I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 719 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 27, 2017 

Mr. WALKER (for himself, Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. BRAT, Mr. 

DESANTIS, Mr. BUDD, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. BUCK, Mr. 

GROTHMAN, Mr. PALMER, and Mr. SENSENBRENNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 

Workforce 

A BILL 

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. 

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 ‘‘Academic Partnerships 

5 Lead Us to Success Act’’ or the ‘‘A PLUS Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 


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1 (1) To give States and local communities added 

2 flexibility to determine how to improve academic 

3 achievement and implement education reforms. 

4 (2) To reduce the administrative costs and com5 pliance burden of Federal education programs in 

6 order to focus Federal resources on improving aca7 demic achievement. 

8 (3) To ensure that States and communities are 

9 accountable to the public for advancing the academic 

10 achievement of all students, especially disadvantaged 

11 children. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro15 vided, the terms used in this Act have the meanings 

16 given the terms in section 8101 of the Elementary 

17 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

18 7801 et seq.). 

19 (2) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The term ‘‘account20 ability’’ means that public schools are answerable to 

21 parents and other taxpayers for the use of public 

22 funds and shall report student progress to parents 

23 and taxpayers regularly. 

24 (3) DECLARATION OF INTENT.—The term ‘‘dec25 laration of intent’’ means a decision by a State, as 


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1 determined by State Authorizing Officials or by ref2 erendum, to assume full management responsibility 

3 for the expenditure of Federal funds for certain eli4 gible programs for the purpose of advancing, on a 

5 more comprehensive and effective basis, the edu6 cational policy of such State. 

7 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean8 ing given such term in section 1122(e) of the Ele9 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

10 U.S.C. 6332(e)). 

11 (5) STATE AUTHORIZING OFFICIALS.—The term 

12 ‘‘State Authorizing Officials’’ means the State offi13 cials who shall authorize the submission of a dec14 laration of intent, and any amendments thereto, on 

15 behalf of the State. Such officials shall include not 

16 less than 2 of the following: 

17 (A) The governor of the State. 

18 (B) The highest elected education official 

19 of the State, if any. 

20 (C) The legislature of the State. 

21 (6) STATE DESIGNATED OFFICER.—The term 

22 ‘‘State Designated Officer’’ means the person des23 ignated by the State Authorizing Officials to submit 

24 to the Secretary, on behalf of the State, a declara25 tion of intent, and any amendments thereto, and to 


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1 function as the point-of-contact for the State for the 

2 Secretary and others relating to any responsibilities 

3 arising under this Act. 

4 SEC. 4. DECLARATION OF INTENT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State is authorized to sub6 mit to the Secretary a declaration of intent permitting the 

7 State to receive Federal funds on a consolidated basis to 

8 manage the expenditure of such funds to advance the edu9 cational policy of the State. 

10 (b) PROGRAMS ELIGIBLE FOR CONSOLIDATION AND

11 PERMISSIBLE USE OF FUNDS.— 

12 (1) SCOPE.—A State may choose to include 

13 within the scope of the State’s declaration of intent 

14 any program for which Congress makes funds avail15 able to the State if the program is for a purpose de16 scribed in the Elementary and Education Secondary 

17 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301). A State may not in18 clude any program funded pursuant to the Individ19 uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

20 1400 et seq.). 

21 (2) USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available to 

22 a State pursuant to a declaration of intent under 

23 this Act shall be used for any educational purpose 

24 permitted by State law of the State submitting a 

25 declaration of intent. 


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1 (3) REMOVAL OF FISCAL AND ACCOUNTING

2 BARRIERS.—Each State educational agency that op3 erates under a declaration of intent under this Act 

4 shall modify or eliminate State fiscal and accounting 

5 barriers that prevent local educational agencies and 

6 schools from easily consolidating funds from other 

7 Federal, State, and local sources in order to improve 

8 educational opportunities and reduce unnecessary 

9 fiscal and accounting requirements. 

10 (c) CONTENTS OF DECLARATION.—Each declaration 

11 of intent shall contain— 

12 (1) a list of eligible programs that are subject 

13 to the declaration of intent; 

14 (2) an assurance that the submission of the 

15 declaration of intent has been authorized by the 

16 State Authorizing Officials, specifying the identity of 

17 the State Designated Officer; 

18 (3) the duration of the declaration of intent; 

19 (4) an assurance that the State will use fiscal 

20 control and fund accounting procedures; 

21 (5) an assurance that the State will meet the 

22 requirements of applicable Federal civil rights laws 

23 in carrying out the declaration of intent and in con24 solidating and using the funds under the declaration 

25 of intent; 


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1 (6) an assurance that in implementing the dec2 laration of intent the State will seek to advance edu3 cational opportunities for the disadvantaged; 

4 (7) a description of the plan for maintaining di5 rect accountability to parents and other citizens of 

6 the State; and 

7 (8) an assurance that in implementing the dec8 laration of intent, the State will seek to use Federal 

9 funds to supplement, rather than supplant, State 

10 education funding. 

11 (d) DURATION.—The duration of the declaration of 

12 intent shall not exceed 5 years. 

13 (e) REVIEW AND RECOGNITION BY THE SEC14 RETARY.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall review 

16 the declaration of intent received from the State 

17 Designated Officer not more than 60 days after the 

18 date of receipt of such declaration, and shall recog19 nize such declaration of intent unless the declaration 

20 of intent fails to meet the requirements under sub21 section (c). 

22 (2) RECOGNITION BY OPERATION OF LAW.—If 

23 the Secretary fails to take action within the time 

24 specified in paragraph (1), the declaration of intent, 

25 as submitted, shall be deemed to be approved. 


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1 (f) AMENDMENT TO DECLARATION OF INTENT.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The State Authorizing Offi3 cials may direct the State Designated Officer to sub4 mit amendments to a declaration of intent that is in 

5 effect. Such amendments shall be submitted to the 

6 Secretary and considered by the Secretary in accord7 ance with subsection (e). 

8 (2) AMENDMENTS AUTHORIZED.—A declaration 

9 of intent that is in effect may be amended to— 

10 (A) expand the scope of such declaration of 

11 intent to encompass additional eligible pro12 grams; 

13 (B) reduce the scope of such declaration of 

14 intent by excluding coverage of a Federal pro15 gram included in the original declaration of in16 tent; 

17 (C) modify the duration of such declara18 tion of intent; or 

19 (D) achieve such other modifications as the 

20 State Authorizing Officials deem appropriate. 

21 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment shall 

22 specify an effective date. Such effective date shall 

23 provide adequate time to assure full compliance with 

24 Federal program requirements relating to an eligible 

25 program that has been removed from the coverage of 


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1 the declaration of intent by the proposed amend2 ment. 

3 (4) TREATMENT OF PROGRAM FUNDS WITH4 DRAWN FROM DECLARATION OF INTENT.—Begin5 ning on the effective date of an amendment executed 

6 under paragraph (2)(B), each program requirement 

7 of each program removed from the declaration of in8 tent shall apply to the State’s use of funds made 

9 available under the program. 

10 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY FOR RESULTS OF PUBLIC EDU11 CATION. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State operating under a 

13 declaration of intent under this Act shall inform parents 

14 and the general public regarding the student achievement 

15 assessment system, demonstrating student progress rel16 ative to the State’s determination of student proficiency 

17 for the purpose of public accountability to parents and 

18 taxpayers. 

19 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM.—The State shall de20 termine and establish an accountability system to ensure 

21 accountability under this Act. 

22 (c) REPORT ON STUDENT PROGRESS.—Not later 

23 than 1 year after the effective date of the declaration of 

24 intent, and annually thereafter, a State shall disseminate 


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1 widely to parents and the general public a report that de2 scribes student progress. The report shall include— 

3 (1) student performance data disaggregated in 

4 the same manner as data are disaggregated under 

5 section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) of the Elementary and 

6 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

7 6311(b)(2)(B)(xi)); and 

8 (2) a description of how the State has used 

9 Federal funds to improve academic achievement, re10 duce achievement disparities between various stu11 dent groups, and improve educational opportunities 

12 for the disadvantaged. 

13 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

15 (b), the amount that a State with a declaration of intent 

16 may expend for administrative expenses shall be limited 

17 to 1 percent of the aggregate amount of Federal funds 

18 made available to the State through the eligible programs 

19 included within the scope of such declaration of intent. 

20 (b) STATES NOT CONSOLIDATING FUNDS UNDER

21 PART A OF TITLE I.—If the declaration of intent does 

22 not include within its scope part A of title I of the Elemen23 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

24 6311 et seq.), the amount spent by the State on adminis25 trative expenses shall be limited to 3 percent of the aggreVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Feb 03, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H719.IH H719

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1 gate amount of Federal funds made available to the State 

2 pursuant to such declaration of intent. 

3 SEC. 7. EQUITABLE PARTICIPATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 

4 Each State consolidating and using funds pursuant 

5 to a declaration of intent under this Act shall provide for 

6 the participation of private school children and teachers 

7 in the activities assisted under the declaration of intent 

8 in the same manner as participation is provided to private 

9 school children and teachers under section 8501 of the El10 ementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

11 U.S.C. 7881). 

Æ 


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