II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1294 

To expand opportunity for Native American children through additional 

options in education, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 6, 2017 

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

A BILL 

To expand opportunity for Native American children through 

additional options 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 ‘‘Native American Edu5 cation Opportunity Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY PRO7 GRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title XI of the Edu9 cation Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2000 et seq.) is 

10 amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating section 1141 as section 

2 1142; and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 1140 the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1141. BUREAU FUNDING OF TRIBAL-BASED EDU6 CATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT PROGRAMS. 

7 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

8 ‘‘(1) BUREAU DISBURSEMENTS.—At the re9 quest of Tribes, the Secretary of the Interior shall, 

10 for the 2018–2019 school year and each subsequent 

11 school year, disburse not more than 90 percent of 

12 the amounts made available under sections 1127 and 

13 1130 for the school year to such Tribes that admin14 ister education savings account programs to enable 

15 the Tribes to award grants to education savings ac16 counts for ESA eligible students for such school 

17 year, in accordance with subsection (b). 

18 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply 

19 with respect to ESA eligible students who have sub20 mitted their application for participation under this 

21 section to the Tribe of which the student is an en22 rolled member on or after January 1, 2018. 

23 ‘‘(3) ACCOUNT ADMINISTRATION.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A Tribe may enter 

25 into an agreement with a nonprofit entity for 


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1 the administration of the accounts created 

2 through the Tribe’s education savings account 

3 program. 

4 ‘‘(B) NONPROFIT ENTITY DEFINED.—In 

5 this paragraph, the term ‘nonprofit entity’ 

6 means an entity that is described in section 

7 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

8 and is exempt from taxation under section 

9 501(a) of such Code. 

10 ‘‘(4) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds disbursed to a 

11 Tribe under this section may be used for— 

12 ‘‘(A) private school tuition and fees; 

13 ‘‘(B) textbooks, curriculum, and instruc14 tional materials; 

15 ‘‘(C) academic, Native language, or cul16 tural tutoring; 

17 ‘‘(D) educational services and therapies for 

18 students with special needs; 

19 ‘‘(E) tuition and fees for a non-public on20 line learning program; 

21 ‘‘(F) educational technology; 

22 ‘‘(G) examination fees; or 

23 ‘‘(H) transportation to and from a school 

24 not to exceed $2,000 per year, per ESA eligible 

25 student. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DISBURSEMENTS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT.—The amount disbursed by the 

3 Secretary of the Interior under subsection (a) to a 

4 Tribe shall be, with respect to each ESA eligible stu5 dent for which the Tribe awards a grant under this 

6 section for a school year, the lesser of— 

7 ‘‘(A) the amount of the grant provided by 

8 the Tribe to the education savings account of 

9 the ESA eligible student for the applicable 

10 school year; and 

11 ‘‘(B) 90 percent of the amount that the 

12 Secretary would provide to a Bureau-funded 

13 school on behalf of such student for the applica14 ble school year under sections 1127 and 1130. 

15 ‘‘(2) QUARTERLY DISBURSEMENTS.—A Tribe 

16 that receives a disbursement amount under sub17 section (a) shall make quarterly grant distributions 

18 of such amount to education savings accounts for 

19 ESA eligible students. 

20 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—A Tribe shall allocate not 

21 more than 15 percent of the amount received per 

22 pupil under this section to the administration of the 

23 education savings account programs of the Tribe. 

24 ‘‘(4) ROLL OVER AND REMAINING FUNDS IN AN

25 ACCOUNT.—Not more than 50 percent of an ESA elVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jun 13, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1294.IS S1294

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1 igible student’s total grant amount for a school year 

2 made under this section may roll over for use to the 

3 following school year. 

4 ‘‘(c) EFFECT ON ALLOTMENTS.—For purposes of 

5 any calculation regarding the total number of eligible In6 dian students under section 1127, the Secretary shall in7 clude all ESA eligible students who participate in an edu8 cation savings account program under this section. 

9 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—A grant awarded to 

10 an ESA eligible student under this section shall be consid11 ered assistance to the student and shall not be considered 

12 assistance to a school that enrolls the ESA eligible student 

13 or any other educational service provider from which the 

14 ESA eligible student receives services. 

15 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) ESA ELIGIBLE STUDENT.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘ESA eligi18 ble student’ means an individual who— 

19 ‘‘(i) is— 

20 ‘‘(I) an elementary school or sec21 ondary school student who attended a 

22 Bureau-funded school in the semester 

23 preceding the date on which the stu24 dent first applies for participation in 


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1 an education savings account pro2 gram; or 

3 ‘‘(II) a child who will be eligible 

4 to attend a Bureau-funded school for 

5 kindergarten or any other elementary 

6 school grade in the next semester that 

7 will start after the date on which the 

8 student first applies for participation 

9 in an education savings account pro10 gram; 

11 ‘‘(ii) will not be attending a Bureau12 funded school, receiving an education sav13 ings account from another Tribe, or at14 tending a public elementary school or sec15 ondary school, while the student is partici16 pating in an education savings account 

17 program of a Tribe; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) meets any eligibility require19 ments of the education savings account 

20 program of the Tribe in which the student 

21 applies to participate. 

22 ‘‘(B) PERIOD OF ELIGIBILITY.—A student 

23 who meets the requirements of clauses (i) and 

24 (iii) of subparagraph (A) for a school year and 

25 who was an enrolled member of the Tribe to 


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1 which the student submitted an application for 

2 participation in the education savings account 

3 program of the Tribe at the time of submitting 

4 the application to the Tribe shall be deemed to 

5 meet the requirements of such clauses until the 

6 date on which the student graduates high 

7 school or reaches the age of 21 years, whichever 

8 occurs first. 

9 ‘‘(2) EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT PRO10 GRAM.—The term ‘education savings account pro11 gram’ means a program administered by a Tribe in 

12 which the Tribe awards a grant to an account con13 trolled by a parent of an elementary school or sec14 ondary school student from which the parent may 

15 purchase goods and services needed for the edu16 cation of the student. 

17 ‘‘(3) PARENT.—The term ‘parent’ means a par18 ent, guardian, custodian, or other person with the 

19 authority to act on behalf of an ESA eligible stu20 dent. 

21 ‘‘(4) TRIBE.—The term ‘Tribe’ means any rec22 ognized Indian tribe included on the current list 

23 published by the Secretary of the Interior under sec24 tion 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe 

25 Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1126(c) of 

2 the Education Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2006(c)) 

3 is amended by striking ‘‘section 1141(12)’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘section 1142(12)’’. 

5 (c) GAO STUDY.—Not later than 3 years after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

7 of the United States shall— 

8 (1) conduct a review of the implementation of 

9 the amendments made by this Act during the pre10 ceding 3-year period, including any factors impact11 ing increased participation in education savings ac12 count programs established pursuant to the amend13 ments made by this Act; 

14 (2) submit a report describing the results of the 

15 review under paragraph (1) to— 

16 (A) the Committee on Indian Affairs of the 

17 Senate; and 

18 (B) the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular 

19 and Alaska Native Affairs of the Committee on 

20 Natural Resources of the House of Representa21 tives; and 

22 (3) publish the report under paragraph (2). 

Æ 


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