SOAR Permanent Authorization Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3663 To amend the SOAR Act. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 25, 2023 Mr. MOOLENAAR (for himself and Mr. SESSIONS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability A BILL To amend the SOAR Act. 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 ‘‘SOAR Permanent Au- 4 thorization Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE SOAR ACT. 6 The Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act 7 (division C of Public Law 112–10) is amended— 8 (1) in section 3007 (sec. 38–1853.07 D.C. Offi- 9 cial Code)— 10 (A) in subsection (a)(5)(A)(i), by striking 11 subclause (I) and inserting the following: 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3663.IH H3663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3663 IH ‘‘(I) is fully accredited by an ac- 1 crediting body with jurisdiction in the 2 District of Columbia or that is recog- 3 nized by the Student and Visitor Ex- 4 change English Language Program 5 administered by U.S. Immigration 6 and Customs Enforcement; or’’; 7 (B) by striking subsection (c) and redesig- 8 nating subsection (d) as subsection (c); 9 (C) in subsection (b)— 10 (i) in the subsection heading, by strik- 11 ing ‘‘AND PARENTAL ASSISTANCE’’ and in- 12 serting ‘‘, PARENTAL ASSISTANCE, AND 13 STUDENT ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE’’; 14 (ii) in the matter preceding paragraph 15 (1), by striking ‘‘$2,000,000’’ and insert- 16 ing ‘‘$2,200,000’’; and 17 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(3) The expenses of providing tutoring service 20 to participating eligible students that need additional 21 academic assistance. If there are insufficient funds 22 to provide tutoring services to all such students in 23 a year, the eligible entity shall give priority in such 24 year to students who previously attended an elemen- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3663.IH H3663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3663 IH tary school or secondary school identified as one of 1 the lowest-performing schools under the District of 2 Columbia’s accountability system.’’; and 3 (D) in subsection (c), as redesignated by 4 subparagraph (B)— 5 (i) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking 6 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 8 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking 9 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 10 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; 11 (2) in section 3008(h) (sec. 38–1853.08(h) 12 D.C. Official Code)— 13 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 14 3009(a)(2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 15 3009(a)’’; 16 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert- 17 ing the following: 18 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS.—The Insti- 19 tute of Education Sciences may administer assess- 20 ments to students participating in the evaluation 21 under section 3009(a) for the purpose of conducting 22 the evaluation under such section.’’; and 23 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘the na- 24 tionally norm-referenced standardized test de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3663.IH H3663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3663 IH scribed in paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘a na- 1 tionally norm-referenced standardized test’’; 2 (3) in section 3009(a) (sec. 38–1853.09(a) D.C. 3 Official Code)— 4 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘an- 5 nually’’ and inserting ‘‘regularly’’; 6 (B) in paragraph (2)— 7 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 8 clause (i) and inserting the following: 9 ‘‘(i) is rigorous; and’’; and 10 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 11 ‘‘impact of the program’’ and all that fol- 12 lows through the end of the subparagraph 13 and inserting ‘‘impact of the program on 14 academic progress and educational attain- 15 ment.’’; 16 (C) in paragraph (3)— 17 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 18 ing ‘‘ON EDUCATION’’ and inserting ‘‘OF 19 EDUCATION’’; 20 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 21 (I) by inserting ‘‘the academic 22 progress of’’ after ‘‘assess’’; and 23 (II) by striking ‘‘in each of 24 grades 3’’ and all that follows through 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3663.IH H3663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3663 IH the end of the subparagraph and in- 1 serting ‘‘; and’’; 2 (iii) by striking subparagraph (B); 3 and 4 (iv) by redesignating subparagraph 5 (C) as subparagraph (B); and 6 (D) in paragraph (4)— 7 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 8 (I) by striking ‘‘A comparison of 9 the academic achievement of partici- 10 pating eligible students who use an 11 opportunity scholarship on the meas- 12 urements described in paragraph 13 (3)(B) to the academic achievement’’ 14 and inserting ‘‘The academic progress 15 of participating eligible students who 16 use an opportunity scholarship com- 17 pared to the academic progress’’; and 18 (II) by inserting ‘‘, which may in- 19 clude students’’ after ‘‘students with 20 similar backgrounds’’; 21 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 22 ‘‘increasing the satisfaction of such parents 23 and students with their choice’’ and insert- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3663.IH H3663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3663 IH ing ‘‘those parents’ and students’ satisfac- 1 tion with the program’’; 2 (iii) by striking subparagraph (D) 3 through (F) and inserting the following: 4 ‘‘(D) The high school graduation rates, 5 college enrollment rates, college persistence 6 rates, and college graduation rates of partici- 7 pating eligible students who use an opportunity 8 scholarship compared with the rates of public 9 school students described in subparagraph (A), 10 to the extent practicable. 11 ‘‘(E) The college enrollment rates, college 12 persistence rates, and college graduation rates 13 of students who participated in the program as 14 the result of winning the Opportunity Scholar- 15 ship Program lottery compared to the enroll- 16 ment, persistence, and graduation rates for stu- 17 dents who entered but did not win such lottery 18 and who, as a result, served as the control 19 group for previous evaluations of the program 20 under this division. Nothing in this subpara- 21 graph may be construed to waive section 22 3004(a)(3)(A)(iii) with respect to any such stu- 23 dent. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3663.IH H3663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3663 IH ‘‘(F) The safety of the schools attended by 1 participating eligible students who use an op- 2 portunity scholarship compared with the schools 3 attended by public school students described in 4 subparagraph (A), to the extent practicable.’’; 5 and 6 (iv) in subparagraph (G), by striking 7 ‘‘achievement’’ and inserting ‘‘progress’’; 8 and 9 (4) in section 3014 (sec. 38–1853.14, D.C. Of- 10 ficial Code)— 11 (A) in subsection (a), in the matter pre- 12 ceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘$60,000,000 13 for fiscal year 2012 and for each fiscal year 14 through fiscal year 2023’’ and inserting 15 ‘‘$75,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and for each 16 succeeding fiscal year’’; and 17 (B) in subsection (b), by striking 18 ‘‘$60,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$75,000,000’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3663.IH H3663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS