II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4876 

To create a new Federal grant program that provides grants to State libraries 

to allow schools with summer lunch programs to keep their libraries 

open for student use during the summer months. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2024 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To create a new Federal grant program that provides grants 

to State libraries to allow schools with summer lunch 

programs to keep their libraries open for student use 

during the summer months. 

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 ‘‘Summer Meals and 

5 Learning Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 

2 The term ‘‘eligible local educational agency’’ means 

3 a local educational agency, as defined in section 

4 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

5 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)— 

6 (A) that serves lunch at a school served by 

7 the local educational agency during the summer 

8 as part of— 

9 (i) the summer food service program 

10 for children established under section 13 of 

11 the Richard B. Russell National School 

12 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1761); or 

13 (ii) the seamless summer option au14 thorized by section 13(a)(8) of such Act 

15 (42 U.S.C. 1761(a)(8)); and 

16 (B) where at least 50 percent of the stu17 dents in grades prekindergarten through grade 

18 3 at such school— 

19 (i) are reading below grade level at 

20 grade 3; or 

21 (ii) are at risk of reading below grade 

22 level at grade 3. 

23 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

24 the Secretary of Education. 


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1 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

2 the several States of the United States, the District 

3 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

4 American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the North5 ern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the United States 

6 Virgin Islands. 

7 (4) STATE LIBRARY ADMINISTRATIVE AGEN8 CY.—The term ‘‘State library administrative agen9 cy’’ has the meaning given the term in section 213 

10 of the Museum and Library Services Act (20 U.S.C. 

11 9122). 

12 (5) SUMMER EARLY READING PROGRAM.—The 

13 term ‘‘summer early reading program’’ means a pro14 gram held in the summer, and not less than 6 weeks 

15 in duration, that— 

16 (A) is held at a school with a summer 

17 lunch site described in paragraph (1)(A); and 

18 (B) provides students participating in the 

19 lunch program— 

20 (i) access to the school library; and 

21 (ii) literacy activities or expanded 

22 learning opportunities at the school. 


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1 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR SUMMER EARLY READING PROGRAMS 

2 AT SUMMER MEAL SITES. 

3 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From amounts made 

4 available under subsection (f) for a fiscal year, the Sec5 retary shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to State 

6 library administrative agencies to enable the State library 

7 administrative agencies to award subgrants to eligible 

8 local educational agencies for summer early reading pro9 grams. 

10 (b) APPLICATIONS.—A State library administrative 

11 agency desiring a grant under this section shall submit 

12 an application at such time, in such manner, and con13 taining such information as the Secretary may require. 

14 Each application shall include— 

15 (1) how the State library administrative agency 

16 will award subgrants described in subsection (d), in17 cluding any priorities or considerations that the 

18 State library administrative agency will apply in 

19 making such awards, with an emphasis toward sup20 porting eligible local educational agencies with a dis21 proportionately high ratio of students served at 

22 school lunch sites described in section 2(1)(A) to 

23 such school lunch sites; 

24 (2) how the State library administrative agency 

25 will disseminate, in a timely manner, information re26 garding the subgrants described in subsection (d) 


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1 and the application process for such subgrants to eli2 gible local educational agencies; 

3 (3) the criteria that the State library adminis4 trative agency will require for the summer early 

5 reading programs, including the minimum number 

6 of hours that the school library shall remain acces7 sible and any other criteria regarding the activities 

8 to be offered; and 

9 (4) an assurance from the State library admin10 istrative agency that each eligible local educational 

11 agency that receives a subgrant will provide a sum12 mer early reading program at each school lunch site 

13 served by the local educational agency. 

14 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—A State library administrative 

15 agency receiving a grant under this section shall use grant 

16 funds to award subgrants to eligible local educational 

17 agencies under subsection (d). 

18 (d) SUBGRANTS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State library adminis20 trative agency receiving a grant under this section 

21 shall award subgrants, on a competitive basis, to eli22 gible local educational agencies to enable the eligible 

23 local educational agencies to provide summer early 

24 reading programs. 


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1 (2) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible local edu2 cational agency desiring a subgrant under this sec3 tion shall submit an application at such time, in 

4 such manner, and containing such information as 

5 the State library administrative agency may require. 

6 Each application shall include— 

7 (A) a description of the school lunch sites 

8 described in section 2(1)(A) that will be partici9 pating in the summer early reading program, 

10 and the ratio, as of the date of application, of 

11 the number of students served to the number of 

12 such school lunch sites; 

13 (B) proof that the eligible local educational 

14 agency meets the requirements of section 2(1); 

15 (C) a description of the summer early 

16 reading program that the eligible local edu17 cational agency will provide at each school 

18 lunch site to be served; and 

19 (D) a description of how community part20 ners will be involved in the summer early read21 ing program. 

22 (3) AWARD BASIS.—A State library administra23 tive agency receiving a grant under this section shall 

24 award subgrants based on— 


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1 (A) the proposed number of school lunch 

2 sites and the number of students that will be 

3 served under the summer early reading pro4 gram; and 

5 (B) any other criteria established by the 

6 State library administrative agency in the appli7 cation submitted under subsection (b). 

8 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible local edu9 cational agency receiving a subgrant under this sub10 section shall use the subgrant funds to work with 

11 community partners to— 

12 (A) develop and implement the summer 

13 early reading programs proposed in the applica14 tion submitted under paragraph (2); 

15 (B) develop and carry out other activities 

16 and strategies related to such summer early 

17 reading programs; and 

18 (C) hire and train appropriate State li19 brary administrative agency personnel to teach 

20 the summer early reading programs during the 

21 summer. 

22 (e) REPORTS.—For each year of a grant or subgrant 

23 awarded under this section, a State library administrative 

24 agency receiving such grant, or an eligible local edu25 cational agency receiving such subgrant, shall submit a reVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:17 Aug 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4876.IS S4876

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1 port regarding the progress made in achieving the pur2 poses of the grant or subgrant, respectively, to the Sec3 retary. 

4 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 

6 $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2025 through 

7 2029. 

Æ 


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