I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7731 

To direct the Secretary of Education to award grants for new agricultural 

education programs in secondary schools. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2024 

Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. 

LANGWORTHY, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. ALFORD, and Ms. PORTER) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

the Workforce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Education to award grants for 

new agricultural education programs in secondary schools. 

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 ‘‘Growing Opportunities 

5 in Agriculture Act’’ or the ‘‘GO Ag Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR NEW AGRICULTURAL EDU7 CATION PROGRAMS. 

8 (a) GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award, 

2 on a competitive basis, grants to eligible entities to 

3 support the creation of new agricultural education 

4 programs in secondary schools. 

5 (2) GRANT DURATION.—A grant awarded under 

6 this section may not exceed a 5-year grant period. 

7 (b) APPLICATION.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—To receive a grant under 

9 this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli10 cation to the Secretary at such time, in such man11 ner, and containing such information as the Sec12 retary may require, including— 

13 (A) an identification and the role with re14 spect to each program to be funded under the 

15 grant of any eligible partners of the eligible en16 tity, including an assurance the grant under 

17 this section will not be used to prepare students 

18 for employment with solely one or more of such 

19 eligible partners; 

20 (B) an assurance that each program that 

21 will receive assistance under the grant is not 

22 yet in operation and such grant will be used to 

23 start such program; 

24 (C) a description of the grant budget, how 

25 each program will fund necessary expenses for 


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1 the program not covered by the grant (such as 

2 any funds to be provided by State, local, or pri3 vate entities), and how the eligible entity will 

4 continue each such program after the grant is 

5 exhausted; 

6 (D) a description of how grant will directly 

7 benefit students, including special populations, 

8 served by the eligible entity; 

9 (E) a description of how each such pro10 gram will be coordinated with the activities car11 ried out under section 124 or 135 of the Carl 

12 D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act 

13 of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2344; 2355); 

14 (F) a description of how each such pro15 gram reflects the needs of regional, State, or 

16 local employers, as demonstrated by the com17 prehensive needs assessment under section 

18 134(c) of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Tech19 nical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 

20 2354(c)) carried out by the eligible entity; and 

21 (G) an assurance that the eligible entity 

22 will— 

23 (i) provide information to the Sec24 retary, as requested, for the evaluation 


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1 under subsection (d) and any evaluations 

2 that the Secretary may carry out; and 

3 (ii) make data available to third par4 ties for validation, in accordance with ap5 plicable data privacy laws, including sec6 tion 444 of the General Education Provi7 sions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g, commonly 

8 known as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights 

9 and Privacy Act of 1974’’). 

10 (2) PROCESS.—The Secretary shall create a 

11 process for evaluating applications submitted under 

12 paragraph (1) and determining the amount of each 

13 grant for successful applications, except that in no 

14 case may an eligible entity receive a grant exceeding 

15 $100,000. 

16 (c) USES OF FUNDS.—Each eligible entity receiving 

17 a grant under this section shall use such grant for the 

18 creation of new agricultural education programs in sec19 ondary schools, which may include— 

20 (1) curriculum development and delivery, in21 cluding classroom or laboratory instruction, work22 based learning, and leadership education delivered 

23 through career and technical student organizations; 

24 (2) the purchase of equipment, technology, and 

25 course materials; and 


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1 (3) other costs the Secretary may determine to 

2 be eligible. 

3 (d) EVALUATION AND ANNUAL REPORT.—Each eligi4 ble entity receiving a grant under this section shall provide 

5 for an independent evaluation of the activities carried out 

6 using such grant and submit to the Secretary an annual 

7 report that includes— 

8 (1) a description of how the grant was used; 

9 (2) the performance of each program assistance 

10 with such grant with respect to, at a minimum, the 

11 performance indicators described under section 113 

12 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Edu13 cation Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2323), as applicable, 

14 and disaggregated— 

15 (A) by subgroups of students described in 

16 section 1111(c)(2)(B) of the Elementary and 

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

18 6311(c)(2)(B)); and 

19 (B) by each special population; and 

20 (3) a quantitative analysis of the effectiveness 

21 of each such program. 

22 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 (1) AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.—The term 

24 ‘‘agricultural education’’ means career and technical 

25 education that is focused on agriculture, including 


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1 classroom or laboratory instruction, work-based 

2 learning, and leadership education delivered through 

3 career and technical student organizations. 

4 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti5 ty’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘eligible recipi6 ent’’ in section 3(21)(A) of the Carl D. Perkins Ca7 reer and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 

8 U.S.C. 2302(21)(A)). 

9 (3) ELIGIBLE PARTNER.—The term ‘‘eligible 

10 partner’’ means— 

11 (A) an institution of higher education or a 

12 consortium of such institutions; or 

13 (B) a community stakeholder relevant to a 

14 program to be funded under this section, in15 cluding a labor organization, a local or regional 

16 business or industry, or a local workforce devel17 opment board. 

18 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

19 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

20 $5,000,000, to remain available through fiscal year 2027. 

Æ 


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