II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 235 

To expand opportunity through greater choice in education, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24, 2017 

Mr. SCOTT (for himself, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. CORNYN, 

Mr. CRUZ, Mr. HATCH, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To expand opportunity through greater choice in education, 

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 ‘‘Creating Hope and 

5 Opportunity for Individuals and Communities through 

6 Education Act’’ or the ‘‘CHOICE Act’’. 


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1 TITLE I—IMPROVING THE 

2 SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OPPOR3 TUNITY AND RESULTS ACT 

4 SEC. 101. PURPOSE. 

5 The purpose of this title is to amend the Scholarships 

6 for Opportunity and Results Act (Public Law 112–10, 125 

7 Stat. 199) in order to improve provisions concerning op8 portunity scholarships available for low-income students in 

9 the District of Columbia. 

10 SEC. 102. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OP11 PORTUNITY AND RESULTS ACT. 

12 Section 3013(3) of division C of the Department of 

13 Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 

14 2011 (sec. 38–1853.13(3), D.C. Official Code) is amend15 ed, in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting 

16 ‘‘, is enrolled, or will be enrolled for the next school year, 

17 in a public or private elementary school or secondary 

18 school,’’ after ‘‘District of Columbia’’. 

19 TITLE II—EDUCATION PORT20 ABILITY FOR INDIVIDUALS 

21 WITH DISABILITIES 

22 SEC. 201. PURPOSE. 

23 The purpose of this title is to provide options to 

24 States to innovate and improve the education of children 

25 with disabilities by expanding the choices for students and 


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1 parents under the Individuals with Disabilities Education 

2 Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.). 

3 SEC. 202. AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS4 ABILITIES EDUCATION ACT. 

5 (a) CHILDREN ENROLLED IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS BY

6 THEIR PARENTS.—Section 612(a)(10)(A) of the Individ7 uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

8 1412(a)(10)(A)) is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(viii) PARENT OPTION PROGRAM.—If 

11 a State has established a program that 

12 meets the requirements of section 

13 663(c)(11) (whether statewide or in limited 

14 areas of the State) and that allows a par15 ent of a child described in section 

16 663(c)(11)(A) to use public funds, or pri17 vate funds in accordance with 

18 633(c)(11)(B)(ii), to pay some or all of the 

19 costs of attendance at a private school— 

20 ‘‘(I) funds allocated to the State 

21 under section 611 may be used by the 

22 State to supplement such public or 

23 private funds, if the Federal funds are 

24 distributed to parents who make a 

25 genuine independent choice as to the 


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1 appropriate school for their child, ex2 cept that in no case shall the amount 

3 of Federal funds provided under this 

4 subclause to a parent of a child with 

5 a disability for a year exceed the total 

6 amount of tuition, fees, and transpor7 tation costs for the child for the year; 

8 ‘‘(II) the authorization of a par9 ent to exercise this option fulfills the 

10 State’s obligation under paragraph (1) 

11 with respect to the child during the 

12 period in which the child is enrolled in 

13 the selected school; and 

14 ‘‘(III) a selected school accepting 

15 such funds shall not be required to 

16 carry out any of the requirements of 

17 this title with respect to such child.’’. 

18 (b) RESEARCH AND INNOVATION TO IMPROVE SERV19 ICES AND RESULTS FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABIL20 ITIES.—Section 663(c) of the Individuals with Disabilities 

21 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1463(c)) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

23 the semicolon; 

24 (2) in paragraph (10), by striking the period at 

25 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


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1 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(11) supporting the post-award planning and 

3 design, and the initial implementation (which may 

4 include costs for informing the community, acquiring 

5 necessary equipment and supplies, and other initial 

6 operational costs), during a period of not more than 

7 3 years, of State programs that allow the parent of 

8 a child with a disability to make a genuine inde9 pendent choice of the appropriate public or private 

10 school for their child, if the program— 

11 ‘‘(A) requires that the child be a child who 

12 has received an initial evaluation described in 

13 section 614(a) and has been identified as a 

14 child with a disability, in accordance with part 

15 B; 

16 ‘‘(B)(i) permits the parent to receive from 

17 the State funds to be used to pay some or all 

18 of the costs of attendance at the selected school 

19 (which may include tuition, fees, and transpor20 tation costs); or 

21 ‘‘(ii) permits persons to receive a State tax 

22 credit for donations to an entity that provides 

23 funds to parents of eligible students described 

24 in subparagraph (A), to be used by the parents 

25 to pay some or all of the costs of attendance at 


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1 the selected school (which may include tuition, 

2 fees, and transportation costs); 

3 ‘‘(C) prohibits any school that agrees to 

4 participate in the program from discriminating 

5 against eligible students on the basis of race, 

6 color, national origin, or sex, except that— 

7 ‘‘(i) the prohibition of sex discrimina8 tion shall not apply to a participating 

9 school that is operated by, supervised by, 

10 controlled by, or connected to a religious 

11 organization to the extent that the applica12 tion of such prohibition is inconsistent with 

13 the religious tenets or beliefs of the school; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(ii) notwithstanding this subpara16 graph or any other provision of law, a par17 ent may choose, and a school may offer, a 

18 single-sex school, class, or activity; 

19 ‘‘(D) notwithstanding any other provision 

20 of law, allows any school participating in the 

21 program that is operated by, supervised by, 

22 controlled by, or connected to, a religious orga23 nization to exercise its right in matters of em24 ployment consistent with title VII of the Civil 


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1 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), 

2 including the exemptions in that title; 

3 ‘‘(E) allows a school to participate in the 

4 program without, consistent with the First 

5 Amendment of the Constitution of the United 

6 States— 

7 ‘‘(i) necessitating any change in the 

8 participating school’s teaching mission; 

9 ‘‘(ii) requiring any private partici10 pating school to remove religious art, 

11 icons, scriptures, or other symbols; or 

12 ‘‘(iii) precluding any private partici13 pating school from retaining religious 

14 terms in its name, selecting its board 

15 members on a religious basis, or including 

16 religious references in its mission state17 ments and other chartering or governing 

18 documents; and 

19 ‘‘(F) requires a participating school se20 lected for a child with a disability to be— 

21 ‘‘(i) accredited, licensed, or otherwise 

22 operating in accordance with State law; 

23 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) academically accountable to the 

2 parent for meeting the educational needs 

3 of the student.’’. 

4 TITLE III—MILITARY 

5 SCHOLARSHIPS 

6 SEC. 301. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this title is to ensure high-quality 

8 education for children of military personnel who live on 

9 military installations and thus have less freedom to exer10 cise school choice for their children, in order to improve 

11 the ability of the Armed Forces to retain such military 

12 personnel. 

13 SEC. 302. MILITARY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. 

14 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘child’’, 

16 ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, and ‘‘local 

17 educational agency’’ have the meanings given the 

18 terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec19 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

20 (2) ELIGIBLE MILITARY STUDENT.—The term 

21 ‘‘eligible military student’’ means a child who— 

22 (A) is a military dependent student; 

23 (B) lives on a military installation selected 

24 to participate in the program under subsection 

25 (b)(2); and 


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1 (C) chooses to attend a participating 

2 school, rather than a school otherwise assigned 

3 to the child. 

4 (3) MILITARY DEPENDENT STUDENT.—The 

5 term ‘‘military dependent student’’ has the meaning 

6 given the term in section 572(e) of the National De7 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (20 

8 U.S.C. 7703b(e)). 

9 (4) PARTICIPATING SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘par10 ticipating school’’ means a public or private elemen11 tary school or secondary school that— 

12 (A) accepts scholarship funds provided 

13 under this section on behalf of an eligible mili14 tary student for the costs of tuition, fees, or 

15 transportation of the eligible military student; 

16 and 

17 (B) is accredited, licensed, or otherwise op18 erating in accordance with State law. 

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

20 the Secretary of Defense. 

21 (b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail23 able under subsection (g) and beginning for the first 

24 full school year following the date of enactment of 

25 this Act, the Secretary shall carry out a 5-year pilot 


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1 program to award scholarships to enable eligible 

2 military students to attend the public or private ele3 mentary schools or secondary schools selected by the 

4 eligible military students’ parents. 

5 (2) SCOPE OF PROGRAM.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall se7 lect not less than 5 military installations to par8 ticipate in the pilot program described in para9 graph (1). In making such selection, the Sec10 retary shall choose military installations where 

11 eligible military students would most benefit 

12 from expanded educational options. 

13 (B) INELIGIBILITY.—A military installa14 tion that provides, on its premises, education 

15 for all elementary school and secondary school 

16 grade levels through one or more Department 

17 of Defense dependents’ schools shall not be eli18 gible for participation in the program. 

19 (3) AMOUNT OF SCHOLARSHIPS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The annual amount of 

21 each scholarship awarded to an eligible military 

22 student under this section shall not exceed the 

23 lesser of— 

24 (i) the cost of tuition, fees, and trans25 portation associated with attending the 


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1 participating school selected by the parents 

2 of the student; or 

3 (ii)(I) in the case of an eligible mili4 tary student attending elementary school— 

5 (aa) $8,000 for the first full 

6 school year following the date of en7 actment of this Act; or 

8 (bb) the amount determined 

9 under subparagraph (B) for each 

10 school year following such first full 

11 school year; or 

12 (II) in the case of an eligible military 

13 student attending secondary school— 

14 (aa) $12,000 for the first full 

15 school year following the date of en16 actment of this Act; or 

17 (bb) the amount determined 

18 under subparagraph (B) for each 

19 school year following such first full 

20 school year. 

21 (B) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—For 

22 each school year after the first full school year 

23 following the date of enactment of this Act, the 

24 amounts specified in subclauses (I) and (II) of 

25 subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be adjusted to reflect 


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1 changes for the 12-month period ending the 

2 preceding June in the Consumer Price Index 

3 for All Urban Consumers published by the Bu4 reau of Labor Statistics of the Department of 

5 Labor. 

6 (4) PAYMENTS TO PARENTS.—The Secretary 

7 shall make scholarship payments under this section 

8 to the parent of the eligible military student in a 

9 manner that ensures such payments will be used for 

10 the payment of tuition, fees, and transportation ex11 penses (if any) in accordance with this section. 

12 (c) SELECTION OF SCHOLARSHIPS RECIPIENTS.— 

13 (1) RANDOM SELECTION.—If more eligible mili14 tary students apply for scholarships under the pro15 gram under this section than the Secretary can ac16 commodate, the Secretary shall select the scholar17 ship recipients through a random selection process 

18 from students who submitted applications by the ap19 plication deadline specified by the Secretary. 

20 (2) CONTINUED ELIGIBILITY.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—An individual who is 

22 selected to receive a scholarship under the pro23 gram under this section shall continue to re24 ceive a scholarship for each year of the program 

25 until the individual— 


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1 (i) graduates from secondary school or 

2 elects to no longer participate in the pro3 gram; 

4 (ii) exceeds the maximum age for 

5 which the State in which the student lives 

6 provides a free public education; or 

7 (iii) is no longer an eligible military 

8 student. 

9 (B) CONTINUED PARTICIPATION FOR MILI10 TARY TRANSFERS.— 

11 (i) TRANSFER TO PRIVATE NON-MILI12 TARY HOUSING.—Notwithstanding sub13 paragraph (A)(iii), an individual receiving 

14 a scholarship under this section for a 

15 school year who meets the requirements of 

16 subparagraphs (A) and (C) of subsection 

17 (a)(2) and whose family, during such 

18 school year, moves into private non-mili19 tary housing that is not considered to be 

20 part of the military installation, shall con21 tinue to receive the scholarship for use at 

22 the participating school for the remaining 

23 portion of the school year. 

24 (ii) TRANSFER TO A DIFFERENT MILI25 TARY INSTALLATION.—Notwithstanding 


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1 subparagraph (A)(iii), an individual receiv2 ing a scholarship under this section for a 

3 school year whose family is transferred to 

4 a different military installation shall no 

5 longer be eligible to receive such scholar6 ship beginning on the date of the transfer. 

7 Such individual may apply to participate in 

8 any program offered under this section for 

9 the new military installation for a subse10 quent school year, if such individual quali11 fies as an eligible military student for such 

12 school year. 

13 (d) NONDISCRIMINATION AND OTHER PROVISIONS.— 

14 (1) NON-DISCRIMINATION.—A participating 

15 school shall not discriminate against program par16 ticipants or applicants on the basis of race, color, 

17 national origin, or sex. 

18 (2) APPLICABILITY AND SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS, 

19 CLASSES, OR ACTIVITIES.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

21 other provision of law, the prohibition of sex 

22 discrimination in paragraph (1) shall not apply 

23 to a participating school that is operated by, su24 pervised by, controlled by, or connected to a re25 ligious organization to the extent that the appliVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 02, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235

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1 cation of paragraph (1) is inconsistent with the 

2 religious tenets or beliefs of the school. 

3 (B) SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS, CLASSES, OR

4 ACTIVITIES.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1) or 

5 any other provision of law, a parent may 

6 choose, and a participating school may offer, a 

7 single-sex school, class, or activity. 

8 (3) CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES.—Nothing 

9 in this section may be construed to alter or modify 

10 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 

11 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.). 

12 (4) RULES OF CONDUCT AND OTHER SCHOOL

13 POLICIES.—A participating school, including the 

14 schools described in subsection (e), may require eli15 gible students to abide by any rules of conduct and 

16 other requirements applicable to all other students 

17 at the school. 

18 (e) RELIGIOUSLY AFFILIATED SCHOOLS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

20 provision of law, a participating school that is oper21 ated by, supervised by, controlled by, or connected 

22 to, a religious organization may exercise its right in 

23 matters of employment consistent with title VII of 

24 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et 

25 seq.), including the exemptions in that title. 


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1 (2) MAINTENANCE OF PURPOSE.—Notwith2 standing any other provision of law, funds made 

3 available under this title to eligible military students 

4 that are received by a participating school, as a re5 sult of their parents’ choice, shall not, consistent 

6 with the First Amendment of the Constitution of the 

7 United States— 

8 (A) necessitate any change in the partici9 pating school’s teaching mission; 

10 (B) require any private participating 

11 school to remove religious art, icons, scriptures, 

12 or other symbols; or 

13 (C) preclude any private participating 

14 school from retaining religious terms in its 

15 name, selecting its board members on a reli16 gious basis, or including religious references in 

17 its mission statements and other chartering or 

18 governing documents. 

19 (f) REPORTS.— 

20 (1) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than July 30 

21 of the year following the year of the date of enact22 ment of this Act, and each subsequent year through 

23 the year in which the final report is submitted under 

24 paragraph (2), the Secretary shall prepare and sub25 mit to Congress an interim report on the scholarVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 02, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235

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1 ships awarded under the pilot program under this 

2 section that includes the content described in para3 graph (3) for the applicable school year of the re4 port. 

5 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 

6 after the end of the pilot program under this section, 

7 the Secretary shall prepare and submit to Congress 

8 a report on the scholarships awarded under the pro9 gram that includes the content described in para10 graph (3) for each school year of the program. 

11 (3) CONTENT.—Each annual report under 

12 paragraph (1) and the final report under paragraph 

13 (2) shall contain— 

14 (A) the number of applicants for scholar15 ships under this section; 

16 (B) the number, and the average dollar 

17 amount, of scholarships awarded; 

18 (C) the number of participating schools; 

19 (D) the number of elementary school stu20 dents receiving scholarships under this section 

21 and the number of secondary school students 

22 receiving such scholarships; and 

23 (E) the results of a survey, conducted by 

24 the Secretary, regarding parental satisfaction 


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1 with the scholarship program under this sec2 tion. 

3 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

5 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022. 

6 (h) OFFSET IN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SALA7 RIES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for 

8 fiscal year 2018 and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years, 

9 the Secretary of Education shall return to the Treasury 

10 $10,000,000 of the amounts made available to the Sec11 retary for salaries and expenses of the Department of 

12 Education for such year. 

Æ 


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