I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3149 

To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the Secretary of 

Education to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement 

of students. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 5, 2019 

Mr. WALKER (for himself, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. RATCLIFFE, Mr. WEBSTER

of Florida, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. ROONEY of Florida, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. 

BAIRD, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. ROY, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, Mr. BUDD, Mr. PALMER, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. WEBER of 

Texas, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. CLOUD, 

Mr. NORMAN, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. BANKS, Mr. KING of Iowa, 

and Mr. BROOKS of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the 

Secretary of Education to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement of students. 

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 ‘‘Academic Partnerships 

5 Lead Us to Success Act’’ or the ‘‘A PLUS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

2 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 

3 (1) To give States and local communities added 

4 flexibility to determine how to improve academic 

5 achievement and implement education reforms. 

6 (2) To reduce the administrative costs and com7 pliance burden of Federal education programs in 

8 order to focus Federal resources on improving aca9 demic achievement. 

10 (3) To ensure that States and communities are 

11 accountable to the public for advancing the academic 

12 achievement of all students, especially disadvantaged 

13 children. 

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro17 vided, the terms used in this Act have the meanings 

18 given the terms in section 8101 of the Elementary 

19 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

20 7801 et seq.). 

21 (2) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The term ‘‘account22 ability’’ means that public schools are answerable to 

23 parents and other taxpayers for the use of public 

24 funds and shall report student progress to parents 

25 and taxpayers regularly. 


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1 (3) DECLARATION OF INTENT.—The term ‘‘dec2 laration of intent’’ means a decision by a State, as 

3 determined by State Authorizing Officials or by ref4 erendum, to assume full management responsibility 

5 for the expenditure of Federal funds for certain eli6 gible programs for the purpose of advancing, on a 

7 more comprehensive and effective basis, the edu8 cational policy of such State. 

9 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean10 ing given such term in section 1122(e) of the Ele11 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

12 U.S.C. 6332(e)). 

13 (5) STATE AUTHORIZING OFFICIALS.—The term 

14 ‘‘State Authorizing Officials’’ means the State offi15 cials who shall authorize the submission of a dec16 laration of intent, and any amendments thereto, on 

17 behalf of the State. Such officials shall include not 

18 less than two of the following: 

19 (A) The governor of the State. 

20 (B) The highest elected education official 

21 of the State, if any. 

22 (C) The legislature of the State. 

23 (6) STATE DESIGNATED OFFICER.—The term 

24 ‘‘State Designated Officer’’ means the person des25 ignated by the State Authorizing Officials to submit 


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1 to the Secretary, on behalf of the State, a declara2 tion of intent, and any amendments thereto, and to 

3 function as the point-of-contact for the State for the 

4 Secretary and others relating to any responsibilities 

5 arising under this Act. 

6 SEC. 4. DECLARATION OF INTENT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State is authorized to sub8 mit to the Secretary a declaration of intent permitting the 

9 State to receive Federal funds on a consolidated basis to 

10 manage the expenditure of such funds to advance the edu11 cational policy of the State. 

12 (b) PROGRAMS ELIGIBLE FOR CONSOLIDATION AND

13 PERMISSIBLE USE OF FUNDS.— 

14 (1) SCOPE.—A State may choose to include 

15 within the scope of the State’s declaration of intent 

16 any program for which Congress makes funds avail17 able to the State if the program is for a purpose de18 scribed in the Elementary and Education Secondary 

19 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301). A State may not in20 clude any program funded pursuant to the Individ21 uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

22 1400 et seq.). 

23 (2) USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available to 

24 a State pursuant to a declaration of intent under 

25 this Act shall be used for any educational purpose 


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1 permitted by State law of the State submitting a 

2 declaration of intent. 

3 (3) REMOVAL OF FISCAL AND ACCOUNTING

4 BARRIERS.—Each State educational agency that op5 erates under a declaration of intent under this Act 

6 shall modify or eliminate State fiscal and accounting 

7 barriers that prevent local educational agencies and 

8 schools from easily consolidating funds from other 

9 Federal, State, and local sources in order to improve 

10 educational opportunities and reduce unnecessary 

11 fiscal and accounting requirements. 

12 (c) CONTENTS OF DECLARATION.—Each declaration 

13 of intent shall contain— 

14 (1) a list of eligible programs that are subject 

15 to the declaration of intent; 

16 (2) an assurance that the submission of the 

17 declaration of intent has been authorized by the 

18 State Authorizing Officials, specifying the identity of 

19 the State Designated Officer; 

20 (3) the duration of the declaration of intent; 

21 (4) an assurance that the State will use fiscal 

22 control and fund accounting procedures; 

23 (5) an assurance that the State will meet the 

24 requirements of applicable Federal civil rights laws 

25 in carrying out the declaration of intent and in conVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149

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1 solidating and using the funds under the declaration 

2 of intent; 

3 (6) an assurance that in implementing the dec4 laration of intent the State will seek to advance edu5 cational opportunities for the disadvantaged; 

6 (7) a description of the plan for maintaining di7 rect accountability to parents and other citizens of 

8 the State; and 

9 (8) an assurance that in implementing the dec10 laration of intent, the State will seek to use Federal 

11 funds to supplement, rather than supplant, State 

12 education funding. 

13 (d) DURATION.—The duration of the declaration of 

14 intent shall not exceed 5 years. 

15 (e) REVIEW AND RECOGNITION BY THE SEC16 RETARY.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall review 

18 the declaration of intent received from the State 

19 Designated Officer not more than 60 days after the 

20 date of receipt of such declaration, and shall recog21 nize such declaration of intent unless the declaration 

22 of intent fails to meet the requirements under sub23 section (c). 

24 (2) RECOGNITION BY OPERATION OF LAW.—If 

25 the Secretary fails to take action within the time 


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1 specified in paragraph (1), the declaration of intent, 

2 as submitted, shall be deemed to be approved. 

3 (f) AMENDMENT TO DECLARATION OF INTENT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The State Authorizing Offi5 cials may direct the State Designated Officer to sub6 mit amendments to a declaration of intent that is in 

7 effect. Such amendments shall be submitted to the 

8 Secretary and considered by the Secretary in accord9 ance with subsection (e). 

10 (2) AMENDMENTS AUTHORIZED.—A declaration 

11 of intent that is in effect may be amended to— 

12 (A) expand the scope of such declaration of 

13 intent to encompass additional eligible pro14 grams; 

15 (B) reduce the scope of such declaration of 

16 intent by excluding coverage of a Federal pro17 gram included in the original declaration of in18 tent; 

19 (C) modify the duration of such declara20 tion of intent; or 

21 (D) achieve such other modifications as the 

22 State Authorizing Officials deem appropriate. 

23 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment shall 

24 specify an effective date. Such effective date shall 

25 provide adequate time to assure full compliance with 


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1 Federal program requirements relating to an eligible 

2 program that has been removed from the coverage of 

3 the declaration of intent by the proposed amend4 ment. 

5 (4) TREATMENT OF PROGRAM FUNDS WITH6 DRAWN FROM DECLARATION OF INTENT.—Begin7 ning on the effective date of an amendment executed 

8 under paragraph (2)(B), each program requirement 

9 of each program removed from the declaration of in10 tent shall apply to the State’s use of funds made 

11 available under the program. 

12 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY FOR RESULTS OF PUBLIC EDU13 CATION. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State operating under a 

15 declaration of intent under this Act shall inform parents 

16 and the general public regarding the student achievement 

17 assessment system, demonstrating student progress rel18 ative to the State’s determination of student proficiency 

19 for the purpose of public accountability to parents and 

20 taxpayers. 

21 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM.—The State shall de22 termine and establish an accountability system to ensure 

23 accountability under this Act. 

24 (c) REPORT ON STUDENT PROGRESS.—Not later 

25 than 1 year after the effective date of the declaration of 


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1 intent, and annually thereafter, a State shall disseminate 

2 widely to parents and the general public a report that de3 scribes student progress. The report shall include— 

4 (1) student performance data disaggregated in 

5 the same manner as data are disaggregated under 

6 section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) of the Elementary and 

7 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

8 6311(b)(2)(B)(xi)); and 

9 (2) a description of how the State has used 

10 Federal funds to improve academic achievement, re11 duce achievement disparities between various stu12 dent groups, and improve educational opportunities 

13 for the disadvantaged. 

14 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

16 (b), the amount that a State with a declaration of intent 

17 may expend for administrative expenses shall be limited 

18 to 1 percent of the aggregate amount of Federal funds 

19 made available to the State through the eligible programs 

20 included within the scope of such declaration of intent. 

21 (b) STATES NOT CONSOLIDATING FUNDS UNDER

22 PART A OF TITLE I.—If the declaration of intent does 

23 not include within its scope part A of title I of the Elemen24 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

25 6311 et seq.), the amount spent by the State on adminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3149.IH H3149

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1 trative expenses shall be limited to 3 percent of the aggre2 gate amount of Federal funds made available to the State 

3 pursuant to such declaration of intent. 

4 SEC. 7. EQUITABLE PARTICIPATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 

5 Each State consolidating and using funds pursuant 

6 to a declaration of intent under this Act shall provide for 

7 the participation of private school children and teachers 

8 in the activities assisted under the declaration of intent 

9 in the same manner as participation is provided to private 

10 school children and teachers under section 8501 of the El11 ementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

12 U.S.C. 7881). 

Æ 


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