GO Ag Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8535 To amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 to direct the Secretary of Education to award grants for new agricultural education programs in secondary schools. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 6, 2020 Ms. FINKENAUER (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. LUETKE- MEYER, and Mr. BRINDISI) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Edu- cation Act of 2006 to direct the Secretary of Education to award grants for new agricultural education programs in secondary schools. 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 ‘‘Growing Opportunities 4 in Agriculture Act’’ or the ‘‘GO Ag Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8535.IH H8535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8535 IH SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR NEW AGRICULTURAL EDU- 1 CATION PROGRAMS. 2 Section 114 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Tech- 3 nical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2324) is amend- 4 ed— 5 (1) in subsection (f), in the matter preceding 6 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘(other than subsection 7 (g))’’ after ‘‘section’’; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(g) GRANT PROGRAM FOR NEW AGRICULTURAL 10 EDUCATION PROGRAMS.— 11 ‘‘(1) GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 13 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible 14 entities to support the creation of new agricul- 15 tural education programs in secondary schools. 16 ‘‘(B) GRANT DURATION.—A grant awarded 17 under this subsection may not exceed a 5-year 18 grant period. 19 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To receive a grant 21 under this subsection, an eligible entity shall 22 submit an application to the Secretary at such 23 time, in such manner, and containing such in- 24 formation as the Secretary may require, includ- 25 ing— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8535.IH H8535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8535 IH ‘‘(i) an identification and the role with 1 respect to each program to be funded 2 under the grant of any eligible partners of 3 the eligible entity, including an assurance 4 the grant under this subsection will not be 5 used to prepare students for employment 6 with solely one or more of such eligible 7 partners; 8 ‘‘(ii) an assurance that each program 9 that will receive assistance under the grant 10 is not yet in operation and such grant will 11 be used to start such program; 12 ‘‘(iii) a description of the grant budg- 13 et, how each program will fund necessary 14 expenses for the program not covered by 15 the grant (such as any funds to be pro- 16 vided by State, local, or private entities), 17 and how the eligible entity will continue 18 each such program after the grant is ex- 19 hausted; 20 ‘‘(iv) a description of how grant will 21 directly benefit students, including special 22 populations, served by the eligible entity; 23 ‘‘(v) a description of how each such 24 program will be coordinated with the ac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8535.IH H8535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8535 IH tivities carried out under section 124 or 1 135; 2 ‘‘(vi) a description of how each such 3 program reflects the needs of regional, 4 State, or local employers, as demonstrated 5 by the comprehensive needs assessment 6 under section 134(c) carried out by the eli- 7 gible entity; and 8 ‘‘(vii) an assurance that the eligible 9 entity will— 10 ‘‘(I) provide information to the 11 Secretary, as requested, for the eval- 12 uation under paragraph (4) and any 13 evaluations that the Secretary may 14 carry out; and 15 ‘‘(II) make data available to 16 third parties for validation, in accord- 17 ance with applicable data privacy 18 laws, including section 444 of the 19 General Education Provisions Act (20 20 U.S.C. 1232g, commonly known as 21 the ‘Family Educational Rights and 22 Privacy Act of 1974’). 23 ‘‘(B) PROCESS.—The Secretary shall cre- 24 ate a process for evaluating applications sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8535.IH H8535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8535 IH mitted under subparagraph (A) and deter- 1 mining the amount of each grant for successful 2 applications, except that in no case may an eli- 3 gible entity receive a grant exceeding $100,000. 4 ‘‘(3) USES OF FUNDS.—Each eligible entity re- 5 ceiving a grant under this subsection shall use such 6 grant for the creation of new agricultural education 7 programs in secondary schools, which may include— 8 ‘‘(A) curriculum development and delivery, 9 including classroom or laboratory instruction, 10 work-based learning, and leadership education 11 delivered through career and technical student 12 organizations; 13 ‘‘(B) the purchase of equipment, tech- 14 nology, and course materials; and 15 ‘‘(C) other costs the Secretary may deter- 16 mine to be eligible. 17 ‘‘(4) EVALUATION AND ANNUAL REPORT.— 18 Each eligible entity receiving a grant under this sub- 19 section shall provide for an independent evaluation 20 of the activities carried out using such grant and 21 submit to the Secretary an annual report that in- 22 cludes— 23 ‘‘(A) a description of how the grant was 24 used; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8535.IH H8535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8535 IH ‘‘(B) the performance of each program as- 1 sistance with such grant with respect to, at a 2 minimum, the performance indicators described 3 under section 113, as applicable, and disaggre- 4 gated— 5 ‘‘(i) by subgroups of students de- 6 scribed in section 1111(c)(2)(B) of the El- 7 ementary and Secondary Education Act of 8 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(c)(2)(B)); and 9 ‘‘(ii) by each special population; and 10 ‘‘(C) a quantitative analysis of the effec- 11 tiveness of each such program. 12 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 13 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 14 this subsection $5,000,000, to remain available 15 through fiscal year 2025. 16 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 17 ‘‘(A) AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.—The 18 term ‘agricultural education’ means career and 19 technical education that is focused on agri- 20 culture, including classroom or laboratory in- 21 struction, work-based learning, and leadership 22 education delivered through career and tech- 23 nical student organizations. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8535.IH H8535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8535 IH ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi- 1 ble entity’ has the meaning given the term ‘eli- 2 gible recipient’ in section 3(21)(A) of the Carl 3 D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act 4 of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302(21)(A)). 5 ‘‘(C) ELIGIBLE PARTNER.—The term ‘eli- 6 gible partner’ means— 7 ‘‘(i) an institution of higher education 8 or a consortium of such institutions; or 9 ‘‘(ii) a community stakeholder rel- 10 evant to a program to be funded under 11 this subsection, including a labor organiza- 12 tion, a local or regional business or indus- 13 try, or a local workforce development 14 board.’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8535.IH H8535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS