I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1617

To promote youth entrepreneurship education.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 26, 2001

Mr. KUCINICH (for himself, Mr. ANDREWS, and Mr. SOUDER) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the

Workforce

A BILL

To promote youth entrepreneurship education.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. EMPOWERING FUTURE ENTREPRENEURS.

4 Title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education

5 Act of 1965 is amended—

6 (1) by striking the title heading and inserting

7 the following:

8 ‘‘TITLE V—PROMOTING EQUITY

9 AND EMPOWERMENT’’; and

10 (2) by adding at the end the following new part:
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1 ‘‘PART D—EMPOWERING FUTURE

2 ENTREPRENEURS

3 ‘‘SEC. 5401. SHORT TITLE AND FINDINGS.

4 ‘‘(a) SHORT TITLE.—This part may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Future Entrepreneurs of America Act’’.

6 ‘‘(b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

7 ‘‘(1) In order to reach their career goals in our

8 dynamic American economy, young people need to

9 take personal responsibility to obtain the skills,

10 knowledge, constructive attitudes, and experiences

11 that will enable them to function as creative, self12 confident participants in the workforce.

13 ‘‘(2) Research has found that 61 percent of

14 high school students are interested in starting their

15 own business and 75 percent of students believe it

16 is important for the Nation’s schools to teach more

17 about entrepreneurship and starting a business.

18 ‘‘(3) States have begun to express increased in19 terest in entrepreneurship education. State edu20 cational leaders are recognizing that self-employment

21 is a viable career option for young people and are

22 exploring ways to better prepare them to own and

23 operate their own businesses.

24 ‘‘(4) As part of a lifelong learning process, en25 trepreneurship education helps to increase the moti26 vation of young people to learn, helps them develop
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1 a sense of individual opportunity, enhances their

2 personal growth, helps them develop an appreciation

3 of the importance of innovation, helps develop their

4 problem solving and leadership skills, helps them

5 learn to manage their finances, and helps them de6 velop the sort of optimistic outlook and self-reliant

7 attitudes that will benefit them for their entire work8 ing lives.

9 ‘‘(5) Entrepreneurship education integrates in10 struction in economic literacy, including how the

11 economy functions, the workings of the social secu12 rity system, and the importance of personal savings.

13 ‘‘(6) The entrepreneurs and inventors of tomor14 row are in our schools today. The entrepreneurial

15 spirit needs to be nurtured at all levels of our Na16 tion’s educational system especially beginning with

17 students in grades 7 through 12.

18 ‘‘SEC. 5402. STATE GRANT PROGRAM.

19 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—In any fiscal year in which the ap20 propriations under section 5408(a) equal or exceed

21 $50,000,000, the Secretary shall make grants to States

22 from allocations under subsection (d) to enable them to

23 carry out entrepreneurship education programs for stu24 dents in grades 7 through 12.
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1 ‘‘(b) AGENCY TO RECEIVE GRANT.—A grant award

2 to a State under subsection (a) shall be made to the State

3 educational agency.

4 ‘‘(c) STATE PLAN.—

5 ‘‘(1) APPROVED STATE PLAN REQUIRED.—No

6 State shall receive a grant under subsection (a) un7 less it has submitted to the Secretary a plan, which

8 the Secretary has approved.

9 ‘‘(2) STATE PLAN CONTENTS.—The State plan

10 described in paragraph (1) shall include—

11 ‘‘(A) a description of how the State will

12 use a grant;

13 ‘‘(B) a description of how the programs

14 supported by a grant will—

15 ‘‘(i) involve the business community;

16 and

17 ‘‘(ii) be coordinated with other rel18 evant Federal, State, regional, and local

19 programs; and

20 ‘‘(C) a description of how the State will

21 evaluate program performance.

22 ‘‘(d) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—

23 ‘‘(1) ALLOCATION FACTORS.—Except as other24 wise provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall

25 allocate the amounts made available to carry out
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1 this section pursuant to subsection (a) to each State

2 according to the relative populations in all the States

3 of students in grades 7 through 12, as determined

4 by the Secretary based on the most recent satisfac5 tory data.

6 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM ALLOCATION.—Subject to the

7 availability of appropriations and notwithstanding

8 paragraph (1), a State that has submitted an ap9 proved plan under subsection (c) shall be allocated

10 an amount not less than $400,000 for a fiscal year.

11 ‘‘(3) REALLOCATION.—In any fiscal year an al12 location under this subsection—

13 ‘‘(A) for a State that has not submitted a

14 plan under subsection (c); or

15 ‘‘(B) for a State whose plan submitted

16 under subsection (c) has been disapproved by

17 the Secretary;

18 shall be reallocated to the remaining States in ac19 cordance with paragraph (1).

20 ‘‘(e) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—

21 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED USES.—A grant made to a

22 State under subsection (a) shall be used—

23 ‘‘(A) to provide funds to local educational

24 agencies and public schools to carry out entre25 preneurship education programs for students in
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1 grades 7 through 12 based on the concept of

2 lifelong learning necessary to encourage the en3 trepreneurial spirit; and

4 ‘‘(B) to monitor and evaluate programs

5 supported under subparagraph (A).

6 ‘‘(2) PERMISSIBLE USE.—A grant made to a

7 State under subsection (a) may be used for profes8 sional development that helps to prepare teachers

9 and administrators for entrepreneurial education.

10 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—

11 A State receiving a grant under subsection (a) may

12 use not more than 4 percent of the total amount of

13 the grant in each fiscal year for the administrative

14 costs of carrying out this section.

15 ‘‘(f) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—Each agency re16 ceiving a grant as described in subsection (b) shall trans17 mit a report to the Secretary with respect to each fiscal

18 year for which a grant was received. The report shall de19 scribe the programs supported by the grant and the re20 sults of the State’s monitoring and evaluation of such pro21 grams.

22 ‘‘SEC. 5403. DIRECT LOCAL GRANT PROGRAM.

23 ‘‘In any fiscal year in which the appropriations under

24 section 5408(a) are less than $50,000,000, the Secretary

25 may make grants directly to local educational agencies and
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1 public schools to provide entrepreneurship education to

2 students in grades 7 through 12.

3 ‘‘SEC. 5404. CLEARINGHOUSE.

4 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall make a grant

5 to or execute a contract with an organization or institution

6 with substantial experience in the field of entrepreneurship

7 education to establish, operate, and maintain a national

8 clearinghouse (in this part referred to as the ‘‘Clearing9 house’’) for instructional materials and information re10 garding exemplary entrepreneurship education programs

11 and best practices.

12 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—An organization or institution

13 desiring to establish, operate, and maintain the Clearing14 house shall submit an application to the Secretary at such

15 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such informa16 tion, as the Secretary may reasonably require.

17 ‘‘(c) BASIS AND TERM.—The Secretary shall make

18 the grant or contract authorized by subsection (a) on a

19 competitive, merit basis for a term of 5 years.

20 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—The Clearinghouse shall use

21 the funds provided under a grant or contract made under

22 subsection (a)—

23 ‘‘(1) to maintain a repository of instructional

24 materials and related information regarding entre25 preneurship education programs for secondary
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1 schools, including middle schools, for use by States,

2 localities, and the general public;

3 ‘‘(2) to disseminate to States, localities, and the

4 general public, through electronic and other means,

5 instructional materials and related information re6 garding entrepreneurship education programs for

7 secondary schools, including middle schools; and

8 ‘‘(3) to the extent that resources allow, to pro9 vide technical assistance to States, localities, and the

10 general public on the design, establishment, and im11 plementation of entrepreneurship education pro12 grams for secondary schools, including middle

13 schools.

14 ‘‘(e) CONSULTATION.—The Clearinghouse shall con15 sult with the Small Business Administration with respect

16 to its activities under subsection (d).

17 ‘‘(f) SUBMISSION TO CLEARINGHOUSE.—Each Fed18 eral agency or department that develops entrepreneurship

19 education programs or instructional materials for such

20 programs shall submit to the Clearinghouse information

21 on the programs and copies of the materials.

22 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION OF COPYRIGHT LAWS.—In car23 rying out this section the Clearinghouse shall ensure com24 pliance with title 17, United States Code.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 5405. EVALUATION.

2 ‘‘(a) PERFORMANCE MEASURES.—The Secretary

3 shall develop measures to evaluate the performance of pro4 grams assisted under sections 5402 and 5403.

5 ‘‘(b) EVALUATION ACCORDING TO PERFORMANCE

6 MEASURES.—Applying the performance measures devel7 oped under subsection (a), the Secretary shall evaluate

8 programs assisted under sections 5402 and 5403—

9 ‘‘(1) to judge their performance and effective10 ness;

11 ‘‘(2) to identify which of the programs rep12 resent the best practices of entities developing entre13 preneurship education programs for students in

14 grades 7 through 12; and

15 ‘‘(3) to identify which of the programs can be

16 replicated and used to provide technical assistance to

17 States, localities, and the general public.

18 ‘‘SEC. 5406. REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.

19 ‘‘For each fiscal year for which there are appropria20 tions under section 5408(a), the Secretary shall transmit

21 a report to the Congress describing the status of the im22 plementation of this part. The report shall include the re23 sults of the evaluation required by section 5405 and a de24 scription of the programs supported under sections 5402

25 and 5403.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 5407. DEFINITIONS.

2 ‘‘In this part—

3 ‘‘(1) the term ‘entrepreneurship education’

4 means educational activities and experiences,

5 planned and supervised by qualified teachers, that

6 enable students to explore business ownership oppor7 tunities, acquire the skills and knowledge necessary

8 to start a business, and develop a range of entrepre9 neurial competencies that will help them to explore

10 and identify their lifelong career goals as business

11 owners or as competent employees; and

12 ‘‘(2) the term ‘qualified teacher’ means a teach13 er who holds a valid teaching certification or is con14 sidered to be qualified by the State educational

15 agency in the State in which the teacher works.

16 ‘‘SEC. 5408. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

17 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.—For the purposes of carrying

18 out this part, there are authorized to be appropriated

19 $60,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2002 through

20 2006.

21 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON FUNDS FOR CLEARING22 HOUSE.—The Secretary may use not less than 2 percent

23 and not more than 5 percent of amounts appropriated

24 under subsection (a) for each fiscal year to carry out sec25 tion 5404.
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1 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON FUNDS FOR SECRETARY’S

2 EVALUATION.—The Secretary may use not more than

3 $200,000 from the amounts appropriated under sub4 section (a) for each fiscal year to carry out section 5405.

5 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Ex6 cept as provided in subsection (b) and as necessary to

7 carry out section 5405 using amounts described in sub8 section (c), the Secretary shall not use any portion of the

9 amounts appropriated under subsection (a) for the costs

10 of administering this part.

11 ‘‘(e) FUNDS FOR GRANTS.—For each fiscal year the

12 Secretary shall use all amounts appropriated under sub13 section (a), other than the amounts described in sub14 sections (b) and (c), only for grants under section 5402

15 or 5403.’’.

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