II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 197

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish 

a program to help States expand the education system to include at 

least 1 year of early education preceding the year a child enters kindergarten. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 17, 2003

Mrs. BOXER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

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

A BILL

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to establish a program to help States expand 

the education system to include at least 1 year of early 

education preceding the year a child enters kindergarten.

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 ‘‘Early Education Act 

5 of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 
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1 (1) In 1989 the Nation’s governors established 

2 a goal that all children would have access to high 

3 quality early education programs by the year 2000. 

4 As of January 1, 2003, this goal has still not been 

5 achieved. 

6 (2) Research suggests that a child’s early years 

7 are critical to the development of the brain. Early 

8 brain development is an important component of 

9 educational and intellectual achievement. 

10 (3) The National Research Council of the Na11 tional Academy of Sciences reported that early edu12 cation opportunities are necessary if children are 

13 going to develop the language and literacy skills nec14 essary to learn to read. 

15 (4) Evaluations of early education programs 

16 demonstrate that compared to children with similar 

17 backgrounds who have not participated in early edu18 cation programs, children who participate in such 

19 programs—

20 (A) perform better on reading and mathe21 matics achievement tests; 

22 (B) are more likely to stay academically 

23 near their grade level and make normal aca24 demic progress throughout elementary school; 
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1 (C) are less likely to be held back a grade 

2 or require special education services in elemen3 tary school; 

4 (D) show greater learning retention, initia5 tive, creativity, and social competency; and 

6 (E) are more enthusiastic about school and 

7 are more likely to have good attendance 

8 records. 

9 (5) Studies have estimated that for every dollar 

10 invested in quality early education, about 7 dollars 

11 are saved in later costs. 

12 SEC. 3. EARLY EDUCATION. 

13 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

14 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

15 the end the following: 

16 ‘‘TITLE X—EARLY EDUCATION 

17 ‘‘SEC. 10001. EARLY EDUCATION PROGRAM. 

18 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF EARLY EDUCATION.—In this 

19 section, the term ‘early education’ means not less than a 

20 half-day of schooling each week day during the academic 

21 year preceding the academic year a child enters kinder22 garten. 

23 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to es24 tablish a program to develop the foundation of early lit25 eracy and numerical training among young children by 
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1 helping State educational agencies expand the education 

2 system to include early education for all children. 

3 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 

5 to award grants to not less than 10 State edu6 cational agencies to enable the State educational 

7 agencies to expand the education system with pro8 grams that provide early education. 

9 ‘‘(2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The amount 

10 provided to a State educational agency under para11 graph (1) shall not exceed 50 percent of the cost of 

12 the program described in the application submitted 

13 pursuant to subsection (d). 

14 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—Each program assisted 

15 under this section—

16 ‘‘(A) shall be carried out by one or more 

17 local educational agencies, as selected by the 

18 State educational agency; 

19 ‘‘(B) shall be carried out—

20 ‘‘(i) in a public school building; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) in another facility by, or through 

22 a contract or agreement with, a local edu23 cational agency; 
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1 ‘‘(C) shall be available to all children 

2 served by a local educational agency carrying 

3 out the program; and 

4 ‘‘(D) shall only involve instructors who are 

5 licensed or certified in accordance with applica6 ble State law. 

7 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—Each State educational agency 

8 desiring a grant under this section shall submit an appli9 cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

10 accompanied by such information as the Secretary may 

11 require. Each application shall—

12 ‘‘(1) include a description of—

13 ‘‘(A) the program to be assisted under this 

14 section; and 

15 ‘‘(B) how the program will meet the pur16 pose of this section; and 

17 ‘‘(2) contain a statement of the total cost of the 

18 program and the source of the matching funds for 

19 the program. 

20 ‘‘(e) SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY.—In order to carry 

21 out the purpose of this section, the Secretary—

22 ‘‘(1) shall establish a system for the monitoring 

23 and evaluation of, and shall annually report to Con24 gress regarding, the programs funded under this 

25 section; and 
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1 ‘‘(2) may establish any other policies, proce2 dures, or requirements, with respect to the pro3 grams. 

4 ‘‘(f) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made 

5 available under this section shall be used to supplement, 

6 not supplant, other Federal, State, or local funds, includ7 ing funds provided under Federal programs such as the 

8 Head Start programs carried out under the Head Start 

9 Act and the Even Start family literacy program carried 

10 out under subpart 3 of part B of title I. 

11 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

13 $300,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 through 

14 2008.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

16 The table of contents in section 2 of the Elementary 

17 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. prec. 

18 6301) is amended by adding at the end the following:

‘‘TITLE X—EARLY EDUCATION 

‘‘Sec. 10001. Early education program.’’.

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