II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 182 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prohibit 

Federal education mandates, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 16, 2015 

Mr. ROBERTS (for himself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. INHOFE, and Mr. PORTMAN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to prohibit Federal education mandates, 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 ‘‘Learning Opportuni5 ties Created At Local Level Act’’ or the ‘‘LOCAL Level 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Section 9527 of the Elementary and Sec2 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7907), as 

3 in effect on the day before the date of enactment of 

4 this Act, prohibits the Federal Government from 

5 mandating, directing, or controlling a State, local 

6 educational agency, or school’s curriculum, program 

7 of instruction, or allocation of State and local re8 sources, and from mandating a State or any subdivi9 sion thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs 

10 not paid for under such Act. 

11 (2) Section 9529 of the Elementary and Sec12 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7909), as 

13 in effect on the day before the date of enactment of 

14 this Act, prohibits the Federal Government from 

15 funding the development, pilot testing, field testing, 

16 implementation, administration, or distribution of 

17 any federally sponsored national test in reading, 

18 mathematics, or any other subject, unless specifically 

19 and explicitly authorized by law. 

20 (3) Despite these prohibitions, the Secretary of 

21 Education, through 3 separate initiatives, has cre22 ated a system of waivers and grants that influence, 

23 incentivize, and coerce State educational agencies 

24 into implementing common national elementary and 


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1 secondary school standards and assessments en2 dorsed by the Secretary. 

3 (4) The Race to the Top Fund, as established 

4 by the Secretary of Education under sections 14005 

5 and 14006 of the American Recovery and Reinvest6 ment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5, 123 Stat. 

7 282), encouraged and incentivized States to adopt 

8 the Common Core State Standards developed by the 

9 National Governors Association Center for Best 

10 Practices and the Council of Chief State School Offi11 cers. 

12 (5) The Race to the Top assessment grants 

13 awarded to the Partnership for Assessment of Read14 iness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter 

15 Balanced Assessment Consortium (SMARTER Bal16 ance) initiated the development of assessments 

17 aligned with the Common Core State Standards that 

18 will, in turn, inform and ultimately influence kinder19 garten through grade 12 curriculum and instruc20 tional materials. 

21 (6) The conditions imposed by the Secretary of 

22 Education through the flexibility waiver authority 

23 provided to the Secretary pursuant to section 9401 

24 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

25 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7861) have coerced States into acVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:54 Jan 24, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S182.IS S182

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1 cepting Common Core State Standards and assess2 ments aligned with such Standards. 

3 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that— 

5 (1) States and local educational agencies should 

6 maintain the rights and responsibilities of deter7 mining educational curricula, programs of instruc8 tion, and assessments for elementary and secondary 

9 education; and 

10 (2) States are sovereign entities that deserve 

11 deep and abiding respect from the Federal Govern12 ment, and State legislatures have a responsibility to 

13 their citizens to resist Federal encroachment on the 

14 constitutional autonomy of States regarding edu15 cation. 

16 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND 

17 USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 

18 Section 9527 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu19 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7907) is amended to read 

20 as follows: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 9527. PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL MANDATES, 

22 DIRECTION, OR CONTROL. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An officer or employee of the 

24 Federal Government shall not directly or indirectly, 

25 through grants, contracts, or other cooperative agreements 


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1 under this Act (including through any waiver provided 

2 under the Secretary’s authority pursuant to section 

3 9401)— 

4 ‘‘(1) mandate, direct, or control a State, local 

5 educational agency, or school’s specific instructional 

6 content, academic standards, assessments, cur7 riculum, or program of instruction (including 

8 through any requirement, direction, or mandate to 

9 adopt the Common Core State Standards developed 

10 under the Common Core State Standards Initiative 

11 or any other academic standards common to a sig12 nificant number of States); 

13 ‘‘(2) incentivize a State, local educational agen14 cy, or school to adopt any specific instructional con15 tent, academic standards, assessments, curriculum, 

16 or program of instruction as described in paragraph 

17 (1), which shall include providing any priority, pref18 erence, or special consideration during the applica19 tion process based on any specific content, stand20 ards, assessments, curriculum, or program; 

21 ‘‘(3) mandate a State or any subdivision thereof 

22 to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for 

23 under this Act; or 

24 ‘‘(4) make financial support available in a man25 ner that is conditioned upon a State, local eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:54 Jan 24, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S182.IS S182

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1 cational agency, or school’s adoption of specific in2 structional content, academic standards, assess3 ments, curriculum, or program of instruction, (in4 cluding any requirement, direction, or mandate to 

5 adopt the Common Core State Standards developed 

6 under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, 

7 any other academic standards common to a signifi8 cant number of States, or any assessment, instruc9 tional content, or curriculum aligned to such stand10 ards), even if such requirements are specified in sec11 tion 14006 or 14007 of the American Recovery and 

12 Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5; 123 

13 Stat. 283) or any other Act. 

14 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

15 shall be construed to authorize an officer or employee of 

16 the Federal Government directly or indirectly, whether 

17 through a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement (in18 cluding through any waiver provided under the Secretary’s 

19 authority pursuant to section 9401), to do any activity 

20 prohibited under subsection (a). 

21 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON ENDORSEMENT OF CUR22 RICULUM.—Notwithstanding any other prohibition of Fed23 eral law, no funds provided to the Department under this 

24 Act may be used by the Department directly or indirectly, 

25 through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements (inVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:54 Jan 24, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S182.IS S182

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1 cluding through any waiver provided under the Secretary’s 

2 authority pursuant to section 9401), to endorse, approve, 

3 develop, require, or sanction any curriculum designed to 

4 be used in an elementary school or secondary school, in5 cluding any curriculum aligned to the Common Core State 

6 Standards developed under the Common Core State 

7 Standards Initiative, or any other academic standards 

8 common to a significant number of States, designed to be 

9 used in an elementary school or secondary school. 

10 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING FEDERAL AP11 PROVAL OR CERTIFICATION OF STANDARDS.—Notwith12 standing title I, part A of title VI, or any other provision 

13 of Federal law, no State shall be required to have aca14 demic standards approved or certified by the Federal Gov15 ernment, in order to receive assistance under this Act. 

16 ‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION ON BUILDING STAND17 ARDS.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mandate 

18 national school building standards for a State, local edu19 cational agency, or school.’’. 

20 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON FEDERALLY SPONSORED TESTING 

21 AND TESTING MATERIALS. 

22 Section 9529 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu23 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7909) is amended to read 

24 as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 9529. PROHIBITION ON FEDERALLY SPONSORED 

2 TESTING AND TESTING MATERIALS. 

3 ‘‘(a) GENERAL PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any 

4 other provision of Federal law and except as provided in 

5 subsections (b) and (c), no funds provided under this Act 

6 to the Secretary or to the recipient of any award may be 

7 used to develop, pilot test, field test, implement, admin8 ister, or distribute— 

9 ‘‘(1) any Federally sponsored national test or 

10 testing materials in reading, mathematics, or any 

11 other subject, unless specifically and explicitly au12 thorized by law; or 

13 ‘‘(2) any assessment or testing materials 

14 aligned to the Common Core State Standards devel15 oped under the Common Core State Standards Ini16 tiative or any other academic standards common to 

17 a significant number of States. 

18 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to 

19 international comparative assessments developed under 

20 the authority of section 153(a)(5) of the Education 

21 Sciences Reform Act of 2002 and administered to only a 

22 representative sample of pupils in the United States and 

23 in foreign nations. 

24 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub25 section (a) shall be construed to prohibit a State or local 

26 educational agency from using funds provided under this 


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1 Act for the development, testing, implementation, adminis2 tration, or distribution of any assessment or testing mate3 rial that the State or local educational agency chooses, in4 cluding any assessment or material described in subsection 

5 (a)(2), as long as the use is for a purpose consistent with 

6 the terms of the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

7 providing the funds.’’. 

8 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF RACE TO THE TOP 

9 FUNDS FOR COMMON CORE STATE STAND10 ARDS ASSESSMENTS. 

11 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds 

12 provided under section 14006 of the American Recovery 

13 and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5, 123 

14 Stat. 283) shall be used to develop, pilot test, field test, 

15 implement, administer, or distribute any assessment or 

16 testing materials aligned to the Common Core State 

17 Standards developed under the Common Core State 

18 Standards Initiative or any other academic standards com19 mon to a significant number of States. 

Æ 


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