I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3008 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to promote civic 

learning and engagement, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2015 

Mr. HONDA (for himself and Mr. COLE) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants 

to promote civic learning and engagement, 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 ‘‘Sandra Day O’Connor 

5 Civic Learning Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CIVIC LEARNING GRANTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart 3 of part C of title II 

8 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

9 (20 U.S.C. 6711 et seq.) is amended— 


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1 (1) by repealing sections 2341 through 2344 

2 and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 2341. CIVIC LEARNING GRANTS. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award com5 petitive grants to eligible entities for the development and 

6 implementation of programs to promote civic learning and 

7 engagement, American history, geography, and economics. 

8 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity shall use a 

9 grant received under this section to develop and implement 

10 a program to promote civic learning and engagement, 

11 American history, geography, or economics through in12 struction, professional development, and evaluation activi13 ties that promote any of the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) Equity through access to funding and pro15 gram benefits, including— 

16 ‘‘(A) programs that meet the needs of stu17 dents with divergent learning styles, students of 

18 varying ethnic, racial, and socio-economic back19 grounds, and students who are English lan20 guage learners; and 

21 ‘‘(B) resources that serve student popu22 lations that have not traditionally received op23 portunities for high quality, engaging instruc24 tion in civics, history, geography or economics, 


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1 with a special emphasis on inner-city and rural 

2 underserved students. 

3 ‘‘(2) Innovation through design, settings, and 

4 delivery, including service learning, interactive on5 line programming, and other approaches to engaging 

6 students in active learning and civic participation. 

7 ‘‘(3) Scalability through broad, cost-effective 

8 implementation and institutionalization, including— 

9 ‘‘(A) use of the latest technological devel10 opments; 

11 ‘‘(B) an emphasis on programs designed to 

12 address relevant State and National educational 

13 standards; and 

14 ‘‘(C) utilization of low per-participant cost 

15 models of expanding the number of active stu16 dents and teachers. 

17 ‘‘(4) Accountability through assessment and 

18 identification of best practice models, including— 

19 ‘‘(A) independent research and evaluation 

20 to help assess the effects of civic education pro21 grams on students’ knowledge, skills, and traits 

22 of character essential for the preservation and 

23 improvement of constitutional democracy; 


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1 ‘‘(B) identifying techniques that succeed 

2 with traditionally underserved student popu3 lations; and 

4 ‘‘(C) evaluation of teachers’ knowledge and 

5 the adequacy of the teaching facility. 

6 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec7 tion, the term ‘eligible entity’ means a nonprofit edu8 cational organization.’’; and 

9 (2) by redesignating sections 2345 and 2346 as 

10 sections 2342 and 2343, respectively. 

11 (b) CONFORMING CHANGES.— 

12 (1) Section 2342 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 6715), 

13 as redesignated by subsection (a)(2), is amended— 

14 (A) in subsection (a)— 

15 (i) by striking ‘‘organizations de16 scribed in section 2343(a)(3)’’ each place it 

17 appears and inserting ‘‘organizations expe18 rienced in the development of curricula and 

19 programs in civics and government edu20 cation and economic education for students 

21 in elementary schools and secondary 

22 schools in countries other than the United 

23 States’’; and 


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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘use funds made avail2 able under grants or contracts under sec3 tion 2343 to’’; 

4 (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘the 

5 Center for Civic Education, the National Coun6 cil on Economic Education, and organizations 

7 described in section 2343(a)(3)’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘an entity specified in subsection (a)’’; 

9 (C) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘de10 scribed in section 2343’’ and inserting ‘‘speci11 fied in subsection (a)’’; and 

12 (D) in subsection (f)(2), by striking ‘‘the 

13 Center for Civic Education, the National Coun14 cil on Economic Education, or organizations de15 scribed in section 2343(a)(3)’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘an entity specified in subsection (a)’’. 

17 (2) The table of contents of such Act (20 

18 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by striking the 

19 items relating to sections 2341 through 2346 and 

20 inserting the following: 

‘‘2341. Civic learning grants. 

‘‘2342. Cooperative civic education and economic education exchange programs. 

‘‘2343. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

21 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

22 2343 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 6716), as redesignated by 

23 subsection (a)(2), is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 2343. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated for each of 

3 fiscal years 2016 through 2021— 

4 ‘‘(1) $28,500,000 for grants under section 

5 2341; and 

6 ‘‘(2) $1,500,000 for programs under section 

7 2342.’’. 

Æ 


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