, distributed on the basis of relative need, and one-half of 1 percent for the Secretary of the Interior to support activities in Bureau of Indian Education schools. It applies the Act's provisions to these recipients in the same manner as to qualified local educational agencies receiving funds under section 4(a), except that outlying areas and BIE schools need not submit an application under section 4(b).

This section establishes a pilot program under which the Secretary of Education awards competitive annual grants to not more than 10 qualified local educational agencies to purchase school supplies for students and instructional staff to use in classroom activities. It limits administrative costs to 2 percent of each grant, requires prioritization of schools with the greatest needs, permits contracting with outside entities, and directs the Secretary to ensure geographic diversity among recipients including urban, suburban, and rural areas.

This section requires qualified local educational agencies to use funds made available under this Act to supplement, and not supplant, non-Federal funds that would otherwise support the same activities.

This section requires each qualified local educational agency receiving a grant under section 4 to submit an annual report to the Secretary of Education. The report must list schools that received supplies, detail grant expenditures and supplies provided at each school, state the number of students and instructional staff served, and identify any outside entities used.