II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 665 

To allow Federal funds appropriated for kindergarten through grade 12 

education to follow the student. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 10, 2021 

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To allow Federal funds appropriated for kindergarten 

through grade 12 education to follow the student. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Support Children Hav5 ing Open Opportunities for Learning Act of 2021’’ or the 

6 ‘‘SCHOOL Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL FUNDING UNDER THE ELEMENTARY AND 

2 SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF 1965 TO 

3 FOLLOW THE STUDENT. 

4 Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Edu5 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801 et seq.) is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘PART H—FUNDS TO FOLLOW THE STUDENT 

8 ‘‘SEC. 8701. FUNDS TO FOLLOW THE STUDENT. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

10 ‘‘(1) FUNDS TO FOLLOW THE STUDENT.—Not11 withstanding any other provision of law and to the 

12 extent permitted under State law, a State edu13 cational agency shall allocate grant funds provided 

14 under titles I, III, IV, V, and VI, for the purposes 

15 of ensuring that funding under such titles follows 

16 children, whether learning in person or remotely, to 

17 the public school, private school, or home school they 

18 attend— 

19 ‘‘(A) among the local educational agencies 

20 in the State based on the number of eligible 

21 children enrolled in the public schools operated 

22 by each local educational agency; and 

23 ‘‘(B) directly to the eligible children, 

24 through education savings accounts, residing in 

25 the State who are enrolled in private schools or 

26 home schools. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ALLOWABLE USES OF FUNDS.—Funds al2 located under paragraph (1) may be used for, but 

3 not limited to— 

4 ‘‘(A) curriculum and curricular materials; 

5 ‘‘(B) books or other instructional mate6 rials; 

7 ‘‘(C) technological educational materials; 

8 ‘‘(D) online educational materials; 

9 ‘‘(E) tutoring or educational classes out10 side the home; 

11 ‘‘(F) private school tuition; 

12 ‘‘(G) extracurricular activities; 

13 ‘‘(H) testing fees; 

14 ‘‘(I) diagnostic tools; and 

15 ‘‘(J) educational therapies for student with 

16 disabilities. 

17 ‘‘(3) PLAN.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each State that car19 ries out allocations described in paragraph (1) 

20 shall establish a plan whereby the parent or 

21 guardian of each eligible child in the State will 

22 annually notify the relevant local educational 

23 agency of the public school or private school 

24 which the child will attend, or if the child will 

25 instead attend home school. 


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1 ‘‘(B) DATA COLLECTION.—Information 

2 collected under this section by the State shall 

3 be used for the sole purposes of calculating the 

4 allocation of funds and distribution of funds 

5 under this section. 

6 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—The term ‘eligible 

8 child’ means a child aged 5 to 17. 

9 ‘‘(2) HOME SCHOOL.—The term ‘home school’ 

10 means a home school as defined by the laws of the 

11 State in which the eligible child resides. 

12 ‘‘(c) STUDENT ENROLLMENT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 

13 PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND HOME SCHOOLS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IDENTIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE CHIL15 DREN.—On an annual basis, on a date to be deter16 mined by the State educational agency, each local 

17 educational agency that receives grant funding in ac18 cordance with subsection (a) shall inform the State 

19 educational agency of the number of eligible children 

20 enrolled in public schools served by the local edu21 cational agency and private schools and home 

22 schools located in the school district served by the 

23 local educational agency in order to provide alloca24 tions for each eligible child in equal amounts regard25 less of where the child attends school in the State. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

2 AGENCIES AND ELIGIBLE CHILDREN.—Based on the 

3 identification of eligible children in paragraph (1), 

4 the State educational agency shall provide— 

5 ‘‘(A) to a local educational agency an 

6 amount equal to the sum of the amount avail7 able for each eligible child in the State multi8 plied by the number of eligible children identi9 fied by the local educational agency under para10 graph (1) enrolled in public schools served by 

11 the local educational agency; and 

12 ‘‘(B) to an eligible child residing in the 

13 State who is enrolled in a private school or 

14 home school, through an education savings ac15 count, an amount equal to the sum of the 

16 amount available for an eligible child in the 

17 State. 

18 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.— 

19 Each local educational agency that receives funds 

20 under paragraph (2)(A) shall distribute such funds 

21 to the public schools served by the local educational 

22 agency— 

23 ‘‘(A) based on the number of eligible chil24 dren enrolled in such schools; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) in a manner that would, in the ab2 sence of such Federal funds, supplement the 

3 funds made available from non-Federal re4 sources for the education of pupils participating 

5 in programs under this Act, and not to sup6 plant such funds (in accordance with the meth7 od of determination described in section 1117). 

8 ‘‘(4) DISTRIBUTION TO ELIGIBLE CHILDREN.— 

9 Each State that carries out allocations described in 

10 paragraph (1) shall distribute amounts to the eligi11 ble children residing in that State who enroll in a 

12 private school or home school— 

13 ‘‘(A) through an education savings ac14 count, as described in paragraph (2)(B); and 

15 ‘‘(B) in a manner that would, in the ab16 sence of such Federal funds, supplement the 

17 funds made available from non-Federal re18 sources for the education of pupils participating 

19 in programs under this Act, and not to sup20 plant such funds (in accordance with the meth21 od of determination described in section 1117). 

22 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION OF PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN

23 ENROLLED IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS.—The provisions of sec24 tion 1116 shall apply to this section. 

25 ‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) FEDERALLY FUNDED SCHOOL FOOD PRO2 GRAMS.—Nothing in this section shall be construed 

3 to preclude a child eligible for assistance under the 

4 free and reduced price school lunch program estab5 lished under the Richard B. Russell National School 

6 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) from receiving 

7 assistance under such program. 

8 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION OF CONTROL OVER NON9 PUBLIC EDUCATION PROVIDERS.—Nothing in this 

10 section shall permit, allow, encourage, or authorize 

11 Federal or State control over non-public education 

12 providers.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. FEDERAL FUNDING UNDER THE INDIVIDUALS WITH 

14 DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT TO FOLLOW 

15 THE STUDENT. 

16 Part A of the Individuals with Disabilities Education 

17 Act (20 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

18 the end the following: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 611. FUNDS TO FOLLOW THE STUDENT. 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

21 ‘‘(1) FUNDS TO FOLLOW THE STUDENT.—Not22 withstanding any other provision of law and to the 

23 extent permitted under State law, a State edu24 cational agency shall allocate grant funds provided 

25 under this Act, for the purposes of ensuring that 


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1 funding under this Act follows children, whether 

2 learning in person or remotely, to the public school, 

3 private school, or home school they attend— 

4 ‘‘(A) among the local educational agencies 

5 in the State based on the number of eligible 

6 children enrolled in the public schools operated 

7 by each local educational agency; and 

8 ‘‘(B) directly to the eligible children, 

9 through education savings accounts, residing in 

10 that State who are enrolled in private schools or 

11 home schools. 

12 ‘‘(2) ALLOWABLE USES OF FUNDS.—Funds al13 located under paragraph (1) may be used for, but 

14 not limited to— 

15 ‘‘(A) curriculum and curricular materials; 

16 ‘‘(B) books or other instructional mate17 rials; 

18 ‘‘(C) technological educational materials; 

19 ‘‘(D) online educational materials; 

20 ‘‘(E) tutoring or educational classes out21 side the home; 

22 ‘‘(F) private school tuition; 

23 ‘‘(G) extracurricular activities; 

24 ‘‘(H) testing fees; 

25 ‘‘(I) diagnostic tools; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
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1 ‘‘(J) educational therapies for student with 

2 disabilities. 

3 ‘‘(3) PLAN.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each State that car5 ries out allocations described in paragraph (1) 

6 shall establish a plan whereby the parent or 

7 guardian of each eligible child in the State will 

8 annually notify the relevant local educational 

9 agency of the public school or private school 

10 which the child will attend, or if the child will 

11 instead attend home school. 

12 ‘‘(B) DATA COLLECTION.—Information 

13 collected under this section by the State shall 

14 be used for the sole purposes of calculating the 

15 allocation of funds and distribution of funds 

16 under this section. 

17 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—The term ‘eligible 

19 child’ means a child with a disability who is eligible 

20 to receive special education and related services 

21 under this Act. 

22 ‘‘(2) HOME SCHOOL.—The term ‘home school’ 

23 means a home school as defined by the laws of the 

24 State in which the eligible child resides. 


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1 ‘‘(c) STUDENT ENROLLMENT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 

2 PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND HOME SCHOOLS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IDENTIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE CHIL4 DREN.—On an annual basis, on a date to be deter5 mined by the State educational agency, each local 

6 educational agency that receives grant funding in ac7 cordance with subsection (a) shall inform the State 

8 educational agency of the number of eligible children 

9 enrolled in public schools served by the local edu10 cational agency and private schools and home 

11 schools located in the school district served by the 

12 local educational agency in order to provide alloca13 tions for each eligible child in equal amounts regard14 less of where the child attends school in the State. 

15 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

16 AGENCIES AND ELIGIBLE CHILDREN.—Based on the 

17 identification of eligible children in paragraph (1), 

18 the State educational agency shall provide— 

19 ‘‘(A) to a local educational agency an 

20 amount equal to the sum of the amount avail21 able for each eligible child in the State multi22 plied by the number of eligible children identi23 fied by the local educational agency under para24 graph (1) enrolled in public schools served by 

25 the local educational agency; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) to an eligible child residing in the 

2 State who is enrolled in a private school or 

3 home school, through an education savings ac4 count, an amount equal to the sum of the 

5 amount available for an eligible child in the 

6 State. 

7 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.— 

8 Each local educational agency that receives funds 

9 under paragraph (2)(A) shall distribute such funds 

10 to the public schools served by the local educational 

11 agency— 

12 ‘‘(A) based on the number of eligible chil13 dren enrolled in such schools; and 

14 ‘‘(B) in a manner that would, in the ab15 sence of such Federal funds, supplement the 

16 funds made available from non-Federal re17 sources for the education of pupils participating 

18 in programs under this Act, and not to sup19 plant such funds. 

20 ‘‘(4) DISTRIBUTION TO ELIGIBLE CHILDREN.— 

21 Each State that carries out allocations described in 

22 paragraph (1) shall distribute amounts to the eligi23 ble children residing in that State who enroll in a 

24 private school or home school— 


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1 ‘‘(A) through an education savings ac2 count, as described in paragraph (2)(B); and 

3 ‘‘(B) in a manner that would, in the ab4 sence of such Federal funds, supplement the 

5 funds made available from non-Federal re6 sources for the education of pupils participating 

7 in programs under this Act, and not to sup8 plant such funds. 

9 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) FEDERALLY FUNDED SCHOOL LUNCH PRO11 GRAMS.—Nothing in this section shall be construed 

12 to preclude a child eligible for assistance under the 

13 free and reduced price school lunch program estab14 lished under the Richard B. Russell National School 

15 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) from receiving 

16 assistance under such program. 

17 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION OF CONTROL OVER NON18 PUBLIC EDUCATION PROVIDERS.—Nothing in this 

19 section shall permit, allow, encourage, or authorize 

20 Federal or State control over non-public education 

21 providers.’’. 

Æ 


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