I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3904

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish 

pilot projects to support and evaluate the provision of before-school 

activities that advance student academic achievement and encourage the 

establishment of, and increase participation in, school breakfast programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 4, 2004

Mr. KIND (for himself, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. SCHIFF, and Mr. PETRI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 

Act to establish pilot projects to support and evaluate 

the provision of before-school activities that advance student academic achievement and encourage the establishment of, and increase participation in, school breakfast 

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 ‘‘Educational Grants 

5 for Great Starts Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. PILOT PROJECTS TO SUPPORT AND EVALUATE BE2 FORE-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES. 

3 Section 18 of the Richard B. Russell National School 

4 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769) is amended by adding at the 

5 end the following: 

6 ‘‘(h) PILOT PROJECTS TO SUPPORT AND EVALUATE

7 BEFORE-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES.—

8 ‘‘(1) GRANTS TO STATE AGENCIES.—

9 ‘‘(A) GRANTS.—(i) Subject to funds made 

10 available under paragraph (5), the Secretary, in 

11 coordination with the Secretary of Education, 

12 shall make grants to 7 State agencies to con13 duct pilot projects in 17 elementary schools in 

14 each such State to—

15 ‘‘(I) support the provision of before16 school activities that advance student aca17 demic achievement and encourage the es18 tablishment of, or increase participation in, 

19 school breakfast programs; and 

20 ‘‘(II) evaluate the effect of providing 

21 before-school activities on participation in 

22 school breakfast programs. 

23 ‘‘(ii) In carrying out clause (i), the Sec24 retary shall make grants to 1 State in each of 

25 the 7 geographic regions of the United States 
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1 (as determined for purposes of programs of the 

2 Food and Nutrition Service). 

3 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION.—

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 

5 may make a grant to a State agency under 

6 subparagraph (A) only if the State agency 

7 submits to the Secretary an application 

8 that contains, at a minimum, the informa9 tion described in clause (ii). 

10 ‘‘(ii) INFORMATION.—The information 

11 described in this clause is the following: 

12 ‘‘(I) A description of how the 

13 State agency will provide oversight of 

14 pilot projects to be conducted in se15 lected elementary schools in the State 

16 to ensure that before-school activities 

17 under the projects will increase par18 ticipation in the school breakfast pro19 gram. 

20 ‘‘(II) A description of the meth21 ods to be used by the State agency to 

22 promote and make available all appro23 priate information concerning sub24 grants to be made under paragraph 

25 (2) for the conduct of pilot projects in 
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1 selected elementary schools in the 

2 State. 

3 ‘‘(III) A description of the meth4 ods to be used by the State agency to 

5 collect data for the evaluation of the 

6 pilot projects in accordance with para7 graph (4)(A). 

8 ‘‘(C) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In making 

9 grants to State agencies under subparagraph 

10 (A), the Secretary shall ensure that the pilot 

11 projects to be conducted in elementary schools 

12 under the jurisdiction of the local educational 

13 agencies are selected so as to—

14 ‘‘(i)(I) ensure the likelihood that pro15 posed before-school activities under the 

16 pilot projects will increase participation in 

17 school breakfast programs; and 

18 ‘‘(II) ensure coordination of the pilot 

19 projects with other programs and activities 

20 offered by the elementary schools; 

21 ‘‘(ii)(I) provide for an equitable dis22 tribution of pilot projects among urban 

23 and rural elementary schools; and 

24 ‘‘(II) provide for an equitable distribu25 tion of pilot projects among elementary 
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1 schools with and without school breakfast 

2 programs; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) provide for an equitable distribu4 tion of pilot projects among schools of 

5 varying family income levels. 

6 ‘‘(D) LIMITATION.—Not more than 1.5 

7 percent of the amount of a grant received by a 

8 State agency under subparagraph (A) may be 

9 used by the State agency for administrative ex10 penses of the pilot projects under this sub11 section. 

12 ‘‘(2) SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

13 AGENCIES.—

14 ‘‘(A) SUBGRANTS.—

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A State agency 

16 that receives a grant under paragraph (1) 

17 shall use amounts from the grant to make 

18 subgrants to local educational agencies to 

19 conduct pilot projects in accordance with 

20 this subsection to support the provision of 

21 before-school activities, including the ac22 tivities described in clause (ii), that ad23 vance student academic achievement and 

24 encourage the establishment of, or increase 
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1 participation in, school breakfast pro2 grams. 

3 ‘‘(ii) ACTIVITIES.—The activities de4 scribed in this clause are the following: 

5 ‘‘(I) Remedial education activities 

6 and academic enrichment learning 

7 programs. 

8 ‘‘(II) Mathematics and science 

9 education activities. 

10 ‘‘(III) Arts and music apprecia11 tion activities. 

12 ‘‘(IV) Entrepreneurial education 

13 activities. 

14 ‘‘(V) Tutoring services and men15 toring programs. 

16 ‘‘(VI) Telecommunications and 

17 technology education programs. 

18 ‘‘(VII) Expanded library service 

19 hours. 

20 ‘‘(VIII) Programs that provide 

21 assistance to students who have been 

22 truant or suspended to allow the stu23 dents to improve their academic 

24 achievement. 
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1 ‘‘(IX) Drug and violence preven2 tion programs, counseling programs, 

3 and character education programs. 

4 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION.—

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The State agency 

6 may make a subgrant to a local edu7 cational agency under subparagraph (A) 

8 only if the local educational agency sub9 mits to the State agency an application 

10 that contains, at a minimum, the informa11 tion described in clause (ii). 

12 ‘‘(ii) INFORMATION.—The information 

13 described in this clause is the following: 

14 ‘‘(I)(aa) Except as provided in 

15 item (bb), a description of the break16 fast program of each elementary 

17 school under the jurisdiction of the 

18 local educational agency within which 

19 a pilot project will be conducted, in20 cluding the number of students who 

21 participate in the program and the 

22 percentage of students who participate 

23 in the program in rural versus urban 

24 schools. 
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1 ‘‘(bb) In the case of an elemen2 tary school without a breakfast pro3 gram and within which a pilot project 

4 will be conducted, a description of a 

5 plan that outlines how the school will 

6 establish and operate a breakfast pro7 gram in coordination with the pilot 

8 project. 

9 ‘‘(II) A description of how the 

10 local educational agency, in conjunc11 tion with the school food authority, 

12 will carry out the pilot projects in ac13 cordance with this subsection, includ14 ing a description of (aa) the specific 

15 activities that will be carried out by 

16 the local educational agency to remove 

17 any perceived stigma associated with 

18 participation in the breakfast program 

19 and to increase participation in the 

20 program, and (bb) all other specific 

21 activities that will be carried out 

22 under the projects. 

23 ‘‘(III) A description of a pro24 posed budget to carry out the pilot 

25 projects. 
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1 ‘‘(C) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In making 

2 subgrants to local educational agencies under 

3 subparagraph (A), the State agency shall en4 sure that the local educational agencies have 

5 under their jurisdiction a sufficient number of 

6 elementary schools that are not participating in 

7 the pilot projects to permit a valid evaluation of 

8 the results of the pilot projects. 

9 ‘‘(D) DURATION OF PILOT PROJECTS.—A 

10 local educational agency that receives a 

11 subgrant under subparagraph (A) to conduct a 

12 pilot project in accordance with this subsection 

13 shall conduct the project during a period of not 

14 less than 3 successive school years. 

15 ‘‘(E) MINIMUM AMOUNT OF AWARDS TO

16 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.—Subject to the avail17 ability of funds of a subgrant provided to a 

18 local educational agency under subparagraph 

19 (A) to conduct a pilot project in accordance 

20 with this subsection, the minimum amount pro21 vided to an elementary school under the pilot. 

22 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION.—Amounts provided under a 

23 grant or subgrant made under this subsection may 

24 not be used to provide a Federal reimbursement for 
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1 school breakfasts under the school breakfast pro2 gram. 

3 ‘‘(4) EVALUATION; REPORT.—

4 ‘‘(A) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall 

5 conduct an evaluation of the pilot projects con6 ducted by local educational agencies under this 

7 subsection with respect to the establishment of, 

8 and increased participation in, school breakfast 

9 programs. 

10 ‘‘(B) REPORT.—Not later than September 

11 30, 2006, the Secretary shall prepare and sub12 mit to Congress a report that contains the re13 sults of the evaluation conducted under sub14 paragraph (A). 

15 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

16 ‘‘(A) GENERAL AUTHORIZATION.—There is 

17 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 

18 subsection (other than paragraph (4)) 

19 $6,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2005 

20 through 2007. 

21 ‘‘(B) EVALUATION.—There is authorized 

22 to be appropriated to carry out paragraph (4) 

23 $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.’’.

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