Put Students First Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 211 To prohibit the Secretary of Education from providing Federal elementary and secondary education funds for fiscal year 2021 or COVID–19 relief funds to an elementary school or secondary school that does not offer in-person instruction. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 3, 2021 Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Ms. ERNST, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. HAGERTY, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. DAINES, and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To prohibit the Secretary of Education from providing Fed- eral elementary and secondary education funds for fiscal year 2021 or COVID–19 relief funds to an elementary school or secondary school that does not offer in-person instruction. 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 ‘‘Put Students First 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:48 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S211.IS S211 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 211 IS SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF FEDERAL EDUCATION FUNDS FOR 1 K–12 SCHOOLS THAT DO NOT REOPEN. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 3 sion of law, beginning on the date of enactment of this 4 Act, the Secretary of Education may not provide any Fed- 5 eral funds appropriated for fiscal year 2021 under the Ele- 6 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7 6301 et seq.) or appropriated for COVID–19 relief, to an 8 elementary school or secondary school that does not offer 9 in-person instruction (either on a full-time basis or a hy- 10 brid basis with home learning) for all students enrolled 11 in the school by not later than April 30, 2021. 12 (b) FORFEIT AND RETURN OF FUNDS.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—An elementary school or sec- 14 ondary school that receives Federal funds appro- 15 priated for fiscal year 2021 under the Elementary 16 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 17 6301 et seq.) or appropriated for COVID–19 relief 18 on or after the date of enactment of this Act that 19 does not offer in-person instruction (either on a full- 20 time basis or a hybrid basis with home learning) for 21 all students enrolled in the school by not later than 22 April 30, 2021, shall forfeit any Federal funds ap- 23 propriated for fiscal year 2021 that have not been 24 distributed and return any funds appropriated for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:48 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S211.IS S211 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 211 IS COVID–19 relief on or after the date of enactment 1 of this Act to the Secretary of Education. 2 (2) USE OF FORFEITED AND RETURNED 3 FUNDS.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Edu- 5 cation shall use funds forfeited or returned 6 under paragraph (1) to provide States, in which 7 schools described in paragraph (1) operate, the 8 option to receive funds to provide a school 9 choice option for students enrolled in schools 10 that do not offer in-person instruction. To be 11 eligible to receive such funds, a State shall sub- 12 mit to the Secretary of Education, by not later 13 than May 15, 2021, an implementation plan to 14 provide school choice options for students who 15 are enrolled in schools that do not offer in-per- 16 son instruction (either on a full-time basis or a 17 hybrid basis with home learning) for all stu- 18 dents enrolled in the schools. 19 (B) GRANTS TO STATES WITH HIGHEST 20 PERCENTAGE OF SCHOOLS OFFERING IN-PER- 21 SON INSTRUCTION.—If a State described in 22 subparagraph (A) does not submit an imple- 23 mentation plan to the Secretary of Education 24 by not later than May 15, 2021, as described 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:48 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S211.IS S211 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 211 IS in subparagraph (A), the funds available to 1 such State shall be provided as grants to States 2 with the highest percentage of local educational 3 agencies in the State serving schools that offer 4 in-person instruction (either on a full-time basis 5 or a hybrid basis with home learning). 6 (c) FEDERALLY FUNDED SCHOOL LUNCH PRO- 7 GRAM.—Nothing in this Act shall alter or preclude any 8 eligibility, funding, or requirements under the school lunch 9 program established under the Richard B. Russell Na- 10 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.). 11 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the terms ‘‘elemen- 12 tary school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, and ‘‘secondary 13 school’’ have the meanings given the terms in section 8101 14 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 15 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:48 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S211.IS S211 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS