I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1660
To award grants to States to establish or improve, and carry out, Seal
of Biliteracy programs to recognize high-level student proficiency in
speaking, reading, and writing in both English and a second language,
and early language programs.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY27, 2025
Ms. B
ROWNLEY(for herself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. CHU, Ms.
S
TANSBURY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. ROSS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr.
T
HANEDAR, Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin, Mr. LARSONof Connecticut, Mr.
J
OHNSONof Georgia, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. BARRAGA´N, and Mr. CARBAJAL)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Education and Workforce
A BILL
To award grants to States to establish or improve, and
carry out, Seal of Biliteracy programs to recognize high-
level student proficiency in speaking, reading, and writ-
ing in both English and a second language, and early
language programs.
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 ‘‘Biliteracy Education 4
Seal and Teaching Act’’ or the ‘‘BEST Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress finds the following: 2
(1) The people of the United States celebrate 3
cultural and linguistic diversity and seek to prepare 4
students with skills to succeed in the 21st century. 5
(2) It is fitting to commend the dedication of 6
students who have achieved proficiency in multiple 7
languages and to encourage their peers to follow in 8
their footsteps. 9
(3) The congressionally requested Commission 10
on Language Learning, in its 2017 report ‘‘Amer-11
ica’s Languages: Investing in Language Education 12
for the 21st Century’’, notes the pressing national 13
need for more people of the United States who are 14
proficient in 2 or more languages for national secu-15
rity, economic growth, and the fulfillment of the po-16
tential of all people of the United States. 17
(4) The Commission on Language Learning 18
also notes the extensive cognitive, educational, and 19
employment benefits deriving from biliteracy. 20
(5) Biliteracy in general correlates with higher 21
graduation rates, higher grade point averages, high-22
er rates of matriculation into higher education, and 23
higher earnings for all students, regardless of back-24
ground. 25
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(6) The study of America’s languages in ele-1
mentary and secondary schools should be encouraged 2
because it contributes to a student’s cognitive devel-3
opment and to the national economy and security. 4
(7) Recognition of student achievement in lan-5
guage proficiency will enable institutions of higher 6
education and employers to readily recognize and ac-7
knowledge the valuable expertise of bilingual stu-8
dents in academia and the workplace. 9
(8) States such as Utah, Arizona, Washington, 10
and New Mexico have developed innovative testing 11
methods for languages, including Native American 12
languages, where no formal proficiency test currently 13
exists. 14
(9) The use of proficiency in a government-rec-15
ognized official Native American language as the 16
base language for a Seal of Biliteracy, with pro-17
ficiency in any additional partner language dem-18
onstrated through tested proficiency, has been suc-19
cessfully demonstrated in Hawaii. 20
(10) Students in every State and every school 21
should be able to benefit from a Seal of Biliteracy 22
program. 23
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 24
In this Act: 25
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(1) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘elemen-1
tary school’’, ‘‘English learner’’, ‘‘local educational 2
agency’’, ‘‘middle grades’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, and 3
‘‘State’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec-4
tion 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-5
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 6
(2) C
LASSICAL LANGUAGE .—The term ‘‘clas-7
sical language’’— 8
(A) means— 9
(i) a language that is no longer spo-10
ken; or 11
(ii) a language— 12
(I) the spoken varieties of which 13
diverge further away from the clas-14
sical language over time; and 15
(II) that possesses an inde-16
pendent literary tradition and a large 17
body of ancient written literature; and 18
(B) includes Greek, Latin, Chinese, Arabic, 19
and Sanskrit. 20
(3) N
ATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE .—The term 21
‘‘Native American language’’ has the meaning given 22
the term in section 103 of the Native American Lan-23
guages Act (25 U.S.C. 2902). 24
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(4) SEAL OF BILITERACY PROGRAM .—The term 1
‘‘Seal of Biliteracy program’’ means any program 2
described in section 4(a) that is established or im-3
proved, and carried out, with funds received under 4
this Act. 5
(5) S
ECOND LANGUAGE .—The term ‘‘second 6
language’’— 7
(A) means any language other than— 8
(i) English; or 9
(ii) in a case where the provisions of 10
paragraph (2) of section 4(a) apply, the 11
Native American language of proficiency 12
described in such paragraph; and 13
(B) includes Braille, American Sign Lan-14
guage, or a classical language. 15
(6) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 16
the Secretary of Education. 17
SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR STATE SEAL OF BILITERACY PRO-18
GRAMS. 19
(a) E
STABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—From amounts made avail-21
able under subsection (f), the Secretary shall award 22
grants, on a competitive basis, to States to enable 23
the States to establish or improve, and carry out, 24
Seal of Biliteracy programs and early language pro-25
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grams that lead to a Seal of Biliteracy to recognize 1
student proficiency in both English and a second 2
language, which— 3
(A) shall be demonstrated through pro-4
ficiency in speaking and writing in both lan-5
guages; and 6
(B) may also be demonstrated through 7
reading and listening in both languages. 8
(2) I
NCLUSION OF NATIVE AMERICAN LAN -9
GUAGES.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), each Seal 10
of Biliteracy program shall contain provisions allow-11
ing the use of Native American languages, including 12
allowing speakers of any Native American language 13
recognized as official by any American government, 14
including any Tribal government, to use equivalent 15
proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in the 16
Native American language in lieu of proficiency in 17
speaking, reading, and writing in English. 18
(3) D
URATION.—A grant awarded under this 19
section shall be for a period of 2 years, and may be 20
renewed at the discretion of the Secretary. 21
(4) R
ENEWAL.—At the end of a grant term, a 22
State that receives a grant under this section may 23
reapply for a grant under this section. 24
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(5) LIMITATIONS.—A State shall not receive 1
more than 1 grant under this section at any time. 2
(6) R
ETURN OF UNSPENT GRANT FUNDS .— 3
Each State that receives a grant under this section 4
shall return any unspent grant funds not later than 5
6 months after the date on which the term for the 6
grant ends. 7
(b) G
RANTPROGRAM.—A State that desires a grant 8
under this section shall submit an application to the Sec-9
retary at such time, in such manner, and containing such 10
information and assurances as the Secretary may require, 11
including— 12
(1) a description of the criteria a student must 13
meet to demonstrate proficiency for the State Seal 14
of Biliteracy in both languages, which— 15
(A) shall include proficiency criteria for the 16
2 productive skills of speaking and writing; and 17
(B) may include proficiency criteria for the 18
skills of reading and listening; 19
(2) a detailed description of the State’s plan— 20
(A) to ensure that English learners and 21
former English learners are included in the 22
State Seal of Biliteracy program; 23
(B) to ensure equitable access to the State 24
Seal of Biliteracy program for students with 25
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identified disabilities, including vision and hear-1
ing impairments and cognitive or learning dis-2
abilities, that preclude demonstration of lan-3
guage proficiency in one of the skills identified 4
in paragraph (1); 5
(C) to ensure that— 6
(i) all languages, including Native 7
American languages and American Sign 8
Language, can be tested for the State Seal 9
of Biliteracy program; and 10
(ii) Native American language speak-11
ers and learners are included in the State 12
Seal of Biliteracy program, including stu-13
dents at tribally controlled schools and at 14
schools funded by the Bureau of Indian 15
Education; and 16
(D) to reach elementary school and middle 17
grades students (including eligible students de-18
scribed in subsection (c)(2), heritage language 19
learners, and English learners), their parents, 20
and schools with information regarding the 21
State Seal of Biliteracy program; 22
(3) an assurance that a student who meets the 23
requirements under paragraph (1) and subsection 24
(c) receives— 25
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(A) a permanent seal or other marker on 1
the student’s secondary school diploma or its 2
equivalent; or 3
(B) documentation of proficiency on the 4
student’s official academic transcript; and 5
(4) an assurance that a student is not charged 6
a fee for providing information under subsection 7
(c)(1). 8
(c) S
TUDENTPARTICIPATION IN A SEAL OF 9
B
ILITERACYPROGRAM.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—To participate in a Seal of 11
Biliteracy program, a student shall provide informa-12
tion to the State that serves the student at such 13
time, in such manner, and including such informa-14
tion and assurances as the State may require, in-15
cluding an assurance that the student has met the 16
criteria established by the State under subsection 17
(b)(1). 18
(2) S
TUDENT ELIGIBILITY FOR PARTICIPA -19
TION.—A student who gained proficiency in a second 20
language outside of school may apply to the State of 21
the student’s residence under paragraph (1) to par-22
ticipate in a Seal of Biliteracy program. 23
(d) U
SE OFFUNDS.—Grant funds made available 24
under this section shall be used for— 25
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(1) the administrative costs of establishing or 1
improving, and carrying out, a Seal of Biliteracy 2
program that meets the requirements of subsection 3
(b); 4
(2) public outreach and education about the 5
Seal of Biliteracy program; and 6
(3) subgrants to local educational agencies for 7
language educator professional development, public 8
outreach, and subsidizing baseline and final Seal of 9
Biliteracy testing for low-income students. 10
(e) R
EPORT.—Not later than 18 months after receiv-11
ing a grant under this section, a State shall issue a report 12
to the Secretary describing the implementation of the Seal 13
of Biliteracy program for which the State received the 14
grant. 15
(f) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 16
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 17
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029. 18
Æ
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