II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4230 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 17, 2022 

Mr. MURPHY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. WARREN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. 

SANDERS, Mr. PADILLA, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) 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 2022’’. 

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 03:50 May 20, 2022 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4230.IS S4230

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1 centrated poverty by increasing diversity, including racial 

2 diversity and socioeconomic diversity, in covered schools. 

3 SEC. 3. RESERVATION FOR NATIONAL AND STATE ACTIVI4 TIES. 

5 (a) NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary may re6 serve not more than 5 percent of the amounts made avail7 able under section 9 for a fiscal year to carry out activities 

8 of national significance relating to this Act, which may 

9 include— 

10 (1) research, development, data collection, mon11 itoring, technical assistance, evaluation, or dissemi12 nation activities; and 

13 (2) the development and maintenance of best 

14 practices for recipients of grants under section 4 and 

15 other experts in the field of school diversity. 

16 (b) STATE ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary may reserve 

17 not more than 10 percent of the amounts made available 

18 under section 9 for a fiscal year for planning grants and 

19 implementation grants made to State educational agencies 

20 under section 4. 

21 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

22 (a) AUTHORIZATION.— 

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

24 available under section 9 and not reserved under 

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


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1 grants in accordance with subsection (b) to eligible 

2 entities to develop or implement plans to improve di3 versity and reduce or eliminate racial or socio4 economic isolation in covered schools. 

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

6 any fiscal year, award— 

7 (A) planning grants to carry out the activi8 ties described in section 6(a); 

9 (B) implementation grants to carry out the 

10 activities described in section 6(b); or 

11 (C) both such planning grants and imple12 mentation grants. 

13 (b) AWARD BASIS.— 

14 (1) CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICA15 TIONS.—The Secretary shall award grants under 

16 this section on a competitive basis, based on— 

17 (A) the quality of the application sub18 mitted by an eligible entity under section 5; 

19 (B) the likelihood, as determined by the 

20 Secretary, that the eligible entity will use the 

21 grant to improve student outcomes or outcomes 

22 on other performance measures described in 

23 section 7; and 


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1 (C) the likelihood that the grant will lead 

2 to a meaningful reduction in racial and eco3 nomic isolation for children in covered schools. 

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

5 section, the Secretary shall give priority to the fol6 lowing eligible entities: 

7 (A) First, to an eligible entity that sub8 mitted an application for a grant under the 

9 Opening Doors, Expanding Opportunities pro10 gram described in the notice published by the 

11 Department of Education in the Federal Reg12 ister on December 14, 2016 (81 Fed. Reg. 

13 90343 et seq.). 

14 (B) Second, to an eligible entity that pro15 poses, in an application submitted under section 

16 5, to use the grant to support a program that 

17 addresses racial isolation. 

18 (C) Third, to an eligible entity that pro19 poses, in an application submitted under section 

20 5, to use the grant to support a program that 

21 extends beyond one local educational agency, 

22 such as an inter-district or regional program. 

23 (D) Fourth, to an eligible entity that dem24 onstrates meaningful coordination with local 

25 housing agencies to increase access to schools 


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1 that have a disproportionately low number of 

2 low-income students. 

3 (c) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 

4 (1) PLANNING GRANT.—A planning grant 

5 awarded under this section shall be for a period of 

6 not more than 1 year. 

7 (2) IMPLEMENTATION GRANT.—An implemen8 tation grant awarded under this section shall be for 

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

10 Secretary may extend an implementation grant for 

11 an additional 2-year period if the eligible entity re12 ceiving the grant demonstrates to the Secretary that 

13 the eligible entity is making significant progress, as 

14 determined by the Secretary, on the program per15 formance measures described in section 7. 

16 SEC. 5. APPLICATIONS. 

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

18 entity shall submit an application to the Secretary at such 

19 time and in such manner as the Secretary may require. 

20 Such application shall include— 

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

22 eligible entity is seeking a grant, including— 

23 (A) how the eligible entity proposes to use 

24 the grant to improve the academic and life out25 comes of students in racial or socioeconomic 


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1 isolation in covered schools by supporting inter2 ventions that increase diversity for students in 

3 such covered schools; 

4 (B) in the case of an implementation 

5 grant, the implementation grant plan described 

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

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

8 available, a rationale based on current research, 

9 regarding how the program will increase diver10 sity; 

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

12 use any of the grant to benefit covered schools that 

13 are racially isolated, a description of how the eligible 

14 entity will identify and define racial isolation; 

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

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

17 covered schools, a description of how the eligible en18 tity will identify and define income level and socio19 economic status; 

20 (4) a description of the plan of the eligible enti21 ty for continuing the program after the grant period 

22 ends; 

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

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1 ment and student enrollment diversity, and teacher 

2 diversity; 

3 (6) an assurance that the eligible entity has 

4 conducted, or will conduct, robust parent and com5 munity engagement, while planning for and imple6 menting the program, such as through— 

7 (A) consultation with appropriate officials 

8 from Indian Tribes or Tribal organizations ap9 proved by the Tribes located in the area served 

10 by the eligible entity; 

11 (B) consultation with other community en12 tities, including local housing or transportation 

13 authorities; 

14 (C) public hearings or other open forums 

15 to inform the development of any formal strat16 egy to increase diversity; and 

17 (D) outreach to parents and students, in a 

18 language that parents and students can under19 stand, and consultation with students and fami20 lies in the targeted district or region that is de21 signed to ensure participation in the planning 

22 and development of any formal strategy to in23 crease diversity; 

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

25 the eligible entity plans to serve under the program 


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1 and the number of students to be served through ad2 ditional expansion of the program after the grant 

3 period ends; 

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

5 (A) cooperate with the Secretary in evalu6 ating the program, including any evaluation 

7 that might require data and information from 

8 multiple recipients of grants under section 4; 

9 and 

10 (B) engage in the best practices developed 

11 under section 3(a)(2); 

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

13 the eligible entity has considered the potential impli14 cations of the grant activities on the demographics 

15 and student enrollment of nearby covered schools 

16 not included in the activities of the grant; 

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

18 for an implementation grant, a description of how 

19 the eligible entity will— 

20 (A) implement, replicate, or expand a 

21 strategy based on a strong or moderate level of 

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

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

24 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

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


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1 (B) test a promising strategy to increase 

2 diversity in covered schools; 

3 (11) in the case of an application by a consor4 tium of local educational agencies, a specification of 

5 which agency is the lead applicant, and how the 

6 grant funds will be divided among the school dis7 tricts served by such consortium; and 

8 (12) in the case of an application by a State 

9 educational agency, a demonstration that the agency 

10 has procedures in place— 

11 (A) to assess and prevent the redrawing of 

12 school district lines in a manner that increases 

13 racial or socioeconomic isolation; 

14 (B) to assess the segregation impacts of 

15 new school construction proposals and to 

16 prioritize school construction funding that will 

17 foreseeably increase racial and economic inte18 gration; and 

19 (C) to include progress toward reduction of 

20 racial and economic isolation as a factor in its 

21 State plan under section 1111 of the Elemen22 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

23 U.S.C. 6311). 


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1 SEC. 6. USES OF FUNDS. 

2 (a) PLANNING GRANTS.—Each eligible entity that re3 ceives a planning grant under section 4 shall use the grant 

4 to support students in covered schools through the fol5 lowing activities: 

6 (1) Completing a comprehensive assessment of, 

7 with respect to the geographic area served by such 

8 eligible entity— 

9 (A) the educational outcomes and racial 

10 and socioeconomic stratification of children at11 tending covered schools; 

12 (B) an analysis of the location and capac13 ity of program and school facilities and the ade14 quacy of local or regional transportation infra15 structure; and 

16 (C) teacher diversity in covered schools, 

17 and plans for expanding teacher diversity. 

18 (2) Developing and implementing a robust fam19 ily, student, and community engagement plan, in20 cluding, where feasible, public hearings or other 

21 open forums that would precede and inform the de22 velopment of a formal strategy to improve diversity 

23 in covered schools. 

24 (3) Developing options, including timelines and 

25 cost estimates, for improving diversity in covered 

26 schools, such as weighted lotteries, revised feeder 


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1 patterns, school boundary redesign, or regional co2 ordination. 

3 (4) Developing an implementation plan based 

4 on community preferences among the options devel5 oped under paragraph (3). 

6 (5) Building the capacity to collect and analyze 

7 data that provide information for transparency, con8 tinuous improvement, and evaluation. 

9 (6) Developing an implementation plan to com10 ply with a court-ordered school desegregation plan. 

11 (7) Engaging in best practices developed under 

12 section 3(a)(2). 

13 (8) If applicable, developing an implementation 

14 plan to replace entrance exams or other competitive 

15 application procedures with methods of student as16 signment to promote racial and socioeconomic diver17 sity. 

18 (b) IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.— 

19 (1) IMPLEMENTATION GRANT PLAN.—Each eli20 gible entity that receives an implementation grant 

21 under section 4 shall implement a high-quality plan 

22 to support students in covered schools that in23 cludes— 

24 (A) a comprehensive set of strategies de25 signed to improve academic outcomes for all 


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1 students, particularly students of color and low2 income students, by increasing diversity in cov3 ered schools; 

4 (B) evidence of strong family and commu5 nity support for such strategies, including evi6 dence that the eligible entity has engaged in 

7 meaningful family and community outreach ac8 tivities; 

9 (C) goals to increase diversity, including 

10 teacher diversity, in covered schools over the 

11 course of the grant period; 

12 (D) collection and analysis of data to pro13 vide transparency and support continuous im14 provement throughout the grant period; and 

15 (E) a rigorous method of evaluation of the 

16 effectiveness of the program. 

17 (2) IMPLEMENTATION GRANT ACTIVITIES.— 

18 Each eligible entity that receives an implementation 

19 grant under section 4 may use the grant to carry 

20 out one or more of the following activities: 

21 (A) Recruiting, hiring, or training addi22 tional teachers, administrators, school coun23 selors, and other instructional and support staff 

24 in new, expanded, or restructured covered 


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1 schools, or other professional development ac2 tivities for staff and administrators. 

3 (B) Investing in specialized academic pro4 grams or facilities designed to encourage inter5 district school attendance patterns. 

6 (C) Developing or initiating a transpor7 tation plan for bringing students to and from 

8 covered schools, if such transportation is sus9 tainable beyond the grant period and does not 

10 represent a significant portion of the grant re11 ceived by an eligible entity under section 4. 

12 (D) Developing innovative and equitable 

13 school assignment plans. 

14 (E) Carrying out innovative activities de15 signed to increase racial and socioeconomic 

16 school diversity and engagement between chil17 dren from different racial, economic, and cul18 tural backgrounds. 

19 (F) Creating or improving systems and 

20 partnerships to create a one-stop enrollment 

21 process for students with multiple public school 

22 options, including making school information 

23 and data more accessible and easy to under24 stand, in order to ensure access to low poverty 

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1 dren and to promote racial and socioeconomic 

2 diversity. 

3 (G) Increasing teacher diversity in covered 

4 schools. 

5 SEC. 7. PERFORMANCE MEASURES. 

6 The Secretary shall establish performance measures 

7 for the programs and activities carried out through a 

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

9 shall track the progress of each eligible entity in— 

10 (1) improving academic and other develop11 mental or noncognitive outcomes for each subgroup 

12 described in section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) of the Ele13 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

14 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)(B)(xi)) that is served by the eligi15 ble entity on measures, including, as applicable, 

16 by— 

17 (A) increasing school readiness; 

18 (B) increasing student achievement and 

19 decreasing achievement gaps; 

20 (C) increasing high school graduation 

21 rates; 

22 (D) increasing readiness for postsecondary 

23 education and careers; 

24 (E) improving access to mental health and 

25 social-emotional learning; 


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1 (F) reducing school discipline rates; and 

2 (G) any other indicator the Secretary or el3 igible entity may identify; and 

4 (2) increasing diversity and decreasing racial or 

5 socioeconomic isolation in covered schools. 

6 SEC. 8. ANNUAL REPORTS. 

7 An eligible entity that receives a grant under section 

8 4 shall submit to the Secretary, at such time and in such 

9 manner as the Secretary may require, an annual report 

10 that includes— 

11 (1) a description of the efforts of the eligible 

12 entity to increase inclusivity; 

13 (2) information on the progress of the eligible 

14 entity with respect to the performance measures de15 scribed in section 7; 

16 (3) the data supporting such progress; 

17 (4) a description of how the eligible entity will 

18 continue to make improvements toward increasing 

19 diversity and decreasing racial or socioeconomic iso20 lation in covered schools and sustaining inclusion; 

21 and 

22 (5) information on the progress of regional pro23 grams on reducing racial and socioeconomic isolation 

24 in covered schools, if applicable. 


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1 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

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

4 2023 and each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years. 

5 SEC. 10. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

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

8 school’’ means— 

9 (A) a publicly-funded early childhood edu10 cation program; 

11 (B) a public elementary school; or 

12 (C) a public secondary school. 

13 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti14 ty’’ means a State educational agency, a local edu15 cational agency, a consortium of such agencies, an 

16 educational service agency, or a regional educational 

17 agency that at the time of the application of such el18 igible entity has significant achievement gaps and 

19 socioeconomic or racial segregation within or be20 tween the school districts served by such entity. 

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

22 service agency’’, ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local edu23 cational agency’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, 

24 and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the meanings 

25 given such terms in section 8101 of the Elementary 


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1 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

2 7801). 

3 (4) PUBLICLY-FUNDED EARLY CHILDHOOD

4 EDUCATION PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘publicly-funded 

5 early childhood education program’’ means an early 

6 childhood education program (as defined in section 

7 103(8) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

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

9 funds. 

10 SEC. 11. PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL CONTROL OF 

11 EDUCATION. 

12 No provision of this Act shall be construed to author13 ize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the 

14 United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or 

15 control over the curriculum, program of instruction, ad16 ministration, or personnel of any educational institution, 

17 school, or school system. 

Æ 


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