II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 309
To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the Secretary of
Education to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement
of students.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY29, 2025
Mr. D
AINES(for himself, Mr. LANKFORD, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. LUMMIS,
Mr. H
AGERTY, Mr. CRAMER, Ms. ERNST, Mr. SCHMITT, Mr. CRUZ, Mr.
J
OHNSON, Mr. SHEEHY, Mr. BUDD, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the
Secretary of Education to combine certain funds to im-
prove the academic achievement of students.
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 ‘‘Academic Partnerships 4
Lead Us to Success Act’’ or the ‘‘A PLUS Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 6
The purposes of this Act are as follows: 7
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•S 309 IS
(1) To give States and local communities added 1
flexibility to determine how to improve academic 2
achievement and implement education reforms. 3
(2) To reduce the administrative costs and com-4
pliance burden of Federal education programs in 5
order to focus Federal resources on improving aca-6
demic achievement. 7
(3) To ensure that States and communities are 8
accountable to the public for advancing the academic 9
achievement of all students, especially disadvantaged 10
children. 11
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 12
In this Act: 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-14
vided, the terms used in this Act have the meanings 15
given the terms in section 8101 of the Elementary 16
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 17
7801 et seq.). 18
(2) A
CCOUNTABILITY.—The term ‘‘account-19
ability’’ means that public schools are answerable to 20
parents and other taxpayers for the use of public 21
funds and shall report student progress to parents 22
and taxpayers regularly. 23
(3) D
ECLARATION OF INTENT .—The term ‘‘dec-24
laration of intent’’ means a decision by a State, as 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•S 309 IS
determined by State Authorizing Officials or by ref-1
erendum, to assume full management responsibility 2
for the expenditure of Federal funds for certain eli-3
gible programs for the purpose of advancing, on a 4
more comprehensive and effective basis, the edu-5
cational policy of such State. 6
(4) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean-7
ing given such term in section 1122(e) of the Ele-8
mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 9
U.S.C. 6332(e)). 10
(5) S
TATE AUTHORIZING OFFICIALS .—The term 11
‘‘State Authorizing Officials’’ means the State offi-12
cials who shall authorize the submission of a dec-13
laration of intent, and any amendments thereto, on 14
behalf of the State. Such officials shall include not 15
less than 2 of the following: 16
(A) The Governor of the State. 17
(B) The highest elected education official 18
of the State, if any. 19
(C) The legislature of the State. 20
(6) S
TATE DESIGNATED OFFICER .—The term 21
‘‘State Designated Officer’’ means the person des-22
ignated by the State Authorizing Officials to submit 23
to the Secretary, on behalf of the State, a declara-24
tion of intent, and any amendments thereto, and to 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•S 309 IS
function as the point-of-contact for the State for the 1
Secretary and others relating to any responsibilities 2
arising under this Act. 3
SEC. 4. DECLARATION OF INTENT. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Each State is authorized to sub-5
mit to the Secretary a declaration of intent permitting the 6
State to receive Federal funds on a consolidated basis to 7
manage the expenditure of such funds to advance the edu-8
cational policy of the State. 9
(b) P
ROGRAMSELIGIBLE FORCONSOLIDATION AND 10
P
ERMISSIBLEUSE OFFUNDS.— 11
(1) S
COPE.—A State may choose to include 12
within the scope of the State’s declaration of intent 13
any program for which Congress makes funds avail-14
able to the State if the program is for a purpose de-15
scribed in the Elementary and Secondary Education 16
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301). A State may not in-17
clude any program funded pursuant to the Individ-18
uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 19
1400 et seq.). 20
(2) U
SES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available to 21
a State pursuant to a declaration of intent under 22
this Act shall be used for any educational purpose 23
permitted by State law of the State submitting a 24
declaration of intent. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•S 309 IS
(3) REMOVAL OF FISCAL AND ACCOUNTING 1
BARRIERS.—Each State educational agency that op-2
erates under a declaration of intent under this Act 3
shall modify or eliminate State fiscal and accounting 4
barriers that prevent local educational agencies and 5
schools from easily consolidating funds from other 6
Federal, State, and local sources in order to improve 7
educational opportunities and reduce unnecessary 8
fiscal and accounting requirements. 9
(c) C
ONTENTS OFDECLARATION.—Each declaration 10
of intent shall contain— 11
(1) a list of eligible programs that are subject 12
to the declaration of intent; 13
(2) an assurance that the submission of the 14
declaration of intent has been authorized by the 15
State Authorizing Officials, specifying the identity of 16
the State Designated Officer; 17
(3) the duration of the declaration of intent; 18
(4) an assurance that the State will use fiscal 19
control and fund accounting procedures; 20
(5) an assurance that the State will meet the 21
requirements of applicable Federal civil rights laws 22
in carrying out the declaration of intent and in con-23
solidating and using the funds under the declaration 24
of intent; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•S 309 IS
(6) an assurance that in implementing the dec-1
laration of intent the State will seek to advance edu-2
cational opportunities for the disadvantaged; 3
(7) a description of the plan for maintaining di-4
rect accountability to parents and other citizens of 5
the State; and 6
(8) an assurance that in implementing the dec-7
laration of intent, the State will seek to use Federal 8
funds to supplement, rather than supplant, State 9
education funding. 10
(d) D
URATION.—The duration of the declaration of 11
intent shall not exceed 5 years. 12
(e) R
EVIEW AND RECOGNITION BY THE SEC-13
RETARY.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall review 15
the declaration of intent received from the State 16
Designated Officer not more than 60 days after the 17
date of receipt of such declaration, and shall recog-18
nize such declaration of intent unless the declaration 19
of intent fails to meet the requirements under sub-20
section (c). 21
(2) R
ECOGNITION BY OPERATION OF LAW .—If 22
the Secretary fails to take action within the time 23
specified in paragraph (1), the declaration of intent, 24
as submitted, shall be deemed to be approved. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
•S 309 IS
(f) AMENDMENT TO DECLARATION OFINTENT.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The State Authorizing Offi-2
cials may direct the State Designated Officer to sub-3
mit amendments to a declaration of intent that is in 4
effect. Such amendments shall be submitted to the 5
Secretary and considered by the Secretary in accord-6
ance with subsection (e). 7
(2) A
MENDMENTS AUTHORIZED .—A declaration 8
of intent that is in effect may be amended to— 9
(A) expand the scope of such declaration of 10
intent to encompass additional eligible pro-11
grams; 12
(B) reduce the scope of such declaration of 13
intent by excluding coverage of a Federal pro-14
gram included in the original declaration of in-15
tent; 16
(C) modify the duration of such declara-17
tion of intent; or 18
(D) achieve such other modifications as the 19
State Authorizing Officials deem appropriate. 20
(3) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment shall 21
specify an effective date. Such effective date shall 22
provide adequate time to assure full compliance with 23
Federal program requirements relating to an eligible 24
program that has been removed from the coverage of 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
•S 309 IS
the declaration of intent by the proposed amend-1
ment. 2
(4) T
REATMENT OF PROGRAM FUNDS WITH -3
DRAWN FROM DECLARATION OF INTENT .—Begin-4
ning on the effective date of an amendment executed 5
under paragraph (2)(B), each program requirement 6
of each program removed from the declaration of in-7
tent shall apply to the State’s use of funds made 8
available under the program. 9
SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY FOR RESULTS OF PUBLIC EDU-10
CATION. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Each State operating under a 12
declaration of intent under this Act shall inform parents 13
and the general public regarding the student achievement 14
assessment system, demonstrating student progress rel-15
ative to the State’s determination of student proficiency 16
for the purpose of public accountability to parents and 17
taxpayers. 18
(b) A
CCOUNTABILITYSYSTEM.—The State shall de-19
termine and establish an accountability system to ensure 20
accountability under this Act. 21
(c) R
EPORT ONSTUDENTPROGRESS.—Not later 22
than 1 year after the effective date of the declaration of 23
intent, and annually thereafter, a State shall disseminate 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9
•S 309 IS
widely to parents and the general public a report that de-1
scribes student progress. The report shall include— 2
(1) student performance data disaggregated in 3
the same manner as data are disaggregated under 4
section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) of the Elementary and 5
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6
6311(b)(2)(B)(xi)); and 7
(2) a description of how the State has used 8
Federal funds to improve academic achievement, re-9
duce achievement disparities between various stu-10
dent groups, and improve educational opportunities 11
for the disadvantaged. 12
SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 14
(b), the amount that a State with a declaration of intent 15
may expend for administrative expenses shall be limited 16
to 1 percent of the aggregate amount of Federal funds 17
made available to the State through the eligible programs 18
included within the scope of such declaration of intent. 19
(b) S
TATESNOTCONSOLIDATINGFUNDSUNDER 20
P
ARTA OFTITLEI.—If the declaration of intent does 21
not include within its scope part A of title I of the Elemen-22
tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 23
6311 et seq.), the amount spent by the State on adminis-24
trative expenses shall be limited to 3 percent of the aggre-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10
•S 309 IS
gate amount of Federal funds made available to the State 1
pursuant to such declaration of intent. 2
SEC. 7. EQUITABLE PARTICIPATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 3
Each State consolidating and using funds pursuant 4
to a declaration of intent under this Act shall provide for 5
the participation of private school children and teachers 6
in the activities assisted under the declaration of intent 7
in the same manner as participation is provided to private 8
school children and teachers under section 8501 of the El-9
ementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 10
U.S.C. 7881). 11
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S309.IS S309
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB