I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5603 

To direct the Secretary of Education to award grants to local educational 

agencies to establish or improve world language or dual language programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023 

Mr. PANETTA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Education to award grants to 

local educational agencies to establish or improve world 

language or dual language programs, 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 ‘‘World Language Edu5 cation Assistance Program Act’’ or the ‘‘World LEAP 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to establish and make as3 sistance available to the World Language Education As4 sistance Program in order to— 

5 (1) establish or improve and carry out World 

6 Language Education Assistance Program grant pro7 grams; 

8 (2) support and uplift dual language and world 

9 language programs; and 

10 (3) provide students with the language skills 

11 necessary for an interconnected and global world. 

12 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

13 Congress finds the following: 

14 (1) Recent academic studies demonstrate that 

15 America’s language capacity has reached a crisis 

16 point, with only one fifth of United States residents 

17 speaking a language other than English at home, 90 

18 percent of United States-based employers reporting 

19 a reliance on employees with language skills other 

20 than English, and one third of foreign language-de21 pendent employers reporting a language skills gap. 

22 This language crisis has real world implications for 

23 business, government, the military, and diplomatic 

24 and intelligence services. 


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1 (2) The Department of Education does not 

2 have an innovative world languages program for ele3 mentary and secondary students. 

4 (3) The Nation’s education system is suffering 

5 from severe shortages of world language, English 

6 learner, and bilingual and dual language immersion 

7 educators that have been exacerbated by the 

8 COVID–19 pandemic. Currently, foreign language is 

9 the second highest teacher shortage subject area in 

10 the Nation, with 6% of English as Second Language 

11 or bilingual education positions vacant. 

12 (4) The lack of a Federal elementary and sec13 ondary school world language and dual language 

14 program, coupled with the continuing shortage of 

15 world language and bilingual teachers, creates sig16 nificant obstacles to providing equitable opportuni17 ties for all students to develop multilingualism. 

18 English learners, a population which has grown by 

19 2,100,000 between 2000 and 2019, have been dis20 proportionately impacted. 

21 (5) The Federal Government has a strong in22 terest in better preparing American students to com23 pete in the global economy. 

24 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) COMMUNITY-BASED HERITAGE LANGUAGE

2 SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘community-based heritage lan3 guage school’’ means a nonprofit, community-based 

4 school that offers classes for students in pre-kinder5 garten through grade 12, for the purpose of main6 taining and teaching the language and culture of 

7 non-English speaking communities. 

8 (2) DUAL LANGUAGE PROGRAM.—The term 

9 ‘‘dual language program’’ means— 

10 (A) with respect to pre-kindergarten and 

11 elementary school, a bilingual education pro12 gram in which students receive instruction in 

13 English and a language other than English for 

14 at least half of the instructional school day for 

15 each year of pre-kindergarten and elementary 

16 school, with the goal of achieving proficiency in 

17 both languages; and 

18 (B) with respect to grades 6 through 8, a 

19 bilingual education program in which students 

20 who participated in a program described in sub21 paragraph (A) continue to receive instruction in 

22 English and a language other than English for 

23 at least half of the instructional school day for 

24 each year of such grades 6 through 8. 


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1 (3) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘English 

2 learner’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘local educational 

3 agency’’, ‘‘professional development’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, 

4 and ‘‘State’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

5 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Act 

6 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

7 (4) HERITAGE LEARNER.—The term ‘‘heritage 

8 learner’’ means an individual— 

9 (A) with proficiency in, or a cultural con10 nection to (through family, community, or coun11 try of origin), a language other than English; 

12 and 

13 (B) who is studying such language in pre14 kindergarten, elementary school, or secondary 

15 school. 

16 (5) WORLD LANGUAGE PROGRAM.—The term 

17 ‘‘world language program’’ means a program that 

18 educates and prepares pre-kindergarten, elementary, 

19 or secondary school students to communicate, in a 

20 proficient and culturally competent manner, with in21 dividuals who speak a language other than English. 

22 SEC. 5. WORLD LANGUAGE EDUCATION ASSISTANCE PRO23 GRAM. 

24 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award, 

2 on a competitive basis, grants to local educational 

3 agencies to establish and carry out new, or improve 

4 existing world language or dual language programs. 

5 (2) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this 

6 section shall be for a period of 3 years and may be 

7 renewed at the discretion of the Secretary. 

8 (b) APPLICATION.—A local educational agency desir9 ing a grant under this section shall submit to the Sec10 retary an application at such time, in such manner, and 

11 containing such information and assurances as the Sec12 retary may require. 

13 (c) CRITERIA FOR SELECTION.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—In awarding a grant to a 

15 local educational agency under this section, the Sec16 retary shall select applications describing programs 

17 that— 

18 (A) provide approaches to instruction that 

19 lead to demonstrated growth in language pro20 ficiency from kindergarten through grade 12; 

21 (B) can be disseminated and duplicated in 

22 other local educational agencies; 

23 (C) have a plan for how the program will 

24 continue after the conclusion of the grant pe25 riod; and 


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1 (D) include a professional development 

2 component. 

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

4 section, the Secretary shall give priority to applica5 tions describing programs that— 

6 (A) include intensive summer professional 

7 development for world language program and 

8 dual language program teachers; 

9 (B) enter into partnerships with commu10 nity-based heritage language schools and com11 munities; 

12 (C) provide world language and dual lan13 guage immersion programs across all socio14 economic and demographic groups, including 

15 English learners and heritage learners; 

16 (D) are carried out through a consortium 

17 that shall include the agency receiving the grant 

18 and an elementary school or secondary school 

19 served by such agency, with a preference for 

20 consortia that include an institution of higher 

21 education; 

22 (E) collaborate with the appropriate State 

23 licensure office to broaden pathways for lan24 guage or dual language teacher certification; or 


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1 (F) conduct outreach and recruit sec2 ondary and post-secondary students of diverse 

3 socioeconomic backgrounds, including former 

4 English learners and heritage learners, into 

5 programs that prepare such students to become 

6 dual language or world language program 

7 teachers. 

8 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—A local educational agency that 

9 receives a grant under this section shall— 

10 (1) reserve not less than 20 percent of such 

11 grant funds to provide— 

12 (A) accessible pathways for paraprofes13 sionals to gain certification and licensure as 

14 world language or dual language teachers; and 

15 (B) professional development for certified 

16 and licensed world language or dual language 

17 teachers; and 

18 (2) reserve not more than 5 percent of such 

19 grant funds to evaluate the efficacy of programs car20 ried out with funds awarded under this section; and 

21 (3) after making the reservations required 

22 under paragraphs (1) and (2), use the remainder of 

23 such grant funds to establish and carry out new, 

24 and improve existing, world language or dual lanVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:40 Sep 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5603.IH H5603

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1 guage programs (including any associated adminis2 trative expenses). 

3 (e) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

5 after receiving a grant under this section, each local 

6 educational agency shall submit to the Secretary a 

7 report that— 

8 (A) describes the implementation of the 

9 program for which the local educational agency 

10 received the grant; and 

11 (B) includes data that identifies— 

12 (i) the number of students enrolled in 

13 language education at the elementary and 

14 secondary schools served by the local edu15 cational agency prior to receiving a grant 

16 under this section; 

17 (ii) the number of students enrolled in 

18 such language instruction as of the date of 

19 submission of the report; 

20 (iii) the number of certified bilingual 

21 educators working for the local educational 

22 agency prior to receiving a grant under 

23 this section; 

24 (iv) the number of certified bilingual 

25 educators working for the local educational 


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1 agency as of the date of submission of the 

2 report; and 

3 (v) levels of community support for 

4 language education— 

5 (I) prior to receiving a grant 

6 under this section; and 

7 (II) as of the date of submission 

8 of the report. 

9 (2) STUDENT PRIVACY.—A local educational 

10 agency shall prepare the report required under para11 graph (1) in a manner that protects the privacy 

12 rights of each student in accordance with section 

13 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 

14 U.S.C. 1232g; commonly known as the ‘‘Family 

15 Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’). 

16 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

18 $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and for each subsequent 

19 fiscal year. 

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