Universal Full-Day Kindergarten Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3391 To direct the Secretary of Education to make allotments to States to carry out full-day kindergarten programs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2021 Mr. GALLEGO (for himself, Ms. JACOBS of California, Mr. TORRES of New York, and Mrs. AXNE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To direct the Secretary of Education to make allotments to States to carry out full-day kindergarten programs, 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 ‘‘Universal Full-Day 4 Kindergarten Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN GRANT PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 7 grant program to make grants in accordance with the for- 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3391.IH H3391 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3391 IH mula described in subsection (b) to States to carry out 1 full-day kindergarten programs. 2 (b) FORMULA.— 3 (1) SECRETARIAL RESERVATIONS.— 4 (A) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—From the 5 amount appropriated under section 6 for a fis- 6 cal year, the Secretary shall reserve 2 percent 7 of such amount for technical assistance (includ- 8 ing capacity building) to States. 9 (B) SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.—From 10 the amount appropriated under section 6 for a 11 fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve one-half 12 of 1 percent for the Secretary of the Interior 13 for programs under this Act in schools operated 14 or funded by the Bureau of Indian Education, 15 Indian tribes and tribal organizations, or con- 16 sortia of Indian tribes and tribal organizations. 17 (C) OUTLYING AREAS.—From the amount 18 appropriated under section 6 for a fiscal year, 19 the Secretary shall reserve one-half of 1 percent 20 for the outlying areas to be distributed among 21 those outlying areas on the basis of their rel- 22 ative need, as determined by the Secretary, in 23 accordance with the purpose of this Act. 24 (2) STATE ALLOTMENTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3391.IH H3391 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3391 IH (A) IN GENERAL.—From the amount ap- 1 propriated under section 6 for a fiscal year that 2 remains after the Secretary makes the reserva- 3 tions under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 4 allot to each State with an approved State plan 5 under section 3(a), an amount that bears the 6 same relationship to the remainder as the 7 amount the State received under subpart 2 of 8 part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec- 9 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6331 10 et seq.) for the preceding fiscal year bears to 11 the amount all States received under that sub- 12 part (20 U.S.C. 6331 et seq.) for the preceding 13 fiscal year. 14 (B) MINIMUM AMOUNT.—No State receiv- 15 ing an allotment under this paragraph shall re- 16 ceive less than one-half of 1 percent of the total 17 amount allotted under this paragraph. 18 (C) REALLOTMENT.—If a State does not 19 receive an allotment under this paragraph for a 20 fiscal year, the Secretary shall reallot the 21 amount of the State’s allotment to the remain- 22 ing States in accordance with this paragraph. 23 (D) STATE RESERVATIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3391.IH H3391 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3391 IH (i) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—A State 1 may reserve not more than 2 percent of 2 the allotment received by State under this 3 paragraph for administrative purposes, in- 4 cluding the activities described in para- 5 graphs (2) and (3) of section 3(a). 6 (ii) LOCAL ALLOCATIONS.—A State 7 shall reserve not less than 98 percent of 8 the allotment received by the State under 9 this paragraph to make allocations to local 10 educational agencies under paragraph (3). 11 (3) ALLOCATIONS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL 12 AGENCIES.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—From the funds re- 14 served by a State under paragraph (2)(D), the 15 State shall allocate to each local educational 16 agency in the State that has an application ap- 17 proved by the State under section 3(b), an 18 amount that bears the same relationship to the 19 total amount of such reservation as the amount 20 the local educational agency received under sub- 21 part 2 of part A of title I of the Elementary 22 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 23 U.S.C. 6331 et seq.) for the preceding fiscal 24 year bears to the total amount received by all 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:57 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3391.IH H3391 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3391 IH local educational agencies in the State under 1 such subpart (20 U.S.C. 6331 et seq.) for the 2 preceding fiscal year. 3 (B) MINIMUM LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN- 4 CY ALLOCATION.—No allocation to a local edu- 5 cational agency under this paragraph may be 6 made in an amount that is less than $10,000, 7 subject to subparagraph (D). 8 (C) CONSORTIA.—Local educational agen- 9 cies in a State may form a consortium with 10 other surrounding local educational agencies 11 and combine the funds each such agency in the 12 consortium receives under this paragraph to 13 jointly carry out the activities described in this 14 section 4. 15 (D) RATABLE REDUCTION.—If the amount 16 reserved by the State under paragraph 17 (2)(D)(ii) is insufficient to make allocations to 18 local educational agencies in an amount equal 19 to the minimum allocation described in sub- 20 paragraph (B), such allocations shall be ratably 21 reduced. 22 SEC. 3. STATE PLANS; LOCAL APPLICATIONS. 23 (a) STATE PLANS.—In order to receive an allotment 24 under this section for any fiscal year, a State shall submit 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3391.IH H3391 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3391 IH a plan to the Secretary, at such time and in such manner 1 as the Secretary may reasonably require. Each plan sub- 2 mitted by a State under this section shall include the fol- 3 lowing: 4 (1) A description of how the State will use 5 funds reserved under section 2(b)(2)(D)(i). 6 (2) A description of how the State will ensure 7 that the allocations made to local educational agen- 8 cies meet the requirements of section 2(b)(3). 9 (3) Assurances that the State will— 10 (A) review existing resources and full-day 11 kindergarten programs across the State and co- 12 ordinate such resources and programs with the 13 State plan submitted under this subsection and 14 the funds received under this Act; 15 (B) monitor the implementation of activi- 16 ties under this Act and provide technical assist- 17 ance to local educational agencies in carrying 18 out such activities; and 19 (C) provide for equitable access for all stu- 20 dents to the activities supported under this Act, 21 including aligning those activities with the re- 22 quirements of other Federal laws. 23 (b) LOCAL APPLICATIONS.—To receive an allocation 24 under this Act, a local educational agency shall submit an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3391.IH H3391 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3391 IH application to the applicable State at such time, in such 1 manner, and containing such information as may be re- 2 quired by such State. 3 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS. 4 A local educational agency that receives an allocation 5 under this section shall use the allocation to establish or 6 maintain a full-day kindergarten program— 7 (1) that has a duration of at least 5 hours per 8 school day; 9 (2) that permits children ages 4 through 6, in- 10 clusive, to be enrolled in such program; 11 (3) that does not require payment for participa- 12 tion in such program; 13 (4) that is offered for the full school year; 14 (5) that is taught by teachers who meet the 15 professional qualifications, including licensure and 16 certification requirements, for kindergarten teachers 17 in the State or Tribal organization in which the eli- 18 gible entity is located; 19 (6) that includes academic standards that pre- 20 pare students to meet grade-level benchmarks; 21 (7) that may include standards related to cog- 22 nitive development, socio-emotional learning, phys- 23 ical and behavioral skills development, and rec- 24 reational activity; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3391.IH H3391 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3391 IH (8) that, if supported by paraprofessionals, is 1 supported by paraprofessionals who meet the quali- 2 fications outlined in the Elementary and Secondary 3 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.). 4 SEC. 5. REPORT. 5 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact- 6 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 7 shall conduct a study and submit a report to Congress 8 that— 9 (1) specifies the number of States, local edu- 10 cational agencies, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, 11 and outlying areas that offer full-day kindergarten 12 programs; and 13 (2) assesses the availability of such programs to 14 individuals in each such entity. 15 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 16 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 17 this section such sums as may be necessary for each of 18 fiscal years 2022 through 2027. 19 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 20 In this section: 21 (1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘local edu- 22 cational agency’’ and ‘‘outlying area’’ have the 23 meanings given the terms in section 8101 of the Ele- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3391.IH H3391 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3391 IH mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 1 U.S.C. 7801). 2 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3 the Secretary of Education. 4 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 5 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the 6 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 7 (4) TRIBE; TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The terms 8 ‘‘Indian tribe’’ and ‘‘tribal organization’’ have the 9 meanings given such terms in section 5212 of the 10 Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C. 11 2511). 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3391.IH H3391 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS