Reopen Schools Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 682 To encourage local educational agencies to resume in-person instruction at elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 2, 2021 Mrs. HINSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To encourage local educational agencies to resume in-person instruction at elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Reopen Schools Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO SUPPORT IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION. 5 Subsection (c) of section 313 of the Coronavirus Re- 6 sponse and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 7 (division M of Public Law 116–260) is amended to read 8 as follows: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H682.IH H682 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 682 IH ‘‘(c) SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN- 1 CIES.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the allocation pro- 3 vided by the Secretary under subsection (b), the 4 State educational agency shall provide services and 5 assistance to local educational agencies and non-pub- 6 lic schools, consistent with the provisions of this sec- 7 tion. Each State shall allocate not less than 90 per- 8 cent of the allocation awarded to the State under 9 this section as subgrants to local educational agen- 10 cies (including charter schools that are local edu- 11 cational agencies) in the State in proportion to the 12 amount of funds such local educational agencies and 13 charter schools that are local educational agencies 14 received under part A of title I of the Elementary 15 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 16 6311 et seq.) in the most recent fiscal year. The 17 State educational agency shall make such subgrants 18 to local educational agencies as follows: 19 ‘‘(A) One-third of funds shall be awarded 20 not less than 15 calendar days after receiving 21 an award from the Secretary under this section. 22 ‘‘(B) The remaining two-thirds of funds 23 shall be awarded only after the local educational 24 agency submits to the Governor and the Gov- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H682.IH H682 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 682 IH ernor approves a comprehensive school reopen- 1 ing plan based on criteria determined by the 2 Governor in consultation with the State edu- 3 cational agency (including criteria for the Gov- 4 ernor to carry out paragraph (2)), that de- 5 scribes how the local educational agency will 6 safely reopen schools with the physical presence 7 of students, consistent with maintaining safe 8 and continuous operations aligned with chal- 9 lenging State academic standards. 10 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL OF PLANS.—The Governor 11 shall approve plans submitted under paragraph 12 (1)(B) within 30 days after the plan is submitted, 13 subject to the following requirements: 14 ‘‘(A) A local educational agency that pro- 15 vides in-person instruction for at least 50 per- 16 cent of its students where the students phys- 17 ically attend school no less than 50 percent of 18 each school-week, as it was defined by the local 19 educational agency prior to the coronavirus 20 emergency, shall have its plan automatically ap- 21 proved. 22 ‘‘(B) A local educational agency that does 23 not provide in-person instruction to any stu- 24 dents where the students physically attend 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H682.IH H682 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 682 IH school in-person shall not be eligible to receive 1 a subgrant under paragraph (1)(B). 2 ‘‘(C) A local educational agency that pro- 3 vides in-person instruction to at least some stu- 4 dents where the students physically attend 5 school in-person but does not satisfy the re- 6 quirements in subparagraph (A) shall have its 7 allocation reduced on a pro rata basis as deter- 8 mined by the Governor. 9 ‘‘(3) PLAN CONTENTS.—A school reopening 10 plan submitted to a Governor under paragraph 11 (1)(B) shall include, in addition to any other infor- 12 mation necessary to meet the criteria determined by 13 the Governor— 14 ‘‘(A) a detailed timeline for when the local 15 educational agency will provide in-person in- 16 struction, including the goals and criteria used 17 for providing full time in-person instruction to 18 all students; 19 ‘‘(B) a description of how many days of in- 20 person instruction per calendar week the local 21 educational agency plans to offer to students; 22 and 23 ‘‘(C) an assurance that the local edu- 24 cational agency will offer students as much in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H682.IH H682 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 682 IH person instruction as is safe and practicable, 1 consistent with maintaining safe and continuous 2 operations aligned with challenging State aca- 3 demic standards.’’. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H682.IH H682 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS