Coronavirus Emergency Education Grants Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4505 To provide one-time grants to parents and guardians for student education expenses, to establish emergency education freedom grants, and to pro- vide tax credits for donations to eligible scholarship-granting organiza- tions, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 6, 2020 Mr. CRUZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide one-time grants to parents and guardians for student education expenses, to establish emergency edu- cation freedom grants, and to provide tax credits for donations to eligible scholarship-granting organizations, 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 ‘‘Coronavirus Emer- 4 gency Education Grants Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4505 IS SEC. 2. GRANTS TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS FOR STU- 1 DENT EDUCATION EXPENSES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 3 with the Secretary of Education, shall establish a program 4 to make one-time direct payments to parents or guardians 5 to offset the educational expenses that such individuals in- 6 curred in educating their children during the period of 7 March 2020 to June 2021. 8 (b) CONTENTS OF PROGRAM.—The program carried 9 out under subsection (a) shall have the following require- 10 ments: 11 (1) The Secretary shall make only one payment 12 for each child. Such payment will be made to the 13 child’s legal parent or guardian. Such payment shall 14 be the lesser of $10,000 or the combined actual past 15 and future out-of-pocket educational expenses in- 16 curred, or that will be incurred, by the legal parent 17 or guardian for his or her child’s education during 18 the period of March 2020 to June 2021. 19 (2) The Secretary shall only make a payment to 20 a parent or guardian who is a citizen of the United 21 States or lawfully residing in the United States. 22 (3) The Secretary shall only make a payment to 23 a parent or guardian who is the legal parent or 24 guardian of the child. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4505 IS (4) The Secretary, in consultation with the Sec- 1 retary of Education, shall establish a web portal in 2 which the legal parent or guardian of a child may 3 apply to receive this one-time payment. The Sec- 4 retary shall request such information as is necessary 5 to— 6 (A) establish a parent or guardian’s total 7 out-of-pocket costs for educating his or her 8 child during the period of March 2020 to June 9 2021; 10 (B) establish the parent or guardian’s 11 identity, establish the parent or guardian’s citi- 12 zenship or lawful resident status; 13 (C) establish that parent or guardian is 14 the legal parent or guardian of the child and 15 the child’s identity; and 16 (D) establish and maintain the program 17 and prevent fraud, waste, or abuse of program 18 payments and funds. 19 (5) The Secretary shall only make payments to 20 legal parents and guardians that have applied 21 through the web portal and provided such informa- 22 tion as required by the Secretary, in consultation 23 with the Secretary of Education. The web portal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4505 IS shall be established within 60 days of the date of en- 1 actment of this Act. 2 (6) The Secretary shall require parents or 3 guardians who have received a payment from the 4 program to maintain records of how such individuals 5 spent the payment. The Secretary shall develop pro- 6 cedures to audit such records, mitigate fraud, waste, 7 and abuse within the program, and recoup program 8 funds and payments from individuals who have com- 9 mitted fraud, waste, or abuse. 10 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 11 (1) EDUCATIONAL EXPENSES.—The term ‘‘edu- 12 cational expenses’’— 13 (A) means— 14 (i) tuition for elementary or secondary 15 education; 16 (ii) elementary or secondary education 17 curriculum and curricular materials; 18 (iii) books or other instructional mate- 19 rials for elementary or secondary edu- 20 cation; 21 (iv) online elementary or secondary 22 education educational materials and ex- 23 penses incurred to access these online edu- 24 cational materials; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4505 IS (v) tuition for tutoring or elementary 1 or secondary educational classes outside of 2 the home, including at a tutoring facility, 3 but only if the tutor or instructor is not re- 4 lated to the student and— 5 (I) is licensed as a teacher in any 6 State; 7 (II) has taught at an eligible edu- 8 cational institution as established by 9 the Secretary; or 10 (III) is a subject matter expert in 11 the relevant subject as established by 12 the Secretary; 13 (vi) fees for a nationally standardized 14 norm-referenced achievement test, an ad- 15 vanced placement examination, or any ex- 16 amination related to admission to an insti- 17 tution of higher education; 18 (vii) fees for dual enrollment in an in- 19 stitution of higher education; and 20 (viii) educational therapies for stu- 21 dents with disabilities provided by a li- 22 censed or accredited practitioner or pro- 23 vider, including occupational, behavioral, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4505 IS physical, and speech-language therapies; 1 and 2 (B) includes expenses for the purposes de- 3 scribed in clauses (i) through (viii) of subpara- 4 graph (A) in connection with a homeschool 5 (whether treated as a homeschool or a private 6 school for purposes of applicable State law). 7 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8 the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary’s del- 9 egate. 10 (d) AUTHORIZATION AND APPROPRIATION.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 12 appropriated, and there are appropriated, out of any 13 amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 14 such sums as are necessary to enable the Secretary, 15 in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to 16 establish and carry out this program. 17 (2) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided 19 by this section are designated as an emergency 20 requirement pursuant to section 4(g) of the 21 Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 22 U.S.C. 933(g)). 23 (B) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the 24 Senate, this section is designated as an emer- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4505 IS gency requirement pursuant to section 4112(a) 1 of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the con- 2 current resolution on the budget for fiscal year 3 2018. 4 SEC. 3. EDUCATION FREEDOM SCHOLARSHIPS AND OPPOR- 5 TUNITY. 6 (a) EMERGENCY EDUCATION FREEDOM GRANTS.— 7 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 8 (A) DEFINITIONS FROM THE INTERNAL 9 REVENUE CODE OF 1986.—The definitions in 10 section 25E(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 11 1986, as added by subsection (b), shall apply to 12 this subsection, except as otherwise provided. 13 (B) EMERGENCY EDUCATION FREEDOM 14 GRANT FUNDS.—The term ‘‘emergency edu- 15 cation freedom grant funds’’ means the amount 16 of funds available under paragraph (2)(A) for 17 this subsection that are not reserved under 18 paragraph (3)(A)(i). 19 (C) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 20 means the Secretary of Education. 21 (D) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means 22 each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, 23 and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 24 (2) GRANTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4505 IS (A) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From any 1 amounts appropriated for section 18003 of divi- 2 sion B of the CARES Act (Public Law 116– 3 136) on or after the date of enactment of this 4 Act, the Secretary shall, notwithstanding any 5 other provision of title XVIII of division B of 6 the CARES Act, use 10 percent of such 7 amounts to carry out paragraph (3) and award 8 emergency education freedom grants to States 9 with approved applications, in order to enable 10 the States to award subgrants to eligible schol- 11 arship-granting organizations under paragraph 12 (4). 13 (B) TIMING.—The Secretary shall make 14 the allotments required under this paragraph by 15 not later than 30 days after the date of enact- 16 ment of this Act. 17 (3) RESERVATION AND ALLOTMENTS.— 18 (A) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts 19 made available under paragraph (2)(A), the 20 Secretary shall— 21 (i) reserve— 22 (I) one-half of 1 percent for allot- 23 ments for the United States Virgin Is- 24 lands, Guam, American Samoa, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4505 IS the Commonwealth of the Northern 1 Mariana Islands, to be distributed 2 among those outlying areas on the 3 basis of their relative need, as deter- 4 mined by the Secretary, in accordance 5 with the purpose of this subsection; 6 and 7 (II) one-half of 1 percent of such 8 amounts for the Secretary of the Inte- 9 rior, acting through the Bureau of In- 10 dian Education, to be used to provide 11 subgrants described in paragraph (4) 12 to eligible scholarship-granting organi- 13 zations that serve students attending 14 elementary schools or secondary 15 schools operated or funded by the Bu- 16 reau of Indian Education; and 17 (ii) subject to subparagraph (B), allot 18 each State that submits an approved appli- 19 cation under this subsection the sum of— 20 (I) the amount that bears the 21 same relation to 20 percent of the 22 emergency education freedom grant 23 funds as the number of individuals 24 aged 5 through 17 in the State, as de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4505 IS termined by the Secretary on the 1 basis of the most recent satisfactory 2 data, bears to the number of those in- 3 dividuals, as so determined, in all 4 such States that submitted approved 5 applications; and 6 (II) an amount that bears the 7 same relationship to 80 percent of the 8 emergency education freedom grant 9 funds as the number of individuals 10 aged 5 through 17 from families with 11 incomes below the poverty line in the 12 State, as determined by the Secretary 13 on the basis of the most recent satis- 14 factory data, bears to the number of 15 those individuals, as so determined, in 16 all such States that submitted ap- 17 proved applications. 18 (B) MINIMUM ALLOTMENT.—No State 19 shall receive an allotment under this paragraph 20 for a fiscal year that is less than one-half of 1 21 percent of the emergency education freedom 22 grant funds available for such fiscal year. 23 (4) SUBGRANTS TO ELIGIBLE SCHOLARSHIP- 24 GRANTING ORGANIZATIONS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4505 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives 1 an allotment under this subsection shall use the 2 allotment to award subgrants, on a basis deter- 3 mined appropriate by the State, to eligible 4 scholarship-granting organizations in the State. 5 (B) INITIAL TIMING.— 6 (i) STATES WITH EXISTING TAX 7 CREDIT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.—By not 8 later than 30 days after receiving an allot- 9 ment under paragraph (3)(A)(ii), a State 10 with an existing, as of the date of applica- 11 tion for an allotment under this subsection, 12 tax credit scholarship program shall use 13 not less than 50 percent of the allotment 14 to award subgrants to eligible scholarship- 15 granting organizations in the State. 16 (ii) STATES WITHOUT TAX CREDIT 17 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS.—By not later 18 than 60 days after receiving an allotment 19 under paragraph (3)(A)(ii), a State with- 20 out a tax credit scholarship program shall 21 use not less than 50 percent of the allot- 22 ment to award subgrants to eligible schol- 23 arship-granting organizations in the State. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4505 IS (C) USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible scholar- 1 ship-granting organization that receives a 2 subgrant under this paragraph— 3 (i) may reserve not more than 5 per- 4 cent of the subgrant funds for public out- 5 reach, student and family support activi- 6 ties, and administrative expenses related to 7 the subgrant; and 8 (ii) shall use not less than 95 percent 9 of the subgrant funds to provide qualifying 10 scholarships for qualified expenses only to 11 individual elementary school and secondary 12 school students who reside in the State in 13 which the eligible scholarship-granting or- 14 ganization is recognized. 15 (5) REALLOCATION.—A State shall return to 16 the Secretary any amounts of the allotment received 17 under this subsection that the State does not award 18 as subgrants under paragraph (4) by March 30, 19 2021, and the Secretary shall reallocate such funds 20 to the remaining eligible States in accordance with 21 paragraph (3)(A)(ii). 22 (6) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—The rules of 23 construction under section 25E(d) of the Internal 24 Revenue Code of 1986, as added by subsection (b), 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4505.IS S4505 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 4505 IS shall apply to this subsection in the same manner as 1 such rules apply to section 25E of such Code, as so 2 added. 3 (b) TAX CREDITS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO ELIGIBLE 4 SCHOLARSHIP-GRANTING ORGANIZATIONS.— 5 (1) CREDIT FOR INDIVIDUALS.—Subpart A of 6 part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal 7 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding after 8 section 25D the following new section: 9 ‘‘SEC. 25E. CONTRIBUTIONS TO ELIGIBLE SCHOLARSHIP- 10 GRANTING ORGANIZATIONS. 11 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—Subject to section 12 3(c)(3) of the Co [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]