I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2456 
To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the Secretary of 
Education to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement 
of students. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 20, 2013 
Mr. BISHOP of Utah (for himself, Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. JONES, 
Mr. AMODEI, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. STUTZMAN, Mr. WALDEN, Mr. WIL-
SON of South Carolina, Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan, Mr. NUNNELEE, Mr. 
CHABOT, Mr. POE of Texas, Mr. ISSA, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. 
GARDNER, Mr. PITTENGER, Mr. LABRADOR, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. 
KINZINGER of Illinois, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, and Mr. GINGREY of 
Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the 
Secretary of Education to combine certain funds to im-
prove the academic achievement of students. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; PURPOSE; 
DEFINITIONS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act’’ or the 
‘‘A PLUS Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; purpose; definitions. 
Sec. 2. Declaration of intent. 
Sec. 3. Transparency for results of public education. 
Sec. 4. Maintenance of funding levels spent by States on education. 
Sec. 5. Administrative expenses. 
Sec. 6. Equitable participation of private schools. 
(c) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act are as fol-
lows: 
(1) To give States and local communities max-
imum flexibility to determine how to improve aca-
demic achievement and implement education re-
forms. 
(2) To reduce the administrative costs and com-
pliance burden of Federal education programs in 
order to focus Federal resources on improving aca-
demic achievement. 
(3) To ensure that States and communities are 
accountable to the public for advancing the academic 
achievement of all students, especially disadvantaged 
children. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.— 
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(1) IN
GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided, the terms used in this Act have the meanings 
given the terms in section 9101 of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
7801 et seq.). 
(2) OTHER TERMS.—In this Act: 
(A) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The term ‘‘ac-
countability’’ means that public schools are an-
swerable to parents and other taxpayers for the 
use of public funds and shall report student 
progress to parents and taxpayers regularly. 
(B) DECLARATION OF INTENT.—The term 
‘‘declaration of intent’’ means a decision by a 
State, as determined by State Authorizing Offi-
cials or by referendum, to assume full manage-
ment responsibility for the expenditure of Fed-
eral funds for certain eligible programs for the 
purpose of advancing, on a more comprehensive 
and effective basis, the educational policy of 
such State. 
(C) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the 
meaning given such term in section 1122(e) of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6332(e)). 
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(D) STATE AUTHORIZING OFFICIALS.—The 
term ‘‘State Authorizing Officials’’ means the 
State officials who shall authorize the submis-
sion of a declaration of intent, and any amend-
ments thereto, on behalf of the State. Such offi-
cials shall include not less than 2 of the fol-
lowing: 
(i) The governor of the State. 
(ii) The highest elected education offi-
cial of the State, if any. 
(iii) The legislature of the State. 
(E) STATE
DESIGNATED
OFFICER.—The 
term ‘‘State Designated Officer’’ means the 
person designated by the State Authorizing Of-
ficials to submit to the Secretary, on behalf of 
the State, a declaration of intent, and any 
amendments thereto, and to function as the 
point-of-contact for the State for the Secretary 
and others relating to any responsibilities aris-
ing under this Act. 
SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF INTENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State is authorized to sub-
mit to the Secretary a declaration of intent permitting the 
State to receive Federal funds on a consolidated basis to 
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