I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3604 

To establish a grant program to assist States to establish or expand universal 

prekindergarten in public schools and public charter schools. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015 

Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to assist States to establish 

or expand universal prekindergarten in public schools 

and public charter schools. 

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 ‘‘Universal Prekinder5 garten and Early Childhood Education Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. UNIVERSAL PREKINDERGARTEN AND EARLY 

7 CHILDHOOD EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM. 

8 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION.—From amounts ap9 propriated under section 3, the Secretary of Education is 

10 authorized to award grants, on a competitive basis, to 

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1 States to pay the Federal share of establishing or expand2 ing full-day prekindergarten programs. 

3 (b) STATE APPLICATION.—To receive a grant under 

4 this Act, a State shall submit to the Secretary an applica5 tion at such time, in such manner, and containing such 

6 information as the Secretary may require. 

7 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—A State that receives a grant 

8 under this Act shall use such grant funds to establish or 

9 expand a prekindergarten program that, at a minimum— 

10 (1) is located at a public school in the State; 

11 (2) permits each 3- or 4-year-old child in the 

12 State to be voluntarily enrolled by the child’s parent, 

13 regardless of income, in the program at a school in 

14 which the child may be enrolled for kindergarten; 

15 (3) is a full-day program that runs the length 

16 of the regular school year; 

17 (4) is taught by teachers who possess equivalent 

18 or similar qualifications to the qualifications of 

19 teachers of other grades in the school involved; and 

20 (5) meets any other criteria that the Secretary 

21 may require. 

22 (d) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of a grant 

23 under this Act shall be not more than 80 percent of the 

24 costs of carrying out the activities described in subsection 

25 (c). 

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1 (e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Grant funds re2 ceived under this Act shall be used to supplement and not 

3 supplant other Federal early childhood education funds in 

4 the State. 

5 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

7 this Act such sums as are necessary for fiscal years 2016 

8 through 2021. 

9 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) FULL-DAY.—The term ‘‘full-day’’ used with 

12 respect to a program, means a program with a min13 imum of a 6-hour schedule per day. 

14 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of Education. 

16 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean17 ing given the term in section 9101 of the Elemen18 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

19 U.S.C. 7801). 

20 (4) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ has the 

21 meaning given the term in section 9101 of the Ele22 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

23 U.S.C. 7801). 

24 (5) PUBLIC SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘public 

25 school’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘elementary 

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1 school’’ or ‘‘secondary school’’ in section 9101 of the 

2 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

3 (20 U.S.C. 7801), except that the term does not in4 clude private schools. 

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