II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1974 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prohibit 

Federal education mandates, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 30, 2014 

Mr. ROBERTS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to prohibit Federal education mandates, 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 ‘‘Learning Opportuni5 ties Created At Local Level Act’’ or the ‘‘LOCAL Level 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) Section 9527 of the Elementary and Sec10 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7907), as 


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1 in effect on the day before the date of enactment of 

2 this Act, prohibits the Federal Government from 

3 mandating, directing, or controlling a State, local 

4 educational agency, or school’s curriculum, program 

5 of instruction, or allocation of State and local re6 sources, and from mandating a State or any subdivi7 sion thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs 

8 not paid for under such Act. 

9 (2) Section 9529 of the Elementary and Sec10 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7909), as 

11 in effect on the day before the date of enactment of 

12 this Act, prohibits the Federal Government from 

13 funding the development, pilot testing, field testing, 

14 implementation, administration, or distribution of 

15 any Federally sponsored national test in reading, 

16 mathematics, or any other subject, unless specifically 

17 and explicitly authorized by law. 

18 (3) Despite these prohibitions, the Secretary of 

19 Education, through 3 separate initiatives, has cre20 ated a system of waivers and grants that influence, 

21 incentivize, and coerce State educational agencies 

22 into implementing common national elementary and 

23 secondary school standards and assessments en24 dorsed by the Secretary. 


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1 (4) The Race to the Top Fund, as established 

2 by the Secretary of Education under sections 14005 

3 and 14006 of the American Recovery and Reinvest4 ment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5, 123 Stat. 

5 282), encouraged and incentivized States to adopt 

6 the Common Core State Standards developed by the 

7 National Governors Association Center for Best 

8 Practices and the Council of Chief State School Offi9 cers. 

10 (5) The Race to the Top assessment grants 

11 awarded to the Partnership for Assessment of Read12 iness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter 

13 Balanced Assessment Consortium (SMARTER Bal14 ance) initiated the development of assessments 

15 aligned with the Common Core State Standards that 

16 will, in turn, inform and ultimately influence kinder17 garten through grade 12 curriculum and instruc18 tional materials. 

19 (6) The conditions imposed by the Secretary of 

20 Education through the flexibility waiver authority 

21 provided to the Secretary pursuant to section 9401 

22 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

23 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7861) have coerced States into ac24 cepting Common Core State Standards and assess25 ments aligned with such Standards. 


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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that— 

3 (1) States and local educational agencies should 

4 maintain the rights and responsibilities of deter5 mining educational curricula, programs of instruc6 tion, and assessments for elementary and secondary 

7 education; and 

8 (2) States are sovereign entities that deserve 

9 deep and abiding respect from the Federal Govern10 ment, and State legislatures have a responsibility to 

11 their citizens to resist Federal encroachment on the 

12 constitutional autonomy of States regarding edu13 cation. 

14 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND 

15 USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 

16 Section 9527 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu17 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7907) is amended to read 

18 as follows: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 9527. PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL MANDATES, 

20 DIRECTION, OR CONTROL. 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An officer or employee of the 

22 Federal Government shall not directly or indirectly, 

23 through grants, contracts, or other cooperative agreements 

24 under this Act (including through any waiver provided 


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1 under the Secretary’s authority pursuant to section 

2 9401)— 

3 ‘‘(1) mandate, direct, or control a State, local 

4 educational agency, or school’s specific instructional 

5 content, academic standards, assessments, cur6 riculum, or program of instruction (including 

7 through any requirement, direction, or mandate to 

8 adopt the Common Core State Standards developed 

9 under the Common Core State Standards Initiative 

10 or any other academic standards common to a sig11 nificant number of States); 

12 ‘‘(2) incentivize a State, local educational agen13 cy, or school to adopt any specific instructional con14 tent, academic standards, assessments, curriculum, 

15 or program of instruction as described in paragraph 

16 (1), which shall include providing any priority, pref17 erence, or special consideration during the applica18 tion process based on any specific content, stand19 ards, assessments, curriculum, or program; 

20 ‘‘(3) mandate a State or any subdivision thereof 

21 to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for 

22 under this Act; or 

23 ‘‘(4) make financial support available in a man24 ner that is conditioned upon a State, local edu25 cational agency, or school’s adoption of specific inVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:22 Jan 31, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1974.IS S1974

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1 structional content, academic standards, assess2 ments, curriculum, or program of instruction, (in3 cluding any requirement, direction, or mandate to 

4 adopt the Common Core State Standards developed 

5 under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, 

6 any other academic standards common to a signifi7 cant number of States, or any assessment, instruc8 tional content, or curriculum aligned to such stand9 ards), even if such requirements are specified in sec10 tion 14006 or 14007 of the American Recovery and 

11 Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5; 123 

12 Stat. 281) or any other Act. 

13 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

14 shall be construed to authorize an officer or employee of 

15 the Federal Government directly or indirectly, whether 

16 through a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement (in17 cluding through any waiver provided under the Secretary’s 

18 authority pursuant to section 9401), to do any activity 

19 prohibited under subsection (a). 

20 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON ENDORSEMENT OF CUR21 RICULUM.—Notwithstanding any other prohibition of Fed22 eral law, no funds provided to the Department under this 

23 Act may be used by the Department directly or indirectly, 

24 through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements (in25 cluding through any waiver provided under the Secretary’s 


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1 authority pursuant to section 9401), to endorse, approve, 

2 develop, require, or sanction any curriculum designed to 

3 be used in an elementary school or secondary school, in4 cluding any curriculum aligned to the Common Core State 

5 Standards developed under the Common Core State 

6 Standards Initiative, or any other academic standards 

7 common to a significant number of States, designed to be 

8 used in an elementary school or secondary school. 

9 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING FEDERAL AP10 PROVAL OR CERTIFICATION OF STANDARDS.—Notwith11 standing title I, part A of title VI, or any other provision 

12 of Federal law, no State shall be required to have aca13 demic standards approved or certified by the Federal Gov14 ernment, in order to receive assistance under this Act. 

15 ‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION ON BUILDING STAND16 ARDS.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mandate 

17 national school building standards for a State, local edu18 cational agency, or school.’’. 

19 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON FEDERALLY SPONSORED TESTING 

20 AND TESTING MATERIALS. 

21 Section 9529 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu22 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7909) is amended to read 

23 as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 9529. PROHIBITION ON FEDERALLY SPONSORED 

2 TESTING AND TESTING MATERIALS. 

3 ‘‘(a) GENERAL PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any 

4 other provision of Federal law and except as provided in 

5 subsection (b), no funds provided under this Act to the 

6 Secretary or to the recipient of any award may be used 

7 to develop, pilot test, field test, implement, administer, or 

8 distribute— 

9 ‘‘(1) any Federally sponsored national test or 

10 testing materials in reading, mathematics, or any 

11 other subject, unless specifically and explicitly au12 thorized by law; or 

13 ‘‘(2) any assessment or testing materials 

14 aligned to the Common Core State Standards devel15 oped under the Common Core State Standards Ini16 tiative or any other academic standards common to 

17 a significant number of States. 

18 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to 

19 international comparative assessments developed under 

20 the authority of section 153(a)(5) of the Education 

21 Sciences Reform Act of 2002 and administered to only a 

22 representative sample of pupils in the United States and 

23 in foreign nations.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF RACE TO THE TOP 

2 FUNDS FOR COMMON CORE STATE STAND3 ARDS ASSESSMENTS. 

4 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds 

5 provided under section 14006 of the American Recovery 

6 and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5, 123 

7 Stat. 283) shall be used to develop, pilot test, field test, 

8 implement, administer, or distribute any assessment or 

9 testing materials aligned to the Common Core State 

10 Standards developed under the Common Core State 

11 Standards Initiative or any other academic standards com12 mon to a significant number of States. 

Æ 


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