I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1476

To establish or expand prekindergarten early learning programs.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 4, 2001

Mr. KIND introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To establish or expand prekindergarten early learning

programs.

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 ‘‘Providing Resources

5 and Education for Kids Act (Pre-K)’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Kindergarten teachers estimate that 1 in 3

9 children enters the classroom unprepared to meet

10 the challenges of school.
2

•HR 1476 IH

1 (2) A 1998 report regarding the prevention of

2 reading difficulties in young children found that—

3 (A) preschool children need high quality

4 language and literacy environments in and out

5 of their homes; and

6 (B) children need to arrive in the first

7 grade with strong language and cognitive skills

8 and the motivation to learn to read in order to

9 benefit from classroom instruction.

10 (3) The first 5 years is a very critical time in

11 a child’s development, and a child’s brain develop12 ment is far more susceptible to adverse influences

13 than had been previously realized.

14 (4) High quality prekindergarten programs can

15 affect a child’s long-term success in areas such as

16 school achievement, higher earnings as adults, and

17 decreased involvement with the criminal justice sys18 tem.

19 (5) Studies of several State prekindergarten ini20 tiatives offer convincing evidence of the benefits of

21 early education for children at risk of school failure.

22 These benefits include higher mathematics and read23 ing achievement, stronger learning skills, increased

24 creativity, better school attendance, improved health,
3

•HR 1476 IH

1 and greater involvement by parents in their chil2 dren’s education.

3 (6) Only 1 State, Georgia, currently has a pre4 kindergarten initiative that is universally available to

5 all children in the State.

6 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to improve

7 school readiness for young children by providing grants

8 to States to assist in the creation or expansion of early

9 childhood education programs for children ages 5 and

10 under.

11 SEC. 2. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation

13 with the Secretary of the Department of Health and

14 Human Services, is authorized to provide grants to State

15 educational agencies, or their equivalent, to allow such

16 agencies to establish or expand prekindergarten early

17 learning programs.

18 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—

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

20 grant award under this Act, a State shall submit an

21 application to the Secretary at such time and in

22 such form and manner as the Secretary may reason23 ably require and include the information described in

24 paragraph (2).
4

•HR 1476 IH

1 (2) APPLICATION.—The application referred to

2 in paragraph (1) shall include, at a minimum—

3 (A) a description of the prekindergarten

4 early learning program that the State will es5 tablish;

6 (B) a statement regarding how the State

7 educational agency will administer funds to

8 local educational agencies;

9 (C) a description of the methods to be used

10 to reach out to local educational agencies to

11 promote this new program and ensure that in12 formation is distributed on an equitable basis to

13 all local educational agencies;

14 (D) a description of the goals in imple15 menting a prekindergarten early learning pro16 gram and how such goals will be achieved;

17 (E) a description regarding how public

18 schools and community partnerships may work

19 together to reach the maximum number of chil20 dren;

21 (F) a description regarding how the State

22 educational agency will share information with

23 other local educational agencies regarding suc24 cessful and innovative programs; and
5

•HR 1476 IH

1 (G) a description of the long-term strate2 gies for financing prekindergarten early learn3 ing programs.

4 (c) FEDERAL SHARE.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the

6 cost of projects funded under this Act shall not

7 exceed—

8 (A) 50 percent for the first fiscal year;

9 (B) 45 percent for the second fiscal year;

10 (C) 40 percent for the third fiscal year;

11 (D) 30 percent for the fourth fiscal year;

12 and

13 (E) 25 percent for the fifth fiscal year and

14 each subsequent year.

15 (2) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—A State

16 educational agency or local educational agency shall

17 use funds received under this Act only to supplement

18 the amount of funds that would, in the absence of

19 such Federal funds, be made available from non20 Federal sources for the education of children partici21 pating in programs assisted under this Act, and not

22 to supplant such funds.

23 SEC. 3. DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.

24 (a) RESERVATION FOR OUTLYING AREAS.—From the

25 amount made available under section 7 to carry out this
6

•HR 1476 IH

1 Act, the Secretary shall reserve a total of 1 percent to

2 provide assistance to the outlying areas on the basis of

3 their respective need for such assistance according to such

4 criteria as the Secretary determines will best carry out the

5 purpose of this Act.

6 (b) STATE DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary shall allo7 cate the remainder of the amount made available under

8 section 7 (after the reservation in subsection (a)) among

9 eligible State educational agencies as follows:

10 (1) 50 percent of such amount which bears the

11 same ratio as the number of children ages 5 and

12 under, inclusive, in the State bears to the number of

13 such children in all States.

14 (2) 50 percent of such amount shall be distrib15 uted according to each State’s share of allocations

16 under part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec17 ondary Education Act of 1965.

18 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS.—Of the amount made

19 available to a State educational agency under subsection

20 (b), such agency may use not more than 5 percent of such

21 amount for administrative purposes.

22 SEC. 4. LOCAL ACTIVITIES.

23 (a) LOCAL APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive

24 a grant award under this Act, a local educational agency
7

•HR 1476 IH

1 shall submit an application to the State educational agen2 cy that includes—

3 (1) a description of its proposed prekinder4 garten early learning program;

5 (2) the goals and standards for such a pro6 gram;

7 (3) a description of how the agency may work

8 in conjunction with child care providers outside of

9 the public schools to provide community-based kin10 dergarten early learning programs; and

11 (4) any other information the State educational

12 agency may reasonably require.

13 (b) GENERAL USES OF FUNDS.—A local education

14 agency that receives a grant award under this Act shall

15 use such funds to establish or expand a prekindergarten

16 early learning program for children ages 5 and under in

17 accordance with subsection (c).

18 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—Each local educational agency

19 that receives funds under this Act for a prekindergarten

20 early learning program shall—

21 (1) make available transportation for children

22 to participate in such programs; and

23 (2) ensure that the ratio of children to staff for

24 a prekindergarten early learning program does not

25 exceed 18:2.
8

•HR 1476 IH

1 (d) PERMISSIBLE USES OF FUNDS.—A local edu2 cational agency that receives funds under this Act may

3 use such funds—

4 (1) for professional development for prekinder5 garten teachers and teacher assistants;

6 (2) to provide health care services, such as pri7 mary preventative health and safety programs and

8 health screening programs, and to promote enroll9 ment in health insurance programs;

10 (3) to work in conjunction with child care pro11 viders outside of the public schools to provide com12 munity-based prekindergarten early learning pro13 grams; and

14 (4) to increase salaries for child care providers

15 who work in prekindergarten early learning pro16 grams;

17 (5) to provide funds to community partnerships.

18 SEC. 5. ACCOUNTABILITY.

19 (a) LOCAL REPORTS.—Each local educational agency

20 that receives a grant award under this Act shall submit

21 a report to the State educational agency every 2 years

22 that—

23 (1) describes the agency’s activities;
9

•HR 1476 IH

1 (2) reports the number of children being served

2 by new or expanded prekindergarten early learning

3 programs;

4 (3) describes any improvements in student

5 achievement and school readiness; and

6 (4) describes how the agency has reached the

7 goals set forth in its application under section

8 4(a)(1) in providing early learning programs for

9 children ages 5 and under.

10 (b) STATE REPORTS.—Each State educational agen11 cy that receives a grant award under this Act shall submit

12 to the Secretary, not less than once every 2 years, a de13 tailed summary of the information submitted under sub14 section (a). Such report shall also include a description

15 regarding—

16 (1) how the State educational agency adminis17 tered funds to the local educational agency;

18 (2) the measures taken and the effectiveness of

19 such efforts of the State educational agency in

20 reaching out to local educational agencies to promote

21 the program and ensuring information was distrib22 uted on an equitable basis;

23 (3) how the State educational agency shared in24 formation with other local educational agencies re25 garding successful and innovative programs; and
10

•HR 1476 IH

1 (4) the status of the State educational agency

2 in developing long-term strategies for financing pre3 K early learning programs.

4 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

5 For purposes of this Act:

6 (1) The term ‘‘community partnership’’ means

7 an alliance between a local educational agency and

8 1 or more of the following entities:

9 (A) Child care agency.

10 (B) Special education provider.

11 (C) Community-based organization.

12 (2) The term ‘‘outlying area’’ means the Com13 monwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States

14 Virgin Islands.

15 (3) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

16 of Education.

17 (4) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the 50

18 States and the District of Columbia.

19 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

20 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

21 this Act—

22 (1) $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2002;

23 (2) $750,000,000 for fiscal year 2003; and
11

•HR 1476 IH

1 (3) such sums as may be necessary for each of

2 fiscal years 2004 through 2006.

Æ