II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2998 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 11, 2014 

Mr. VITTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To allow for the portability of funds under title I of the 

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 

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 ‘‘Expanding School 

5 Choice Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TITLE I PORTABILITY. 

7 Part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

8 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) is amend9 ed by adding at the end the following: 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2998 RDH

1 ‘‘SEC. 1128. TITLE I FUNDS FOLLOW THE LOW-INCOME 

2 CHILD STATE OPTION. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro4 vision of this title or any other provision of law and to 

5 the extent permitted under State law, a State educational 

6 agency may allocate grant funds under this part among 

7 the local educational agencies in the State based on the 

8 number of eligible children enrolled in the public schools 

9 served by each local educational agency and the State-ac10 credited private schools within each local educational 

11 agency’s geographic jurisdiction. 

12 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE CHILD.— 

13 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term 

14 ‘eligible child’ means a child aged 5 to 17, inclusive, 

15 from a family with an income below the poverty level 

16 on the basis of the most recent satisfactory data 

17 published by the Department of Commerce. 

18 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA OF POVERTY.—In determining 

19 the families with incomes below the poverty level for 

20 the purposes of this section, a State educational 

21 agency shall use the criteria of poverty used by the 

22 Census Bureau in compiling the most recent decen23 nial census, as the criteria have been updated by in24 creases in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 

25 Consumers, published by the Bureau of Labor Sta26 tistics. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2998 RDH

1 ‘‘(c) STUDENT ENROLLMENT IN PUBLIC AND PRI2 VATE SCHOOLS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IDENTIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE CHIL4 DREN.—On an annual basis, on a date to be deter5 mined by the State educational agency, each local 

6 educational agency that receives grant funding in ac7 cordance with subsection (a) shall inform the State 

8 educational agency of the number of eligible children 

9 enrolled in public schools served by the local edu10 cational agency and the State-accredited private 

11 schools within the local educational agency’s geo12 graphic jurisdiction. 

13 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

14 AGENCIES.—Based on the identification of eligible 

15 children in paragraph (1), the State educational 

16 agency shall provide to a local educational agency an 

17 amount equal to the sum of the amount available for 

18 each eligible child in the State multiplied by the 

19 number of eligible children identified by the local 

20 educational agency under paragraph (1). 

21 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION TO SCHOOLS.—Each local 

22 educational agency that receives funds under para23 graph (2) shall distribute such funds to the public 

24 schools served by the local educational agency and 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2998 RDH

1 State-accredited private schools within the local edu2 cational agency’s geographic jurisdiction— 

3 ‘‘(A) based on the number of eligible chil4 dren enrolled in such schools; and 

5 ‘‘(B) in a manner that would, in the ab6 sence of such Federal funds, supplement the 

7 funds made available from non-Federal re8 sources for the education of pupils participating 

9 in programs under this subpart, and not to sup10 plant such funds.’’. 

Æ 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS