II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1548

To establish a program to help States expand the existing education system

to include at least 1 year of early education preceding the year a

child enters kindergarten.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 5, 1999

Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mr. BINGAMAN) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To establish a program to help States expand the existing

education system to include at least 1 year of early

education preceding the year a child enters kindergarten.

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 ‘‘Early Education Act

5 of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) In 1989 the Nation’s governors established

2 a goal that all children would have access to high

3 quality early education programs by the year 2000.

4 (2) Research suggests that a child’s early years

5 are critical to the development of the brain. Early

6 brain development is an important component of

7 educational and intellectual achievement.

8 (3) The National Research Council reported

9 that early education opportunities are necessary if

10 children are going to develop the language and lit11 eracy skills necessary to learn to read.

12 (4) Evaluations of early education programs

13 demonstrate that compared to children with similar

14 backgrounds who have not participated in early edu15 cation programs, children who participate in such

16 programs—

17 (A) perform better on reading and mathe18 matics achievement tests;

19 (B) are more likely to stay academically

20 near their grade level and make normal aca21 demic progress throughout elementary school;

22 (C) are less likely to be held back a grade

23 or require special education services in elemen24 tary school;
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1 (D) show greater learning retention, initia2 tive, creativity, and social competency; and

3 (E) are more enthusiastic about school and

4 are more likely to have good attendance

5 records.

6 (5) Studies have estimated that for every dollar

7 invested in quality early education, about 7 dollars

8 are saved in later costs.

9 SEC. 3. EARLY EDUCATION.

10 Title X of the Elementary and Secondary Education

11 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8001 et seq.) is amended by add12 ing at the end the following:

13 ‘‘PART L—EARLY EDUCATION

14 ‘‘SEC. 10995. EARLY EDUCATION.

15 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF EARLY EDUCATION.—In this

16 part the term ‘early education’ means not less than a half17 day of schooling each week day during the academic year

18 preceding the academic year a child enters kindergarten.

19 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to es20 tablish a program to develop the foundation of early lit21 eracy and numerical training among young children by

22 helping State educational agencies expand the existing

23 education system to include early education for all chil24 dren.

25 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized

2 to award grants to not less than 10 State edu3 cational agencies to enable the State educational

4 agencies to expand the existing education system

5 with programs that provide early education.

6 ‘‘(2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The amount

7 provided to a State educational agency under para8 graph (1) shall not exceed 50 percent of the cost of

9 the program described in the application submitted

10 pursuant to subsection (d).

11 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—Each program assisted

12 under this section—

13 ‘‘(A) shall be carried out by one or more

14 local educational agencies, as selected by the

15 State educational agency;

16 ‘‘(B) shall be carried out—

17 ‘‘(i) in a public school building; or

18 ‘‘(ii) in another facility by, or through

19 a contract or agreement with, a local edu20 cational agency;

21 ‘‘(C) shall be available to all children

22 served by a local educational agency carrying

23 out the program; and
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1 ‘‘(D) shall only involve instructors who are

2 licensed or certified in accordance with applica3 ble State law.

4 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—Each State educational agency

5 desiring a grant under this section shall submit an appli6 cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner and

7 accompanied by such information as the Secretary may

8 require. Each application shall—

9 ‘‘(1) include a description of—

10 ‘‘(A) the program to be assisted under this

11 section; and

12 ‘‘(B) how the program will meet the pur13 pose of this section; and

14 ‘‘(2) contain a statement of the total cost of the

15 program and the source of the matching funds for

16 the program.

17 ‘‘(e) SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY.—In order to carry

18 out the purpose of this section, the Secretary—

19 ‘‘(1) shall establish a system for the monitoring

20 and evaluation of, and shall annually report to Con21 gress regarding, the programs funded under this

22 section; and

23 ‘‘(2) may establish any other policies, proce24 dures, or requirements, with respect to the pro25 grams.
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1 ‘‘(f) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made

2 available under this section shall be used to supplement,

3 not supplant, other Federal, State, or local funds, includ4 ing funds provided under Federal programs such as Head

5 Start and the Even Start Family Literacy Program under

6 part B of title I.

7 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

8 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

9 $300,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000 through

10 2004.’’.

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