I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2425 

To direct the Secretary of Education to make allotments to States to carry 

out full-day kindergarten programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2023 

Mr. GALLEGO (for himself, Ms. JACOBS, and Mr. TORRES of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Education to make allotments 

to States to carry out full-day kindergarten programs, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Universal Full-Day 

5 Kindergarten Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

8 grant program to make grants in accordance with the forVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2425.IH H2425

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1 mula described in subsection (b) to States to carry out 

2 full-day kindergarten programs. 

3 (b) FORMULA.— 

4 (1) SECRETARIAL RESERVATIONS.— 

5 (A) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—From the 

6 amount appropriated under section 6 for a fis7 cal year, the Secretary shall reserve 2 percent 

8 of such amount for technical assistance (includ9 ing capacity building) to States. 

10 (B) SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.—From 

11 the amount appropriated under section 6 for a 

12 fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve one-half 

13 of 1 percent for the Secretary of the Interior 

14 for programs under this Act in schools operated 

15 or funded by the Bureau of Indian Education, 

16 Indian tribes and tribal organizations, or con17 sortia of Indian tribes and tribal organizations. 

18 (C) OUTLYING AREAS.—From the amount 

19 appropriated under section 6 for a fiscal year, 

20 the Secretary shall reserve one-half of 1 percent 

21 for the outlying areas to be distributed among 

22 those outlying areas on the basis of their rel23 ative need, as determined by the Secretary, in 

24 accordance with the purpose of this Act. 

25 (2) STATE ALLOTMENTS.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—From the amount ap2 propriated under section 6 for a fiscal year that 

3 remains after the Secretary makes the reserva4 tions under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 

5 allot to each State with an approved State plan 

6 under section 3(a), an amount that bears the 

7 same relationship to the remainder as the 

8 amount the State received under subpart 2 of 

9 part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec10 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6331 

11 et seq.) for the preceding fiscal year bears to 

12 the amount all States received under that sub13 part (20 U.S.C. 6331 et seq.) for the preceding 

14 fiscal year. 

15 (B) MINIMUM AMOUNT.—No State receiv16 ing an allotment under this paragraph shall re17 ceive less than one-half of 1 percent of the total 

18 amount allotted under this paragraph. 

19 (C) REALLOTMENT.—If a State does not 

20 receive an allotment under this paragraph for a 

21 fiscal year, the Secretary shall reallot the 

22 amount of the State’s allotment to the remain23 ing States in accordance with this paragraph. 

24 (D) STATE RESERVATIONS.— 


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1 (i) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—A State 

2 may reserve not more than 2 percent of 

3 the allotment received by State under this 

4 paragraph for administrative purposes, in5 cluding the activities described in para6 graphs (2) and (3) of section 3(a). 

7 (ii) LOCAL ALLOCATIONS.—A State 

8 shall reserve not less than 98 percent of 

9 the allotment received by the State under 

10 this paragraph to make allocations to local 

11 educational agencies under paragraph (3). 

12 (3) ALLOCATIONS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

13 AGENCIES.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—From the funds re15 served by a State under paragraph (2)(D), the 

16 State shall allocate to each local educational 

17 agency in the State that has an application ap18 proved by the State under section 3(b), an 

19 amount that bears the same relationship to the 

20 total amount of such reservation as the amount 

21 the local educational agency received under sub22 part 2 of part A of title I of the Elementary 

23 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

24 U.S.C. 6331 et seq.) for the preceding fiscal 

25 year bears to the total amount received by all 


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1 local educational agencies in the State under 

2 such subpart (20 U.S.C. 6331 et seq.) for the 

3 preceding fiscal year. 

4 (B) MINIMUM LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN5 CY ALLOCATION.—No allocation to a local edu6 cational agency under this paragraph may be 

7 made in an amount that is less than $10,000, 

8 subject to subparagraph (D). 

9 (C) CONSORTIA.—Local educational agen10 cies in a State may form a consortium with 

11 other surrounding local educational agencies 

12 and combine the funds each such agency in the 

13 consortium receives under this paragraph to 

14 jointly carry out the activities described in this 

15 section 4. 

16 (D) RATABLE REDUCTION.—If the amount 

17 reserved by the State under paragraph 

18 (2)(D)(ii) is insufficient to make allocations to 

19 local educational agencies in an amount equal 

20 to the minimum allocation described in sub21 paragraph (B), such allocations shall be ratably 

22 reduced. 

23 SEC. 3. STATE PLANS; LOCAL APPLICATIONS. 

24 (a) STATE PLANS.—In order to receive an allotment 

25 under this section for any fiscal year, a State shall submit 


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1 a plan to the Secretary, at such time and in such manner 

2 as the Secretary may reasonably require. Each plan sub3 mitted by a State under this section shall include the fol4 lowing: 

5 (1) A description of how the State will use 

6 funds reserved under section 2(b)(2)(D)(i). 

7 (2) A description of how the State will ensure 

8 that the allocations made to local educational agen9 cies meet the requirements of section 2(b)(3). 

10 (3) Assurances that the State will— 

11 (A) review existing resources and full-day 

12 kindergarten programs across the State and co13 ordinate such resources and programs with the 

14 State plan submitted under this subsection and 

15 the funds received under this Act; 

16 (B) monitor the implementation of activi17 ties under this Act and provide technical assist18 ance to local educational agencies in carrying 

19 out such activities; and 

20 (C) provide for equitable access for all stu21 dents to the activities supported under this Act, 

22 including aligning those activities with the re23 quirements of other Federal laws. 

24 (b) LOCAL APPLICATIONS.—To receive an allocation 

25 under this Act, a local educational agency shall submit an 


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1 application to the applicable State at such time, in such 

2 manner, and containing such information as may be re3 quired by such State. 

4 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS. 

5 A local educational agency that receives an allocation 

6 under this section shall use the allocation to establish or 

7 maintain a full-day kindergarten program that— 

8 (1) has a duration of at least 5 hours per 

9 school day; 

10 (2) permits children who are not younger than 

11 age 5 or older than age 6 to be enrolled in such pro12 gram, except that a program that permits children 

13 who are not younger than age 4 or older than age 

14 6 meets the requirements of this paragraph; 

15 (3) does not require payment for participation 

16 in such program; 

17 (4) is offered for the full school year; 

18 (5) is taught by teachers who meet the applica19 ble professional qualifications (including licensure 

20 and certification requirements) for kindergarten 

21 teachers working in the geographic area in which the 

22 program is located; 

23 (6) includes academic standards that prepare 

24 students to meet grade-level benchmarks; 


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1 (7) may include standards related to cognitive 

2 development, socio-emotional learning, physical and 

3 behavioral skills development, and recreational activ4 ity; and 

5 (8) in a case of a program supported by para6 professionals, is supported by paraprofessionals who 

7 meet the applicable professional qualifications (in8 cluding licensure and certification requirements) for 

9 paraprofessionals working in the geographic area in 

10 which the program is located. 

11 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

12 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 

14 shall conduct a study and submit a report to Congress 

15 that— 

16 (1) specifies the number of States, local edu17 cational agencies, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, 

18 and outlying areas that offer full-day kindergarten 

19 programs; and 

20 (2) assesses the availability of such programs to 

21 individuals in each such entity. 

22 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

24 this section such sums as may be necessary for each of 

25 fiscal years 2024 through 2029. 


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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this section: 

3 (1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘local edu4 cational agency’’ and ‘‘outlying area’’ have the 

5 meanings given the terms in section 8101 of the Ele6 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

7 U.S.C. 7801). 

8 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

9 the Secretary of Education. 

10 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

11 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the 

12 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

13 (4) TRIBE; TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The terms 

14 ‘‘Indian tribe’’ and ‘‘tribal organization’’ have the 

15 meanings given such terms in section 5212 of the 

16 Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C. 

17 2511). 

Æ 


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