Representatives Jesús “Chuy” García (Il-04), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), and Kweisi Mfume (MD-07) joined by 36 Members of Congress introduced the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Safe Schools Act to provide $17 billion to school districts to pay for PPE, cleaning supplies, technical training, and additional staff support needed to keep students, educators, and communities safe. As schools prepare to return to in-person classes amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the U.S., we must ensure that they have the resources necessary to keep our communities safe. Schools suffered from disinvestment and thin-stretched budgets before COVID-19 and the emergency relief funding in the CARES Act is simply not enough to respond to the scope of financial challenges schools face. The PPE for Safe Schools Act would provide schools with the funds they need to protect students, teachers and support staff, based on estimated needs including:

• $8.8 Billion for PPE in schools and school buses;

• $1.6 Billion for cleaning and health supplies; and

• $6.6 Billion to fund additional demands on cleaning staff.