Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB954 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 954
5	5	To amend the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act with respect
6	6	to certain funding, testing, and evaluation requirements and to perma-
7	7	nently authorize an appropriation for such Act.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	FEBRUARY4, 2025
10	10	Mr. M
11	11	OOLENAARintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
12	12	Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act
15	15	with respect to certain funding, testing, and evaluation
16	16	requirements and to permanently authorize an appropria-
17	17	tion for such Act.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘SOAR Permanent Au-4
22	22	thorization Act’’. 5
23	23	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:12 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954
24	24	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
25	25	•HR 954 IH
26	26	SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OPPOR-1
27	27	TUNITY AND RESULTS ACT. 2
28	28	(a) C
29	29	HANGE INACCREDITATIONREQUIREMENTS.— 3
30	30	Section 3007(a)(5)(A)(i)(I) of the Scholarships for Oppor-4
31	31	tunity and Results Act (sec. 38–1853.07(a)(5)(A)(i)(I), 5
32	32	D.C. Official Code) is amended to read as follows: 6
33	33	‘‘(I) is fully accredited by an ac-7
34	34	crediting body with jurisdiction in the 8
35	35	District of Columbia or that is recog-9
36	36	nized by the Student and Visitor Ex-10
37	37	change English Language Program 11
38	38	administered by U.S. Immigration 12
39	39	and Customs Enforcement; or’’. 13
40	40	(b) R
41	41	EMOVAL OFSTUDENTACADEMICASSISTANCE 14
42	42	L
43	43	IMIT.— 15
44	44	(1) I
45	45	N GENERAL.—Section 3007(b) of such Act 16
46	46	(sec. 38–1853.07 (b), D.C. Official Code) is amend-17
47	47	ed— 18
48	48	(A) in the header, by striking ‘‘
49	49	ANDPA-19
50	50	RENTALASSISTANCE’’ and inserting ‘‘, PAREN-20
51	51	TALASSISTANCE, ANDSTUDENTACADEMIC 21
52	52	A
53	53	SSISTANCE’’; 22
54	54	(B) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 23
55	55	by striking ‘‘$2,000,000’’ and inserting 24
56	56	‘‘$2,200,000’’; and 25
57	57	(C) by adding at the end the following: 26
58	58	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:12 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954
59	59	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
60	60	•HR 954 IH
61	61	‘‘(3) The expenses of providing tutoring service 1
62	62	to participating eligible students that need additional 2
63	63	academic assistance. If there are insufficient funds 3
64	64	to provide tutoring services to all such students in 4
65	65	a year, the eligible entity shall give priority in such 5
66	66	year to students who previously attended an elemen-6
67	67	tary school or secondary school identified as one of 7
68	68	the lowest-performing schools under the District of 8
69	69	Columbia’s accountability system.’’. 9
70	70	(2) C
71	71	ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 3007 10
72	72	of such Act (sec. 38–1853.07, D.C. Official Code) is 11
73	73	amended— 12
74	74	(A) by striking subsection (c) and redesig-13
75	75	nating subsection (d) as subsection (c); and 14
76	76	(B) in subsection (c), as so redesignated by 15
77	77	paragraph (A)— 16
78	78	(i) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking 17
79	79	‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 18
80	80	‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 19
81	81	(ii) in paragraph (3), by striking 20
82	82	‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 21
83	83	‘‘subsection (b)’’. 22
84	84	(c) C
85	85	HANGE INSTANDARDIZEDTESTINGREQUIRE-23
86	86	MENTS.—Section 3008(h) of such Act (sec. 38– 24
87	87	1853.08(h), D.C. Official Code) is amended— 25
88	88	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:12 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954
89	89	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
90	90	•HR 954 IH
91	91	(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 1
92	92	3009(a)(2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3009(a)’’; 2
93	93	(2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol-3
94	94	lows: 4
95	95	‘‘(2) A
96	96	DMINISTRATION OF TESTS .—The Insti-5
97	97	tute of Education Sciences may administer assess-6
98	98	ments to students participating in the evaluation 7
99	99	under section 3009(a) for the purpose of conducting 8
100	100	the evaluation under such section.’’; and 9
101	101	(3) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘the nation-10
102	102	ally norm-referenced standardized test described in 11
103	103	paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘a nationally norm- 12
104	104	referenced standardized test’’. 13
105	105	(d) C
106	106	HANGE IN EVALUATIONFREQUENCY AND 14
107	107	S
108	108	TANDARDS.—Section 3009(a) of such Act (sec. 38– 15
109	109	1853.09(a), D.C. Official Code) is amended— 16
110	110	(1) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘annually’’ 17
111	111	and inserting ‘‘regularly’’; 18
112	112	(2) in paragraph (2)— 19
113	113	(A) by amending subparagraph (A)(i) to 20
114	114	read as follows: 21
115	115	‘‘(i) is rigorous; and’’; and 22
116	116	(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘im-23
117	117	pact of the program’’ and all that follows 24
118	118	through the end of the subparagraph and in-25
119	119	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:12 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954
120	120	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
121	121	•HR 954 IH
122	122	serting ‘‘impact of the program on academic 1
123	123	progress and educational attainment.’’; 2
124	124	(3) in paragraph (3)— 3
125	125	(A) in the header, by striking ‘‘
126	126	ON EDU-4
127	127	CATION’’ and inserting ‘‘OF EDUCATION’’; 5
128	128	(B) in subparagraph (A)— 6
129	129	(i) by inserting ‘‘the academic 7
130	130	progress of’’ after ‘‘assess’’; and 8
131	131	(ii) by striking ‘‘in each of grades 3’’ 9
132	132	and all that follows through the end of the 10
133	133	subparagraph and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 11
134	134	(C) by striking subparagraph (B); and 12
135	135	(D) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 13
136	136	subparagraph (B); and 14
137	137	(4) in paragraph (4)— 15
138	138	(A) in subparagraph (A)— 16
139	139	(i) by striking ‘‘A comparison of the 17
140	140	academic achievement of participating eli-18
141	141	gible students who use an opportunity 19
142	142	scholarship on the measurements described 20
143	143	in paragraph (3)(B) to the academic 21
144	144	achievement’’ and inserting ‘‘The academic 22
145	145	progress of participating eligible students 23
146	146	who use an opportunity scholarship com-24
147	147	pared to the academic progress’’; and 25
148	148	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:12 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954
149	149	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
150	150	•HR 954 IH
151	151	(ii) by inserting ‘‘, which may include 1
152	152	students’’ after ‘‘students with similar 2
153	153	backgrounds’’; 3
154	154	(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘in-4
155	155	creasing the satisfaction of such parents and 5
156	156	students with their choice’’ and inserting ‘‘those 6
157	157	parents’ and students’ satisfaction with the pro-7
158	158	gram’’; 8
159	159	(C) by striking subparagraphs (D) through 9
160	160	(F) and inserting the following: 10
161	161	‘‘(D) The high school graduation rates, 11
162	162	college enrollment rates, college persistence 12
163	163	rates, and college graduation rates of partici-13
164	164	pating eligible students who use an opportunity 14
165	165	scholarship compared with the rates of public 15
166	166	school students described in subparagraph (A), 16
167	167	to the extent practicable. 17
168	168	‘‘(E) The college enrollment rates, college 18
169	169	persistence rates, and college graduation rates 19
170	170	of students who participated in the program as 20
171	171	the result of winning the Opportunity Scholar-21
172	172	ship Program lottery compared to the enroll-22
173	173	ment, persistence, and graduation rates for stu-23
174	174	dents who entered but did not win such lottery 24
175	175	and who, as a result, served as the control 25
176	176	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:12 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954
177	177	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
178	178	•HR 954 IH
179	179	group for previous evaluations of the program 1
180	180	under this division. Nothing in this subpara-2
181	181	graph may be construed to waive section 3
182	182	3004(a)(3)(A)(iii) with respect to any such stu-4
183	183	dent. 5
184	184	‘‘(F) The safety of the schools attended by 6
185	185	participating eligible students who use an op-7
186	186	portunity scholarship compared with the schools 8
187	187	attended by public school students described in 9
188	188	subparagraph (A), to the extent practicable.’’; 10
189	189	and 11
190	190	(D) in subparagraph (G), by striking 12
191	191	‘‘achievement’’ and inserting ‘‘progress’’. 13
192	192	(e) P
193	193	ERMANENT AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA-14
194	194	TION.—Section 3014 of such Act (sec. 38–1853.14, D.C. 15
195	195	Official Code) is amended— 16
196	196	(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘$60,000,000 17
197	197	for fiscal year 2012 and for each fiscal year through 18
198	198	fiscal year 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘$75,000,000 for 19
199	199	fiscal year 2024 and for each succeeding fiscal 20
200	200	year’’; and 21
201	201	(2) in subsection (b), by striking 22
202	202	‘‘$60,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$75,000,000’’. 23
203	203	Æ
204	204	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:12 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954
205	205	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB