I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 69 

To amend part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

Act of 1965 to allow States, in accordance with State law, to let Federal 

funds for the education of disadvantaged children follow low-income children to the public school, charter school, accredited private school, or 

supplemental educational service program they attend, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Mr. BIGGS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

Education Act of 1965 to allow States, in accordance 

with State law, to let Federal funds for the education 

of disadvantaged children follow low-income children to 

the public school, charter school, accredited private 

school, or supplemental educational service program they 

attend, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending Common Core 

3 and Expanding School Choice Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY GRANTS TO ELIGI5 BLE CHILDREN. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title I of the Elemen7 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

8 6311 et seq.) is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘PART A—STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY GRANTS 

10 TO ELIGIBLE CHILDREN 

11 ‘‘SEC. 1111. ALLOCATIONS TO STATES. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year, the Sec13 retary shall allocate the amount appropriated to carry out 

14 this part among State education agencies based on the 

15 number of eligible children residing in each State. 

16 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—In this section, the term ‘eli17 gible child’ means a child aged 5 to 17, inclusive, from 

18 a family with an income below the poverty level on the 

19 basis of the most recent satisfactory data published by the 

20 Department of Commerce. 

21 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA OF POVERTY.—In determining the 

22 families with incomes below the poverty level for the pur23 poses of this section, a State educational agency shall use 

24 the criteria of poverty used by the Census Bureau in com25 piling the most recent decennial census, as the criteria 

26 have been updated by increases in the Consumer Price 


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1 Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the Bureau 

2 of Labor Statistics. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 1112. FUNDS FOLLOWING ELIGIBLE CHILDREN. 

4 ‘‘(a) CALCULATION OF PER PUPIL AMOUNT.—For 

5 each fiscal year, the State educational agency shall cal6 culate the per pupil amount by dividing the amount made 

7 available to the agency under section 1111 by the number 

8 of eligible children (as defined in section 1111(b)) residing 

9 in the State. 

10 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Each State educational agen11 cy shall use each per pupil amount calculated under sub12 section (a) for qualified elementary and secondary edu13 cation expenses and in a manner directed by State law. 

14 ‘‘(c) FUNDS DISTRIBUTED TO PARENTS.—In a case 

15 in which State law directs a State educational agency to 

16 distribute all or a portion of a per pupil amount to a par17 ent of an eligible child, the agency also shall determine, 

18 consistent with State law, how the agency will verify that 

19 funds are being used in accordance with this section and 

20 whether to require the parent to establish an educational 

21 savings account or other dedicated account to maintain 

22 such funds. 

23 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘quali24 fied elementary and secondary education expenses’, when 

25 used with respect to a child, means any of the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Expenses within the budget of the local 

2 educational agency having jurisdiction over the geo3 graphic area in which the child resides. 

4 ‘‘(2) Expenses within the budget of the public 

5 or charter school the child may attend without pay6 ing tuition or fees. 

7 ‘‘(3) Tuition and fees required to be paid in 

8 order for the child to attend a public or charter 

9 school in the State in which the child resides. 

10 ‘‘(4) Tuition and fees required to be paid in 

11 order for the child to attend an accredited or other12 wise State-approved private school in the State in 

13 which the child resides. 

14 ‘‘(5) Fees required to be paid for the child to 

15 participate in a State-approved supplemental edu16 cational services program. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 1113. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—No officer or employee of the 

19 Federal Government shall, through grants, contracts, or 

20 other cooperative agreements, mandate, direct, or control 

21 a State, local educational agency, or school’s specific in22 structional content, academic standards and assessments, 

23 curricula, or program of instruction (including any re24 quirement, direction, or mandate to adopt the Common 

25 Core State Standards developed under the Common Core 


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1 State Standards Initiative, any other academic standards 

2 common to a significant number of States, or any assess3 ment, instructional content, or curriculum aligned to such 

4 standards), nor shall anything in this Act be construed 

5 to authorize such officer or employee to do so. 

6 ‘‘(b) NO REQUIREMENT TO IMPLEMENT ASSESS7 MENTS, STANDARDS, OR ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS.—An 

8 officer or employee of the Federal Government shall not 

9 require a State educational agency, local educational agen10 cy, school, or Indian Tribe to implement an annual assess11 ment, academic standard, or accountability system, or 

12 condition funds made available under this part upon such 

13 implementation.’’. 

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

15 (1) REPEAL OF STATE ASSESSMENT GRANTS.— 

16 Part B of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

17 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.) is 

18 repealed. 

19 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

20 Section 1002 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 6302) is 

21 amended— 

22 (A) by striking the subsection heading for 

23 subsection (a) and inserting ‘‘STATE EDU24 CATIONAL AGENCY GRANTS FOR ELIGIBLE

25 CHILDREN’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking subsection (b). 

Æ 


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