A PLUS Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3149 To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the Secretary of Education to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement of students. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 5, 2019 Mr. WALKER (for himself, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. RATCLIFFE, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. ROONEY of Florida, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. ROY, Mr. RICE of South Caro- lina, Mr. BUDD, Mr. PALMER, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. CLOUD, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. LAM- BORN, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. BANKS, Mr. KING of Iowa, and Mr. BROOKS of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the Secretary of Education to combine certain funds to im- prove the academic achievement of students. 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 ‘‘Academic Partnerships 4 Lead Us to Success Act’’ or the ‘‘A PLUS Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3149 IH SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 1 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 2 (1) To give States and local communities added 3 flexibility to determine how to improve academic 4 achievement and implement education reforms. 5 (2) To reduce the administrative costs and com- 6 pliance burden of Federal education programs in 7 order to focus Federal resources on improving aca- 8 demic achievement. 9 (3) To ensure that States and communities are 10 accountable to the public for advancing the academic 11 achievement of all students, especially disadvantaged 12 children. 13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 14 In this Act: 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro- 16 vided, the terms used in this Act have the meanings 17 given the terms in section 8101 of the Elementary 18 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 19 7801 et seq.). 20 (2) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The term ‘‘account- 21 ability’’ means that public schools are answerable to 22 parents and other taxpayers for the use of public 23 funds and shall report student progress to parents 24 and taxpayers regularly. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3149 IH (3) DECLARATION OF INTENT.—The term ‘‘dec- 1 laration of intent’’ means a decision by a State, as 2 determined by State Authorizing Officials or by ref- 3 erendum, to assume full management responsibility 4 for the expenditure of Federal funds for certain eli- 5 gible programs for the purpose of advancing, on a 6 more comprehensive and effective basis, the edu- 7 cational policy of such State. 8 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 9 ing given such term in section 1122(e) of the Ele- 10 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 11 U.S.C. 6332(e)). 12 (5) STATE AUTHORIZING OFFICIALS.—The term 13 ‘‘State Authorizing Officials’’ means the State offi- 14 cials who shall authorize the submission of a dec- 15 laration of intent, and any amendments thereto, on 16 behalf of the State. Such officials shall include not 17 less than two of the following: 18 (A) The governor of the State. 19 (B) The highest elected education official 20 of the State, if any. 21 (C) The legislature of the State. 22 (6) STATE DESIGNATED OFFICER.—The term 23 ‘‘State Designated Officer’’ means the person des- 24 ignated by the State Authorizing Officials to submit 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3149 IH to the Secretary, on behalf of the State, a declara- 1 tion of intent, and any amendments thereto, and to 2 function as the point-of-contact for the State for the 3 Secretary and others relating to any responsibilities 4 arising under this Act. 5 SEC. 4. DECLARATION OF INTENT. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State is authorized to sub- 7 mit to the Secretary a declaration of intent permitting the 8 State to receive Federal funds on a consolidated basis to 9 manage the expenditure of such funds to advance the edu- 10 cational policy of the State. 11 (b) PROGRAMS ELIGIBLE FOR CONSOLIDATION AND 12 PERMISSIBLE USE OF FUNDS.— 13 (1) SCOPE.—A State may choose to include 14 within the scope of the State’s declaration of intent 15 any program for which Congress makes funds avail- 16 able to the State if the program is for a purpose de- 17 scribed in the Elementary and Education Secondary 18 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301). A State may not in- 19 clude any program funded pursuant to the Individ- 20 uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 21 1400 et seq.). 22 (2) USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available to 23 a State pursuant to a declaration of intent under 24 this Act shall be used for any educational purpose 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3149 IH permitted by State law of the State submitting a 1 declaration of intent. 2 (3) REMOVAL OF FISCAL AND ACCOUNTING 3 BARRIERS.—Each State educational agency that op- 4 erates under a declaration of intent under this Act 5 shall modify or eliminate State fiscal and accounting 6 barriers that prevent local educational agencies and 7 schools from easily consolidating funds from other 8 Federal, State, and local sources in order to improve 9 educational opportunities and reduce unnecessary 10 fiscal and accounting requirements. 11 (c) CONTENTS OF DECLARATION.—Each declaration 12 of intent shall contain— 13 (1) a list of eligible programs that are subject 14 to the declaration of intent; 15 (2) an assurance that the submission of the 16 declaration of intent has been authorized by the 17 State Authorizing Officials, specifying the identity of 18 the State Designated Officer; 19 (3) the duration of the declaration of intent; 20 (4) an assurance that the State will use fiscal 21 control and fund accounting procedures; 22 (5) an assurance that the State will meet the 23 requirements of applicable Federal civil rights laws 24 in carrying out the declaration of intent and in con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3149 IH solidating and using the funds under the declaration 1 of intent; 2 (6) an assurance that in implementing the dec- 3 laration of intent the State will seek to advance edu- 4 cational opportunities for the disadvantaged; 5 (7) a description of the plan for maintaining di- 6 rect accountability to parents and other citizens of 7 the State; and 8 (8) an assurance that in implementing the dec- 9 laration of intent, the State will seek to use Federal 10 funds to supplement, rather than supplant, State 11 education funding. 12 (d) DURATION.—The duration of the declaration of 13 intent shall not exceed 5 years. 14 (e) REVIEW AND RECOGNITION BY THE SEC- 15 RETARY.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall review 17 the declaration of intent received from the State 18 Designated Officer not more than 60 days after the 19 date of receipt of such declaration, and shall recog- 20 nize such declaration of intent unless the declaration 21 of intent fails to meet the requirements under sub- 22 section (c). 23 (2) RECOGNITION BY OPERATION OF LAW.—If 24 the Secretary fails to take action within the time 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3149 IH specified in paragraph (1), the declaration of intent, 1 as submitted, shall be deemed to be approved. 2 (f) AMENDMENT TO DECLARATION OF INTENT.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The State Authorizing Offi- 4 cials may direct the State Designated Officer to sub- 5 mit amendments to a declaration of intent that is in 6 effect. Such amendments shall be submitted to the 7 Secretary and considered by the Secretary in accord- 8 ance with subsection (e). 9 (2) AMENDMENTS AUTHORIZED.—A declaration 10 of intent that is in effect may be amended to— 11 (A) expand the scope of such declaration of 12 intent to encompass additional eligible pro- 13 grams; 14 (B) reduce the scope of such declaration of 15 intent by excluding coverage of a Federal pro- 16 gram included in the original declaration of in- 17 tent; 18 (C) modify the duration of such declara- 19 tion of intent; or 20 (D) achieve such other modifications as the 21 State Authorizing Officials deem appropriate. 22 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment shall 23 specify an effective date. Such effective date shall 24 provide adequate time to assure full compliance with 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3149 IH Federal program requirements relating to an eligible 1 program that has been removed from the coverage of 2 the declaration of intent by the proposed amend- 3 ment. 4 (4) TREATMENT OF PROGRAM FUNDS WITH- 5 DRAWN FROM DECLARATION OF INTENT.—Begin- 6 ning on the effective date of an amendment executed 7 under paragraph (2)(B), each program requirement 8 of each program removed from the declaration of in- 9 tent shall apply to the State’s use of funds made 10 available under the program. 11 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY FOR RESULTS OF PUBLIC EDU- 12 CATION. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State operating under a 14 declaration of intent under this Act shall inform parents 15 and the general public regarding the student achievement 16 assessment system, demonstrating student progress rel- 17 ative to the State’s determination of student proficiency 18 for the purpose of public accountability to parents and 19 taxpayers. 20 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM.—The State shall de- 21 termine and establish an accountability system to ensure 22 accountability under this Act. 23 (c) REPORT ON STUDENT PROGRESS.—Not later 24 than 1 year after the effective date of the declaration of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3149 IH intent, and annually thereafter, a State shall disseminate 1 widely to parents and the general public a report that de- 2 scribes student progress. The report shall include— 3 (1) student performance data disaggregated in 4 the same manner as data are disaggregated under 5 section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) of the Elementary and 6 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7 6311(b)(2)(B)(xi)); and 8 (2) a description of how the State has used 9 Federal funds to improve academic achievement, re- 10 duce achievement disparities between various stu- 11 dent groups, and improve educational opportunities 12 for the disadvantaged. 13 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 15 (b), the amount that a State with a declaration of intent 16 may expend for administrative expenses shall be limited 17 to 1 percent of the aggregate amount of Federal funds 18 made available to the State through the eligible programs 19 included within the scope of such declaration of intent. 20 (b) STATES NOT CONSOLIDATING FUNDS UNDER 21 PART A OF TITLE I.—If the declaration of intent does 22 not include within its scope part A of title I of the Elemen- 23 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 24 6311 et seq.), the amount spent by the State on adminis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 3149 IH trative expenses shall be limited to 3 percent of the aggre- 1 gate amount of Federal funds made available to the State 2 pursuant to such declaration of intent. 3 SEC. 7. EQUITABLE PARTICIPATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 4 Each State consolidating and using funds pursuant 5 to a declaration of intent under this Act shall provide for 6 the participation of private school children and teachers 7 in the activities assisted under the declaration of intent 8 in the same manner as participation is provided to private 9 school children and teachers under section 8501 of the El- 10 ementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 11 U.S.C. 7881). 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS