21st Century STEM for Girls and Underrepresented Minorities Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1591 To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide grants to local educational agencies to encourage girls and underrep- resented minorities to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 7, 2019 Mrs. BEATTY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide grants to local educational agencies to encourage girls and underrepresented minorities to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields. 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 ‘‘21st Century STEM 4 for Girls and Underrepresented Minorities Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1591 IH SEC. 2. GRANTS TO PREPARE GIRLS AND UNDERREP- 1 RESENTED MINORITIES. 2 Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education 3 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) is amended by add- 4 ing at the end the following: 5 ‘‘PART G—PREPARING GIRLS AND UNDERREP- 6 RESENTED MINORITIES FOR THE 21ST CEN- 7 TURY 8 ‘‘SEC. 4701. PROGRAM AUTHORITY. 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 90 10 days after the date of the enactment of this part, the Sec- 11 retary shall carry out a program under which the Sec- 12 retary makes grants to qualified local educational agen- 13 cies, on a competitive basis, to pay the costs of carrying 14 out STEM education activities for girls and underrep- 15 resented minorities as described in subsection (c). 16 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 18 grant under this part, a qualified local educational 19 agency shall submit to the Secretary an application 20 at such time, in such form, and containing such in- 21 formation as the Secretary may reasonably require. 22 At minimum, the application shall include a descrip- 23 tion of the following: 24 ‘‘(A) The educational program that will be 25 carried out by the local educational agency 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1591 IH using the grant, including the content of the 1 program and the research and models used to 2 design the program. 3 ‘‘(B) How elementary and secondary 4 schools served by the agency will collaborate to 5 fulfill goals of the program. 6 ‘‘(C) How the agency will ensure that there 7 is a comprehensive plan to improve STEM edu- 8 cation for girls and underrepresented minorities 9 in grades kindergarten through grade 12. 10 ‘‘(D) The process that will be used for the 11 recruitment and selection of students for par- 12 ticipation in the program. 13 ‘‘(E) The instructional and motivational 14 activities that will be included as part of the 15 program. 16 ‘‘(F) Any expected collaboration among 17 local, regional, or national institutions and or- 18 ganizations for the purpose of fulfilling the 19 goals of the program. 20 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In selecting among applica- 21 tions, the Secretary shall give priority to qualified 22 local educational agencies that partner or coordinate, 23 to the extent practicable, with local, regional, or na- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1591 IH tional institutions and organizations that have exten- 1 sive experience and expertise in— 2 ‘‘(A) increasing the participation of girls or 3 underrepresented minorities in STEM fields; or 4 ‘‘(B) conducting research on methods to 5 increase such participation. 6 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—A qualified local educational 7 agency that receives a grant under this part shall use the 8 grant to carry out a STEM education program for girls 9 and underrepresented minorities from elementary and sec- 10 ondary schools served by the agency. The program may 11 include the following activities: 12 ‘‘(1) Preparing girls and underrepresented mi- 13 norities for careers in STEM fields and the advan- 14 tages of pursuing careers in such fields. 15 ‘‘(2) Educating the parents of girls and under- 16 represented minorities about the opportunities and 17 advantages of STEM careers. 18 ‘‘(3) Enlisting the help of the parents of girls 19 and underrepresented minorities— 20 ‘‘(A) to overcome the obstacles faced by 21 such groups; and 22 ‘‘(B) to encourage their child’s continued 23 interest and involvement in STEM subjects. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1591 IH ‘‘(4) Providing tutoring and mentoring pro- 1 grams in STEM subjects. 2 ‘‘(5) Establishing partnerships and other oppor- 3 tunities that expose girls and underrepresented mi- 4 norities to role models in the STEM fields. 5 ‘‘(6) Enabling female and underrepresented mi- 6 nority students and their teachers to attend events 7 and academic programs in STEM subjects. 8 ‘‘(7) Providing after school activities designed 9 to encourage interest and develop the skills of girls 10 and underrepresented minorities in STEM subjects. 11 ‘‘(8) Summer programs designed to help girls 12 and underrepresented minorities— 13 ‘‘(A) develop an interest in STEM sub- 14 jects; 15 ‘‘(B) develop skills in such subjects; and 16 ‘‘(C) understand the relevance and signifi- 17 cance of such subjects. 18 ‘‘(9) Purchasing— 19 ‘‘(A) educational instructional materials or 20 software designed to help girls and underrep- 21 resented minorities develop an interest in 22 STEM subjects; or 23 ‘‘(B) equipment, instrumentation, or hard- 24 ware for teaching STEM subjects to girls and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1591 IH underrepresented minorities and encouraging 1 their interest in such subjects. 2 ‘‘(10) Field trips to locations, including institu- 3 tions of higher education, to expose girls and under- 4 represented minorities to STEM activities, encour- 5 age their interest in such activities, and acquaint 6 them with careers in STEM fields. 7 ‘‘(11) Providing academic advice and assistance 8 in high school course selection to encourage girls and 9 underrepresented minorities to take advanced 10 courses in STEM subjects. 11 ‘‘(12) Paying up to 50 percent of the cost of an 12 internship in a STEM discipline for female and 13 underrepresented minority students. 14 ‘‘(13) Providing professional development for 15 teachers and other school personnel, including with 16 respect to— 17 ‘‘(A) eliminating gender and racial bias in 18 the classroom; 19 ‘‘(B) sensitivity to gender and racial dif- 20 ferences; 21 ‘‘(C) engaging students in the face of gen- 22 der-based and racial peer pressure and parental 23 expectations; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1591 IH ‘‘(D) creating and maintaining a positive 1 environment; and 2 ‘‘(E) encouraging girls and underrep- 3 resented minorities through academic advice 4 and assistance to pursue advanced classes and 5 careers in STEM fields. 6 ‘‘(14) Such other STEM-related activities as 7 the local educational agency determines to be appro- 8 priate. 9 ‘‘(d) GRANT DURATION AND AMOUNT.— 10 ‘‘(1) DURATION.—Each grant under this sec- 11 tion shall be made for a period of 4 years. 12 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The amount of each grant 13 under this section shall be $250,000 for each year 14 of the grant period. 15 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—A qualified 16 local educational agency that receives a grant under this 17 section shall use the grant only to supplement, and not 18 to supplant, other assistance and funds made available 19 from non-Federal sources for the activities supported by 20 the grant. 21 ‘‘(f) ANNUAL EVALUATIONS.— 22 ‘‘(1) EVALUATION REQUIRED.—Not later than 23 30 days after last day of each school year for which 24 a qualified local educational agency receives a grant 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1591 IH under this section, the agency shall submit to the 1 Secretary a written evaluation of the program car- 2 ried out using the grant. 3 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The evaluation required 4 under subsection (a) shall include— 5 ‘‘(A) a description of the program and ac- 6 tivities carried out using the grant; 7 ‘‘(B) a description of the curriculum and 8 any partnerships developed using the grant; 9 ‘‘(C) the percentage of time that students 10 who participated in the program spent directly 11 engaged in STEM activities; 12 ‘‘(D) an assessment of the academic 13 progress made by such students during the pro- 14 gram, which shall be based on an evaluation of 15 each student at the beginning of the program 16 and after the student completes the program; 17 and 18 ‘‘(E) such other information as the Sec- 19 retary may require. 20 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 21 ‘‘(1) The term ‘STEM’ means science, tech- 22 nology, engineering, and mathematics. 23 ‘‘(2) The term ‘qualified local educational agen- 24 cy’ means a local agency that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1591 IH ‘‘(A) receives funds under part A of title I 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 2 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.); and 3 ‘‘(B) serves a total student population of 4 which not less than 40 percent are children who 5 are eligible for a free or reduced price lunch 6 under the Richard B. Russell National School 7 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.). 8 ‘‘SEC. 4702. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 9 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 10 this part $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 11 through 2023.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS