I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4386 

To establish a grant program that encourages States to establish subgrant 

programs that encourage recipients to create, maintain, and improve 

digital fabrication laboratories, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 14, 2017 

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

on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program that encourages States to 

establish subgrant programs that encourage recipients 

to create, maintain, and improve digital fabrication laboratories, 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 ‘‘Fab Lab Classroom 

5 Modernization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made available 

8 pursuant to section 9 for any fiscal year, the Secretary 


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1 shall award a grant to each State with an approved appli2 cation under section 3. 

3 (b) GRANT FREQUENCY.—The Secretary may not 

4 award more than 1 grant under this Act to a State for 

5 a fiscal year. 

6 (c) AWARD AMOUNT LIMIT.—No grant awarded 

7 under this Act may exceed $200,000. 

8 SEC. 3. APPLICATION. 

9 Each State desiring a grant under this Act shall sub10 mit an application to the Secretary at such time and in 

11 such manner as the Secretary may require that shall in12 clude— 

13 (1) a description of the State’s proposed or ex14 isting competitive subgrant program; 

15 (2) a description of how the State’s program 

16 will comply or does comply with the requirements set 

17 forth in section 4; and 

18 (3) any other information the Secretary may re19 quire. 

20 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State that receives a grant 

22 under this Act shall use the funds to— 

23 (1) establish a program that complies with the 

24 requirements set forth in this section under which 


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1 the State awards, on a competitive basis, subgrants 

2 to eligible entities; or 

3 (2) expand an existing competitive subgrant 

4 program that complies with such requirements. 

5 (b) LIMITATION; PRIORITY.— 

6 (1) LIMITATION.—A State that receives a grant 

7 under this Act may not use any of such grant to pay 

8 any administrative costs associated with carrying out 

9 subsection (a). 

10 (2) PRIORITY.—In awarding subgrants under 

11 this section, a State shall use not less than 15 per12 cent of the grant received under this Act to award 

13 such subgrants to eligible entities in rural areas, ex14 cept that a State may apply to the Secretary for a 

15 waiver of the requirement under this paragraph. 

16 (c) SUBGRANT FREQUENCY.—A State may not award 

17 more than 1 subgrant under this section to an eligible en18 tity for a fiscal year. 

19 (d) SUBGRANT AMOUNT LIMITS.—A subgrant may 

20 not be awarded under this section in an amount greater 

21 than— 

22 (1) in the case of an eligible entity described in 

23 section 10(1)(A), $25,000; or 

24 (2) in the case of an eligible entity described in 

25 section 10(1)(B), $50,000. 


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1 (e) USE OF SUBGRANT.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re3 ceives a subgrant under this section shall use the 

4 subgrant for the purposes of— 

5 (A) purchasing equipment for use in a dig6 ital fabrication laboratory; or 

7 (B) providing professional development 

8 that relates to the incorporation of the digital 

9 fabrication laboratory into curriculum instruc10 tion. 

11 (2) LIMITATION.—An eligible entity that re12 ceives a subgrant under this section may not use any 

13 of such subgrant to pay any administrative costs as14 sociated with carrying out paragraph (1). 

15 (f) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires a 

16 subgrant under this section shall, at such time and in such 

17 manner as the State that awards the subgrant may re18 quire, submit an application to such State that includes— 

19 (1) an assurance that the eligible entity will 

20 adopt a policy that any digital fabrication laboratory 

21 equipped using subgrant funds shall be used pre22 dominantly for instructional and educational pur23 poses by students enrolled in one of the eligible enti24 ty’s elementary or secondary schools; and 

25 (2) a description of— 


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1 (A) how the eligible entity plans to use the 

2 subgrant; 

3 (B) how ready the eligible entity is to pur4 chase equipment for a digital fabrication labora5 tory; 

6 (C) the eligible entity’s long-term plan for 

7 the digital fabrication laboratory; 

8 (D) how the eligible entity will incorporate 

9 the digital fabrication laboratory into cur10 riculum instruction; 

11 (E) how constructing the digital fabrica12 tion laboratory aligns with the eligible entity’s 

13 academic goals; 

14 (F) the extent to which the eligible entity 

15 plans to partner with local businesses and other 

16 community participants; 

17 (G) the eligible entity’s financial need; 

18 (H) how, if applicable, the eligible entity 

19 has utilized previous subgrant awards; and 

20 (I) any other information the State may 

21 require. 

22 (g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), an 

24 eligible entity receiving a subgrant under this section 

25 shall provide, from non-Federal sources, an amount 


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1 equal to the amount of the subgrant (which may be 

2 provided in cash or in-kind) to carry out the activi3 ties supported by the subgrant, except that an eligi4 ble may use up to 5 percent of such amount for ad5 ministrative costs associated with carrying out such 

6 activities. 

7 (2) WAIVER OPTION AUTHORIZED.—A State 

8 awarding a subgrant under this section may waive 

9 all or part of the matching requirement described in 

10 paragraph (1) for an eligible entity if the State de11 termines that applying the matching requirement 

12 would— 

13 (A) result in a serious financial hardship 

14 for the eligible entity; or 

15 (B) otherwise be inappropriate. 

16 (h) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—At the end of each subgrant 

18 period, an eligible entity receiving a subgrant under 

19 this section shall submit, to the State that awards 

20 the subgrant, a performance report that documents 

21 any information that the Secretary determines to be 

22 appropriate. 

23 (2) PERFORMANCE REPORT FORM.—The per24 formance report described in paragraph (1) shall be 

25 submitted on a form created by the State that 


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1 awards the subgrant and approved by the Secretary 

2 before being used. 

3 SEC. 5. MATCHING REQUIREMENT. 

4 Each State that receives a grant under this Act shall 

5 provide, from non-Federal sources, an amount equal to the 

6 amount of the grant to carry out the activities described 

7 in section 3. 

8 SEC. 6. STATE REPORTS. 

9 Each State that receives a grant under this Act 

10 shall— 

11 (1) at the end of the 1-year period that begins 

12 on the date the State receives the grant, submit a 

13 report to the Secretary containing any information 

14 the Secretary determines to be appropriate; and 

15 (2) in the case in which the State does not re16 ceive a grant for the next fiscal year following the 

17 fiscal year for which the grant was received, submit 

18 a report to the Secretary containing any information 

19 the Secretary determines to be appropriate at the 

20 end of a 2-year period that begins on the date the 

21 State receives the grant. 

22 SEC. 7. EVALUATION. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish an 

24 evaluation program to determine the efficacy of the grant 


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1 program established by this Act that shall commence 18 

2 months after the first grant under this Act is awarded. 

3 SEC. 8. SUNSET. 

4 The Secretary may not award grants under this Act 

5 after the end of the 5-year period that begins on the date 

6 the Secretary awards the first grant under this Act. 

7 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro9 priated $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2019 

10 through 2023 to carry out this Act. 

11 (b) LIMITATION.—Of the amounts appropriated pur12 suant to subsection (a) for a fiscal year, the Secretary may 

13 not use more than 5 percent to pay any administrative 

14 costs associated with carrying out section 1. 

15 SEC. 10. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) DIGITAL FABRICATION LABORATORY.—The 

18 term ‘‘digital fabrication laboratory’’ means a high19 technology workspace that is equipped with com20 puter-controlled additive and subtractive manufac21 turing components such as 3-dimensional printers, 

22 laser engravers, computer numerical control routers, 

23 and plasma cutters. 

24 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti25 ty’’ means— 


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1 (A) a local educational agency; or 

2 (B) a consortium of two or more local edu3 cational agencies. 

4 (3) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘elemen5 tary school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘profes6 sional development’’, and ‘‘secondary school’’ have 

7 the meanings given the terms, respectively, in sec8 tion 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu9 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

10 (4) EXISTING COMPETITIVE SUBGRANT PRO11 GRAM.—The term ‘‘existing competitive subgrant 

12 program’’ means a competitive subgrant program 

13 that is being carried out by a State as of the date 

14 the State applies for a grant under this Act and 

15 under which the State awards subgrants to eligible 

16 entities to purchase equipment to be used in a dig17 ital fabrication laboratory or provide professional de18 velopment that relates to the incorporation of the 

19 digital fabrication laboratory into curriculum in20 struction. 

21 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of Education. 

23 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

24 the 50 States and the District of Columbia. 

Æ 


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