I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1331

To promote youth entrepreneurship education.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 25, 1999

Mr. KUCINICH (for himself, Mr. CLAY, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. KILDEE, Mr.

PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. FROST, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. LAMPSON,

Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr.

CUMMINGS, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PAYNE,

and Mr. GUTIERREZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To promote youth entrepreneurship education.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. EMPOWERING FUTURE ENTREPRENEURS.

4 Title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education

5 Act of 1965 is amended—

6 (1) by striking the title heading and inserting

7 the following:
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1 ‘‘TITLE V—PROMOTING EQUITY

2 AND EMPOWERMENT’’; and

3 (2) by adding at the end the following new part:

4 ‘‘PART D—EMPOWERING FUTURE

5 ENTREPRENEURS

6 ‘‘SEC. 5401. SHORT TITLE AND FINDINGS.

7 ‘‘(a) SHORT TITLE.—This part may be cited as the

8 ‘‘Future Entrepreneurs of America Act’’.

9 ‘‘(b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

10 ‘‘(1) In order to reach their career goals in our

11 dynamic American economy, young people need to

12 take personal responsibility to obtain the skills,

13 knowledge, constructive attitudes, and experiences

14 that will enable them to function as creative, self15 confident participants in the workforce.

16 ‘‘(2) Research has found that 69 percent of

17 high school students are interested in starting their

18 own businesses and 85 percent of such students wish

19 their schools would do more to provide experiences

20 in entrepreneurship and starting a business.

21 ‘‘(3) States have begun to express increased in22 terest in entrepreneurship education. State edu23 cational leaders are recognizing that self-employment

24 is a viable career option for young people and are
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1 exploring ways to better prepare them to own and

2 operate their own businesses.

3 ‘‘(4) As part of a lifelong learning process, en4 trepreneurship education helps to increase the moti5 vation of young people to learn, helps them develop

6 a sense of individual opportunity, enhances their

7 personal growth, helps them develop an appreciation

8 of the importance of innovation, helps develop their

9 problem solving and leadership skills, helps them

10 learn to manage their finances, and helps them de11 velop the sort of optimistic outlook and self-reliant

12 attitudes that will benefit them for their entire work13 ing lives.

14 ‘‘(5) Entrepreneurship education integrates in15 struction in economic literacy, including how the

16 economy functions, the workings of the social secu17 rity system, and the importance of personal savings.

18 ‘‘(6) The entrepreneurs and inventors of tomor19 row are in our schools today. The entrepreneurial

20 spirit needs to be nurtured at all levels of our Na21 tion’s educational system beginning with students in

22 grades 7 through 12.

23 ‘‘SEC. 5402. STATE GRANT PROGRAM.

24 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—In any fiscal year in which the ap25 propriations under section 5408(a) equal or exceed
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1 $50,000,000, the Secretary shall make grants to States

2 from allocations under subsection (d) to enable them to

3 carry out entrepreneurship education programs for stu4 dents in grades 7 through 12.

5 ‘‘(b) AGENCY TO RECEIVE GRANT.—A grant award

6 to a State under subsection (a) shall be made to the State

7 educational agency.

8 ‘‘(c) STATE PLAN.—

9 ‘‘(1) APPROVED STATE PLAN REQUIRED.—No

10 State shall receive a grant under subsection (a) un11 less it has submitted to the Secretary a plan, which

12 the Secretary has approved.

13 ‘‘(2) STATE PLAN CONTENTS.—The State plan

14 described in paragraph (1) shall include—

15 ‘‘(A) a description of how the State will

16 use a grant;

17 ‘‘(B) a description of how the programs

18 supported by a grant will—

19 ‘‘(i) involve the business community;

20 and

21 ‘‘(ii) be coordinated with other rel22 evant Federal, State, regional, and local

23 programs; and

24 ‘‘(C) a description of how the State will

25 evaluate program performance.
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1 ‘‘(d) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—

2 ‘‘(1) ALLOCATION FACTORS.—Except as other3 wise provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall

4 allocate the amounts made available to carry out

5 this section pursuant to subsection (a) to each State

6 according to the relative populations in all the States

7 of students in grades 7 through 12, as determined

8 by the Secretary based on the most recent satisfac9 tory data.

10 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM ALLOCATION.—Subject to the

11 availability of appropriations and notwithstanding

12 paragraph (1), a State that has submitted an ap13 proved plan under subsection (c) shall be allocated

14 an amount not less than $400,000 for a fiscal year.

15 ‘‘(3) REALLOCATION.—In any fiscal year an al16 location under this subsection—

17 ‘‘(A) for a State that has not submitted a

18 plan under subsection (c); or

19 ‘‘(B) for a State whose plan submitted

20 under subsection (c) has been disapproved by

21 the Secretary;

22 shall be reallocated to the remaining States in ac23 cordance with paragraph (1).

24 ‘‘(e) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED USES.—A grant made to a

2 State under subsection (a) shall be used—

3 ‘‘(A) to provide funds to local educational

4 agencies and public schools to carry out entre5 preneurship education programs for students in

6 grades 7 through 12 based on the concept of

7 lifelong learning necessary to encourage the en8 trepreneurial spirit; and

9 ‘‘(B) to monitor and evaluate programs

10 supported under subparagraph (A).

11 ‘‘(2) PERMISSIBLE USE.—A grant made to a

12 State under subsection (a) may be used for profes13 sional development that helps to prepare teachers

14 and administrators for entrepreneurial education.

15 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—

16 A State receiving a grant under subsection (a) may

17 use not more than 4 percent of the total amount of

18 the grant in each fiscal year for the administrative

19 costs of carrying out this section.

20 ‘‘(f) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—Each agency re21 ceiving a grant as described in subsection (b) shall trans22 mit a report to the Secretary with respect to each fiscal

23 year for which a grant was received. The report shall de24 scribe the programs supported by the grant and the re-
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1 sults of the State’s monitoring and evaluation of such pro2 grams.

3 ‘‘SEC. 5403. DIRECT LOCAL GRANT PROGRAM.

4 ‘‘In any fiscal year in which the appropriations under

5 section 5408(a) are less than $50,000,000, the Secretary

6 may make grants directly to local educational agencies and

7 public schools to provide entrepreneurship education to

8 students in grades 7 through 12.

9 ‘‘SEC. 5404. CLEARINGHOUSE.

10 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall make a grant

11 to or execute a contract with an organization or institution

12 with substantial experience in the field of entrepreneurship

13 education to establish, operate, and maintain a national

14 clearinghouse (in this part referred to as the ‘‘Clearing15 house’’) for instructional materials and information re16 garding exemplary entrepreneurship education programs

17 and best practices.

18 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—An organization or institution

19 desiring to establish, operate, and maintain the Clearing20 house shall submit an application to the Secretary at such

21 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such informa22 tion, as the Secretary may reasonably require.

23 ‘‘(c) BASIS AND TERM.—The Secretary shall make

24 the grant or contract authorized by subsection (a) on a

25 competitive, merit basis for a term of 5 years.
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1 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—The Clearinghouse shall use

2 the funds provided under a grant or contract made under

3 subsection (a)—

4 ‘‘(1) to maintain a repository of instructional

5 materials and related information regarding entre6 preneurship education programs for secondary

7 schools, including middle schools, for use by States,

8 localities, and the general public;

9 ‘‘(2) to disseminate to States, localities, and the

10 general public, through electronic and other means,

11 instructional materials and related information re12 garding entrepreneurship education programs for

13 secondary schools, including middle schools; and

14 ‘‘(3) to the extent that resources allow, to pro15 vide technical assistance to States, localities, and the

16 general public on the design, establishment, and im17 plementation of entrepreneurship education pro18 grams for secondary schools, including middle

19 schools.

20 ‘‘(e) CONSULTATION.—The Clearinghouse shall con21 sult with the Small Business Administration with respect

22 to its activities under subsection (d).

23 ‘‘(f) SUBMISSION TO CLEARINGHOUSE.—Each Fed24 eral agency or department that develops entrepreneurship

25 education programs or instructional materials for such
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1 programs shall submit to the Clearinghouse information

2 on the programs and copies of the materials.

3 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION OF COPYRIGHT LAWS.—In car4 rying out this section the Clearinghouse shall ensure com5 pliance with title 17, United States Code.

6 ‘‘SEC. 5405. EVALUATION.

7 ‘‘(a) PERFORMANCE MEASURES.—The Secretary

8 shall develop measures to evaluate the performance of pro9 grams assisted under sections 5402 and 5403.

10 ‘‘(b) EVALUATION ACCORDING TO PERFORMANCE

11 MEASURES.—Applying the performance measures devel12 oped under subsection (a), the Secretary shall evaluate

13 programs assisted under sections 5402 and 5403—

14 ‘‘(1) to judge their performance and effective15 ness;

16 ‘‘(2) to identify which of the programs rep17 resent the best practices of entities developing entre18 preneurship education programs for students in

19 grades 7 through 12; and

20 ‘‘(3) to identify which of the programs can be

21 replicated and used to provide technical assistance to

22 States, localities, and the general public.

23 ‘‘SEC. 5406. REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.

24 ‘‘For each fiscal year for which there are appropria25 tions under section 5408(a), the Secretary shall transmit
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1 a report to the Congress describing the status of the im2 plementation of this part. The report shall include the re3 sults of the evaluation required by section 5405 and a de4 scription of the programs supported under sections 5402

5 and 5403.

6 ‘‘SEC. 5407. DEFINITIONS.

7 ‘‘In this part—

8 ‘‘(1) the term ‘entrepreneurship education’

9 means educational activities and experiences,

10 planned and supervised by qualified teachers, that

11 enable students to explore business ownership oppor12 tunities, acquire the skills and knowledge necessary

13 to start a business, and develop a range of entrepre14 neurial competencies that will help them to explore

15 and identify their lifelong career goals as business

16 owners or as competent employees; and

17 ‘‘(2) the term ‘qualified teacher’ means a teach18 er who holds a valid teaching certification or is con19 sidered to be qualified by the State educational

20 agency in the State in which the teacher works.

21 ‘‘SEC. 5408. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

22 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.—For the purposes of carrying

23 out this part, there are authorized to be appropriated

24 $60,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1999 through

25 2004.
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1 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON FUNDS FOR CLEARING2 HOUSE.—The Secretary may use not less than 2 percent

3 and not more than 5 percent of amounts appropriated

4 under subsection (a) for each fiscal year to carry out sec5 tion 5404.

6 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON FUNDS FOR SECRETARY’S

7 EVALUATION.—The Secretary may use not more than

8 $200,000 from the amounts appropriated under sub9 section (a) for each fiscal year to carry out section 5405.

10 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Ex11 cept as necessary to carry out section 5405 using amounts

12 described in subsection (c), the Secretary shall not use any

13 portion of the amounts appropriated under subsection (a)

14 for the costs of administering this part.

15 ‘‘(e) FUNDS FOR GRANTS.—For each fiscal year the

16 Secretary shall use all amounts appropriated under sub17 section (a), other than the amounts described in sub18 sections (b) and (c), only for grants under section 5402

19 or 5403.’’.

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