I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6380 

To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a grant program to make 

grants to the parents of students enrolled in elementary schools or 

secondary schools that, for any reason related to COVID–19, are failing 

to provide in-person instruction for each enrolled student for each school 

day of school year 2021–2022, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 12, 2022 

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. JOHNSON of 

Ohio, Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. LATURNER, Mr. 

STEIL, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. GARBARINO, Mr. BABIN, and Mr. 

OBERNOLTE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a grant 

program to make grants to the parents of students enrolled in elementary schools or secondary schools that, 

for any reason related to COVID–19, are failing to provide in-person instruction for each enrolled student for 

each school day of school year 2021–2022, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Open Schools Act’’. 

3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Parents are best equipped to make decisions 

6 for their children, including the educational setting 

7 that will best serve the interests and educational 

8 needs of their child. 

9 (2) After more than 2 years of the COVID–19 

10 pandemic, it is now known that pandemic-related 

11 school closures deprive children of the equalizing 

12 force of education. The pandemic is widening edu13 cational inequality and the learning gaps created by 

14 these shutdowns will only get even worse if they con15 tinue. 

16 (3) Peer interactions are a crucial ingredient to 

17 academic success. A Yale University study has found 

18 that the inability to be with friends and peers from 

19 different socioeconomic groups did more damage to 

20 children’s educational progress than any other factor 

21 and underscored the importance of having kids from 

22 across the socioeconomic spectrum learning together. 

23 (4) When schools close, parents are often asked 

24 to facilitate the learning of children at home and can 

25 struggle to perform this task. This is especially true 

26 for parents with limited resources which can be exVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:10 Jan 14, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6380.IH H6380

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1 acerbated even more for rural families without ac2 cess to broadband. 

3 (5) Despite what the mainstream media says 

4 about most parents across America working from 

5 home, that simply is not the case. In fact, the vast 

6 majority of parents do not have the work from home 

7 luxury many so-called experts would have you be8 lieve. This has further divided the United States be9 tween regular, hard-working parents and a new 

10 ‘‘laptop class’’ that only works remotely. These 

11 working-class parents do not have the ability to help 

12 their children learn when their school switches to re13 mote learning, even if only for a few days at a time. 

14 (6) Crucial benchmarks like achievement tests 

15 and high stakes examinations that determine admis16 sion or advancement to new education levels and in17 stitutions, are thrown into disarray when schools 

18 close. Strategies to postpone, skip, or administer ex19 aminations at a distance raise serious concerns 

20 about fairness, especially when access to learning be21 comes variable. Disruptions to assessments results in 

22 stress for students and their families and often trig23 ger disengagement. 

24 (7) Youth may be uniquely susceptible to nega25 tive mental health outcomes if they are experiencing 


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1 pandemic-related disruptions to in-person schooling 

2 in intersection with other adverse circumstances, 

3 such as racism, poverty, food insecurity, or home in4 stability. Loss of access to school-based mental 

5 health care may be of heightened importance for 

6 youth from low-income families, as they are most 

7 likely to receive mental health services solely from 

8 their school. 

9 (8) Online learning is no substitute for class10 room instruction. Nationally, on average, teachers 

11 say they’re working 2 fewer hours per day than 

12 when they were in their classrooms. And they esti13 mate that their students are spending half as much 

14 time learning, 3 hours a day, as they were before the 

15 coronavirus pandemic. 

16 (9) Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago 

17 public schools leadership insist schools are safe and 

18 have called the refusal of the Chicago Teachers 

19 Union to work in-person a strike and an illegal work 

20 action. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has 

21 confirmed schools are safe for students, including in 

22 Chicago. More than 300,000 public school students 

23 in Chicago were off in January after the district 

24 canceled classes when the Chicago Teachers Union 

25 voted to refuse orders to work in-person. ‘‘Our 


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1 schools are safe’’, Chicago public schools CEO Pedro 

2 Martinez said during a press conference on January 

3 4, 2022, after the results of the vote were an4 nounced. ‘‘There is no evidence that our schools 

5 have ever been unsafe this school year.’’. He added 

6 that Chicago schools rarely saw evidence of any 

7 major transmission. 

8 (10) Instead of pouring money into schools that 

9 are failing to stay open for full, in-person learning, 

10 the United States must instead use these taxpayer 

11 dollars to support children, not the teacher’s unions, 

12 and allow parents to make decisions about their 

13 child’s educational future. The United States should 

14 provide eligible parents the ability to elect to educate 

15 their child in an alternate manner, apart from their 

16 local public school that has closed for in-person 

17 learning. 

18 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education shall 

20 establish a grant program to make grants to parents of 

21 eligible students for the purposes described in subsection 

22 (d). 

23 (b) APPLICATION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

25 grant under this section, a parent of an eligible stuVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:10 Jan 14, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6380.IH H6380

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1 dent shall submit to the Secretary an application 

2 demonstrating that, for any reason related to 

3 COVID–19, the covered school in which such stu4 dent is enrolled for school year 2021–2022 is failing 

5 to provide in-person learning for each enrolled stu6 dent for each school day during such school year. 

7 (2) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 

8 shall accept applications under paragraph (1) on an 

9 annual rolling basis and make such application avail10 able as a standardized form in electronic and written 

11 format. 

12 (c) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—A parent of 1 or more eligi14 ble students whom the Secretary determines quali15 fies for a grant under this section shall receive such 

16 grant for each eligible student of such parent in an 

17 amount that does not exceed $10,000. An eligible 

18 student may not benefit from more than 1 grant 

19 under this section. 

20 (2) FUNDING.—To award such a grant, the 

21 Secretary shall— 

22 (A) require the State that provided funds 

23 under section 2001 of the American Rescue 

24 Plan Act of 2021 (20 U.S.C. 3401 note) to the 

25 local educational agency in which the applicable 


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1 covered school is located to return such funds 

2 to the Secretary; and 

3 (B) use such returned funds for such 

4 grant. 

5 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—Any amounts made available 

6 to a parent under this section may be used, with respect 

7 to an eligible student— 

8 (1) to pay the tuition and fees for a private ele9 mentary school or a private secondary school; 

10 (2) to pay the cost (such as the average per 

11 pupil price) of attending a public elementary school 

12 or secondary school that provides in-person school; 

13 (3) for private tutoring (including through a 

14 learning pod or microschool); 

15 (4) for the home school expenses; 

16 (5) to purchase educational materials, including 

17 instruction materials and textbooks; 

18 (6) for purchasing electronic devices to facili19 tate the education of such eligible student; or 

20 (7) for such other purposes as the Secretary de21 termines appropriate. 

22 (e) DOCUMENTATION.—The Secretary may request 

23 documentation from a recipient of a grant under this sec24 tion that demonstrates that such grant was used in ac25 cordance with subsection (d). 


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1 (f) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion shall be construed— 

3 (1) to impact any aspect of private, religious, or 

4 home education providers; 

5 (2) to exclude private, religious, or home edu6 cation providers from receiving funds pursuant to a 

7 grant under this section; or 

8 (3) to require a qualified educational service 

9 provider to alter any creed, practice, admissions pol10 icy, or curriculum in order to receive funds pursuant 

11 to a grant under this section. 

12 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 (1) ELIGIBLE STUDENT.—The term ‘‘eligible 

14 student’’ means a student who is enrolled for school 

15 year 2021–2022 in a covered school that, for any 

16 reason related to COVID–19, is failing to provide in17 person learning for each enrolled student for each 

18 school day during such school year. 

19 (2) COVERED SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘covered 

20 school’’ means an elementary school or secondary 

21 school located in a local educational agency that re22 ceived an amount under section 2001 of the Amer23 ican Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (20 U.S.C. 3401 

24 note). 


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

2 school’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘parent’’, and ‘‘Sec3 retary’’ have the meanings given such terms in sec4 tion 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu5 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

Æ 


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