I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5084
To authorize the Secretary of Education to make formula grants to States 
to ensure that families have access to high-quality, voluntary preschool 
education, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 15, 2004
Ms. SOLIS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to make formula 
grants to States to ensure that families have access 
to high-quality, voluntary preschool education, and for 
other purposes.
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 ‘‘Smart from the Start 
Preschool Education for America Act of 2004’’.
SEC. 2. FORMULA GRANTS TO STATES FOR PRESCHOOL 
EDUCATION. 
(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to help 
America’s families obtain high-quality, voluntary preschool 
education, thereby providing to each child the best possible 
start in life and an equal opportunity to succeed. 
(b) GRANTS.—For the activities described in sub-
section (c), the Secretary of Education, in consultation 
with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall 
make a grant each fiscal year to each State that submits 
an application in accordance with subsection (e). 
(c) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—A funding agreement 
for a grant under this Act is that the State involved will 
expend the grant only for providing families in the State 
with access to high-quality, voluntary preschool education. 
(d) PROGRAM QUALITY STANDARDS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—A funding agreement for a 
grant under this Act is that the State involved will 
meet or exceed the requirements of each of the pro-
gram quality standards described in paragraph (2). 
(2) STANDARDS.—For purposes of this Act, the 
Secretary shall develop program quality standards 
based on the recommendations of an independent 
panel of experts convened by the National Academy 
of Sciences.
(e) APPLICATION.—A grant application is in accord-
ance with this Act if the application—
(1) includes each funding agreement described 
in this Act; 
(2) with respect to such agreements, provides 
assurances of compliance satisfactory to the Sec-
retary; and 
(3) is in such form, is made in such manner, 
and contains such agreements, assurances, and in-
formation as the Secretary determines to be nec-
essary to carry out this Act. 
(f) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—
(1) AMOUNTS RESERVED.—
(A) TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS.—The 
Secretary shall reserve not to exceed one half of 
1 percent of the amount appropriated to carry 
out this Act in each fiscal year for payments to 
the outlying areas to be allotted in accordance 
with their respective needs. 
(B) INDIAN TRIBES.—The Secretary shall 
reserve not less than 1 percent, and not more 
than 2 percent, of the amount appropriated to 
carry out this Act in each fiscal year for pay-
ments to Indian tribes and tribal organizations 
with applications approved under this section.
(2) STATE ALLOTMENT.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts ap-
propriated to carry out this Act for each fiscal 
year remaining after reservations under para-
graph (1), the Secretary shall allot to each 
State (except those described in paragraph (1)) 
an amount equal to the sum of—
(i) an amount that bears the same 
ratio to 50 percent of such remainder as 
the product of the young child factor of the 
State and the allotment percentage of the 
State bears to the sum of the cor-
responding products for all States; and 
(ii) an amount that bears the same 
ratio to 50 percent of such remainder as 
the product of the school lunch factor of 
the State and the allotment percentage of 
the State bears to the sum of the cor-
responding products for all States. 
(B) YOUNG
CHILD
FACTOR.—The term 
‘‘young child factor’’ means the ratio of the 
number of children in the State under 5 years 
of age to the number of such children in all 
States as provided by the most recent annual 
estimates of population in the States by the
Census Bureau of the Department of Com-
merce. 
(C) SCHOOL LUNCH FACTOR.—The term 
‘‘school lunch factor’’ means the ratio of the 
number of children in the State who are receiv-
ing free or reduced price lunches under the 
school lunch program established under the 
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) to the number of such 
children in all the States as determined annu-
ally by the Department of Agriculture. 
(D) ALLOTMENT PERCENTAGE.—
(i) IN GENERAL.—The allotment per-
centage for a State is determined by divid-
ing the per capita income of all individuals 
in the United States, by the per capita in-
come of all individuals in the State. 
(ii) LIMITATION.—If an allotment per-
centage determined under clause (i)—
(I) exceeds 1.2 percent, then the 
allotment percentage of that State 
shall be considered to be 1.2 percent; 
and
(II) is less than 0.8 percent, then 
the allotment percentage of the State 
shall be considered to be 0.8 percent. 
(iii) PER CAPITA INCOME.—For pur-
poses of clause (i), per capita income shall 
be—
(I) determined at 2-year inter-
vals; 
(II) applied for the 2-year period 
beginning on October 1 of the first 
fiscal year beginning on the date such 
determination is made; and 
(III) equal to the average of the 
annual per capita incomes for the 
most recent period of 3 consecutive 
years for which satisfactory data are 
available from the Department of 
Commerce at the time such deter-
mination is made. 
(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ has the meaning 
given to such term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 
U.S.C. 450b). 
(2) The term ‘‘outlying area’’ includes—