GEAR UP for Success Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 954 To reform the GEAR UP program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 4, 2019 Mr. HURD of Texas (for himself and Mrs. DAVIS of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To reform the GEAR UP program. 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 ‘‘GEAR UP for Success 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. GAINING EARLY AWARENESS AND READINESS FOR 6 UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS AMENDMENTS. 7 Chapter 2 of part A of title IV of the Higher Edu- 8 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–21 et seq.) is 9 amended— 10 (1) in section 404A (20 U.S.C. 1070a–21)— 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 954 IH (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 1 (A) of subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘for col- 2 lege readiness’’ after ‘‘academic support’’; and 3 (B) in subsection (b)— 4 (i) by striking paragraph (3) and in- 5 serting the following: 6 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—In making awards to eligible 7 entities described in subsection (c), the Secretary— 8 ‘‘(A) may give a competitive priority— 9 ‘‘(i) to eligible entities that— 10 ‘‘(I) on the day before the date of 11 enactment of the GEAR UP for Suc- 12 cess Act of 2019, carried out success- 13 ful educational opportunity programs 14 under this chapter (as this chapter 15 was in effect on such day); and 16 ‘‘(II) have a prior, demonstrated 17 commitment to early intervention 18 leading to college access and readiness 19 through collaboration and replication 20 of successful strategies; 21 ‘‘(ii) to eligible entities that ensure 22 that students served under this chapter on 23 the day before the date of enactment of the 24 GEAR UP for Success Act of 2019 con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 954 IH tinue to receive assistance through the 1 completion of secondary school; or 2 ‘‘(iii) to eligible entities that meet the 3 requirements of clauses (i) and (ii); and 4 ‘‘(B) shall not give a competitive or abso- 5 lute priority on any other basis.’’; and 6 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(4) MULTIPLE AWARD PROHIBITION.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity de- 10 scribed in subsection (c)(1) that receives a 11 grant under this chapter shall not be eligible to 12 receive an additional grant under this chapter 13 until after the date on which the initial grant 14 period expires. 15 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION FOR NO-COST EXTEN- 16 SION.—Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), an 17 eligible entity shall be eligible to receive an ad- 18 ditional grant under this chapter during the 19 time that eligible entity is receiving a customary 20 no-cost extension of a grant under this chap- 21 ter.’’; 22 (2) in section 404B (20 U.S.C. 1070a–22)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 954 IH (A) in subsection (a), in the matter pre- 1 ceding paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘that are in 2 the first award year’’ after ‘‘grants’’; and 3 (B) in subsection (d)(1)— 4 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 5 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 6 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 7 ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a period; and 8 (iii) by striking subparagraph (C); 9 (3) in section 404C (20 U.S.C. 1070a–23)— 10 (A) in subsection (b)(1)(A)— 11 (i) by inserting ‘‘matching funds’’ 12 after ‘‘will provide’’; 13 (ii) by inserting ‘‘equaling’’ after ‘‘pri- 14 vate funds,’’; and 15 (iii) by striking ‘‘the cost of the pro- 16 gram, which matching funds’’ and insert- 17 ing ‘‘total Federal grant award, which’’; 18 (B) in subsection (c)(1), by inserting ‘‘at 19 any point during the grant award period’’ after 20 ‘‘obligated to students’’; and 21 (C) by striking subsection (d) and insert- 22 ing the following: 23 ‘‘(d) PEER REVIEW PANELS AND COMPETITIONS.— 24 The Secretary— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 954 IH ‘‘(1) shall convene peer review panels to assist 1 in making determinations regarding the awarding of 2 grants under this chapter; and 3 ‘‘(2) shall host a grant competition to make 4 new awards under this chapter in any year in which 5 there are funds available to make new awards.’’; 6 (4) in section 404D (20 U.S.C. 1070a–24)— 7 (A) in subsection (b)— 8 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or 9 former participants of a program under 10 this chapter’’ and inserting ‘‘, former par- 11 ticipants of a program under this chapter, 12 or peers and near peers’’ after ‘‘adults’’; 13 (ii) in paragraph (3), by inserting 14 ‘‘academic, social, and postsecondary plan- 15 ning’’ after ‘‘supportive’’; 16 (iii) in paragraph (10)— 17 (I) by redesignating subpara- 18 graphs (E) through (K) as subpara- 19 graphs (F) through (L), respectively; 20 (II) by inserting after subpara- 21 graph (D) the following: 22 ‘‘(E) counseling or referral services to ad- 23 dress the behavioral, social-emotional, and men- 24 tal health needs of at-risk students;’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 954 IH (III) in subparagraph (I), as re- 1 designated by subclause (I), by insert- 2 ing ‘‘, cognitive, non-cognitive, and 3 credit-by-examination’’ after ‘‘skills’’; 4 (IV) in subparagraph (K), as re- 5 designated by subclause (I), by strik- 6 ing ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 7 (V) in subparagraph (L), as re- 8 designated by subclause (I), by strik- 9 ing the period at the end and insert- 10 ing ‘‘; and’’; and 11 (VI) by adding at the end the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(M) capacity building activities that cre- 14 ate college-going cultures in participating 15 schools and local educational agencies.’’; and 16 (iv) by adding at the end the fol- 17 lowing: 18 ‘‘(16) Creating or expanding secondary school 19 drop-out recovery programs that allow students who 20 have dropped out of secondary school to complete a 21 regular secondary school diploma and begin college- 22 level work. 23 ‘‘(17) Establishing data collection and data 24 sharing agreements to obtain, analyze, and report 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 954 IH postsecondary outcome data for eligible students for 1 a period of not more than 72 months after the end 2 of the grant award period, which may include post- 3 secondary enrollment, persistence, and completion 4 data. 5 ‘‘(18) Establishing or maintaining an agree- 6 ment with a consortium of eligible entities described 7 in section 404A(c) to— 8 ‘‘(A) foster collaborative approaches to re- 9 search and evaluation; 10 ‘‘(B) improve the quality of data collection, 11 data sharing, analysis and reporting; and 12 ‘‘(C) apply evidence to improve programs 13 and evaluation under this chapter. 14 ‘‘(19) Providing services under this chapter to 15 students who have received services under a previous 16 grant award under this chapter but have not yet 17 completed grade 12.’’; 18 (B) in subsection (c)— 19 (i) in paragraph (3), by inserting 20 ‘‘and technical assistance’’ after ‘‘support’’; 21 and 22 (ii) by striking paragraph (9); and 23 (C) in subsection (d)— 24 (i) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘or’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 954 IH (ii) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 1 paragraph (5); and 2 (iii) by inserting after paragraph (3) 3 the following: 4 ‘‘(4) eligible for free or reduced-price lunch 5 under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 6 Act; or’’; 7 (5) in section 404E (20 U.S.C. 1070a–25)— 8 (A) in subsection (a)— 9 (i) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 10 and (2) as paragraphs (2) and (3), respec- 11 tively; 12 (ii) by inserting before paragraph (2), 13 as redesignated by clause (i), the following: 14 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.— 15 ‘‘(A) PLAN FOR MAINTENANCE OF FINAN- 16 CIAL ASSISTANCE.—An eligible entity proposing 17 to establish or maintain a financial assistance 18 program providing scholarships for students as- 19 sisted by the program of the eligible entity 20 under this chapter shall include a plan regard- 21 ing the financial application program with the 22 application submitted under section 404C. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 954 IH ‘‘(B) SCHOLARSHIP DETAILS.—Under a 1 plan described in subparagraph (A), an eligible 2 entity— 3 ‘‘(i) may elect to offer 1 or more types 4 of scholarships; and 5 ‘‘(ii) shall describe, for each type of 6 scholarship— 7 ‘‘(I) the minimum and maximum 8 awards for the scholarships, consistent 9 with section 404E(d), based on cri- 10 teria and disbursement priorities es- 11 tablished by the eligible entity; 12 ‘‘(II) the duration of the scholar- 13 ships, which may be single-year or 14 multi-year awards; 15 ‘‘(III) the enrollment require- 16 ments for participating students, 17 which may include providing scholar- 18 ships for participating students who 19 are enrolled in an institution of higher 20 education on less than a full-time 21 basis during any award year; and 22 ‘‘(IV) notwithstanding subsection 23 (g), any additional student eligibility 24 criteria established by the eligible en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 954 IH tity for earning and maintaining 1 scholarships under this section, in- 2 cluding— 3 ‘‘(aa) financial need; 4 ‘‘(bb) meeting participation 5 milestones in the activities of- 6 fered by the eligible entity under 7 section 404D; 8 ‘‘(cc) meeting and maintain- 9 ing satisfactory academic mile- 10 stones; and 11 ‘‘(dd) other criteria aligned 12 with State and local goals to 13 incentivize postsecondary readi- 14 ness, access, and success.’’; and 15 (iii) in paragraph (3), as redesignated 16 by clause (i), by striking ‘‘may award’’ and 17 inserting ‘‘may use not less than 10 per- 18 cent and not more than 50 percent of 19 funds made available under this chapter to 20 award’’; 21 (B) in subsection (b)— 22 (i) in the subsection heading, by in- 23 serting ‘‘STATE’’ before ‘‘LIMITATION’’; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 954 IH (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘eli- 1 gible entity demonstrates’’ and all that fol- 2 lows through the period at the end and in- 3 serting the following: ‘‘eligible entity— 4 ‘‘(I) demonstrates that the eligi- 5 ble entity has another means of pro- 6 viding the students with the financial 7 assistance described in this section or 8 eligible students have reasonable ac- 9 cess to State and local financial as- 10 sistance programs; and 11 ‘‘(II) describes such means or ac- 12 cess in the application submitted 13 under section 404C.’’; 14 (C) in subsection (e)— 15 (i) by striking paragraph (1) and in- 16 serting the following: 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 18 ‘‘(A) SCHOLARSHIP PLAN.—Each eligible 19 entity described in section 404A(c)(1) that re- 20 ceives a grant under this chapter shall hold in 21 reserve, for the students served by such grant 22 as described in section 404B(d)(1)(A) or 23 404D(d), an estimated amount that is based on 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 954 IH the eligible entity’s scholarship plan described 1 in subsection (a)(1). 2 ‘‘(B) INTEREST USE.—Interest earned on 3 funds held in reserve under subparagraph (A) 4 may be used by the eligible entity to administer 5 the scholarship program during the award pe- 6 riod and through the post-award period de- 7 scribed in paragraph (4).’’; 8 (ii) in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting 9 ‘‘, or been accepted for enrollment,’’ after 10 ‘‘enrolled’’; and 11 (iii) in paragraph (3)— 12 (I) in subparagraph (A), by strik- 13 ing ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 14 (II) by redesignating subpara- 15 graph (B) as subparagraph (C); and 16 (III) by inserting after subpara- 17 graph (A) the following: 18 ‘‘(B) the costs associated with enrolling in 19 an institution of higher education; and’’; and 20 (D) in subsection (g)— 21 (i) in paragraph (3)— 22 (I) by inserting ‘‘or, if the eligible 23 entity chooses, in another program of 24 study or credential program for which 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 954 IH an individual could use funds received 1 under a Federal Pell Grant to at- 2 tend,’’ before ‘‘that is located’’; and 3 (II) by striking ‘‘except that, at 4 the State’s option’’ and inserting ‘‘ex- 5 cept that, at the eligible entity’s op- 6 tion’’; and 7 (ii) in paragraph (4), by inserting 8 ‘‘and qualifies for an award, consistent 9 with the eligible entity’s scholarship plan 10 as described in subsection (a)(1)’’ after 11 ‘‘404D(a)’’; 12 (6) in section 404G (20 U.S.C. 1070a–27)— 13 (A) in subsection (b)— 14 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking 15 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 16 (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking the 17 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 18 and 19 (iii) by inserting after paragraph (2) 20 the following: 21 ‘‘(3) include the following metrics: 22 ‘‘(A) The number of students completing 23 the Free Application for Federal Student Aid 24 under section 483. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 954 IH ‘‘(B) If applicable, the number of students 1 receiving a scholarship under section 404E. 2 ‘‘(C) The graduation rate of participating 3 students from high school. 4 ‘‘(D) The enrollment of participating stu- 5 dents into postsecondary education. 6 ‘‘(E) Such other metrics as the Secretary 7 may require.’’; and 8 (B) in subsection (c)— 9 (i) in the subsection heading, by in- 10 serting ‘‘AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE’’ 11 after ‘‘FEDERAL EVALUATION’’; 12 [Text truncated for display. 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