II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1418 

To establish the Strength in Diversity Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 9, 2019 

Mr. MURPHY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced 

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

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish the Strength in Diversity Program, 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 ‘‘Strength in Diversity 

5 Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to support the develop8 ment, implementation, and evaluation of comprehensive 

9 strategies to address the effects of racial isolation or conVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1418.IS S1418

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1 centrated poverty by increasing diversity, including racial 

2 and socioeconomic diversity, in covered schools. 

3 SEC. 3. RESERVATION FOR NATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 

4 The Secretary may reserve not more than 5 percent 

5 of the amounts made available under section 10 for a fis6 cal year to carry out activities of national significance re7 lating to this Act, which may include— 

8 (1) research, development, data collection, mon9 itoring, technical assistance, evaluation, or dissemi10 nation activities; and 

11 (2) the development and maintenance of best 

12 practices for recipients of grants under section 4 and 

13 other experts in the field of school diversity. 

14 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

15 (a) AUTHORIZATION.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made 

17 available under section 10 and not reserved under 

18 section 3 for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall award 

19 grants in accordance with subsection (b) to eligible 

20 entities to develop or implement plans to improve di21 versity and reduce or eliminate racial or socio22 economic isolation in covered schools. 

23 (2) TYPES OF GRANTS.—The Secretary may, in 

24 any fiscal year, award under paragraph (1)— 


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1 (A) planning grants to carry out the activi2 ties described in section 6(a); 

3 (B) implementation grants to carry out the 

4 activities described in section 6(b); or 

5 (C) both such planning grants and imple6 mentation grants. 

7 (b) AWARD BASIS.— 

8 (1) CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICA9 TIONS.—The Secretary shall award grants under 

10 this section on a competitive basis, based on— 

11 (A) the quality of the application sub12 mitted by an eligible entity under section 5; and 

13 (B) the likelihood, as determined by the 

14 Secretary, that the eligible entity will use the 

15 grant to improve student outcomes or outcomes 

16 on other performance measures described in 

17 section 7. 

18 (2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

19 section, the Secretary shall give priority to the fol20 lowing eligible entities: 

21 (A) First, to an eligible entity that pro22 poses, in an application submitted under section 

23 5, to use the grant to support a program that 

24 addresses racial isolation by increasing diver25 sity. 


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1 (B) Second, to an eligible entity that pro2 poses, in an application submitted under section 

3 5, to use the grant to support a program that 

4 extends beyond one local educational agency, 

5 such as an inter-district or regional program. 

6 (c) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 

7 (1) PLANNING GRANT.—A planning grant 

8 awarded under this section shall be for a period of 

9 not more than 1 year. 

10 (2) IMPLEMENTATION GRANT.—An implemen11 tation grant awarded under this section shall be for 

12 a period of not more than 3 years, except that the 

13 Secretary may extend an implementation grant for 

14 an additional 2-year period if the eligible entity re15 ceiving the grant demonstrates to the Secretary that 

16 the eligible entity is making significant progress, as 

17 determined by the Secretary, on the program per18 formance measures described in section 7. 

19 SEC. 5. APPLICATIONS. 

20 In order to receive a grant under section 4, an eligible 

21 entity shall submit an application to the Secretary at such 

22 time, in such manner, and containing such information as 

23 the Secretary may require, including— 

24 (1) a description of the program for which the 

25 eligible entity is seeking a grant, including— 


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1 (A) how the eligible entity proposes to use 

2 the grant to improve the academic and life out3 comes of students in racial or socioeconomic 

4 isolation in covered schools by supporting inter5 ventions that increase diversity in such covered 

6 schools; 

7 (B) in the case of an implementation 

8 grant, the implementation grant plan described 

9 in section 6(b)(1); and 

10 (C) evidence, or if such evidence is not 

11 available, a rationale based on current research, 

12 regarding how the program will increase diver13 sity; 

14 (2) in the case of an eligible entity proposing to 

15 use any of the grant to benefit covered schools that 

16 are racially isolated, a description of how the eligible 

17 entity will identify and define racial isolation; 

18 (3) in the case of an eligible entity proposing to 

19 use any portion of the grant to benefit high-poverty 

20 covered schools, a description of how the eligible en21 tity will identify and define income level and socio22 economic status; 

23 (4) a description of the plan of the eligible enti24 ty for continuing the program after the grant period 

25 ends; 


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1 (5) a description of how the eligible entity will 

2 assess, monitor, and evaluate the impact of the ac3 tivities funded under the grant on student achieve4 ment and student enrollment diversity; 

5 (6) an assurance that the eligible entity has 

6 conducted, or will conduct, robust parent and com7 munity engagement, while planning for and imple8 menting the program, such as through— 

9 (A) consultation with appropriate officials 

10 from Indian Tribes or Tribal organizations ap11 proved by the Tribes located in the area served 

12 by the eligible entity; 

13 (B) consultation with other community en14 tities, including local housing or transportation 

15 authorities; 

16 (C) public hearings or other open forums 

17 to inform the development of any formal strat18 egy to increase diversity; and 

19 (D) outreach, in a language that parents 

20 can understand, and consultation with families 

21 in the targeted district or region that is de22 signed to ensure participation in the planning 

23 and development of any formal strategy to in24 crease diversity; 


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1 (7) an estimate of the number of students that 

2 the eligible entity plans to serve under the program 

3 and the number of students to be served through ad4 ditional expansion of the program after the grant 

5 period ends; 

6 (8) an assurance that the eligible entity will— 

7 (A) cooperate with the Secretary in evalu8 ating the program, including any evaluation 

9 that might require data and information from 

10 multiple recipients of grants under section 4; 

11 and 

12 (B) implement best practices developed 

13 under section 3(2); 

14 (9) an assurance that, to the extent possible, 

15 the eligible entity has considered the potential impli16 cations of the grant activities on the demographics 

17 and student enrollment of nearby covered schools 

18 not included in the activities of the grant; and 

19 (10) in the case of an eligible entity applying 

20 for an implementation grant, a description of how 

21 the eligible entity will— 

22 (A) implement, replicate, or expand a 

23 strategy based on a strong or moderate level of 

24 evidence (as described in subclause (I) or (II) 

25 of section 8101(21)(A)(i) of the Elementary 


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1 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

2 U.S.C. 7801(21)(A)(i))); or 

3 (B) test a promising strategy to increase 

4 diversity in covered schools. 

5 SEC. 6. USES OF FUNDS. 

6 (a) PLANNING GRANTS.—Each eligible entity that re7 ceives a planning grant under section 4 shall use the grant 

8 to support students in covered schools through the fol9 lowing activities: 

10 (1) Completing a comprehensive assessment of, 

11 with respect to the geographic area served by such 

12 eligible entity— 

13 (A) the educational outcomes and racial 

14 and socioeconomic stratification of children at15 tending covered schools; and 

16 (B) an analysis of the location and capac17 ity of program and school facilities and the ade18 quacy of local or regional transportation infra19 structure. 

20 (2) Developing and implementing a robust fam21 ily and community engagement plan, including, 

22 where feasible, public hearings or other open forums 

23 that would precede and inform the development of a 

24 formal strategy to improve diversity in covered 

25 schools. 


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1 (3) Developing options, including timelines and 

2 cost estimates, for improving diversity in covered 

3 schools, such as weighted lotteries, revised feeder 

4 patterns, school boundary redesign, or regional co5 ordination. 

6 (4) Developing an implementation plan based 

7 on community preferences among the options devel8 oped under paragraph (3). 

9 (5) Building the capacity to collect and analyze 

10 data that provide information for transparency, con11 tinuous improvement, and evaluation. 

12 (6) Implementing best practices developed 

13 under section 3(2). 

14 (b) IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.— 

15 (1) IMPLEMENTATION GRANT PLAN.—Each eli16 gible entity that receives an implementation grant 

17 under section 4 shall implement a high-quality plan 

18 to support students at covered schools that in19 cludes— 

20 (A) a comprehensive set of strategies de21 signed to improve academic outcomes for all 

22 students, particularly students of color and low23 income students, by increasing diversity in cov24 ered schools; 


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1 (B) evidence of strong family and commu2 nity support for such strategies, including evi3 dence that the eligible entity has engaged in 

4 meaningful family and community outreach ac5 tivities; 

6 (C) goals to increase diversity in covered 

7 schools over the course of the grant period; 

8 (D) collection and analysis of data to pro9 vide transparency and support continuous im10 provement throughout the grant period; and 

11 (E) a rigorous method of evaluation of the 

12 effectiveness of the program. 

13 (2) IMPLEMENTATION GRANT ACTIVITIES.— 

14 Each eligible entity that receives an implementation 

15 grant under section 4 may use the grant to carry 

16 out one or more of the following activities: 

17 (A) Recruiting, hiring, or training addi18 tional teachers, administrators, and other in19 structional and support staff in new, expanded, 

20 or restructured covered schools, or other profes21 sional development activities for staff and ad22 ministrators. 

23 (B) Investing in specialized academic pro24 grams or facilities designed to encourage inter25 district school attendance patterns. 


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1 (C) Developing or initiating a transpor2 tation plan for bringing students to and from 

3 covered schools, if such transportation is sus4 tainable beyond the grant period and does not 

5 represent a significant portion of the grant re6 ceived by an eligible entity under section 4. 

7 SEC. 7. PERFORMANCE MEASURES. 

8 The Secretary shall establish performance measures 

9 for the programs and activities carried out through a 

10 grant under section 4. These measures, at a minimum, 

11 shall track the progress of each eligible entity in— 

12 (1) improving academic and other develop13 mental or noncognitive outcomes for each subgroup 

14 described in section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) of the Ele15 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

16 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)(B)(xi)) that is served by the eligi17 ble entity on measures, including, as applicable, 

18 by— 

19 (A) increasing school readiness; 

20 (B) increasing student achievement and 

21 decreasing achievement gaps; 

22 (C) increasing high school graduation 

23 rates; 

24 (D) increasing readiness for postsecondary 

25 education and careers; and 


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1 (E) any other indicator the Secretary or el2 igible entity may identify; and 

3 (2) increasing diversity and decreasing racial or 

4 socioeconomic isolation in covered schools. 

5 SEC. 8. ANNUAL REPORTS. 

6 An eligible entity that receives a grant under section 

7 4 shall submit to the Secretary, at such time and in such 

8 manner as the Secretary may require, an annual report 

9 that includes— 

10 (1) information on the progress of the eligible 

11 entity with respect to the performance measures de12 scribed in section 7; and 

13 (2) the data supporting such progress. 

14 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) COVERED SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘covered 

17 school’’ means— 

18 (A) a publicly funded early childhood edu19 cation program; 

20 (B) a public elementary school; or 

21 (C) a public secondary school. 

22 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti23 ty’’ means a local educational agency, a consortium 

24 of such agencies, an educational service agency, or 

25 regional educational agency, that at the time of the 


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1 application of such eligible entity has significant 

2 achievement gaps and socioeconomic or racial seg3 regation within or between the school districts served 

4 by such entity. 

5 (3) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘educational 

6 service agency’’, ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local edu7 cational agency’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, and ‘‘Sec8 retary’’ have the meanings given such terms in sec9 tion 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu10 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

11 (4) PUBLICLY FUNDED EARLY CHILDHOOD

12 EDUCATION PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘publicly funded 

13 early childhood education program’’ means an early 

14 childhood education program (as defined in section 

15 103(8) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

16 U.S.C. 1003(8))) that receives State or Federal 

17 funds. 

18 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

20 this Act such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 

21 2020 and each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years. 

Æ 


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