President Biden’s $2 trillion American Jobs Plan released by the White House today takes aim at upgrading technology facilities at public K-12 schools and community colleges as part of a broad education investment plan worth more than $100 billion.
The biggest part of that proposed Federal investment would include $100 billion to “upgrade and build new public schools” through $50 billion in direct grants and $50 billion through bond funding.
The new money would be used to improve school facilities and invest in “cutting-edge, energy-efficient and electrified, resilient, and innovative school buildings with technology and labs that will help our educators prepare students to be productive workers and valued students,” the White House said.
“President Biden believes we can’t close the opportunity gap if low-income kids go to schools in buildings that undermine health and safety, while wealthier students get access to safe buildings with labs and technology that prepare them for the jobs of the future,” the White House said.
On the higher-education front, the American Jobs Plan offers $12 billion of investments for community college infrastructure. That money will go to states to address “both existing physical and technological infrastructure needs at community colleges,” and to identify “strategies to address access to community colleges in education deserts,” the White House said.
Elsewhere in the plan, the Biden administration is proposing to spend $18 billion to modernize Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and clinics, and to make $10 billion available to modernize Federal government buildings, either through purchase, construction, or renovation.
