I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1239 

To authorize the Secretary of Defense to make grants to support the study 

of world languages in elementary schools and secondary schools. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2017 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. LANCE, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. 

YOUNG of Alaska, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. COLE, and Ms. 

TITUS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Defense to make grants to 

support the study of world languages in elementary 

schools and secondary 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 ‘‘World Language Ad5 vancement and Readiness Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The national security of the United States 

2 continues to depend on language readiness, in par3 ticular among the seventeen agencies of the Intel4 ligence Community. 

5 (2) The levels of language proficiency required 

6 for national security necessitate long sequences of 

7 language training for personnel in the Intelligence 

8 Community and the Department of Defense. 

9 (3) The future national security and economic 

10 well-being of the United States will depend substan11 tially on the ability of its citizens to communicate 

12 and compete by knowing the languages and cultures 

13 of other countries. 

14 (4) The Federal Government has an interest in 

15 ensuring that the employees of its departments and 

16 agencies with national security responsibilities are 

17 prepared to meet the challenges of this changing 

18 international environment. 

19 (5) The Federal Government also has an inter20 est in taking actions to alleviate the problem of 

21 American students being inadequately prepared to 

22 meet the challenges posed by increasing global inter23 action among nations. 

24 (6) American elementary schools, secondary 

25 schools, colleges, and universities must place a new 


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1 emphasis on improving the teaching of foreign lan2 guages, area studies, counterproliferation studies, 

3 and other international fields to help meet those 

4 challenges. 

5 SEC. 3. WORLD LANGUAGE ADVANCEMENT AND READINESS 

6 GRANTS. 

7 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of De8 fense, in consultation with the Director of National Intel9 ligence and the Secretary of Education, shall carry out 

10 a program under which the Secretary of Defense makes 

11 grants, on a competitive basis, to State educational agen12 cies and local educational agencies to pay the Federal 

13 share of the cost of innovative model programs providing 

14 for the establishment, improvement, or expansion of world 

15 language study for elementary school and secondary school 

16 students. 

17 (b) DURATION.—Each grant under this Act shall be 

18 awarded for a period of 3 years. 

19 (c) REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE AND LOCAL EDU20 CATIONAL AGENCIES.— 

21 (1) GRANTS TO STATE EDUCATIONAL AGEN22 CIES.—In awarding a grant under subsection (a) to 

23 a State educational agency, the Secretary of Defense 

24 shall support programs that promote systemic apVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Mar 02, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1239.IH H1239

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1 proaches to improving world language learning in 

2 the State. 

3 (2) GRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN4 CIES.—In awarding a grant under subsection (a) to 

5 a local educational agency, the Secretary of Defense 

6 shall support programs that— 

7 (A) show the promise of being continued 

8 beyond the grant period; 

9 (B) demonstrate approaches that can be 

10 disseminated to and duplicated in other local 

11 educational agencies; and 

12 (C) may include a professional develop13 ment component. 

14 (d) FEDERAL SHARE.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para16 graph (2), the Federal share for each fiscal year 

17 shall be 50 percent. 

18 (2) EXCEPTION.—The Secretary of Defense 

19 may determine the Federal share for any local edu20 cational agency that the Secretary determines does 

21 not have adequate resources to pay the non-Federal 

22 share. 

23 (e) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 

24 (1) Not less than 75 percent of the funds made 

25 available to carry out this Act for a fiscal year shall 


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1 be used for the expansion of world language learning 

2 in elementary schools. 

3 (2) Not less than 75 percent of the funds made 

4 available to carry out this Act for a fiscal year shall 

5 be used to support instruction in world languages 

6 determined by the Secretary of Defense to be critical 

7 to the national security interests of the United 

8 States. 

9 (3) The Secretary of Defense may reserve not 

10 more than 5 percent of funds made available to 

11 carry out this Act for a fiscal year to evaluate the 

12 efficacy of programs that receive grants under sub13 section (a) 

14 (f) APPLICATIONS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be considered for a grant 

16 under subsection (a), a State educational agency or 

17 local educational agency shall submit an application 

18 to the Secretary of Defense at such time, in such 

19 manner, and containing such information and assur20 ances as the Secretary may require. 

21 (2) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—The Secretary 

22 of Defense shall give special consideration to appli23 cations describing programs that— 


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1 (A) include intensive summer world lan2 guage programs for professional development of 

3 world language teachers; 

4 (B) link nonnative English speakers in the 

5 community with the schools in order to promote 

6 two-way language learning; 

7 (C) promote the sequential study of a 

8 world language for students, beginning in ele9 mentary schools; 

10 (D) make effective use of technology, such 

11 as computer-assisted instruction, language lab12 oratories, or distance learning, to promote 

13 world language study; 

14 (E) promote innovative activities, such as 

15 dual language immersion, partial world lan16 guage immersion, or content-based instruction; 

17 and 

18 (F) are carried out through a consortium 

19 comprised of the agency receiving the grant, an 

20 elementary school or secondary school, and an 

21 institution of higher education (as that term is 

22 defined in section 102 of the Higher Education 

23 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)). 

24 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 

2 school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary 

3 school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the 

4 meanings given the terms in section 8101 of the Ele5 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

6 U.S.C. 7801). 

7 (2) WORLD LANGUAGE.—The term ‘‘world lan8 guage’’ means— 

9 (A) any natural language other than 

10 English, including— 

11 (i) languages determined by the Sec12 retary of Defense to be critical to the na13 tional security interests of the United 

14 States; 

15 (ii) classical languages; 

16 (iii) American sign language; and 

17 (iv) Native American languages; and 

18 (B) any language described in subpara19 graph (A) that is taught in combination with 

20 English as part of a dual language or immer21 sion learning program. 

Æ 


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