SOAR Permanent Authorization Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 114 To amend the SOAR Act. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 28, 2021 Mr. JOHNSON (for himself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af- fairs A BILL To amend the SOAR Act. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘SOAR Permanent Au- 4 thorization Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE SOAR ACT. 6 The Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act 7 (division C of Public Law 112–10) is amended— 8 (1) in section 3007 (sec. 38–1853.07 D.C. Offi- 9 cial Code)— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:31 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 114 IS (A) in subsection (a)(5)(A)(i), by striking 1 subclause (I) and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(I) is fully accredited by an ac- 3 crediting body with jurisdiction in the 4 District of Columbia or that is recog- 5 nized by the Student and Visitor Ex- 6 change English Language Program 7 administered by U.S. Immigration 8 and Customs Enforcement; or’’; 9 (B) by striking subsection (c) and redesig- 10 nating subsection (d) as subsection (c); 11 (C) in subsection (b)— 12 (i) in the subsection heading, by strik- 13 ing ‘‘AND PARENTAL ASSISTANCE’’ and in- 14 serting ‘‘, PARENTAL ASSISTANCE, AND 15 STUDENT ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE’’; 16 (ii) in the matter preceding paragraph 17 (1), by striking ‘‘$2,000,000’’ and insert- 18 ing ‘‘$2,200,000’’; and 19 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 20 lowing: 21 ‘‘(3) The expenses of providing tutoring service 22 to participating eligible students that need additional 23 academic assistance. If there are insufficient funds 24 to provide tutoring services to all such students in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:31 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 114 IS a year, the eligible entity shall give priority in such 1 year to students who previously attended an elemen- 2 tary school or secondary school identified as one of 3 the lowest-performing schools under the District of 4 Columbia’s accountability system.’’; and 5 (D) in subsection (c), as redesignated by 6 subparagraph (B)— 7 (i) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking 8 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 9 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 10 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking 11 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 12 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; 13 (2) in section 3008(h) (sec. 38–1853.08(h) 14 D.C. Official Code)— 15 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 16 3009(a)(2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 17 3009(a)’’; 18 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert- 19 ing the following: 20 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS.—The Insti- 21 tute of Education Sciences may administer assess- 22 ments to students participating in the evaluation 23 under section 3009(a) for the purpose of conducting 24 the evaluation under such section.’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:31 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 114 IS (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘the na- 1 tionally norm-referenced standardized test de- 2 scribed in paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘a na- 3 tionally norm-referenced standardized test’’; 4 (3) in section 3009(a) (sec. 38–1853.09(a) D.C. 5 Official Code)— 6 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘an- 7 nually’’ and inserting ‘‘regularly’’; 8 (B) in paragraph (2)— 9 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 10 clause (i) and inserting the following: 11 ‘‘(i) is rigorous; and’’; and 12 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 13 ‘‘impact of the program’’ and all that fol- 14 lows through the end of the subparagraph 15 and inserting ‘‘impact of the program on 16 academic progress and educational attain- 17 ment.’’; 18 (C) in paragraph (3)— 19 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 20 ing ‘‘ON EDUCATION’’ and inserting ‘‘OF 21 EDUCATION’’; 22 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 23 (I) by inserting ‘‘the academic 24 progress of’’ after ‘‘assess’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:31 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 114 IS (II) by striking ‘‘in each of 1 grades 3’’ and all that follows through 2 the end of the subparagraph and in- 3 serting ‘‘; and’’; 4 (iii) by striking subparagraph (B); 5 and 6 (iv) by redesignating subparagraph 7 (C) as subparagraph (B); and 8 (D) in paragraph (4)— 9 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 10 (I) by striking ‘‘A comparison of 11 the academic achievement of partici- 12 pating eligible students who use an 13 opportunity scholarship on the meas- 14 urements described in paragraph 15 (3)(B) to the academic achievement’’ 16 and inserting ‘‘The academic progress 17 of participating eligible students who 18 use an opportunity scholarship com- 19 pared to the academic progress’’; and 20 (II) by inserting ‘‘, which may in- 21 clude students’’ after ‘‘students with 22 similar backgrounds’’; 23 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 24 ‘‘increasing the satisfaction of such parents 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:31 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 114 IS and students with their choice’’ and insert- 1 ing ‘‘those parents’ and students’ satisfac- 2 tion with the program’’; 3 (iii) by striking subparagraph (D) 4 through (F) and inserting the following: 5 ‘‘(D) The high school graduation rates, 6 college enrollment rates, college persistence 7 rates, and college graduation rates of partici- 8 pating eligible students who use an opportunity 9 scholarship compared with the rates of public 10 school students described in subparagraph (A), 11 to the extent practicable. 12 ‘‘(E) The college enrollment rates, college 13 persistence rates, and college graduation rates 14 of students who participated in the program as 15 the result of winning the Opportunity Scholar- 16 ship Program lottery compared to the enroll- 17 ment, persistence, and graduation rates for stu- 18 dents who entered but did not win such lottery 19 and who, as a result, served as the control 20 group for previous evaluations of the program 21 under this division. Nothing in this subpara- 22 graph may be construed to waive section 23 3004(a)(3)(A)(iii) with respect to any such stu- 24 dent. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:31 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 114 IS ‘‘(F) The safety of the schools attended by 1 participating eligible students who use an op- 2 portunity scholarship compared with the schools 3 attended by public school students described in 4 subparagraph (A), to the extent practicable.’’; 5 and 6 (iv) in subparagraph (G), by striking 7 ‘‘achievement’’ and inserting ‘‘progress’’; 8 and 9 (4) in section 3014 (sec. 38–1853.14, D.C. Of- 10 ficial Code)— 11 (A) in subsection (a), in the matter pre- 12 ceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘$60,000,000 13 for fiscal year 2012 and for each fiscal year 14 through fiscal year 2023’’ and inserting 15 ‘‘$75,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 and for each 16 succeeding fiscal year’’; and 17 (B) in subsection (b), by striking 18 ‘‘$60,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$75,000,000’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:31 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS