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[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2866 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2866

    To provide for early learning programs, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 13, 2000

  Mr. Stevens (for himself, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Dodd, Mr. 
   Domenici, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Bond, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. 
Cochran, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. L. Chafee, 
Mr. Durbin, Mr. Murkowski, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Robb, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. 
  Wellstone, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. Snowe, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. 
 Kerrey, and Mr. Warner) introduced the following bill; which was read 
 twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                                Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
    To provide for early learning programs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Early Learning 
Opportunities Act''.
    (b) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) medical research demonstrates that adequate stimulation 
        of a young child's brain between birth and age 5 is critical to 
        the physical development of the young child's brain;
            (2) parents are the most significant and effective teachers 
        of their children, and they alone are responsible for choosing 
        the best early learning opportunities for their child;
            (3) parent education and parent involvement are critical to 
        the success of any early learning program or activity;
            (4) the more intensively parents are involved in their 
        child's early learning, the greater the cognitive and 
        noncognitive benefits to their children;
            (5) many parents have difficulty finding the information 
        and support the parents seek to help their children grow to 
        their full potential;
            (6) each day approximately 13,000,000 young children, 
        including 6,000,000 infants or toddlers, spend some or all of 
        their day being cared for by someone other than their parents;
            (7) quality early learning programs, including those 
        designed to promote effective parenting, can increase the 
        literacy rate, the secondary school graduation rate, the 
        employment rate, and the college enrollment rate for children 
        who have participated in voluntary early learning programs and 
        activities;
            (8) early childhood interventions can yield substantial 
        advantages to participants in terms of emotional and cognitive 
        development, education, economic well-being, and health, with 
        the latter 2 advantages applying to the children's families as 
        well;
            (9) participation in quality early learning programs, 
        including those designed to promote effective parenting, can 
        decrease the future incidence of teenage pregnancy, welfare 
        dependency, at-risk behaviors, and juvenile delinquency for 
        children;
            (10) several cost-benefit analysis studies indicate that 
        for each $1 invested in quality early learning programs, the 
        Federal Government can save over $5 by reducing the number of 
        children and families who participate in Federal Government 
        programs like special education and welfare;
            (11) for children placed in the care of others during the 
        workday, the low salaries paid to the child care staff, the 
        lack of career progression for the staff, and the lack of child 
        development specialists involved in early learning and child 
        care programs, make it difficult to attract and retain the 
        quality of staff necessary for a positive early learning 
        experience;
            (12) Federal Government support for early learning has 
        primarily focused on out-of-home care programs like those 
        established under the Head Start Act, the Child Care and 
        Development Block Grant of 1990, and part C of the Individuals 
        with Disabilities Education Act, and these programs--
                    (A) serve far fewer than half of all eligible 
                children;
                    (B) are not primarily designed to provide support 
                for parents who care for their young children in the 
                home; and
                    (C) lack a means of coordinating early learning 
                opportunities in each community; and
            (13) by helping communities increase, expand, and better 
        coordinate early learning opportunities for children and their 
        families, the productivity and creativity of future generations 
        will be improved, and the Nation will be prepared for continued 
        leadership in the 21st century.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to increase the availability of voluntary programs, 
        services, and activities that support early childhood 
        development, increase parent effectiveness, and promote the 
        learning readiness of young children so that young children 
        enter school ready to learn;
            (2) to support parents, child care providers, and 
        caregivers who want to incorporate early learning activities 
        into the daily lives of young children;
            (3) to remove barriers to the provision of an accessible 
        system of early childhood learning programs in communities 
        throughout the United States;
            (4) to increase the availability and affordability of 
        professional development activities and compensation for 
        caregivers and child care providers; and
            (5) to facilitate the development of community-based 
        systems of collaborative service delivery models characterized 
        by resource sharing, linkages between appropriate supports, and 
        local planning for services.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Caregiver.--The term ``caregiver'' means an individual, 
        including a relative, neighbor, or family friend, who regularly 
        or frequently provides care, with or without compensation, for 
        a child for whom the individual is not the parent.
            (2) Child care provider.--The term ``child care provider'' 
        means a provider of non-residential child care services 
(including center-based, family-based, and in-home child care services) 
for compensation who or that is legally operating under State law, and 
complies with applicable State and local requirements for the provision 
of child care services.
            (3) Early learning.--The term ``early learning'', used with 
        respect to a program or activity, means learning designed to 
        facilitate the development of cognitive, language, motor, and 
        social-emotional skills for, and to promote learning readiness 
        in, young children.
            (4) Early learning program.--The term ``early learning 
        program'' means--
                    (A) a program of services or activities that helps 
                parents, caregivers, and child care providers 
                incorporate early learning into the daily lives of 
                young children; or
                    (B) a program that directly provides early learning 
                to young children.
            (5) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian tribe'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).
            (6) Local council.--The term ``Local Council'' means a 
        Local Council established or designated under section 14(a) 
        that serves one or more localities.
            (7) Locality.--The term ``locality'' means a city, county, 
        borough, township, or area served by another general purpose 
        unit of local government, an Indian tribe, a Regional 
        Corporation, or a Native Hawaiian entity.
            (8) Parent.--The term ``parent'' means a biological parent, 
        an adoptive parent, a stepparent, a foster parent, or a legal 
        guardian of, or a person standing in loco parentis to, a child.
            (9) Poverty line.--The term ``poverty line'' means the 
        poverty line (as defined by the Office of Management and 
        Budget, and revised annually in accordance with section 673(2) 
        of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) 
        applicable to a family of the size involved.
            (10) Regional corporation.--The term ``Regional 
        Corporation'' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of 
        the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602).
            (11) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Health and Human Services.
            (12) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
        States of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
            (13) Training.--The term ``training'' means instruction in 
        early learning that--
                    (A) is required for certification under State and 
                local laws, regulations, and policies;
                    (B) is required to receive a nationally or State 
                recognized credential or its equivalent;
                    (C) is received in a postsecondary education 
                program focused on early learning or early childhood 
                development in which the individual is enrolled; or
                    (D) is provided, certified, or sponsored by an 
                organization that is recognized for its expertise in 
                promoting early learning or early childhood 
                development.
            (14) Young child.--The term ``young child'' means any child 
        from birth to the age of mandatory school attendance in the 
        State where the child resides.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITIONS.

    (a) Participation Not Required.--No person, including a parent, 
shall be required to participate in any program of early childhood 
education, early learning, parent education, or developmental screening 
pursuant to the provisions of this Act.
    (b) Rights of Parents.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to 
affect the rights of parents otherwise established in Federal, State, 
or local law.
    (c) Particular Methods or Settings.--No entity that receives funds 
under this Act shall be required to provide services under this Act 
through a particular instructional method or in a particular 
instructional setting to comply with this Act.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION AND APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Health 
and Human Services to carry out this Act--
            (1) $750,000,000 for fiscal year 2001;
            (2) $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2002; and
            (3) $1,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.

SEC. 6. COORDINATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS.

    (a) Coordination.--The Secretary and the Secretary of Education 
shall develop mechanisms to resolve administrative and programmatic 
conflicts between Federal programs that would be a barrier to parents, 
caregivers, service providers, or children related to the coordination 
of services and funding for early learning programs.
    (b) Use of Equipment and Supplies.--In the case of a collaborative 
activity funded under this Act and another provision of law providing 
for Federal child care or early learning programs, the use of equipment 
and nonconsumable supplies purchased with funds made available under 
this Act or such provision shall not be restricted to children enrolled 
or otherwise participating in the program carried out under this Act or 
such provision, during a period in which the activity is predominately 
funded under this Act or such provision.

SEC. 7. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    (a) Grants.--From amounts appropriated under section 5 the 
Secretary shall award grants to States to enable the States to award 
grants to Local Councils to pay the Federal share of the cost of 
carrying out early learning programs in the locality served by the 
Local Council.
    (b) Federal Share.--
            (1) In general.--The Federal share of the cost described in 
        subsection (a) shall be 85 percent for the first and second 
        years of the grant, 80 percent for the third and fourth years 
        of the grant, and 75 percent for the fifth and subsequent years 
        of the grant.
            (2) Non-federal share.--The non-Federal share of the cost 
        described in subsection (a) may be contributed in cash or in 
        kind, fairly evaluated, including facilities, equipment, or 
        services, which may be provided from State or local public 
        sources, or through donations from private entities. For the 
        purposes of this paragraph the term ``facilities'' includes the 
        use of facilities, but the term ``equipment'' means donated 
        equipment and not the use of equipment.
    (c) Maintenance of Effort.--The Secretary shall not award a grant 
under this Act to any State unless the Secretary first determines that 
the total expenditures by the State and its political subdivisions to 
support early learning programs (other than funds used to pay the non-
Federal share under subsection (b)(2)) for the fiscal year for which 
the determination is made is equal to or greater than such expenditures 
for the preceding fiscal year.
    (d) Supplement Not Supplant.--Amounts received under this Act shall 
be used to supplement and not supplant other Federal, State, and local 
public funds expended to promote early learning.

SEC. 8. USES OF FUNDS.

    (a) In General.--Subject to section 10, grant funds under this Act 
shall be used to pay for developing, operating, or enhancing voluntary 
early learning programs that are likely to produce sustained gains in 
early learning.
    (b) Limited Uses.--Subject to section 10, Lead State Agencies and 
Local Councils shall ensure that funds made available under this Act to 
the agencies and Local Councils are used for 3 or more of the following 
activities:
            (1) Helping parents, caregivers, child care providers, and 
        educators increase their capacity to facilitate the development 
        of cognitive, language comprehension, expressive language, 
        social-emotional, and motor skills, and promote learning 
        readiness.
            (2) Promoting effective parenting.
            (3) Enhancing early childhood literacy.
            (4) Developing linkages among early learning programs 
        within a community and between early learning programs and 
        health care services for young children.
            (5) Increasing access to early learning opportunities for 
        young children with special needs, including developmental 
        delays, by facilitating coordination with other programs 
        serving such young children.
            (6) Increasing access to existing early learning programs 
        by expanding the days or times that the young children are 
        served, by expanding the number of young children served, or by 
        improving the affordability of the programs for low-income 
        families.
            (7) Improving the quality of early learning programs 
        through professional development and training activities, 
        increased compensation, and recruitment and retention 
        incentives, for early learning providers.
            (8) Removing ancillary barriers to early learning, 
        including transportation difficulties and absence of programs 
        during nontraditional work times.
    (c) Requirements.--Each Lead State Agency designated under section 
10(c) and Local Councils receiving a grant under this Act shall 
ensure--
            (1) that Local Councils described in section 14 work with 
        local educational agencies to identify cognitive, social, 
        emotional, and motor developmental abilities which are 
        necessary to support children's readiness for school;
            (2) that the programs, services, and activities assisted 
        under this Act will represent developmentally appropriate steps 
        toward the acquisition of those abilities; and
            (3) that the programs, services, and activities assisted 
        under this Act collectively provide benefits for children cared 
        for in their own homes as well as children placed in the care 
        of others.
    (d) Sliding Scale Payments.--States and Local Councils receiving 
assistance under this Act shall ensure that programs, services, and 
activities assisted under this Act which customarily require a payment 
for such programs, services, or activities, adjust the cost of such 
programs, services, and activities provided to the individual or the 
individual's child based on the individual's ability to pay.

SEC. 9. RESERVATIONS AND ALLOTMENTS.

    (a) Reservation for Indian Tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native 
Hawaiians.--The Secretary shall reserve 1 percent of the total amount 
appropriated under section 5 for each fiscal year, to be allotted to 
Indian tribes, Regional Corporations, and Native Hawaiian entities, of 
which--
            (1) 0.5 percent shall be available to Indian tribes; and
            (2) 0.5 percent shall be available to Regional Corporations 
        and Native Hawaiian entities.
    (b) Allotments.--From the funds appropriated under this Act for 
each fiscal year that are not reserved under subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall allot to each State the sum of--
            (1) an amount that bears the same ratio to 50 percent of 
        such funds as the number of children 4 years of age and younger 
        in the State bears to the number of such children in all 
        States; and
            (2) an amount that bears the same ratio to 50 percent of 
        such funds as the number of children 4 years of age and younger 
        living in families with incomes below the poverty line in the 
        State bears to the number of such children in all States.
    (c) Minimum Allotment.--No State shall receive an allotment under 
subsection (b) for a fiscal year in an amount that is less than .40 
percent of the total amount appropriated for the fiscal year under this 
Act.
    (d) Availability of Funds.--Any portion of the allotment to a State 
that is not expended for activities under this Act in the fiscal year 
for which the allotment is made shall remain available to the State for 
2 additional years, after which any unexpended funds shall be returned 
to the Secretary. The Secretary shall use the returned funds to carry 
out a discretionary grant program for research-based early learning 
demonstration projects.
    (e) Data.--The Secretary shall make allotments under this Act on 
the basis of the most recent data available to the Secretary.

SEC. 10. GRANT ADMINISTRATION.

    (a) Federal Administrative Costs.--The Secretary may use not more 
than 3 percent of the amount appropriated under section 5 for a fiscal 
year to pay for the administrative costs of carrying out this Act, 
including the monitoring and evaluation of State and local efforts.
    (b) State Administrative Costs.--A State that receives a grant 
under this Act may use--
            (1) not more than 2 percent of the funds made available 
        through the grant to carry out activities designed to 
        coordinate early learning programs on the State level, 
        including programs funded or operated by the State educational 
        agency, health, children and family, and human service 
        agencies, and any State-level collaboration or coordination 
        council involving early learning and education, such as the 
        entities funded under section 640(a)(5) of the Head Start Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 9835 (a)(5));
            (2) not more than 2 percent of the funds made available 
        through the grant for the administrative costs of carrying out 
        the grant program and the costs of reporting State and local 
        efforts to the Secretary; and
            (3) not more than 3 percent of the funds made available 
        through the grant for training, technical assistance, and wage 
        incentives provided by the State to Local Councils.
    (c) Lead State Agency.--
            (1) In general.--To be eligible to receive an allotment 
        under this Act, the Governor of a State shall appoint, after 
        consultation with the leadership of the State legislature, a 
        Lead State Agency to carry out the functions described in 
        paragraph (2).
            (2) Lead state agency.--
                    (A) Allocation of funds.--The Lead State Agency 
                described in paragraph (1) shall allocate funds to 
                Local Councils as described in section 12.
                    (B) Functions of agency.--In addition to allocating 
                funds pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Lead State 
                Agency shall--
                            (i) advise and assist Local Councils in the 
                        performance of their duties under this Act;
                            (ii) develop and submit the State 
                        application;
                            (iii) evaluate and approve applications 
                        submitted by Local Councils under section 13;
                            (iv) ensure collaboration with respect to 
                        assistance provided under this Act between the 
                        State agency responsible for education and the 
                        State agency responsible for children and 
                        family services;
                            (v) prepare and submit to the Secretary, an 
                        annual report on the activities carried out in 
                        the State under this Act, which shall include a 
                        statement describing how all funds received 
                        under this Act are expended and documentation 
                        of the effects that resources under this Act 
                        have had on--
                                    (I) parental capacity to improve 
                                learning readiness in their young 
                                children;
                                    (II) early childhood literacy;
                                    (III) linkages among early learning 
                                programs;
                                    (IV) linkages between early 
                                learning programs and health care 
                                services for young children;
                                    (V) access to early learning 
                                activities for young children with 
                                special needs;
                                    (VI) access to existing early 
                                learning programs through expansion of 
                                the days or times that children are 
                                served;
                                    (VII) access to existing early 
                                learning programs through expansion of 
                                the number of young children served;
                                    (VIII) access to and affordability 
                                of existing early learning programs for 
                                low-income families;
                                    (IX) the quality of early learning 
                                programs resulting from professional 
                                development, and recruitment and 
                                retention incentives for caregivers; 
                                and
                                    (X) removal of ancillary barriers 
                                to early learning, including 
                                transportation difficulties and absence 
                                of programs during nontraditional work 
                                times; and
                            (vi) ensure that training and research is 
                        made available to Local Councils and that such 
                        training and research reflects the latest 
                        available brain development and early childhood 
                        development research related to early learning.

SEC. 11. STATE REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Eligibility.--To be eligible for a grant under this Act, a 
State shall--
            (1) ensure that funds received by the State under this Act 
        shall be subject to appropriation by the State legislature, 
        consistent with the terms and conditions required under State 
        law;
            (2) designate a Lead State Agency under section 10(c) to 
        administer and monitor the grant and ensure State-level 
        coordination of early learning programs;
            (3) submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in 
        such manner, and accompanied by such information as the 
        Secretary may require;
            (4) ensure that funds made available under this Act are 
        distributed on a competitive basis throughout the State to 
        Local Councils serving rural, urban, and suburban areas of the 
        State; and
            (5) assist the Secretary in developing mechanisms to ensure 
        that Local Councils receiving funds under this Act comply with 
        the requirements of this Act.
    (b) State Preference.--In awarding grants to Local Councils under 
this Act, the State, to the maximum extent possible, shall ensure that 
a broad variety of early learning programs that provide a continuity of 
services across the age spectrum assisted under this Act are funded 
under this Act, and shall give preference to supporting--
            (1) a Local Council that meets criteria, that are specified 
        by the State and approved by the Secretary, for qualifying as 
        serving an area of greatest need for early learning programs; 
        and
            (2) a Local Council that demonstrates, in the application 
        submitted under section 13, the Local Council's potential to 
        increase collaboration as a means of maximizing use of 
        resources provided under this Act with other resources 
        available for early learning programs.
    (c) Local Preference.--In awarding grants under this Act, Local 
Councils shall give preference to supporting--
            (1) projects that demonstrate their potential to 
        collaborate as a means of maximizing use of resources provided 
        under this Act with other resources available for early 
        learning programs;
            (2) programs that provide a continuity of services for 
        young children across the age spectrum, individually, or 
        through community-based networks or cooperative agreements; and
            (3) programs that help parents and other caregivers promote 
        early learning with their young children.
    (d) Performance Goals.--
            (1) Assessments.--Based on information and data received 
        from Local Councils, and information and data available through 
        State resources, the State shall biennially assess the needs 
        and available resources related to the provision of early 
        learning programs within the State.
            (2) Performance goals.--Based on the analysis of 
        information described in paragraph (1), the State shall 
        establish measurable performance goals to be achieved through 
        activities assisted under this Act.
            (3) Requirement.--The State shall award grants to Local 
        Councils only for purposes that are consistent with the 
        performance goals established under paragraph (2).
            (4) Report.--The State shall report to the Secretary 
        annually regarding the State's progress toward achieving the 
        performance goals established in paragraph (2) and any 
        necessary modifications to those goals, including the rationale 
        for the modifications.

SEC. 12. LOCAL ALLOCATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Lead State Agency shall allocate to Local 
Councils in the State not less than 93 percent of the funds provided to 
the State under this Act for a fiscal year.
    (b) Limitation.--The Lead State Agency shall allocate funds 
provided under this Act on the basis of the population of the locality 
served by the Local Council.

SEC. 13. LOCAL APPLICATIONS.

    (a) In General.--To be eligible to receive assistance under this 
Act, the Local Council shall submit an application to the Lead State 
Agency at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as 
the Lead State Agency may require.
    (b) Contents.--Each application submitted pursuant to subsection 
(a) shall include a statement ensuring that the local government 
entity, Indian tribe, Regional Corporation, or Native Hawaiian entity 
has established or designated a Local Council under section 14, and the 
Local Council has developed a local plan for carrying out early 
learning programs under this Act that includes--
            (1) a needs and resources assessment concerning early 
        learning services and a statement describing how early learning 
        programs will be funded consistent with the assessment;
            (2) a statement of how the Local Council will ensure that 
        early learning programs will meet the performance goals 
        reported by the Lead State Agency under this Act; and
            (3) a description of how the Local Council will form 
        collaboratives among local youth, social service, and 
        educational providers to maximize resources and concentrate 
        efforts on areas of greatest need.

SEC. 14. LOCAL ADMINISTRATION.

    (a) Local Council.--
            (1) In general.--To be eligible to receive funds under this 
        Act, a local government entity, Indian tribe, Regional 
        Corporation, or Native Hawaiian entity, as appropriate, shall 
        establish or designate a Local Council, which shall be composed 
        of--
                    (A) representatives of local agencies directly 
                affected by early learning programs assisted under this 
                Act;
                    (B) parents;
                    (C) other individuals concerned with early learning 
                issues in the locality, such as representative entities 
                providing elementary education, child care resource and 
                referral services, early learning opportunities, child 
                care, and health services; and
                    (D) other key community leaders.
            (2) Designating existing entity.--If a local government 
        entity, Indian tribe, Regional Corporation, or Native Hawaiian 
        entity has, before the date of enactment of the Early Learning 
        Opportunities Act, a Local Council or a regional entity that is 
        comparable to the Local Council described in paragraph (1), the 
        entity, tribe or corporation may designate the council or 
        entity as a Local Council under this Act, and shall be 
        considered to have established a Local Council in compliance 
        with this subsection.
            (3) Functions.--The Local Council shall be responsible for 
        preparing and submitting the application described in section 
        13.
    (b) Administration.--
            (1) Administrative costs.--Not more than 3 percent of the 
        funds received by a Local Council under this Act shall be used 
        to pay for the administrative costs of the Local Council in 
        carrying out this Act.
            (2) Fiscal agent.--A Local Council may designate any 
        entity, with a demonstrated capacity for administering grants, 
        that is affected by, or concerned with, early learning issues, 
        including the State, to serve as fiscal agent for the 
        administration of grant funds received by the Local Council 
        under this Act.
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