II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 206 

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

a program to help States expand the education system to include at 

least 1 year of early education preceding the year a child enters kindergarten. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 12, 2009 

Mrs. BOXER 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 establish a program to help States expand 

the education system to include at least 1 year of early 

education preceding the year a child enters kindergarten. 

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 ‘‘Early Education Act 

5 of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) A national commitment should be estab2 lished that all children have access to high quality 

3 early education. 

4 (2) Research suggests that a child’s early years 

5 are critical to the development of the brain. Early 

6 brain development is an important component of 

7 educational and intellectual achievement. 

8 (3) The National Research Council of the Na9 tional Academy of Sciences reported that early edu10 cation opportunities are necessary if children are 

11 going to develop the language and literacy skills nec12 essary to learn to read. 

13 (4) Evaluations of early education programs 

14 demonstrate that compared to children with similar 

15 backgrounds who have not participated in early edu16 cation programs, children who participate in such 

17 programs— 

18 (A) perform better on reading and mathe19 matics achievement tests; 

20 (B) are more likely to stay academically 

21 near their grade level and make normal aca22 demic progress throughout elementary school; 

23 (C) are less likely to be held back a grade 

24 or require special education services in elemen25 tary school; 


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1 (D) show greater learning retention, initia2 tive, creativity, and social competency; and 

3 (E) are more enthusiastic about school and 

4 are more likely to have good attendance 

5 records. 

6 (5) Studies have estimated that for every dollar 

7 invested in quality early education, about 7 dollars 

8 are saved in later costs. 

9 SEC. 3. EARLY EDUCATION. 

10 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

11 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

12 the end the following: 

13 ‘‘TITLE X—EARLY EDUCATION 

14 ‘‘SEC. 10001. EARLY EDUCATION PROGRAM. 

15 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF EARLY EDUCATION.—In this 

16 section, the term ‘early education’ means not less than a 

17 half-day of schooling each week day during the academic 

18 year preceding the academic year a child enters kinder19 garten. 

20 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to es21 tablish a program to develop the foundation of early lit22 eracy and numerical training among young children by 

23 helping State educational agencies expand the education 

24 system to include early education for all children. 

25 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 

2 to award grants to not less than 10 State edu3 cational agencies to enable the State educational 

4 agencies to expand the education system with pro5 grams that provide early education. 

6 ‘‘(2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The amount 

7 provided to a State educational agency under para8 graph (1) shall not exceed 50 percent of the cost of 

9 the program described in the application submitted 

10 pursuant to subsection (d). 

11 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—Each program assisted 

12 under this section shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) be carried out by 1 or more local edu14 cational agencies, as selected by the State edu15 cational agency; 

16 ‘‘(B) be carried out— 

17 ‘‘(i) in a public school building; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) in another facility by, or through 

19 a contract or agreement with, a local edu20 cational agency carrying out the program; 

21 ‘‘(C) be available to all children served by 

22 such local educational agency; and 

23 ‘‘(D) only involve instructors who are li24 censed or certified in accordance with applicable 

25 State law. 


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1 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—Each State educational agency 

2 desiring a grant under this section shall submit an appli3 cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

4 accompanied by such information as the Secretary may 

5 require. Each application shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) include a description of— 

7 ‘‘(A) the program to be assisted under this 

8 section; and 

9 ‘‘(B) how the program will meet the pur10 pose of this section; and 

11 ‘‘(2) contain a statement of the total cost of the 

12 program and the source of the matching funds for 

13 the program. 

14 ‘‘(e) SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY.—In order to carry 

15 out the purpose of this section, the Secretary— 

16 ‘‘(1) shall establish a system for the monitoring 

17 and evaluation of, and shall annually report to Con18 gress regarding, the programs funded under this 

19 section; and 

20 ‘‘(2) may establish any other policies, proce21 dures, or requirements, with respect to the pro22 grams. 

23 ‘‘(f) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made 

24 available under this section shall be used to supplement, 

25 not supplant, other Federal, State, or local funds, includVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:58 Jan 12, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S206.IS S206

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1 ing funds provided under Federal programs such as the 

2 Head Start programs carried out under the Head Start 

3 Act and the Even Start family literacy program carried 

4 out under subpart 3 of part B of title I. 

5 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

7 not less than $300,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

8 2010 through 2014.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

10 The table of contents in section 2 of the Elementary 

11 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is amended by add12 ing at the end the following: 

‘‘TITLE X—EARLY EDUCATION 

‘‘Sec. 10001. Early education program.’’. 

Æ 


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