S. 1723 — Equitable Access to School Facilities Act

This section states the purpose of the Act to support the creation, implementation, and expansion of state policies that (1) improve the quality and affordability of charter school facilities through funding, financing, and expanded access to public buildings; and (2) authorize technical assistance to support the growth of high-quality charter schools.

This section revises funding requirements for the Charter Schools Program (CSP), which supports startup, replication, and expansion of charter schools serving elementary and secondary students, as well as facilities aid and national activities, by (1) capping the reservation of appropriated funds for charter school facilities assistance at not more than 12.5 percent (from 12.5 percent); and (2) eliminating the requirement under the facilities financing assistance program to use not less than 50 percent of such funds for specified purposes.

This section establishes a State facilities aid program by replacing subsection (k) with provisions authorizing the Secretary to make competitive grants to State entities (as defined in section 4303(a)) to establish or enhance, and administer, charter school facilities aid programs. In selecting grantees, the Secretary must consider applications that quantitatively demonstrate improvements in charter schools' equitable access to facilities funding and financing (reducing gaps with other public schools), increased access to public buildings, and expanded access for low-income and rural charter schools; the Secretary must also give competitive preference priority to applicants in states that (i) qualify for specified priorities under section 4303(g)(2), (ii) provide charter schools tax-exempt financing, (iii) ensure equivalent land-use policies for charter schools, (iv) prohibit negative deed restrictions limiting charter school property access, or (v) grant charter schools first right of refusal on surplus public property. Grant funds may be used to (1) increase funding for, create, or improve financing mechanisms for charter school facilities acquisition, leasing, construction, or renovation (including local educational agency partnerships for public buildings); (2) support ongoing facilities costs; (3) develop alternative ownership models for charter school facilities; or (4) establish or maintain a reserve account under subsection (f) and deposit grant funds therein; such funds must supplement, not supplant, non-Federal funds. The Secretary may reserve up to 2% of appropriated funds for national activities (technical assistance, evaluation, research, and dissemination), grants create no "Federal interest," and $100 million is authorized for each of FY2026 through 2030.

This section requires each eligible entity receiving a grant under the Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Program before the date of enactment to submit an annual report to the Secretary on the entity's operations and activities under the program (excluding subsection (k)) for 10 years after the award of such grant. (As background, the program awards grants to public entities, private nonprofits, or consortia to demonstrate innovative methods of enhancing loans or bond financing for charter schools to acquire, construct, or renovate facilities.)

This section revises grants to state entities under the Charter Schools Program (i.e., competitive grants from the Secretary of Education to state educational agencies, state charter boards, governors, or charter support organizations for subgranting to charter developers). Specifically, it (1) authorizes state entities to provide assistance in locating facilities or one-time aid to planned or operating charter schools for building code compliance and educational quality; (2) decreases the minimum percentage of grant funds for subgrants (for opening new charter schools, replicating high-quality ones, or expanding them) to 80 percent (from 90 percent), maintains the 7 percent minimum for technical assistance and 3 percent maximum for administration, and authorizes up to 10 percent for a revolving loan fund to support initial operations of subgrantees' schools or facility acquisition, renovation, or rehabilitation; and (3) revises authorized subgrant activities to permit repair, renovation, or construction ensuring school building compliance with statutes and regulations for high-quality education.

This section revises the authorized uses of remainder funds—after awarding up to 80% for replication and expansion grants and up to 9% for certain state activities—under the national Charter Schools Program (CSP). (The CSP supports the opening, replication, and expansion of high-quality charter schools, primarily through competitive grants to charter management organizations.) Specifically, it (1) changes the description in (a)(3)(A) from disseminating technical assistance to providing support and technical assistance to state entities awarding CSP subgrants and to CSP grantees; (2) changes (a)(3)(B) from disseminating best practices regarding charter schools to identifying and disseminating such best practices; (3) redesignates former (a)(3)(C)—evaluating the CSP's impact, including on student achievement—as new (a)(3)(D); and (4) inserts new (a)(3)(C) to support activities related to (i) charter schools' access to facilities, funding, and financing; (ii) charter school authorizer quality and oversight; (iii) states that enacted authorizing legislation within five years prior to the grant; and (iv) best practices supporting early-stage planning, rural charter schools, charter schools serving students with disabilities, and innovative models.