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Us Congress Senate Bill SB309

Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB309 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 309
55 To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the Secretary of
66 Education to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement
77 of students.
88 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
99 JANUARY29, 2025
1010 Mr. D
1111 AINES(for himself, Mr. LANKFORD, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. LUMMIS,
1212 Mr. H
1313 AGERTY, Mr. CRAMER, Ms. ERNST, Mr. SCHMITT, Mr. CRUZ, Mr.
1414 J
1515 OHNSON, Mr. SHEEHY, Mr. BUDD, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the
1616 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
1717 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
1818 A BILL
1919 To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the
2020 Secretary of Education to combine certain funds to im-
2121 prove the academic achievement of students.
2222 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2323 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2424 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2525 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Academic Partnerships 4
2626 Lead Us to Success Act’’ or the ‘‘A PLUS Act’’. 5
2727 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 6
2828 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 7
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3232 (1) To give States and local communities added 1
3333 flexibility to determine how to improve academic 2
3434 achievement and implement education reforms. 3
3535 (2) To reduce the administrative costs and com-4
3636 pliance burden of Federal education programs in 5
3737 order to focus Federal resources on improving aca-6
3838 demic achievement. 7
3939 (3) To ensure that States and communities are 8
4040 accountable to the public for advancing the academic 9
4141 achievement of all students, especially disadvantaged 10
4242 children. 11
4343 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 12
4444 In this Act: 13
4545 (1) I
4646 N GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-14
4747 vided, the terms used in this Act have the meanings 15
4848 given the terms in section 8101 of the Elementary 16
4949 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 17
5050 7801 et seq.). 18
5151 (2) A
5252 CCOUNTABILITY.—The term ‘‘account-19
5353 ability’’ means that public schools are answerable to 20
5454 parents and other taxpayers for the use of public 21
5555 funds and shall report student progress to parents 22
5656 and taxpayers regularly. 23
5757 (3) D
5858 ECLARATION OF INTENT .—The term ‘‘dec-24
5959 laration of intent’’ means a decision by a State, as 25
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6363 determined by State Authorizing Officials or by ref-1
6464 erendum, to assume full management responsibility 2
6565 for the expenditure of Federal funds for certain eli-3
6666 gible programs for the purpose of advancing, on a 4
6767 more comprehensive and effective basis, the edu-5
6868 cational policy of such State. 6
6969 (4) S
7070 TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean-7
7171 ing given such term in section 1122(e) of the Ele-8
7272 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 9
7373 U.S.C. 6332(e)). 10
7474 (5) S
7575 TATE AUTHORIZING OFFICIALS .—The term 11
7676 ‘‘State Authorizing Officials’’ means the State offi-12
7777 cials who shall authorize the submission of a dec-13
7878 laration of intent, and any amendments thereto, on 14
7979 behalf of the State. Such officials shall include not 15
8080 less than 2 of the following: 16
8181 (A) The Governor of the State. 17
8282 (B) The highest elected education official 18
8383 of the State, if any. 19
8484 (C) The legislature of the State. 20
8585 (6) S
8686 TATE DESIGNATED OFFICER .—The term 21
8787 ‘‘State Designated Officer’’ means the person des-22
8888 ignated by the State Authorizing Officials to submit 23
8989 to the Secretary, on behalf of the State, a declara-24
9090 tion of intent, and any amendments thereto, and to 25
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9393 •S 309 IS
9494 function as the point-of-contact for the State for the 1
9595 Secretary and others relating to any responsibilities 2
9696 arising under this Act. 3
9797 SEC. 4. DECLARATION OF INTENT. 4
9898 (a) I
9999 NGENERAL.—Each State is authorized to sub-5
100100 mit to the Secretary a declaration of intent permitting the 6
101101 State to receive Federal funds on a consolidated basis to 7
102102 manage the expenditure of such funds to advance the edu-8
103103 cational policy of the State. 9
104104 (b) P
105105 ROGRAMSELIGIBLE FORCONSOLIDATION AND 10
106106 P
107107 ERMISSIBLEUSE OFFUNDS.— 11
108108 (1) S
109109 COPE.—A State may choose to include 12
110110 within the scope of the State’s declaration of intent 13
111111 any program for which Congress makes funds avail-14
112112 able to the State if the program is for a purpose de-15
113113 scribed in the Elementary and Secondary Education 16
114114 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301). A State may not in-17
115115 clude any program funded pursuant to the Individ-18
116116 uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 19
117117 1400 et seq.). 20
118118 (2) U
119119 SES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available to 21
120120 a State pursuant to a declaration of intent under 22
121121 this Act shall be used for any educational purpose 23
122122 permitted by State law of the State submitting a 24
123123 declaration of intent. 25
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127127 (3) REMOVAL OF FISCAL AND ACCOUNTING 1
128128 BARRIERS.—Each State educational agency that op-2
129129 erates under a declaration of intent under this Act 3
130130 shall modify or eliminate State fiscal and accounting 4
131131 barriers that prevent local educational agencies and 5
132132 schools from easily consolidating funds from other 6
133133 Federal, State, and local sources in order to improve 7
134134 educational opportunities and reduce unnecessary 8
135135 fiscal and accounting requirements. 9
136136 (c) C
137137 ONTENTS OFDECLARATION.—Each declaration 10
138138 of intent shall contain— 11
139139 (1) a list of eligible programs that are subject 12
140140 to the declaration of intent; 13
141141 (2) an assurance that the submission of the 14
142142 declaration of intent has been authorized by the 15
143143 State Authorizing Officials, specifying the identity of 16
144144 the State Designated Officer; 17
145145 (3) the duration of the declaration of intent; 18
146146 (4) an assurance that the State will use fiscal 19
147147 control and fund accounting procedures; 20
148148 (5) an assurance that the State will meet the 21
149149 requirements of applicable Federal civil rights laws 22
150150 in carrying out the declaration of intent and in con-23
151151 solidating and using the funds under the declaration 24
152152 of intent; 25
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156156 (6) an assurance that in implementing the dec-1
157157 laration of intent the State will seek to advance edu-2
158158 cational opportunities for the disadvantaged; 3
159159 (7) a description of the plan for maintaining di-4
160160 rect accountability to parents and other citizens of 5
161161 the State; and 6
162162 (8) an assurance that in implementing the dec-7
163163 laration of intent, the State will seek to use Federal 8
164164 funds to supplement, rather than supplant, State 9
165165 education funding. 10
166166 (d) D
167167 URATION.—The duration of the declaration of 11
168168 intent shall not exceed 5 years. 12
169169 (e) R
170170 EVIEW AND RECOGNITION BY THE SEC-13
171171 RETARY.— 14
172172 (1) I
173173 N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall review 15
174174 the declaration of intent received from the State 16
175175 Designated Officer not more than 60 days after the 17
176176 date of receipt of such declaration, and shall recog-18
177177 nize such declaration of intent unless the declaration 19
178178 of intent fails to meet the requirements under sub-20
179179 section (c). 21
180180 (2) R
181181 ECOGNITION BY OPERATION OF LAW .—If 22
182182 the Secretary fails to take action within the time 23
183183 specified in paragraph (1), the declaration of intent, 24
184184 as submitted, shall be deemed to be approved. 25
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187187 •S 309 IS
188188 (f) AMENDMENT TO DECLARATION OFINTENT.— 1
189189 (1) I
190190 N GENERAL.—The State Authorizing Offi-2
191191 cials may direct the State Designated Officer to sub-3
192192 mit amendments to a declaration of intent that is in 4
193193 effect. Such amendments shall be submitted to the 5
194194 Secretary and considered by the Secretary in accord-6
195195 ance with subsection (e). 7
196196 (2) A
197197 MENDMENTS AUTHORIZED .—A declaration 8
198198 of intent that is in effect may be amended to— 9
199199 (A) expand the scope of such declaration of 10
200200 intent to encompass additional eligible pro-11
201201 grams; 12
202202 (B) reduce the scope of such declaration of 13
203203 intent by excluding coverage of a Federal pro-14
204204 gram included in the original declaration of in-15
205205 tent; 16
206206 (C) modify the duration of such declara-17
207207 tion of intent; or 18
208208 (D) achieve such other modifications as the 19
209209 State Authorizing Officials deem appropriate. 20
210210 (3) E
211211 FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment shall 21
212212 specify an effective date. Such effective date shall 22
213213 provide adequate time to assure full compliance with 23
214214 Federal program requirements relating to an eligible 24
215215 program that has been removed from the coverage of 25
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218218 •S 309 IS
219219 the declaration of intent by the proposed amend-1
220220 ment. 2
221221 (4) T
222222 REATMENT OF PROGRAM FUNDS WITH -3
223223 DRAWN FROM DECLARATION OF INTENT .—Begin-4
224224 ning on the effective date of an amendment executed 5
225225 under paragraph (2)(B), each program requirement 6
226226 of each program removed from the declaration of in-7
227227 tent shall apply to the State’s use of funds made 8
228228 available under the program. 9
229229 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY FOR RESULTS OF PUBLIC EDU-10
230230 CATION. 11
231231 (a) I
232232 NGENERAL.—Each State operating under a 12
233233 declaration of intent under this Act shall inform parents 13
234234 and the general public regarding the student achievement 14
235235 assessment system, demonstrating student progress rel-15
236236 ative to the State’s determination of student proficiency 16
237237 for the purpose of public accountability to parents and 17
238238 taxpayers. 18
239239 (b) A
240240 CCOUNTABILITYSYSTEM.—The State shall de-19
241241 termine and establish an accountability system to ensure 20
242242 accountability under this Act. 21
243243 (c) R
244244 EPORT ONSTUDENTPROGRESS.—Not later 22
245245 than 1 year after the effective date of the declaration of 23
246246 intent, and annually thereafter, a State shall disseminate 24
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250250 widely to parents and the general public a report that de-1
251251 scribes student progress. The report shall include— 2
252252 (1) student performance data disaggregated in 3
253253 the same manner as data are disaggregated under 4
254254 section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) of the Elementary and 5
255255 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6
256256 6311(b)(2)(B)(xi)); and 7
257257 (2) a description of how the State has used 8
258258 Federal funds to improve academic achievement, re-9
259259 duce achievement disparities between various stu-10
260260 dent groups, and improve educational opportunities 11
261261 for the disadvantaged. 12
262262 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES. 13
263263 (a) I
264264 NGENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 14
265265 (b), the amount that a State with a declaration of intent 15
266266 may expend for administrative expenses shall be limited 16
267267 to 1 percent of the aggregate amount of Federal funds 17
268268 made available to the State through the eligible programs 18
269269 included within the scope of such declaration of intent. 19
270270 (b) S
271271 TATESNOTCONSOLIDATINGFUNDSUNDER 20
272272 P
273273 ARTA OFTITLEI.—If the declaration of intent does 21
274274 not include within its scope part A of title I of the Elemen-22
275275 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 23
276276 6311 et seq.), the amount spent by the State on adminis-24
277277 trative expenses shall be limited to 3 percent of the aggre-25
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281281 gate amount of Federal funds made available to the State 1
282282 pursuant to such declaration of intent. 2
283283 SEC. 7. EQUITABLE PARTICIPATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 3
284284 Each State consolidating and using funds pursuant 4
285285 to a declaration of intent under this Act shall provide for 5
286286 the participation of private school children and teachers 6
287287 in the activities assisted under the declaration of intent 7
288288 in the same manner as participation is provided to private 8
289289 school children and teachers under section 8501 of the El-9
290290 ementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 10
291291 U.S.C. 7881). 11
292292 Æ
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