II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 144 

To prohibit the Federal Government from mandating, incentivizing, or making 

financial support conditioned upon a State, local educational agency, 

or school’s adoption of specific instructional content, academic standards, 

or curriculum, or on the administration of assessments or tests, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 9, 2015 

Mr. CRAPO (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. LEE, Mr. PAUL, Mr. 

RISCH, and Mr. SHELBY) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Federal Government from mandating, 

incentivizing, or making financial support conditioned 

upon a State, local educational agency, or school’s adoption of specific instructional content, academic standards, 

or curriculum, or on the administration of assessments 

or tests, 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 ‘‘Local Leadership in 

5 Education Act’’. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 144 IS

1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS IN THE ELEMENTARY AND SEC2 ONDARY EDUCATION ACT. 

3 (a) GENERAL PROHIBITIONS.—Section 9527 of the 

4 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

5 U.S.C. 7907) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking subsections (a) and (b) and in7 serting the following: 

8 ‘‘(a) GENERAL PROHIBITIONS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An officer or employee of 

10 the Federal Government shall not directly or indi11 rectly, through grants, contracts, or other coopera12 tive agreements under this Act (including waivers 

13 under section 9401)— 

14 ‘‘(A) mandate, direct, or control a State, 

15 local educational agency, or school’s academic 

16 standards, curriculum, program of instruction, 

17 or allocation of State or local resources; 

18 ‘‘(B) mandate a State or any subdivision 

19 thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs 

20 not paid for under this Act; 

21 ‘‘(C) incentivize a State, local educational 

22 agency, or school to adopt any specific academic 

23 standards or a specific curriculum or program 

24 of instruction, which shall include providing any 

25 priority, preference, or special consideration 

26 during an application process based on any speVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Jan 15, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S144.IS S144

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 144 IS

1 cific academic standards, curriculum, or pro2 gram of instruction; 

3 ‘‘(D) make financial support available in a 

4 manner that is conditioned upon a State, local 

5 educational agency, or school’s adoption of spe6 cific instructional content, academic standards, 

7 or curriculum, or on the administration of as8 sessments or tests, even if such requirements 

9 are specified in this Act; or 

10 ‘‘(E) mandate or require States to admin11 ister assessments or tests to students. 

12 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

13 this Act shall be construed to authorize an officer or 

14 employee of the Federal Government directly or indi15 rectly, whether through grants, contracts, or other 

16 cooperative agreements under this Act (including 

17 waivers under section 9401), to do any activity pro18 hibited under subsection (a).’’; and 

19 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITION ON ASSESSMENTS IN TITLE I.— 

21 Part A of title I shall be carried out without regard to 

22 any requirement that a State carry out academic assess23 ments or that local educational agencies, elementary 

24 schools, and secondary schools make adequate yearly 

25 progress.’’. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 144 IS

1 (b) PROHIBITION ON WAIVER CONDITIONS, RE2 QUIREMENTS, OR PREFERENCES.—Section 9401 (20 

3 U.S.C. 7861) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(h) PROHIBITION ON WAIVER CONDITIONS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not es7 tablish as a condition for granting a waiver under 

8 this section— 

9 ‘‘(A) the approval of academic standards 

10 by the Federal government; or 

11 ‘‘(B) the administration of assessments or 

12 tests to students. 

13 ‘‘(2) EFFECT ON PREVIOUSLY ISSUED WAIV14 ERS.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any requirement de16 scribed in paragraph (1) that was required for 

17 a waiver provided to a State, local educational 

18 agency, Indian tribe, or school under this sec19 tion before the date of enactment of the Local 

20 Leadership in Education Act shall be void and 

21 have no force of law. 

22 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITED ACTIONS.—The Sec23 retary shall not— 

24 ‘‘(i) enforce any requirement that is 

25 void pursuant to subparagraph (A); and 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 144 IS

1 ‘‘(ii) require the State, local edu2 cational agency, Indian tribe, or school to 

3 reapply for a waiver, or to agree to any 

4 other condition to replace any requirement 

5 that is void pursuant to subparagraph (A), 

6 until the end of the period of time specified 

7 under the waiver. 

8 ‘‘(C) NO EFFECT ON OTHER PROVI9 SIONS.—Any other provisions or requirements 

10 of a waiver provided under this section before 

11 the date of enactment of the Local Leadership 

12 in Education Act that are not affected by sub13 paragraph (A) shall remain in effect for the pe14 riod of time specified under the waiver.’’. 

15 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION IN THE GENERAL EDUCATION PROVI16 SIONS ACT. 

17 Section 438 of the General Education Provisions Act 

18 (20 U.S.C. 1232a) is amended— 

19 (1) by striking ‘‘No provision of any applicable 

20 program shall be construed to authorize any depart21 ment, agency, officer, or employee of the United 

22 States to’’ and inserting ‘‘A department, agency, of23 ficer, or employee of the United States shall not’’; 

24 (2) by inserting ‘‘(including the development of 

25 curriculum)’’ after ‘‘over the curriculum’’; and 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 144 IS

1 (3) by striking ‘‘to’’ after ‘‘institution or school 

2 system, or’’. 

3 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION IN RACE TO THE TOP FUNDING. 

4 Title XIV of Division A of the American Recovery 

5 and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5) is 

6 amended by inserting after section 14007 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 14007A. PROHIBITION ON ASSESSMENTS. 

8 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no 

9 funds provided under section 14006 of the American Re10 covery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111– 

11 5, 123 Stat. 283) shall be used to develop, pilot test, field 

12 test, implement, administer, or distribute any assessment 

13 or testing materials.’’. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS