I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4497 

To establish or expand prekindergarten early learning programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 3, 2004 

Mr. KIND (for himself, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. OWENS, and Mr. 

SIMMONS) 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. 
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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, 
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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). 
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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 
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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 ex7 ceed— 

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 
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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 
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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 educational 

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. 
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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; 
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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 agencies; 

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 
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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 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal 

22 years 2005 through 2009. 

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