II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 74 

To expand opportunity through greater choice in education, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 28, 2021 

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. 

BRAUN, Mr. WICKER, Mr. SASSE, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, and Mr. CRUZ) 

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

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To expand opportunity through greater choice in education, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Creating Hope and 

5 Opportunity for Individuals and Communities through 

6 Education Act’’ or the ‘‘CHOICE Act’’. 


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1 TITLE I—EDUCATION PORTABIL2 ITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH 

3 DISABILITIES 

4 SEC. 101. PURPOSE. 

5 The purpose of this title is to provide options to 

6 States to innovate and improve the education of children 

7 with disabilities by expanding the choices for students and 

8 parents under the Individuals with Disabilities Education 

9 Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.). 

10 SEC. 102. AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS11 ABILITIES EDUCATION ACT. 

12 (a) CHILDREN ENROLLED IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS BY

13 THEIR PARENTS.—Section 612(a)(10)(A) of the Individ14 uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

15 1412(a)(10)(A)) is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(viii) PARENT OPTION PROGRAM.—If 

18 a State has established a program that 

19 meets the requirements of section 

20 663(c)(11) (whether statewide or in limited 

21 areas of the State) and that allows a par22 ent of a child described in section 

23 663(c)(11)(A) to use public funds, or pri24 vate funds in accordance with 


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1 633(c)(11)(B)(ii), to pay some or all of the 

2 costs of attendance at a private school— 

3 ‘‘(I) funds allocated to the State 

4 under section 611 may be used by the 

5 State to supplement such public or 

6 private funds, if the Federal funds are 

7 distributed to parents who make a 

8 genuine independent choice as to the 

9 appropriate school for their child, ex10 cept that in no case shall the amount 

11 of Federal funds provided under this 

12 subclause to a parent of a child with 

13 a disability for a year exceed the total 

14 amount of tuition, fees, and transpor15 tation costs for the child for the year; 

16 ‘‘(II) the authorization of a par17 ent to exercise this option fulfills the 

18 State’s obligation under paragraph (1) 

19 with respect to the child during the 

20 period in which the child is enrolled in 

21 the selected school; and 

22 ‘‘(III) a selected school accepting 

23 such funds shall not be required to 

24 carry out any of the requirements of 

25 this title with respect to such child.’’. 


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1 (b) RESEARCH AND INNOVATION TO IMPROVE SERV2 ICES AND RESULTS FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABIL3 ITIES.—Section 663(c) of the Individuals with Disabilities 

4 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1463(c)) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

6 the semicolon; 

7 (2) in paragraph (10), by striking the period at 

8 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(11) supporting the post-award planning and 

11 design, and the initial implementation (which may 

12 include costs for informing the community, acquiring 

13 necessary equipment and supplies, and other initial 

14 operational costs), during a period of not more than 

15 3 years, of State programs that allow the parent of 

16 a child with a disability to make a genuine inde17 pendent choice of the appropriate public or private 

18 school for their child, if the program— 

19 ‘‘(A) requires that the child be a child who 

20 has received an initial evaluation described in 

21 section 614(a) and has been identified as a 

22 child with a disability, in accordance with part 

23 B; 

24 ‘‘(B)(i) permits the parent to receive from 

25 the State funds to be used to pay some or all 


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1 of the costs of attendance at the selected school 

2 (which may include tuition, fees, and transpor3 tation costs); or 

4 ‘‘(ii) permits persons to receive a State tax 

5 credit for donations to an entity that provides 

6 funds to parents of eligible students described 

7 in subparagraph (A), to be used by the parents 

8 to pay some or all of the costs of attendance at 

9 the selected school (which may include tuition, 

10 fees, and transportation costs); 

11 ‘‘(C) prohibits any school that agrees to 

12 participate in the program from discriminating 

13 against eligible students on the basis of race, 

14 color, national origin, or sex, except that— 

15 ‘‘(i) the prohibition of sex discrimina16 tion shall not apply to a participating 

17 school that is operated by, supervised by, 

18 controlled by, or connected to a religious 

19 organization to the extent that the applica20 tion of such prohibition is inconsistent with 

21 the religious tenets or beliefs of the school; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(ii) notwithstanding this subpara24 graph or any other provision of law, a parVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Feb 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S74.IS S74

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1 ent may choose, and a school may offer, a 

2 single-sex school, class, or activity; 

3 ‘‘(D) notwithstanding any other provision 

4 of law, allows any school participating in the 

5 program that is operated by, supervised by, 

6 controlled by, or connected to, a religious orga7 nization to exercise its right in matters of em8 ployment consistent with title VII of the Civil 

9 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), 

10 including the exemptions in that title; 

11 ‘‘(E) allows a school to participate in the 

12 program without, consistent with the First 

13 Amendment of the Constitution of the United 

14 States— 

15 ‘‘(i) necessitating any change in the 

16 participating school’s teaching mission; 

17 ‘‘(ii) requiring any private partici18 pating school to remove religious art, 

19 icons, scriptures, or other symbols; or 

20 ‘‘(iii) precluding any private partici21 pating school from retaining religious 

22 terms in its name, selecting its board 

23 members on a religious basis, or including 

24 religious references in its mission stateVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Feb 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S74.IS S74

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1 ments and other chartering or governing 

2 documents; and 

3 ‘‘(F) requires a participating school se4 lected for a child with a disability to be— 

5 ‘‘(i) accredited, licensed, or otherwise 

6 operating in accordance with State law; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(ii) academically accountable to the 

9 parent for meeting the educational needs 

10 of the student.’’. 

11 TITLE II—MILITARY 

12 SCHOLARSHIPS 

13 SEC. 201. PURPOSE. 

14 The purpose of this title is to ensure high-quality 

15 education for children of military personnel who live on 

16 military installations and thus have less freedom to exer17 cise school choice for their children, in order to improve 

18 the ability of the Armed Forces to retain such military 

19 personnel. 

20 SEC. 202. MILITARY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. 

21 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘child’’, 

23 ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, and ‘‘local 

24 educational agency’’ have the meanings given the 


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1 terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec2 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

3 (2) ELIGIBLE MILITARY STUDENT.—The term 

4 ‘‘eligible military student’’ means a child who— 

5 (A) is a military dependent student; 

6 (B) lives on a military installation selected 

7 to participate in the program under subsection 

8 (b)(2); and 

9 (C) chooses to attend a participating 

10 school, rather than a school otherwise assigned 

11 to the child. 

12 (3) MILITARY DEPENDENT STUDENTS.—The 

13 term ‘‘military dependent students’’ has the meaning 

14 given the term in section 572(e) of the National De15 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (20 

16 U.S.C. 7703b(e)). 

17 (4) PARTICIPATING SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘par18 ticipating school’’ means a public or private elemen19 tary school or secondary school that— 

20 (A) accepts scholarship funds provided 

21 under this section on behalf of an eligible mili22 tary student for the costs of tuition, fees, or 

23 transportation of the eligible military student; 

24 and 


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1 (B) is accredited, licensed, or otherwise op2 erating in accordance with State law. 

3 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of Defense. 

5 (b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail7 able under subsection (g) and beginning for the first 

8 full school year following the date of enactment of 

9 this Act, the Secretary shall carry out a 5-year pilot 

10 program to award scholarships to enable eligible 

11 military students to attend the public or private ele12 mentary schools or secondary schools selected by the 

13 eligible military students’ parents. 

14 (2) SCOPE OF PROGRAM.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall se16 lect not less than 5 military installations to par17 ticipate in the pilot program described in para18 graph (1). In making such selection, the Sec19 retary shall choose military installations where 

20 eligible military students would most benefit 

21 from expanded educational options. 

22 (B) INELIGIBILITY.—A military installa23 tion that provides, on its premises, education 

24 for all elementary school and secondary school 

25 grade levels through one or more Department 


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1 of Defense dependents’ schools shall not be eli2 gible for participation in the program. 

3 (3) AMOUNT OF SCHOLARSHIPS.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The annual amount of 

5 each scholarship awarded to an eligible military 

6 student under this section shall not exceed the 

7 lesser of— 

8 (i) the cost of tuition, fees, and trans9 portation associated with attending the 

10 participating school selected by the parents 

11 of the student; or 

12 (ii)(I) in the case of an eligible mili13 tary student attending elementary school— 

14 (aa) $8,000 for the first full 

15 school year following the date of en16 actment of this Act; or 

17 (bb) the amount determined 

18 under subparagraph (B) for each 

19 school year following such first full 

20 school year; or 

21 (II) in the case of an eligible military 

22 student attending secondary school— 

23 (aa) $12,000 for the first full 

24 school year following the date of en25 actment of this Act; or 


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1 (bb) the amount determined 

2 under subparagraph (B) for each 

3 school year following such first full 

4 school year. 

5 (B) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—For 

6 each school year after the first full school year 

7 following the date of enactment of this Act, the 

8 amounts specified in subclauses (I) and (II) of 

9 subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be adjusted to reflect 

10 changes for the 12-month period ending the 

11 preceding June in the Consumer Price Index 

12 for All Urban Consumers published by the Bu13 reau of Labor Statistics of the Department of 

14 Labor. 

15 (4) PAYMENTS TO PARENTS.—The Secretary 

16 shall make scholarship payments under this section 

17 to the parent of the eligible military student in a 

18 manner that ensures such payments will be used for 

19 the payment of tuition, fees, and transportation ex20 penses (if any) in accordance with this section. 

21 (c) SELECTION OF SCHOLARSHIPS RECIPIENTS.— 

22 (1) RANDOM SELECTION.—If more eligible mili23 tary students apply for scholarships under the pro24 gram under this section than the Secretary can ac25 commodate, the Secretary shall select the scholarVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Feb 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S74.IS S74

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1 ship recipients through a random selection process 

2 from students who submitted applications by the ap3 plication deadline specified by the Secretary. 

4 (2) CONTINUED ELIGIBILITY.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—An individual who is 

6 selected to receive a scholarship under the pro7 gram under this section shall continue to re8 ceive a scholarship for each year of the program 

9 until the individual— 

10 (i) graduates from secondary school or 

11 elects to no longer participate in the pro12 gram; 

13 (ii) exceeds the maximum age for 

14 which the State in which the student lives 

15 provides a free public education; or 

16 (iii) is no longer an eligible military 

17 student. 

18 (B) CONTINUED PARTICIPATION FOR MILI19 TARY TRANSFERS.— 

20 (i) TRANSFER TO PRIVATE NON-MILI21 TARY HOUSING.—Notwithstanding sub22 paragraph (A)(iii), an individual receiving 

23 a scholarship under this section for a 

24 school year who meets the requirements of 

25 subparagraphs (A) and (C) of subsection 


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1 (a)(2) and whose family, during such 

2 school year, moves into private non-mili3 tary housing that is not considered to be 

4 part of the military installation, shall con5 tinue to receive the scholarship for use at 

6 the participating school for the remaining 

7 portion of the school year. 

8 (ii) TRANSFER TO A DIFFERENT MILI9 TARY INSTALLATION.—Notwithstanding 

10 subparagraph (A)(iii), an individual receiv11 ing a scholarship under this section for a 

12 school year whose family is transferred to 

13 a different military installation shall no 

14 longer be eligible to receive such scholar15 ship beginning on the date of the transfer. 

16 Such individual may apply to participate in 

17 any program offered under this section for 

18 the new military installation for a subse19 quent school year, if such individual quali20 fies as an eligible military student for such 

21 school year. 

22 (d) NONDISCRIMINATION AND OTHER PROVISIONS.— 

23 (1) NONDISCRIMINATION.—A participating 

24 school shall not discriminate against program parVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Feb 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S74.IS S74

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1 ticipants or applicants on the basis of race, color, 

2 national origin, or sex. 

3 (2) APPLICABILITY AND SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS, 

4 CLASSES, OR ACTIVITIES.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

6 other provision of law, the prohibition of sex 

7 discrimination in paragraph (1) shall not apply 

8 to a participating school that is operated by, su9 pervised by, controlled by, or connected to a re10 ligious organization to the extent that the appli11 cation of paragraph (1) is inconsistent with the 

12 religious tenets or beliefs of the school. 

13 (B) SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS, CLASSES, OR

14 ACTIVITIES.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1) or 

15 any other provision of law, a parent may 

16 choose, and a participating school may offer, a 

17 single-sex school, class, or activity. 

18 (3) CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES.—Nothing 

19 in this section may be construed to alter or modify 

20 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 

21 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.). 

22 (4) RULES OF CONDUCT AND OTHER SCHOOL

23 POLICIES.—A participating school, including the 

24 schools described in subsection (e), may require eli25 gible students to abide by any rules of conduct and 


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1 other requirements applicable to all other students 

2 at the school. 

3 (e) RELIGIOUSLY AFFILIATED SCHOOLS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

5 provision of law, a participating school that is oper6 ated by, supervised by, controlled by, or connected 

7 to, a religious organization may exercise its right in 

8 matters of employment consistent with title VII of 

9 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et 

10 seq.), including the exemptions in that title. 

11 (2) MAINTENANCE OF PURPOSE.—Notwith12 standing any other provision of law, funds made 

13 available under this title to eligible military students 

14 that are received by a participating school, as a re15 sult of their parents’ choice, shall not, consistent 

16 with the First Amendment of the Constitution of the 

17 United States— 

18 (A) necessitate any change in the partici19 pating school’s teaching mission; 

20 (B) require any private participating 

21 school to remove religious art, icons, scriptures, 

22 or other symbols; or 

23 (C) preclude any private participating 

24 school from retaining religious terms in its 

25 name, selecting its board members on a reliVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Feb 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S74.IS S74

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1 gious basis, or including religious references in 

2 its mission statements and other chartering or 

3 governing documents. 

4 (f) REPORTS.— 

5 (1) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than July 30 

6 of the year following the year of the date of enact7 ment of this Act, and each subsequent year through 

8 the year in which the final report is submitted under 

9 paragraph (2), the Secretary shall prepare and sub10 mit to Congress an interim report on the scholar11 ships awarded under the pilot program under this 

12 section that includes the content described in para13 graph (3) for the applicable school year of the re14 port. 

15 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 

16 after the end of the pilot program under this section, 

17 the Secretary shall prepare and submit to Congress 

18 a report on the scholarships awarded under the pro19 gram that includes the content described in para20 graph (3) for each school year of the program. 

21 (3) CONTENT.—Each annual report under 

22 paragraph (1) and the final report under paragraph 

23 (2) shall contain— 

24 (A) the number of applicants for scholar25 ships under this section; 


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1 (B) the number, and the average dollar 

2 amount, of scholarships awarded; 

3 (C) the number of participating schools; 

4 (D) the number of elementary school stu5 dents receiving scholarships under this section 

6 and the number of secondary school students 

7 receiving such scholarships; and 

8 (E) the results of a survey, conducted by 

9 the Secretary, regarding parental satisfaction 

10 with the scholarship program under this sec11 tion. 

12 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

13 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

14 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026. 

15 (h) OFFSET IN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SALA16 RIES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for 

17 fiscal year 2022 and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years, 

18 the Secretary of Education shall return to the Treasury 

19 $10,000,000 of the amounts made available to the Sec20 retary for salaries and expenses of the Department of 

21 Education for such year. 

Æ 


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