I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1591 

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

grants to local educational agencies to encourage girls and underrepresented minorities to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2019 

Mrs. BEATTY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to provide grants to local educational agencies 

to encourage girls and underrepresented minorities to 

pursue studies and careers in STEM fields. 

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 ‘‘21st Century STEM 

5 for Girls and Underrepresented Minorities Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO PREPARE GIRLS AND UNDERREP2 RESENTED MINORITIES. 

3 Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

4 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) is amended by add5 ing at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘PART G—PREPARING GIRLS AND UNDERREP7 RESENTED MINORITIES FOR THE 21ST CEN8 TURY 

9 ‘‘SEC. 4701. PROGRAM AUTHORITY. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 90 

11 days after the date of the enactment of this part, the Sec12 retary shall carry out a program under which the Sec13 retary makes grants to qualified local educational agen14 cies, on a competitive basis, to pay the costs of carrying 

15 out STEM education activities for girls and underrep16 resented minorities as described in subsection (c). 

17 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

19 grant under this part, a qualified local educational 

20 agency shall submit to the Secretary an application 

21 at such time, in such form, and containing such in22 formation as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

23 At minimum, the application shall include a descrip24 tion of the following: 

25 ‘‘(A) The educational program that will be 

26 carried out by the local educational agency 


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1 using the grant, including the content of the 

2 program and the research and models used to 

3 design the program. 

4 ‘‘(B) How elementary and secondary 

5 schools served by the agency will collaborate to 

6 fulfill goals of the program. 

7 ‘‘(C) How the agency will ensure that there 

8 is a comprehensive plan to improve STEM edu9 cation for girls and underrepresented minorities 

10 in grades kindergarten through grade 12. 

11 ‘‘(D) The process that will be used for the 

12 recruitment and selection of students for par13 ticipation in the program. 

14 ‘‘(E) The instructional and motivational 

15 activities that will be included as part of the 

16 program. 

17 ‘‘(F) Any expected collaboration among 

18 local, regional, or national institutions and or19 ganizations for the purpose of fulfilling the 

20 goals of the program. 

21 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In selecting among applica22 tions, the Secretary shall give priority to qualified 

23 local educational agencies that partner or coordinate, 

24 to the extent practicable, with local, regional, or naVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591

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1 tional institutions and organizations that have exten2 sive experience and expertise in— 

3 ‘‘(A) increasing the participation of girls or 

4 underrepresented minorities in STEM fields; or 

5 ‘‘(B) conducting research on methods to 

6 increase such participation. 

7 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—A qualified local educational 

8 agency that receives a grant under this part shall use the 

9 grant to carry out a STEM education program for girls 

10 and underrepresented minorities from elementary and sec11 ondary schools served by the agency. The program may 

12 include the following activities: 

13 ‘‘(1) Preparing girls and underrepresented mi14 norities for careers in STEM fields and the advan15 tages of pursuing careers in such fields. 

16 ‘‘(2) Educating the parents of girls and under17 represented minorities about the opportunities and 

18 advantages of STEM careers. 

19 ‘‘(3) Enlisting the help of the parents of girls 

20 and underrepresented minorities— 

21 ‘‘(A) to overcome the obstacles faced by 

22 such groups; and 

23 ‘‘(B) to encourage their child’s continued 

24 interest and involvement in STEM subjects. 


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1 ‘‘(4) Providing tutoring and mentoring pro2 grams in STEM subjects. 

3 ‘‘(5) Establishing partnerships and other oppor4 tunities that expose girls and underrepresented mi5 norities to role models in the STEM fields. 

6 ‘‘(6) Enabling female and underrepresented mi7 nority students and their teachers to attend events 

8 and academic programs in STEM subjects. 

9 ‘‘(7) Providing after school activities designed 

10 to encourage interest and develop the skills of girls 

11 and underrepresented minorities in STEM subjects. 

12 ‘‘(8) Summer programs designed to help girls 

13 and underrepresented minorities— 

14 ‘‘(A) develop an interest in STEM sub15 jects; 

16 ‘‘(B) develop skills in such subjects; and 

17 ‘‘(C) understand the relevance and signifi18 cance of such subjects. 

19 ‘‘(9) Purchasing— 

20 ‘‘(A) educational instructional materials or 

21 software designed to help girls and underrep22 resented minorities develop an interest in 

23 STEM subjects; or 

24 ‘‘(B) equipment, instrumentation, or hard25 ware for teaching STEM subjects to girls and 


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1 underrepresented minorities and encouraging 

2 their interest in such subjects. 

3 ‘‘(10) Field trips to locations, including institu4 tions of higher education, to expose girls and under5 represented minorities to STEM activities, encour6 age their interest in such activities, and acquaint 

7 them with careers in STEM fields. 

8 ‘‘(11) Providing academic advice and assistance 

9 in high school course selection to encourage girls and 

10 underrepresented minorities to take advanced 

11 courses in STEM subjects. 

12 ‘‘(12) Paying up to 50 percent of the cost of an 

13 internship in a STEM discipline for female and 

14 underrepresented minority students. 

15 ‘‘(13) Providing professional development for 

16 teachers and other school personnel, including with 

17 respect to— 

18 ‘‘(A) eliminating gender and racial bias in 

19 the classroom; 

20 ‘‘(B) sensitivity to gender and racial dif21 ferences; 

22 ‘‘(C) engaging students in the face of gen23 der-based and racial peer pressure and parental 

24 expectations; 


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1 ‘‘(D) creating and maintaining a positive 

2 environment; and 

3 ‘‘(E) encouraging girls and underrep4 resented minorities through academic advice 

5 and assistance to pursue advanced classes and 

6 careers in STEM fields. 

7 ‘‘(14) Such other STEM-related activities as 

8 the local educational agency determines to be appro9 priate. 

10 ‘‘(d) GRANT DURATION AND AMOUNT.— 

11 ‘‘(1) DURATION.—Each grant under this sec12 tion shall be made for a period of 4 years. 

13 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The amount of each grant 

14 under this section shall be $250,000 for each year 

15 of the grant period. 

16 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—A qualified 

17 local educational agency that receives a grant under this 

18 section shall use the grant only to supplement, and not 

19 to supplant, other assistance and funds made available 

20 from non-Federal sources for the activities supported by 

21 the grant. 

22 ‘‘(f) ANNUAL EVALUATIONS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) EVALUATION REQUIRED.—Not later than 

24 30 days after last day of each school year for which 

25 a qualified local educational agency receives a grant 


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1 under this section, the agency shall submit to the 

2 Secretary a written evaluation of the program car3 ried out using the grant. 

4 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The evaluation required 

5 under subsection (a) shall include— 

6 ‘‘(A) a description of the program and ac7 tivities carried out using the grant; 

8 ‘‘(B) a description of the curriculum and 

9 any partnerships developed using the grant; 

10 ‘‘(C) the percentage of time that students 

11 who participated in the program spent directly 

12 engaged in STEM activities; 

13 ‘‘(D) an assessment of the academic 

14 progress made by such students during the pro15 gram, which shall be based on an evaluation of 

16 each student at the beginning of the program 

17 and after the student completes the program; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(E) such other information as the Sec20 retary may require. 

21 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 ‘‘(1) The term ‘STEM’ means science, tech23 nology, engineering, and mathematics. 

24 ‘‘(2) The term ‘qualified local educational agen25 cy’ means a local agency that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) receives funds under part A of title I 

2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

3 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.); and 

4 ‘‘(B) serves a total student population of 

5 which not less than 40 percent are children who 

6 are eligible for a free or reduced price lunch 

7 under the Richard B. Russell National School 

8 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.). 

9 ‘‘SEC. 4702. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

11 this part $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 

12 through 2023.’’. 

Æ 


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