I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8236 

To direct the Secretary of Education to award grants to State educational 

agencies to facilitate the provision of pre-kindergarten programs that 

reduce the cost of education services and result in positive educational 

outcomes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 2, 2024 

Mr. NUNN of Iowa (for himself, Ms. PEREZ, and Mrs. HINSON) 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 to 

State educational agencies to facilitate the provision of 

pre-kindergarten programs that reduce the cost of education services and result in positive educational outcomes, 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 ‘‘Pre-K for Kids Act 

5 of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO PROVIDE PRE-KINDER2 GARTEN PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award, on a 

4 competitive basis, grants to State educational agencies to 

5 facilitate, through subgrants to local educational agencies, 

6 the provision of pre-kindergarten programs that— 

7 (1) reduce the cost of education services, in8 cluding with respect to at-risk children; 

9 (2) result in positive educational and develop10 mental outcomes; 

11 (3) are likely to have a positive fiscal impact on 

12 local governmental entities; and 

13 (4) are based on a model pre-kindergarten pro14 gram. 

15 (b) APPLICATION.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State educational agency 

17 seeking a grant under this section shall submit to 

18 the Secretary an application in such form, at such 

19 time, and containing such information as the Sec20 retary may require. 

21 (2) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give pri22 ority to State educational agencies who serve a ma23 jority of families in the State whose family income 

24 is at or below 250 percent of the Federal poverty 

25 line, as defined by the most recently revised poverty 


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1 income guidelines published by the Department of 

2 Health and Human Services. 

3 (c) GRANT USES.—A State educational agency that 

4 receives a grant under this section shall use such grant 

5 funds to award subgrants to local educational agencies in 

6 accordance with subsection (d). 

7 (d) SUBGRANTS.— 

8 (1) APPLICATION.—A local educational agency 

9 seeking a subgrant under this subsection shall sub10 mit to the State educational agency an application 

11 in such form, at such time, and containing such in12 formation as the State educational agency may re13 quire, including the program proposal described in 

14 paragraph (2). 

15 (2) PROGRAM PROPOSAL.—The program pro16 posal shall include the following: 

17 (A) A description of how the local edu18 cational agency will carry out the innovative fi19 nancing partnership described in subsection (e). 

20 (B) A description of the pre-kindergarten 

21 services that will be provided by a service pro22 vider described in paragraph (2)(A) of such 

23 subsection pursuant to such partnership. 

24 (C) An assurance that the local edu25 cational agency will agree to an evaluation by 


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1 an independent evaluator described in para2 graph (2)(C) of such subsection pursuant to 

3 such partnership of the pre-kindergarten pro4 grams provided under this subsection. 

5 (D) A description of the ways in which the 

6 program will be carried out in order to have a 

7 positive fiscal impact on the local government. 

8 (3) EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.— 

9 (A) CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION.—In eval10 uating an application submitted by a local edu11 cational agency under paragraph (1), the State 

12 educational agency shall consider the following: 

13 (i) Whether the program proposal 

14 submitted by the local educational agency 

15 includes all required information. 

16 (ii) Whether the program described by 

17 such proposal— 

18 (I) will achieve the objectives de19 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (4) 

20 of subsection (a) and result in signifi21 cant performance improvements; and 

22 (II) is likely to have a positive 

23 fiscal impact on the local government. 

24 (B) PRIORITY.—In evaluating an applica25 tion submitted by a local educational agency 


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1 under paragraph (1), the State educational 

2 agency may give priority to a local educational 

3 agency that— 

4 (i) demonstrates intent to partner 

5 with a service provider that demonstrates a 

6 strong commitment to ongoing professional 

7 development for employees; 

8 (ii) demonstrates intent to partner 

9 with public and private service providers; 

10 (iii) demonstrates intent to use new 

11 and enhanced services for children; 

12 (iv) serves a majority of families 

13 whose family income is at or below 250 

14 percent of the Federal poverty line, as de15 fined by the most recently revised poverty 

16 income guidelines published by the Depart17 ment of Health and Human Services; 

18 (v) serves a majority of immigrant 

19 and refugee families; 

20 (vi) serves areas with waiting lists for 

21 high-quality pre-kindergarten programs; 

22 (vii) serves a rural community; 

23 (viii) includes a plan to utilize private 

24 funds in addition to funds provided by the 

25 local educational agency (other than 


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1 subgrant funds received under this sub2 section) to provide pre-kindergarten serv3 ices to— 

4 (I) students in rural areas; and 

5 (II) students who belong to a 

6 family described in clause (iv); 

7 (ix) demonstrates strategies to im8 prove early mathematic skills and early lit9 eracy skills, including the literacy skills of 

10 children who have been identified as 

11 English learners; 

12 (x) demonstrates strategies to in13 crease family engagement and connect 

14 families to community resources; 

15 (xi) provides a comprehensive child 

16 development program; 

17 (xii) establishes a student-to-teacher 

18 ratio of not more than 10 students to 

19 every 1 teacher; 

20 (xiii) demonstrates substantial paren21 tal involvement; 

22 (xiv) demonstrates community sup23 port; 


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1 (xv) utilizes services provided by serv2 ice providers described in subsection 

3 (e)(2)(A); or 

4 (xvi) includes a plan for program eval5 uation that includes the measurement of 

6 student outcomes in addition to the out7 comes measured under subsection 

8 (e)(2)(C). 

9 (4) SUBGRANT USES.—A local educational 

10 agency receiving a subgrant under this subsection 

11 shall use such subgrant funds to provide pre-kinder12 garten programs described in subsection (a) through 

13 the innovative financing partnership described in 

14 subsection (e). 

15 (e) INNOVATIVE FINANCING PARTNERSHIP.— 

16 (1) PARTNERSHIP DESCRIBED.—A local edu17 cational agency receiving a subgrant under sub18 section (d) shall enter into a partnership that in19 cludes each of the parties described in paragraph 

20 (2). 

21 (2) PARTIES.—The parties to a partnership de22 scribed in paragraph (1) are as follows: 

23 (A) One or more service providers who pro24 vide, as part of a pre-kindergarten program 

25 provided by a local educational agency pursuant 


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1 to subsection (d), pre-kindergarten services to 

2 3-year-old and 4-year-old children from families 

3 whose family income is at or below 250 percent 

4 of the Federal poverty line, as defined by the 

5 most recently revised poverty income guidelines 

6 published by the Department of Health and 

7 Human Services. 

8 (B) One or more investors who provide, in 

9 accordance with paragraph (4), the capital for 

10 pre-kindergarten services under the partnership, 

11 including philanthropic investors seeking a full 

12 or partial return of principal. 

13 (C) An independent evaluator to determine 

14 whether the pre-kindergarten programs pro15 vided pursuant to subsection (d) achieve the ob16 jectives described in paragraphs (1) through (4) 

17 of subsection (a). 

18 (D) One or more outcomes payers de19 scribed in paragraph (3). 

20 (3) OUTCOMES PAYER.—An outcomes payer in21 cludes any governmental entity, including the child 

22 development coordinating council of the State, or 

23 any private entity that agrees to commit to pay to 

24 an investor described in paragraph (2)(B) the prin25 cipal invested by, and the interest owed to, such inVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:36 May 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8236.IH H8236

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1 vestor if the independent evaluator described in sub2 paragraph (C) of such paragraph makes the deter3 mination described in such subparagraph. 

4 (4) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The non-Fed5 eral share of the costs of an activity carried out with 

6 a grant awarded under this section shall be— 

7 (A) not less than 40 percent of such costs; 

8 and 

9 (B) provided by an investor described in 

10 paragraph (2)(B). 

11 (f) REPORTS.— 

12 (1) SERVICE PROVIDER REPORT.—Not later 

13 than 180 days after the date of the formation of the 

14 innovative financing partnership under subsection 

15 (e), and every 6 months thereafter, a service pro16 vider that is a party to an innovative financing part17 nership under subsection (e) shall submit to the 

18 State educational agency a report on the progress of 

19 the pre-kindergarten services provided by such serv20 ice provider as part of a pre-kindergarten program 

21 provided by a local educational agency pursuant to 

22 subsection (d). 

23 (2) INDEPENDENT EVALUATOR REPORT.—Not 

24 later than 180 days after the date of the first day 

25 of operation of a pre-kindergarten program provided 


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1 by a local educational agency pursuant to subsection 

2 (d), and every 12 months thereafter, an independent 

3 evaluator who is a party to an innovative financing 

4 partnership under subsection (e) shall submit to the 

5 State educational agency a report on the progress of 

6 such pre-kindergarten program. 

7 (3) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY REPORT.— 

8 Not later than 180 days after receiving each inde9 pendent evaluator report described in paragraph (2), 

10 the State educational agency shall submit to Con11 gress a report on the outcomes of the programs car12 ried out by local educational agencies that received 

13 a subgrant under subsection (d) and that are served 

14 by such State educational agency. 

15 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘local edu17 cational agency’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, and ‘‘State edu18 cational agency’’ have the meanings given such 

19 terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec20 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

21 (2) MODEL PRE-KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM.— 

22 The term ‘‘model pre-kindergarten program’’ means 

23 a pre-kindergarten program with existing data which 

24 demonstrates that the program, or substantially 


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1 similar programs, had a positive fiscal impact on 

2 governmental entities. 

3 (3) POSITIVE FISCAL IMPACT.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘positive fis5 cal impact’’ means, when used with respect to 

6 a local government, an increase in tax revenue, 

7 decrease in expenditures, or a combination of 

8 the two, that a local educational agency receiv9 ing a subgrant under this section estimates will, 

10 at the conclusion of the covered period, result 

11 in an amount of revenue that is greater than 

12 the amount of the subgrant received pursuant 

13 to this section. 

14 (B) COVERED PERIOD.—For purposes of 

15 subparagraph (A), the term ‘‘covered period’’ 

16 means the period— 

17 (i) beginning on the date on which an 

18 innovative financing partnership is formed; 

19 and 

20 (ii) ending on the date that is 10 

21 years after such date. 

22 (4) RURAL COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘rural 

23 community’’ means a community with a population 

24 of not more than 50,000 people. 

Æ 


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