I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 787 

To amend the SOAR Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 24, 2019 

Mr. WALKER (for himself, Ms. FOXX of North Carolina, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. 

ALLEN, Mr. BANKS, Mr. POSEY, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. WEBER of Texas, 

Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. RATCLIFFE, Mr. PALMER, Mr. 

GRAVES of Louisiana, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. 

DUNCAN, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. MITCHELL, and Mr. 

HUNTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To amend the SOAR Act. 

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 ‘‘SOAR Reauthorization 

5 Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE SOAR ACT. 

7 (a) AMENDMENTS TO SOAR.—The Scholarships for 

8 Opportunity and Results Act (division C of Public Law 

9 112–10) is amended— 


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1 (1) in section 3007 (sec. 38–1853.07 D.C. Offi2 cial Code)— 

3 (A) by striking subsection (c) and redesig4 nating subsection (d) as subsection (c); 

5 (B) in subsection (a)(5)(A)(i)— 

6 (i) by striking subclause (I) and in7 serting the following: 

8 ‘‘(I) is fully accredited by— 

9 ‘‘(aa) an accrediting body 

10 with jurisdiction in the District 

11 of Columbia and that is recog12 nized by the Student and Visitor 

13 Exchange English Language Pro14 gram administered by the U.S. 

15 Immigration and Customs En16 forcement; or 

17 ‘‘(bb) any international ac18 crediting body that the Secretary 

19 may designate, after consultation 

20 with the grantee or grantees 

21 under section 3004(a); or’’; and 

22 (ii) in subclause (II), by striking ‘‘the 

23 date of enactment of the Consolidated Ap24 propriations Act, 2016 (Public Law 114– 

25 113),’’ and inserting ‘‘the date of enactVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H787.IH H787

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1 ment of the SOAR Reauthorization Act of 

2 2019,’’; 

3 (C) in subsection (b)— 

4 (i) in the subsection heading, by strik5 ing ‘‘AND PARENTAL ASSISTANCE’’ and in6 serting ‘‘, PARENTAL ASSISTANCE, AND

7 STUDENT ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE’’; 

8 (ii) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

9 by striking ‘‘$2,000,000’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘$2,200,000’’; and 

11 (iii) by adding at the end the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(3) The expenses of providing tutoring service 

14 to participating eligible students that need additional 

15 academic assistance. If there are insufficient funds 

16 to provide tutoring services to all such students in 

17 a year, the eligible entity shall give priority in such 

18 year to students who previously attended an elemen19 tary school or secondary school identified as one of 

20 the lowest-performing schools under the District of 

21 Columbia’s accountability system.’’; and 

22 (D) in subsection (c), as redesignated by 

23 subparagraph (A)— 


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1 (i) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking 

2 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 

4 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking 

5 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; 

7 (2) in section 3008(h) (sec. 38–1853.08 D.C. 

8 Official Code)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 

10 3009(a)(2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

11 3009(a)’’; 

12 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert13 ing the following: 

14 ‘‘(2) The Institute of Education Sciences may 

15 administer assessments to students participating in 

16 the evaluation under section 3009(a) for the purpose 

17 of conducting the evaluation under such section.’’; 

18 and 

19 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘the na20 tionally norm-referenced standardized test de21 scribed in paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘a na22 tionally norm-referenced standardized test’’; 

23 (3) in section 3009(a) (sec. 38–1853.09 D.C. 

24 Official Code)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘an2 nually’’; 

3 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

4 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

5 clause (i) and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(i) is rigorous; and’’; and 

7 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

8 ‘‘impact of the program’’ and all that fol9 lows through the end of the subparagraph 

10 and inserting ‘‘impact of the program on 

11 academic achievement and educational at12 tainment.’’; 

13 (C) in paragraph (3)— 

14 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik15 ing ‘‘ON EDUCATION’’ and inserting ‘‘OF

16 EDUCATION’’; 

17 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 

18 (I) by inserting ‘‘the academic 

19 progress of’’ after ‘‘assess’’; and 

20 (II) by striking ‘‘in each of 

21 grades 3’’ and all that follows through 

22 the end of the subparagraph and in23 serting ‘‘; and’’; 

24 (iii) by striking subparagraph (B); 

25 and 


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1 (iv) by redesignating subparagraph 

2 (C) as subparagraph (B); and 

3 (D) in paragraph (4)— 

4 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

5 ‘‘A comparison of the academic achieve6 ment of participating eligible students who 

7 use an opportunity scholarship on the 

8 measurements described in paragraph 

9 (3)(B) to the academic achievement’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘The academic progress of par11 ticipating eligible students who use an op12 portunity scholarship compared to the aca13 demic progress’’; 

14 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

15 ‘‘increasing the satisfaction of such parents 

16 and students with their choice’’ and insert17 ing ‘‘those parents’ and students’ satisfac18 tion with the program’’; and 

19 (iii) by striking subparagraph (D) 

20 through (F) and inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(D) The high school graduation rates, 

22 college enrollment rates, college persistence 

23 rates, and college graduation rates of partici24 pating eligible students who use an opportunity 

25 scholarship compared with the rates of public 


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1 school students described in subparagraph (A), 

2 to the extent practicable. 

3 ‘‘(E) The college enrollment rates, college 

4 persistence rates, and college graduation rates 

5 of students who participated in the program as 

6 the result of winning the Opportunity Scholar7 ship Program lottery compared to the enroll8 ment, persistence, and graduation rates for stu9 dents who entered but did not win such lottery 

10 and who, as a result, served as the control 

11 group for previous evaluations of the program 

12 under this division. Nothing in this subpara13 graph may be construed to waive section 

14 3004(a)(3)(A)(iii) with respect to any such stu15 dent. 

16 ‘‘(F) The safety of the schools attended by 

17 participating eligible students who use an op18 portunity scholarship compared with the schools 

19 in the District of Columbia attended by public 

20 school students described in subparagraph (A), 

21 to the extent practicable.’’; and 

22 (4) in section 3014(a) (sec. 38–1853.14, D.C. 

23 Official Code), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2019’’ and 

24 inserting ‘‘fiscal year 2024’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 subsection (a) shall take effect on September 30, 2019. 

Æ 


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