I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 954 
To amend the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act with respect 
to certain funding, testing, and evaluation requirements and to perma-
nently authorize an appropriation for such Act. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 4, 2025 
Mr. MOOLENAAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To amend the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act 
with respect to certain funding, testing, and evaluation 
requirements and to permanently authorize an appropria-
tion for such Act. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘SOAR Permanent Au-
thorization Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OPPOR-
TUNITY AND RESULTS ACT. 
(a) CHANGE IN ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENTS.— 
Section 3007(a)(5)(A)(i)(I) of the Scholarships for Oppor-
tunity and Results Act (sec. 38–1853.07(a)(5)(A)(i)(I), 
D.C. Official Code) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(I) is fully accredited by an ac-
crediting body with jurisdiction in the 
District of Columbia or that is recog-
nized by the Student and Visitor Ex-
change English Language Program 
administered by U.S. Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement; or’’. 
(b) REMOVAL OF STUDENT ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE 
LIMIT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3007(b) of such Act 
(sec. 38–1853.07 (b), D.C. Official Code) is amend-
ed— 
(A) in the header, by striking ‘‘AND PA-
RENTAL ASSISTANCE’’ and inserting ‘‘, PAREN-
TAL ASSISTANCE, AND STUDENT ACADEMIC 
ASSISTANCE’’; 
(B) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 
by 
striking 
‘‘$2,000,000’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘$2,200,000’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(3) The expenses of providing tutoring service 
to participating eligible students that need additional 
academic assistance. If there are insufficient funds 
to provide tutoring services to all such students in 
a year, the eligible entity shall give priority in such 
year to students who previously attended an elemen-
tary school or secondary school identified as one of 
the lowest-performing schools under the District of 
Columbia’s accountability system.’’. 
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 3007 
of such Act (sec. 38–1853.07, D.C. Official Code) is 
amended— 
(A) by striking subsection (c) and redesig-
nating subsection (d) as subsection (c); and 
(B) in subsection (c), as so redesignated by 
paragraph (A)— 
(i) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking 
‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 
‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 
(ii) in paragraph (3), by striking 
‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 
‘‘subsection (b)’’. 
(c) CHANGE IN STANDARDIZED TESTING REQUIRE-
MENTS.—Section 3008(h) of such Act (sec. 38– 
1853.08(h), D.C. Official Code) is amended— 
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(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 
3009(a)(2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3009(a)’’; 
(2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS.—The Insti-
tute of Education Sciences may administer assess-
ments to students participating in the evaluation 
under section 3009(a) for the purpose of conducting 
the evaluation under such section.’’; and 
(3) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘the nation-
ally norm-referenced standardized test described in 
paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘a nationally norm- 
referenced standardized test’’. 
(d) CHANGE
IN
EVALUATION
FREQUENCY
AND 
STANDARDS.—Section 3009(a) of such Act (sec. 38– 
1853.09(a), D.C. Official Code) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘annually’’ 
and inserting ‘‘regularly’’; 
(2) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by amending subparagraph (A)(i) to 
read as follows: 
‘‘(i) is rigorous; and’’; and 
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘im-
pact of the program’’ and all that follows 
through the end of the subparagraph and in-
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serting ‘‘impact of the program on academic 
progress and educational attainment.’’; 
(3) in paragraph (3)— 
(A) in the header, by striking ‘‘ON EDU-
CATION’’ and inserting ‘‘OF EDUCATION’’; 
(B) in subparagraph (A)— 
(i) 
by 
inserting 
‘‘the 
academic 
progress of’’ after ‘‘assess’’; and 
(ii) by striking ‘‘in each of grades 3’’ 
and all that follows through the end of the 
subparagraph and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 
(C) by striking subparagraph (B); and 
(D) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 
subparagraph (B); and 
(4) in paragraph (4)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘A comparison of the 
academic achievement of participating eli-
gible students who use an opportunity 
scholarship on the measurements described 
in paragraph (3)(B) to the academic 
achievement’’ and inserting ‘‘The academic 
progress of participating eligible students 
who use an opportunity scholarship com-
pared to the academic progress’’; and 
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(ii) by inserting ‘‘, which may include 
students’’ after ‘‘students with similar 
backgrounds’’; 
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘in-
creasing the satisfaction of such parents and 
students with their choice’’ and inserting ‘‘those 
parents’ and students’ satisfaction with the pro-
gram’’; 
(C) by striking subparagraphs (D) through 
(F) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(D) The high school graduation rates, 
college enrollment rates, college persistence 
rates, and college graduation rates of partici-
pating eligible students who use an opportunity 
scholarship compared with the rates of public 
school students described in subparagraph (A), 
to the extent practicable. 
‘‘(E) The college enrollment rates, college 
persistence rates, and college graduation rates 
of students who participated in the program as 
the result of winning the Opportunity Scholar-
ship Program lottery compared to the enroll-
ment, persistence, and graduation rates for stu-
dents who entered but did not win such lottery 
and who, as a result, served as the control 
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group for previous evaluations of the program 
under this division. Nothing in this subpara-
graph may be construed to waive section 
3004(a)(3)(A)(iii) with respect to any such stu-
dent. 
‘‘(F) The safety of the schools attended by 
participating eligible students who use an op-
portunity scholarship compared with the schools 
attended by public school students described in 
subparagraph (A), to the extent practicable.’’; 
and 
(D) in subparagraph (G), by striking 
‘‘achievement’’ and inserting ‘‘progress’’. 
(e) PERMANENT AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIA-
TION.—Section 3014 of such Act (sec. 38–1853.14, D.C. 
Official Code) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘$60,000,000 
for fiscal year 2012 and for each fiscal year through 
fiscal year 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘$75,000,000 for 
fiscal year 2024 and for each succeeding fiscal 
year’’; and 
(2) 
in 
subsection 
(b), 
by 
striking 
‘‘$60,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$75,000,000’’. 
Æ 
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