CHOICE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8182 To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a grant program to make grants to the parents of students served by local educational agencies that will not provide in-person instruction in a manner consistent with school year 2019–2020, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a grant program to make grants to the parents of students served by local educational agencies that will not provide in-person instruction in a manner consistent with school year 2019–2020, 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 ‘‘Creating Hope and 4 Opportunity through Increased Choice in Education Act’’ 5 or the ‘‘CHOICE Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 Sep 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8182.IH H8182 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8182 IH SEC. 2. OPPORTUNITY GRANT PROGRAM. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 2 grant program (to be known as the ‘‘Opportunity Grant 3 Program’’) to make grants to parents of eligible students 4 for the purposes described in subsection (d). 5 (b) APPLICATION.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 7 grant under this section, a parent of an eligible stu- 8 dent shall submit to the Secretary an application 9 demonstrating— 10 (A) the household income of such eligible 11 student; and 12 (B) with respect to school year 2020–2021, 13 that the local educational agency serving such 14 eligible student will not provide in-person in- 15 struction in a manner consistent with school 16 year 2019–2020. 17 (2) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 18 shall accept applications under paragraph (1) on an 19 annual rolling basis and make such application avail- 20 able as a standardized form in electronic and written 21 format. 22 (c) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—Subject to the availability 23 of appropriations, each parent of an eligible student who 24 the Secretary determines qualifies for a grant under this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 Sep 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8182.IH H8182 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8182 IH section shall receive a grant under this section in an 1 amount that— 2 (1) in the case of an eligible student with a 3 household income less than or equal to 100 percent 4 of the reduced price lunch rate income, is equal to 5 100 percent of the per-pupil funding with respect to 6 the local educational agency serving such eligible 7 student, as determined by the Secretary; 8 (2) in the case of an eligible student with a 9 household income greater than 100 percent but less 10 than or equal to 150 percent of the reduced price 11 lunch rate income, is equal to 90 percent of the per- 12 pupil funding with respect to the local educational 13 agency serving such eligible student, as determined 14 by the Secretary; and 15 (3) in the case of an eligible student with a 16 household income greater than 150 percent but less 17 than or equal to 200 percent of the reduced price 18 lunch rate income, is equal to 80 percent of the per- 19 pupil funding with respect to the local educational 20 agency serving such eligible student, as determined 21 by the Secretary. 22 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—Any amounts made available 23 to a parent under this section may be used— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 Sep 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8182.IH H8182 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8182 IH (1) with respect to an eligible student, to pay 1 the tuition and fees for a private elementary school 2 or a private secondary school that is a qualified edu- 3 cation provider approved under subsection (e); 4 (2) for private tutoring (including through a 5 learning pod or microschool); 6 (3) for the home school expenses of such eligi- 7 ble student; 8 (4) to purchase educational materials, including 9 instruction materials and textbooks for such eligible 10 student; 11 (5) for purchasing electronic devices to facili- 12 tate the education of such eligible student; or 13 (6) for such other purposes as the Secretary de- 14 termines appropriate. 15 (e) REGISTRY OF QUALIFIED EDUCATION PRO- 16 VIDERS.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to each State, 18 the Secretary shall establish and maintain a registry 19 of qualified education providers approved by the Sec- 20 retary for purposes of subsection (d)(1). 21 (2) APPROVAL.—With respect to each State, 22 the Secretary shall approve as a qualified education 23 provider any private elementary school or private 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 Sep 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8182.IH H8182 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8182 IH secondary school that demonstrates to the Secretary 1 that such school is licensed to operate in such State. 2 (f) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 3 tion shall be construed— 4 (1) to impact any aspect of private, religious, or 5 home education providers; 6 (2) to exclude private, religious, or home edu- 7 cation providers from receiving funds pursuant to a 8 grant under this section; or 9 (3) to require a qualified educational service 10 provider to alter any creed, practice, admissions pol- 11 icy, or curriculum in order to receive funds pursuant 12 to a grant under this section. 13 (g) FUNDING.—From any amounts appropriated for 14 section 18003 of division B of the CARES Act on or after 15 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall, not- 16 withstanding any other provision of title XVIII of division 17 B of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136), use 10 per- 18 cent of such amounts to carry out this section and award 19 opportunity grants to parents with approved applications 20 in accordance with this section. 21 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 22 (1) ELIGIBLE STUDENT.—The term ‘‘eligible 23 student’’ means a student— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:52 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8182.IH H8182 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8182 IH (A) served by a local educational agency 1 that, with respect to school year 2020–2021, 2 will not provide in-person instruction in a man- 3 ner consistent with school year 2019–2020; and 4 (B) from a household with a household in- 5 come that is less than 200 percent of the re- 6 duced price lunch rate income. 7 (2) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘local edu- 8 cational agency’’, ‘‘parent’’, and ‘‘Secretary’’ have 9 the meanings given such terms in section 8101 of 10 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 11 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 12 (3) HOUSEHOLD INCOME.—The term ‘‘house- 13 hold income’’ has the meaning given such term in 14 section 36B(d)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 15 1986 (26 U.S.C. 36B(d)(2)). 16 (4) REDUCED PRICE LUNCH RATE INCOME.— 17 The term ‘‘reduced price lunch rate income’’ means 18 185 percent of the applicable family size income lev- 19 els contained in the nonfarm income poverty guide- 20 lines prescribed by the Office of Management and 21 Budget, as adjusted annually in accordance with 22 subparagraph (B) of section 9(b)(1) of the Richard 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 Sep 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8182.IH H8182 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8182 IH B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1 1758(b)(1)). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 Sep 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8182.IH H8182 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS