II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1281 

To enhance after-school programs in rural areas of the United States by 

establishing a pilot program to help communities establish and improve 

rural after-school programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 17, 2009 

Mrs. LINCOLN (for herself and Mr. BEGICH) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To enhance after-school programs in rural areas of the 

United States by establishing a pilot program to help 

communities establish and improve rural after-school programs. 

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 ‘‘Investment in After5 School Programs Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDING. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) 21 percent of the children in the United 

2 States attend public schools in rural areas; 

3 (2) more than 14,000,000 school-age children 

4 (25 percent of all school-age children) are left alone 

5 after school, including more than 40,000 kinder6 gartners; 

7 (3) only 6,500,000 (11 percent) of children in 

8 kindergarten through twelfth grade participate in 

9 after-school programs, although an additional 

10 15,000,000 would participate if a quality program 

11 were available in the communities of the children; 

12 (4) in rural areas of the United States, 

13 2,500,000 children live in deep and persistent pov14 erty; 

15 (5) among children living in rural areas, 19 

16 percent live in poverty, compared to 15 percent 

17 among non-rural children; 

18 (6) rural schools have fewer financial resources 

19 that non-rural schools, largely as a result of dimin20 ished local property tax bases and inequitable dis21 tributions of State funds; 

22 (7) low literacy rates among parents in poor 

23 rural communities affect the early language develop24 ment and educational aspirations of children; 


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1 (8) children living in poverty experience less 

2 cognitive stimulation and enrichment than children 

3 living in middle-income households; 

4 (9) the poorer and more diverse the rural popu5 lation, the lower the scores of the students of the 

6 population are on the National Assessment of Edu7 cational Progress; 

8 (10) academic outcomes that are linked to 

9 after-school programs include— 

10 (A) better performance in school as meas11 ured by achievement test scores and grades; 

12 (B) better attitudes toward school and 

13 higher educational aspirations; 

14 (C) higher school attendance; and 

15 (D) less disciplinary action; 

16 (11) investing in after-school programs helps 

17 children in rural communities break out of the cycle 

18 of poverty and creates opportunities for at-risk 

19 youth; 

20 (12) in areas in which resources are limited, 

21 after-school programs are often the only source of 

22 supplemental enrichment in literacy, nutrition edu23 cation, technology, and preparation for college en24 trance exams; 


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1 (13) children attending rural schools have the 

2 lowest median per-student funding for after-school 

3 programs under the 21st century community learn4 ing center program under part B of title IV of the 

5 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

6 (20 U.S.C. 7171 et seq.), as compared to children 

7 attending urban and suburban schools; 

8 (14) after-school program providers in rural 

9 communities face unique barriers that include— 

10 (A) higher transportation costs; 

11 (B) fewer economies of scale, because of 

12 the smaller population base, which results in 

13 less funding per child; and 

14 (C) fewer trained staff and community15 based organizations with whom to partner; 

16 (15) in the 30 years before the date of enact17 ment of this Act— 

18 (A) the percentage of children in the 

19 United States who are overweight has more 

20 than doubled; and 

21 (B) the number of teenagers who are over22 weight has nearly tripled; 

23 (16) rural, low-income children represent the 

24 highest obesity group among all children in the 

25 United States; and 


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1 (17) after-school programs provide— 

2 (A) much-needed opportunities to promote 

3 and support healthy lifestyles in youth in addi4 tion to constructive learning environments; and 

5 (B) effective venues for improving nutri6 tion, nutrition education, and physical activity. 

7 SEC. 3. AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS. 

8 Subtitle D of the Consolidated Farm and Rural De9 velopment Act is amended by inserting after section 365 

10 (7 U.S.C. 2008) the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 366. AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS. 

12 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en13 hance after-school programs in rural areas by helping 

14 communities— 

15 ‘‘(1) to establish after-school programs; and 

16 ‘‘(2) to improve existing programs by over17 coming barriers to service. 

18 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 ‘‘(1) AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM.—The term 

20 ‘after-school program’ means a program that carries 

21 out a broad array of activities during periods when 

22 school is not in session (such as before school, after 

23 school, or during summer recess and other vacation 

24 periods) that advance student academic achievement 

25 and promote positive youth development. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en2 tity’ means a local educational agency (as such term 

3 is defined in section 9101 of the Elementary and 

4 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

5 7801)), educational service agency, community-based 

6 organization, another public or private entity, or a 

7 consortium of 2 or more such agencies, organiza8 tions, or entities. 

9 ‘‘(3) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘rural area’ 

10 means an area that is served by an elementary or 

11 secondary school that is designated with a school lo12 cale code of Distant Town, Remote Town, Fringe 

13 Rural, Distant Rural, or Remote Rural, as deter14 mined by the Secretary of Education. 

15 ‘‘(c) GRANTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 

17 grants to eligible entities to improve, expand, or es18 tablish after-school programs in rural areas. 

19 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—Each grant under this 

20 section shall be in an amount of not less than 

21 $25,000. 

22 ‘‘(d) DURATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) TERM OF GRANT.—The term of a grant 

24 under this section may not be for less than 3 years. 


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1 ‘‘(2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may renew a 

2 grant under this section for a period of not less than 

3 3 years, based on the performance of the eligible en4 tity during the previous grant term. 

5 ‘‘(e) USES.—As a condition of the receipt of a grant 

6 under this section, an eligible entity shall use the grant 

7 to fund projects and activities described in subsection (c), 

8 including transportation, professional development, train9 ing, recruitment and retention of staff, increasing access 

10 to technology, and planning. 

11 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION.—The Secretary may use not more 

12 than 1 percent of the funds under this section— 

13 ‘‘(1) to conduct evaluations of the effectiveness 

14 of programs and activities assisted under subsection 

15 (c); and 

16 ‘‘(2) to disseminate the results of those evalua17 tions for the purpose of refining, improving, and 

18 strengthening programs. 

19 ‘‘(g) OUTREACH, TRAINING, AND TECHNICAL AS20 SISTANCE.—The Secretary may use not more than 3 per21 cent of the funds made available to carry out this sec22 tion— 

23 ‘‘(1) to conduct outreach, including bidders’ 

24 conferences, to ensure widespread knowledge of the 

25 availability of resources described in subsection (c); 


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1 ‘‘(2) to disseminate information on best prac2 tices and successful program models for serving chil3 dren and youth in rural areas; and 

4 ‘‘(3) to provide capacity building, training, and 

5 technical assistance to after-school programs and 

6 providers in rural areas. 

7 ‘‘(h) APPLICATION.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be considered for a 

9 grant under this section, each eligible entity shall 

10 submit to the Secretary an application at such time, 

11 in such manner, and accompanied by such informa12 tion as the Secretary may require. 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 

14 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include— 

15 ‘‘(A) a description of the after-school pro16 gram to be funded, including— 

17 ‘‘(i) an assurance that the program 

18 will take place in a safe and easily acces19 sible facility; 

20 ‘‘(ii) a description of how children and 

21 youth participating in the program will 

22 travel safely between the program site and 

23 home; 

24 ‘‘(iii) a description of how the eligible 

25 entity will disseminate information about 


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1 the program, including the location of the 

2 program, to the community in a manner 

3 that is understandable and accessible; 

4 ‘‘(iv)(I) a description of the services to 

5 be provided to children and youth, which 

6 may include a broad array of activities, 

7 such as— 

8 ‘‘(aa) academic enrichment and 

9 youth development activities; 

10 ‘‘(bb) drug and violence preven11 tion programs; 

12 ‘‘(cc) counseling programs; 

13 ‘‘(dd) art, music, physical fitness, 

14 and recreational programs; 

15 ‘‘(ee) technology education pro16 grams; 

17 ‘‘(ff) character education pro18 grams; and 

19 ‘‘(gg) service-learning programs; 

20 ‘‘(II) the roles and responsibilities of 

21 the partners in providing the services; and 

22 ‘‘(III) how the services enhance an ex23 isting after-school program; and 

24 ‘‘(v) an assurance that the program 

25 will provide a nutritious snack or meal that 


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1 meets nutrition standards established by 

2 the Secretary; 

3 ‘‘(B) an assurance that the proposed pro4 gram was developed, and will be carried out, in 

5 active collaboration with the schools the stu6 dents attend; 

7 ‘‘(C) an assurance that funds provided 

8 under this section will be used to increase the 

9 level of State, local, and other non-Federal 

10 funds that would, in the absence of funds under 

11 this section, be made available for programs 

12 and activities authorized under this section, and 

13 in no case supplant Federal, State, local, or 

14 non-Federal funds; 

15 ‘‘(D) a description of the partnership be16 tween a local educational agency, a community17 based organization, or another public entity or 

18 private entity, if applicable; and 

19 ‘‘(E) such additional assurances as the 

20 Secretary determines to be necessary to ensure 

21 compliance with this section. 

22 ‘‘(i) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give priority to 

23 applications that— 

24 ‘‘(1) propose partnerships between 2 or more el25 igible entities; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) propose that a majority of the students 

2 participating in the after-school program are eligible 

3 for free or reduced price school meals under the 

4 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 

5 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and section 4 of the Child Nu6 trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773). 

7 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec9 tion— 

10 ‘‘(1) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 

11 ‘‘(2) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; and 

12 ‘‘(3) such sums as are necessary for each of fis13 cal years 2012 through 2014.’’. 

Æ 


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