II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3254 

To provide grants to local educational agencies to help public schools reduce 

class size in the early elementary grades, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2021 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Ms. WARREN) introduced 

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

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide grants to local educational agencies to help public 

schools reduce class size in the early elementary grades, 

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 ‘‘Smaller Class Sizes 

5 for Students and Educators Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 

9 school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘poverty line’’, 


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1 ‘‘professional development’’, and ‘‘State’’ have the 

2 meanings given the terms in section 8101 of the Ele3 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

4 U.S.C. 7801). 

5 (2) EARLY ELEMENTARY GRADES.—The term 

6 ‘‘early elementary grades’’ means kindergarten 

7 through grade 3. 

8 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

9 the Secretary of Education. 

10 (4) TARGETED SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘targeted 

11 school’’ means a public elementary school served by 

12 a local educational agency that is in the highest 

13 quartile of all public elementary schools served by 

14 the local educational agency based on the number of 

15 students enrolled in the school who are eligible for 

16 a free or reduced price lunch under the Richard B. 

17 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 

18 et seq.). 

19 SEC. 3. REDUCING CLASS SIZE IN KINDERGARTEN 

20 THROUGH GRADE 3 CLASSROOMS. 

21 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail23 able under subsection (g), the Secretary shall award 

24 grants, on a competitive basis, to local educational 


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1 agencies to enable the local educational agencies to 

2 reduce class sizes in the early elementary grades. 

3 (2) DURATION OF GRANT.—A grant awarded 

4 under this section shall be for a period of 5 years. 

5 (b) APPLICATION.—A local educational agency that 

6 desires a grant under this section shall submit an applica7 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

8 containing such information as the Secretary may require, 

9 including the local educational agency’s evidence-based 

10 plan to reduce class sizes in the early elementary grades 

11 that includes the following: 

12 (1) A description of— 

13 (A) how the local educational agency will 

14 reduce the class sizes in the early elementary 

15 grades in the targeted schools served by the 

16 local educational agency to not more than 18 

17 students per class, including— 

18 (i) the early elementary grade levels 

19 that will be supported under the grant; 

20 (ii) how the agency will take into con21 sideration the needs of subgroups of stu22 dents (as defined in section 1111(c)(2) of 

23 the Elementary and Secondary Education 

24 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(c)(2))), 

25 grade level, subject area, physical facilities, 


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1 and workload maximums for educators 

2 when determining class size maximums; 

3 and 

4 (iii) how the local educational agency 

5 will determine or define class size; and 

6 (B) the continuum of small class sizes 

7 based on grade level the local educational agen8 cy will provide for students in the early elemen9 tary grades in the targeted schools served by 

10 the local educational agency. 

11 (2) A description of how the local educational 

12 agency will recruit, hire, prepare, and retain edu13 cators, including educators from populations under14 represented in the teaching profession (including by 

15 racial, ethnic, or linguistic group), as teachers in the 

16 early elementary grades. 

17 (3) A description of how the local educational 

18 agency will provide professional development and 

19 training for teachers in the early elementary grades 

20 to improve students’ academic, social, emotional, and 

21 mental health outcomes. 

22 (4) A description of how the local educational 

23 agency will provide educators with sufficient prepa24 ration time during the school year for activities such 

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1 ment planning, or curriculum and instruction-spe2 cific professional development. 

3 (5) A description of how the local educational 

4 agency will ensure that any new teachers hired using 

5 grant funds meet all applicable State certification 

6 and licensure requirements. 

7 (6) In the case of a local educational agency 

8 that is using funds available under part A of title II 

9 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

10 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6611 et seq.) for class size reduc11 tion, information regarding the extent to which the 

12 funds are being used to reduce class size in the early 

13 elementary grades in targeted schools. 

14 (7) The average class size, by grade, in the 

15 early elementary grades of the public schools served 

16 by the local educational agency at the time the appli17 cation is submitted and during the prior 2 academic 

18 years, and the goals for the class size, by grade, in 

19 the early elementary grades of the public schools 

20 served by the local educational agency. 

21 (c) AWARD BASIS.—In awarding grants under this 

22 section, the Secretary shall give priority to local edu23 cational agencies serving the greatest number or percent24 age of students who are from families with incomes at or 

25 below the poverty line. 


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1 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 

2 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—A local edu3 cational agency receiving a grant under this section 

4 may use not more than 3 percent of the grant funds 

5 for the administrative expenses of the grant. 

6 (2) REDUCING CLASS SIZE.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—A local educational 

8 agency shall use not less than 97 percent of the 

9 grant funds to reduce class sizes in the early el10 ementary grades at targeted schools served by 

11 the local educational agency by— 

12 (i) recruiting, hiring, and supporting 

13 fully certified and qualified teachers, both 

14 general education teachers and teachers of 

15 children with disabilities, for the early ele16 mentary grades at the targeted schools; 

17 (ii) obtaining additional space, or ren18 ovating school buildings, to provide more 

19 classroom space, except that not more than 

20 15 percent of the funds provided under the 

21 grant may be used for this purpose; 

22 (iii) providing professional develop23 ment for teachers of the early elementary 

24 grades at the targeted schools, except that 

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1 vided under the grant may be used for this 

2 purpose; and 

3 (iv) developing feedback mechanisms 

4 to improve school working conditions, in5 cluding through periodically and publicly 

6 reporting results of educator support and 

7 working conditions feedback. 

8 (B) HIGHEST NEED.—In carrying out ac9 tivities under the grant, the local educational 

10 agency shall first prioritize targeted schools 

11 that serve the highest percentage of students 

12 from families with incomes at or below the pov13 erty line, and then prioritize such schools with 

14 the highest average class sizes in the early ele15 mentary grades. 

16 (e) REPORTING.— 

17 (1) ANNUAL REPORTS.— 

18 (A) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.— 

19 Each local educational agency receiving a grant 

20 under this section shall prepare and submit to 

21 the State in which the agency is located an an22 nual report on activities carried out under 

23 grant, including progress in reaching the goals 

24 in reducing class size described in the applica25 tion under subsection (b)(7). 


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1 (B) STATES.—A State that receives a re2 port under subparagraph (A) shall submit such 

3 report to the Secretary. 

4 (2) EVALUATION.—The Secretary, acting 

5 through the Director of the Institute of Education 

6 Sciences, shall conduct an evaluation of the activities 

7 carried out under grants awarded under this section, 

8 including an evaluation of— 

9 (A) the progress of the local educational 

10 agency in reducing class size in the early ele11 mentary grades at the targeted schools served 

12 by the local educational agency; 

13 (B) student academic achievement in the 

14 early elementary grades of the targeted schools 

15 receiving support through the local educational 

16 agency under the grant where pre- and post-as17 sessment data is available; 

18 (C) a climate study of— 

19 (i) teachers in such targeted schools 

20 that addresses working conditions, job sat21 isfaction, and teacher stress; and 

22 (ii) students, and parents of students, 

23 enrolled in such targeted schools; 


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1 (D) teacher qualifications for newly hired 

2 teachers in such targeted schools for class size 

3 reduction; 

4 (E) targeted professional development and 

5 training provided to newly hired teachers in tar6 geted schools for class size reduction; 

7 (F) the time added to be used for teachers 

8 to collaborate in targeted schools; 

9 (G) teacher chronic absenteeism and reten10 tion and turnover rates pre- and post-class size 

11 reduction efforts; and 

12 (H) rates of student discipline and chronic 

13 student absenteeism. 

14 (3) ANNUAL REPORTS BY THE SECRETARY.— 

15 By not later than 90 days after the date by which 

16 the reports under paragraph (1) are first due, and 

17 annually thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare and 

18 submit a report to the Committee on Health, Edu19 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the 

20 Committee on Education and Labor of the House of 

21 Representatives regarding the grants awarded under 

22 this section. 

23 (f) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—A local edu24 cational agency receiving funds under this section shall 

25 use such funds to supplement, and not supplant, any other 


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1 funds available to the local educational agency for the pur2 poses of reducing class size in the early elementary grades. 

3 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

5 $2,000,000,000 for the first fiscal year and such sums as 

6 are necessary for each succeeding fiscal year. 

Æ 


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