Summer Meals and Learning Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2070 To create a new Federal grant program that provides grants to State libraries to allow schools with summer lunch programs to keep their libraries open for student use during the summer months. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 10, 2019 Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To create a new Federal grant program that provides grants to State libraries to allow schools with summer lunch programs to keep their libraries open for student use during the summer months. 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 ‘‘Summer Meals and 4 Learning Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:30 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2070.IS S2070 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2070 IS (1) ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 1 The term ‘‘eligible local educational agency’’ means 2 a local educational agency, as defined in section 3 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 4 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)— 5 (A) that serves lunch at a school served by 6 the local educational agency during the summer 7 as part of— 8 (i) the summer food service program 9 for children established under section 13 of 10 the Richard B. Russell National School 11 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1761); or 12 (ii) the seamless summer option au- 13 thorized by section 13(a)(8) of such Act 14 (42 U.S.C. 1761(a)(8)); and 15 (B) where at least 50 percent of the stu- 16 dents in grades prekindergarten through grade 17 3 at such school— 18 (i) are reading below grade level at 19 grade 3; or 20 (ii) are at risk of reading below grade 21 level at grade 3. 22 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 23 the Secretary of Education. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:30 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2070.IS S2070 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2070 IS (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 1 the several States of the United States, the District 2 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 3 American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the North- 4 ern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the United States 5 Virgin Islands. 6 (4) STATE LIBRARY ADMINISTRATIVE AGEN- 7 CY.—The term ‘‘State library administrative agen- 8 cy’’ has the meaning given the term in section 213 9 of the Museum and Library Services Act (20 U.S.C. 10 9122). 11 (5) SUMMER EARLY READING PROGRAM.—The 12 term ‘‘summer early reading program’’ means a pro- 13 gram held in the summer, and not less than 6 weeks 14 in duration, that— 15 (A) is held at a school with a summer 16 lunch site described in paragraph (1)(A); and 17 (B) provides students participating in the 18 lunch program— 19 (i) access to the school library; and 20 (ii) literacy activities or expanded 21 learning opportunities at the school. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:30 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2070.IS S2070 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2070 IS SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR SUMMER EARLY READING PROGRAMS 1 AT SUMMER MEAL SITES. 2 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From amounts made 3 available under subsection (f) for a fiscal year, the Sec- 4 retary shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to State 5 library administrative agencies to enable the State library 6 administrative agencies to award subgrants to eligible 7 local educational agencies for summer early reading pro- 8 grams. 9 (b) APPLICATIONS.—A State library administrative 10 agency desiring a grant under this section shall submit 11 an application at such time, in such manner, and con- 12 taining such information as the Secretary may require. 13 Each application shall include— 14 (1) how the State library administrative agency 15 will award subgrants described in subsection (d), in- 16 cluding any priorities or considerations that the 17 State library administrative agency will apply in 18 making such awards, with an emphasis toward sup- 19 porting eligible local educational agencies with a dis- 20 proportionately high ratio of students served at 21 school lunch sites described in section 2(1)(A) to 22 such school lunch sites; 23 (2) how the State library administrative agency 24 will disseminate, in a timely manner, information re- 25 garding the subgrants described in subsection (d) 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:30 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2070.IS S2070 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2070 IS and the application process for such subgrants to eli- 1 gible local educational agencies; 2 (3) the criteria that the State library adminis- 3 trative agency will require for the summer early 4 reading programs, including the minimum number 5 of hours that the school library shall remain acces- 6 sible and any other criteria regarding the activities 7 to be offered; and 8 (4) an assurance from the State library admin- 9 istrative agency that each eligible local educational 10 agency that receives a subgrant will provide a sum- 11 mer early reading program at each school lunch site 12 served by the local educational agency. 13 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—A State library administrative 14 agency receiving a grant under this section shall use grant 15 funds to award subgrants to eligible local educational 16 agencies under subsection (d). 17 (d) SUBGRANTS.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State library adminis- 19 trative agency receiving a grant under this section 20 shall award subgrants, on a competitive basis, to eli- 21 gible local educational agencies to enable the eligible 22 local educational agencies to provide summer early 23 reading programs. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:30 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2070.IS S2070 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2070 IS (2) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible local edu- 1 cational agency desiring a subgrant under this sec- 2 tion shall submit an application at such time, in 3 such manner, and containing such information as 4 the State library administrative agency may require. 5 Each application shall include— 6 (A) a description of the school lunch sites 7 described in section 2(1)(A) that will be partici- 8 pating in the summer early reading program, 9 and the ratio, as of the date of application, of 10 the number of students served to the number of 11 such school lunch sites; 12 (B) proof that the eligible local educational 13 agency meets the requirements of section 2(1); 14 (C) a description of the summer early 15 reading program that the eligible local edu- 16 cational agency will provide at each school 17 lunch site to be served; and 18 (D) a description of how community part- 19 ners will be involved in the summer early read- 20 ing program. 21 (3) AWARD BASIS.—A State library administra- 22 tive agency receiving a grant under this section shall 23 award subgrants based on— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:30 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2070.IS S2070 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2070 IS (A) the proposed number of school lunch 1 sites and the number of students that will be 2 served under the summer early reading pro- 3 gram; and 4 (B) any other criteria established by the 5 State library administrative agency in the appli- 6 cation submitted under subsection (b). 7 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible local edu- 8 cational agency receiving a subgrant under this sub- 9 section shall use the subgrant funds to work with 10 community partners to— 11 (A) develop and implement the summer 12 early reading programs proposed in the applica- 13 tion submitted under paragraph (2); 14 (B) develop and carry out other activities 15 and strategies related to such summer early 16 reading programs; and 17 (C) hire and train appropriate State li- 18 brary administrative agency personnel to teach 19 the summer early reading programs during the 20 summer. 21 (e) REPORTS.—For each year of a grant or subgrant 22 awarded under this section, a State library administrative 23 agency receiving such grant, or an eligible local edu- 24 cational agency receiving such subgrant, shall submit a re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:30 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2070.IS S2070 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2070 IS port regarding the progress made in achieving the pur- 1 poses of the grant or subgrant, respectively, to the Sec- 2 retary. 3 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 4 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 5 $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2020 through 6 2024. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:30 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2070.IS S2070 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS