Federal

Children Have Opportunities in Classrooms Everywhere Act

Source: Congress.gov · 3,078 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill allows education funding to follow students to their chosen schools instead of staying with school districts. Eligible low-income students can receive grants that go either to their public school or into a savings account (called a 529 plan) if they attend private or home school. The bill also expands what families can use 529 education savings accounts for at the elementary and secondary level. ##

Who It Affects

- Children from households earning at or below 130 percent of the poverty level - Parents and guardians applying for education funds - State education agencies (government offices that oversee education in each state) - Public, private, and home schools - Students using 529 education savings accounts ##

Key Provisions

- State education agencies must allow education grants from federal programs to follow eligible students to public schools or into 529 accounts for private or home school attendance, to the extent allowed by state law (Sec. 2(b)(1)) - Parents or guardians must submit annual applications by April 30 including their income, the child's information, and school enrollment details (Sec. 2(b)(2)(A)(i)) - State agencies must deposit funds into 529 accounts for private or home school students by July 1 each year (Sec. 2(b)(2)(A)(iii)) - Eligible students receive two types of payments: a "concentration distribution" based on poverty levels in their school district, ranging from $50 to $300, plus a "basic distribution" based on their family's income (Sec. 2(c)(2)(B) and (C)) - Families can now use 529 accounts to pay for elementary and secondary school tuition, curriculum materials, books, online educational materials, tutoring fees, test fees, dual enrollment fees, and educational therapies for students with disabilities (Sec. 3(a)) ##

What Changes

If this bill becomes law, federal education funding currently tied to school districts will instead follow eligible low-income students wherever they enroll. Parents can apply for grants for their children and direct that money to public schools or into 529 savings accounts for private or home schooling. Families will also gain more options for using 529 accounts, including paying for tutoring, standardized tests, and special education services for students in elementary and secondary school. ##

Important Definitions

- **Eligible child**: A child from a household earning no more than 130 percent of the poverty level (determined by the U.S. Census Bureau) - **529 education savings plan account**: A qualified tuition program under federal tax law - **Home school**: A home school as defined by the laws of the state where the child lives - **Concentration distribution**: Extra funding based on the poverty level of students in a child's school district - **Basic distribution**: Core funding calculated by a formula the Secretary of Education creates, with benefits that decrease as household income rises from 100 percent to 130 percent of poverty level ##

Effective Date

The bill's notification requirement begins within 100 days of enactment and continues annually for 5 years (Sec. 2(d)). The 529 account expansion applies to distributions made after the bill becomes law (Sec. 3(b)).

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 105 To have education funds follow the student. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 26, 2023 Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. TUBERVILLE, Mr. BUDD, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To have education funds follow the student. 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 ‘‘Children Have Oppor- 4 tunities in Classrooms Everywhere Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FEDERAL FUNDING UNDER THE ELEMENTARY AND 6 SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF 1965 TO 7 FOLLOW THE STUDENT. 8 Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Edu- 9 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801 et seq.) is amended 10 by adding at the end the following: 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 105 IS ‘‘PART H—FUNDS TO FOLLOW THE STUDENT 1 ‘‘SEC. 8701. FUNDS TO FOLLOW THE STUDENT. 2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 ‘‘(1) 529 EDUCATION SAVINGS PLAN AC- 4 COUNT.—The term ‘529 education savings plan ac- 5 count’ means a qualified tuition program (as defined 6 in section 529(b)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue 7 Code of 1986). 8 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—The term ‘eligible 9 child’ means a child who is from a household, the 10 taxable income of which for the most recently com- 11 pleted taxable year is not more than 130 percent of 12 an amount equal to the poverty level, as determined 13 by using criteria of poverty established by the Bu- 14 reau of the Census. 15 ‘‘(3) HOME SCHOOL.—The term ‘home school’ 16 means a home school as defined by the laws of the 17 State in which the eligible child resides. 18 ‘‘(b) FUNDS TO FOLLOW THE STUDENT.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 20 provision of law and to the extent permitted under 21 State law, a State educational agency shall allocate 22 grant funds provided under title I, subparts 2 and 23 3 of part B of title II, and titles III, IV, V, and VI, 24 for the purposes of ensuring that funding under 25 such titles follows children, to the public school the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 105 IS children attend or for the expenses described in sec- 1 tion 529(c)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code of 2 1986. 3 ‘‘(2) PLAN.— 4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each State that car- 5 ries out allocations described in paragraph (1) 6 shall establish a plan that complies with the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(i) The parent or guardian of each 9 eligible child in the State who desires ac- 10 cess to the funds described in paragraph 11 (1) shall annually submit to the State edu- 12 cational agency by not later than April 30, 13 a paper or electronic application form that 14 includes the following: 15 ‘‘(I) The parent or guardian’s 16 taxable income based on the Federal 17 tax return of the parent or guardian 18 for the prior tax year. 19 ‘‘(II) The eligible child’s date of 20 birth, place of residence, school dis- 21 trict, and school in which the eligible 22 child will be enrolled for the subse- 23 quent school year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 105 IS ‘‘(III) If the eligible child will be 1 enrolled in a private school or home 2 school for the subsequent school year, 3 confirmation that the eligible child 4 has a 529 education savings plan ac- 5 count, including the necessary details 6 of such account to enable the State to 7 deposit funds available under this sec- 8 tion into such account. 9 ‘‘(ii) Not later than May 14 of each 10 year, the State educational agency shall 11 submit to the Secretary the application 12 forms for all applicants under clause (i). 13 ‘‘(iii) Not later than July 1 of each 14 year and based on the information sub- 15 mitted under clause (i), the State edu- 16 cational agency shall— 17 ‘‘(I) if the eligible child will be 18 enrolled in a private school or home 19 school for the subsequent school year, 20 deposit the amount equal to the con- 21 centration distribution and basic dis- 22 tribution applicable for the eligible 23 child under subparagraphs (B) and 24 (C) of subsection (c)(2), into the 529 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 105 IS education savings plan account of the 1 eligible child; and 2 ‘‘(II) if the eligible child will be 3 enrolled in a public school for the sub- 4 sequent school year, distribute the 5 amount equal to the concentration 6 distribution and basic distribution ap- 7 plicable for the eligible child under 8 subparagraphs (B) and (C) of sub- 9 section (c)(2), to such public school. 10 ‘‘(B) DATA COLLECTION.—Information 11 collected under this section by the State shall 12 be used for the sole purposes of calculating the 13 allocation of funds and distribution of funds 14 under this section. 15 ‘‘(C) DATA PRIVACY PROTECTION.—Infor- 16 mation collected under this section shall be sub- 17 ject to the privacy protections outlined in sec- 18 tion 444 of the General Education Provisions 19 Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g; commonly referred to as 20 the ‘Family Educational Rights and Privacy 21 Act of 1974’). 22 ‘‘(c) CALCULATION OF AMOUNTS TO BE DISTRIB- 23 UTED.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 105 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts pro- 1 vided to carry out title I, subparts 2 and 3 of part 2 B of title II, and titles III, IV, V, and VI, and based 3 on the information submitted by State educational 4 agencies under subsection (b)(2)(A)(ii), the Sec- 5 retary shall— 6 ‘‘(A) determine the eligibility based on the 7 information provided under subsection 8 (b)(2)(A)(i) and verify that the child for whom 9 the information is submitted is an eligible child; 10 ‘‘(B) determine the income bracket for 11 such eligible child; and 12 ‘‘(C) make grants to State educational 13 agencies in the amount determined under para- 14 graph (2) by not later than 30 days after the 15 date the Secretary receives the information 16 under subsection (b)(2)(A)(ii). 17 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The grant amount 19 provided to a State educational agency shall be 20 equal to the total distribution amount deter- 21 mined under subparagraphs (B) and (C) for all 22 eligible children in the State. 23 ‘‘(B) CONCENTRATION DISTRIBUTION.— 24 An eligible child who is from a household, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 105 IS taxable income of which for the most recently 1 completed taxable year is not more than 100 2 percent of an amount equal to the poverty level, 3 as measured by the most recent Small Area In- 4 come and Poverty Estimates of the Bureau of 5 the Census, shall receive a concentration dis- 6 tribution according to the following: 7 ‘‘(i) If the eligible child resides in an 8 area served by a school district in which 9 not less than 1 percent and not more than 10 9 percent of the elementary school and sec- 11 ondary school students are from a house- 12 hold, the taxable income of which for the 13 most recently completed taxable year is not 14 more than 100 percent of an amount equal 15 to the poverty level, as measured by the 16 most recent Small Area Income and Pov- 17 erty Estimates of the Bureau of the Cen- 18 sus, the eligible child shall receive $50. 19 ‘‘(ii) If the eligible child resides in an 20 area served by a school district in which 21 not less than 10 percent and not more 22 than 19 percent of the elementary school 23 and secondary school students are from a 24 household, the taxable income of which for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 105 IS the most recently completed taxable year is 1 not more than 100 percent of an amount 2 equal to the poverty level, as measured by 3 the most recent Small Area Income and 4 Poverty Estimates of the Bureau of the 5 Census, the eligible child shall receive 6 $100. 7 ‘‘(iii) If the eligible child resides in an 8 area served by a school district in which 9 not less than 20 percent and not more 10 than 29 percent of the elementary school 11 and secondary school students are from a 12 household, the taxable income of which for 13 the most recently completed taxable year is 14 not more than 100 percent of an amount 15 equal to the poverty level, as measured by 16 the most recent Small Area Income and 17 Poverty Estimates of the Bureau of the 18 Census, the eligible child shall receive 19 $150. 20 ‘‘(iv) If the eligible child resides in an 21 area served by a school district in which 22 not less than 30 percent and not more 23 than 39 percent of the elementary school 24 and secondary school students are from a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 105 IS household, the taxable income of which for 1 the most recently completed taxable year is 2 not more than 100 percent of an amount 3 equal to the poverty level, as measured by 4 the most recent Small Area Income and 5 Poverty Estimates of the Bureau of the 6 Census, the eligible child shall receive 7 $200. 8 ‘‘(v) If the eligible child resides in an 9 area served by a school district in which 10 not less than 40 percent and not more 11 than 49 percent of the elementary school 12 and secondary school students are from a 13 household, the taxable income of which for 14 the most recently completed taxable year is 15 not more than 100 percent of an amount 16 equal to the poverty level, as measured by 17 the most recent Small Area Income and 18 Poverty Estimates of the Bureau of the 19 Census, the eligible child shall receive 20 $250. 21 ‘‘(vi) If the eligible child resides in an 22 area served by a school district in which 50 23 percent or more of the elementary school 24 and secondary school students are from a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 105 IS household, the taxable income of which for 1 the most recently completed taxable year is 2 not more than 100 percent of an amount 3 equal to the poverty level, as measured by 4 the most recent Small Area Income and 5 Poverty Estimates of the Bureau of the 6 Census, the eligible child shall receive 7 $300. 8 ‘‘(C) BASIC DISTRIBUTION.—In addition to 9 a concentration distribution under subpara- 10 graph (B), an eligible child shall receive a basic 11 distribution based on the income bracket appli- 12 cable for such eligible child and according to a 13 formula established by the Secretary in which 14 benefits are flat for everyone at or below 100 15 percent of the Federal poverty level and de- 16 crease at an even rate from 100 percent to 130 17 percent of the Federal poverty level. 18 ‘‘(d) NOTIFICATION OF AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.— 19 Not later than 100 days after the date of enactment of 20 the Children Have Opportunities in Classrooms Every- 21 where Act, and annually for each of the 5 years thereafter, 22 each State that carries out allocations described in sub- 23 section (b)(1) shall inform each parent or guardian of a 24 child eligible for assistance under the supplemental nutri- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 105 IS tion assistance program under the Food and Nutrition Act 1 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) or the program of block 2 grants for States for temporary assistance for needy fami- 3 lies established under part A of title IV of the Social Secu- 4 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) of the availability of as- 5 sistance under this section. 6 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION OF PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN 7 ENROLLED IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS.—The provisions of sec- 8 tion 1117 shall apply to this section. 9 ‘‘(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— 10 ‘‘(1) FEDERALLY FUNDED SCHOOL FOOD PRO- 11 GRAMS.—Nothing in this section shall be construed 12 to preclude a child eligible for assistance under the 13 free and reduced price school lunch program estab- 14 lished under the Richard B. Russell National School 15 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) from receiving 16 assistance under such program. 17 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION OF CONTROL OVER NON- 18 PUBLIC EDUCATION PROVIDERS.—Nothing in this 19 section shall permit, allow, encourage, or authorize 20 Federal or State control over non-public education 21 providers.’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 105 IS SEC. 3. 529 ACCOUNT FUNDING FOR HOMESCHOOL AND AD- 1 DITIONAL ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EX- 2 PENSES. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 529(c)(7) of the Internal 4 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(7) TREATMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SEC- 6 ONDARY TUITION AND RESOURCES.—Any reference 7 in this section to the term ‘qualified higher edu- 8 cation expense’ shall include a reference to the fol- 9 lowing expenses in connection with enrollment or at- 10 tendance at, or for students enrolled at or attending, 11 an elementary or secondary public, private, or reli- 12 gious school: 13 ‘‘(A) Tuition. 14 ‘‘(B) Curriculum and curricular materials. 15 ‘‘(C) Books or other instructional mate- 16 rials. 17 ‘‘(D) Online educational materials. 18 ‘‘(E) Tuition for tutoring or educational 19 classes outside of the home, including at a tu- 20 toring facility, but only if the tutor or instruc- 21 tor is not related to the student. 22 ‘‘(F) Fees for a nationally standardized 23 norm-referenced achievement test, an advanced 24 placement examination, or any examinations re- 25 lated to college or university admission. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S105.IS S105 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 13 •S 105 IS ‘‘(G) Fees for dual enrollment in an insti- 1 tution of higher education. 2 ‘‘(H) Educational therapies for students 3 with disabilities provided by a licensed or ac- 4 credited practitioner or [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]

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