I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3327 

To prohibit the awarding of Federal Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2015 

Mr. COLLINS of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To prohibit the awarding of Federal Pell Grants to 

incarcerated individuals, 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 ‘‘Kids Before Cons 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON WAIVERS FOR EXPERIMENTAL 

7 SITES. 

8 Section 487A(b)(3) (20 U.S.C. 1094a(b)(3)) is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(C) LIMITATIONS.—Nothing in subpara2 graph (B) or any other provision of this Act 

3 shall be construed to— 

4 ‘‘(i) authorize the Secretary to waive 

5 the prohibition under section 401(b)(6) on 

6 awarding a Federal Pell Grant to an incar7 cerated individual or any other individual 

8 described in such section 401(b)(6); 

9 ‘‘(ii) authorize the Secretary to waive 

10 the prohibition under 484(b)(5) on award11 ing a loan under this title to an incarcer12 ated individual; or 

13 ‘‘(iii) authorize the Secretary to award 

14 funds to institutions of higher education 

15 for providing postsecondary education to 

16 incarcerated individuals.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. STUDY ON INCARCERATION RATES. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education 

20 shall— 

21 (1) carry out a study to determine whether the 

22 incarceration rates of students enrolled in a charter 

23 school or private school as a result of participation 

24 in a voucher program is lower than the incarceration 

25 rates of students enrolled in a traditional public 


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1 school in the same geographic area with similar par2 ent income levels; and 

3 (2) publish the results of such study on its pub4 lically available website. 

5 (b) INCARCERATION RATES.—In comparing incarcer6 ation rates for purposes of subsection (a), the Secretary 

7 of Education— 

8 (1) may use incarceration rate data available 

9 from prior years; and 

10 (2) shall include a comparison of post-gradua11 tion incarceration rates of students described in sub12 section (a). 

13 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

14 (1) CHARTER SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘charter 

15 school’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

16 5210 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

17 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7221i). 

18 (2) OTHER ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elemen19 tary school’’, ‘‘parent’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, and 

20 ‘‘State’’ have the meanings given the terms in sec21 tion 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu22 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

23 (3) PRIVATE SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘private 

24 school’’ means a private elementary school or sec25 ondary school. 


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1 (4) VOUCHER PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘voucher 

2 program’’ means a program that allows participating 

3 parents to use State funds to enroll their children in 

4 a private school. 

Æ 


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