I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1331
To promote youth entrepreneurship education.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 25, 1999
Mr. KUCINICH (for himself, Mr. CLAY, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. KILDEE, Mr.
PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. FROST, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. LAMPSON,
Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO´, Mrs. MCCAR-
THY of New York, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr.
CUMMINGS, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. THOMP-
SON of Mississippi, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PAYNE,
and Mr. GUTIERREZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To promote youth entrepreneurship education.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. EMPOWERING FUTURE ENTREPRENEURS.
Title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 is amended—
(1) by striking the title heading and inserting
the following:
‘‘TITLE V—PROMOTING EQUITY
AND EMPOWERMENT’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new part:
‘‘PART D—EMPOWERING FUTURE
ENTREPRENEURS
‘‘SEC. 5401. SHORT TITLE AND FINDINGS.
‘‘(a) SHORT TITLE.—This part may be cited as the
‘‘Future Entrepreneurs of America Act’’.
‘‘(b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
‘‘(1) In order to reach their career goals in our
dynamic American economy, young people need to
take personal responsibility to obtain the skills,
knowledge, constructive attitudes, and experiences
that will enable them to function as creative, self-
confident participants in the workforce.
‘‘(2) Research has found that 69 percent of
high school students are interested in starting their
own businesses and 85 percent of such students wish
their schools would do more to provide experiences
in entrepreneurship and starting a business.
‘‘(3) States have begun to express increased in-
terest in entrepreneurship education. State edu-
cational leaders are recognizing that self-employment
is a viable career option for young people and are
exploring ways to better prepare them to own and
operate their own businesses.
‘‘(4) As part of a lifelong learning process, en-
trepreneurship education helps to increase the moti-
vation of young people to learn, helps them develop
a sense of individual opportunity, enhances their
personal growth, helps them develop an appreciation
of the importance of innovation, helps develop their
problem solving and leadership skills, helps them
learn to manage their finances, and helps them de-
velop the sort of optimistic outlook and self-reliant
attitudes that will benefit them for their entire work-
ing lives.
‘‘(5) Entrepreneurship education integrates in-
struction in economic literacy, including how the
economy functions, the workings of the social secu-
rity system, and the importance of personal savings.
‘‘(6) The entrepreneurs and inventors of tomor-
row are in our schools today. The entrepreneurial
spirit needs to be nurtured at all levels of our Na-
tion’s educational system beginning with students in
grades 7 through 12.
‘‘SEC. 5402. STATE GRANT PROGRAM.
‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—In any fiscal year in which the ap-
propriations under section 5408(a) equal or exceed
$50,000,000, the Secretary shall make grants to States
from allocations under subsection (d) to enable them to
carry out entrepreneurship education programs for stu-
dents in grades 7 through 12.
‘‘(b) AGENCY TO RECEIVE GRANT.—A grant award
to a State under subsection (a) shall be made to the State
educational agency.
‘‘(c) STATE PLAN.—
‘‘(1) APPROVED STATE PLAN REQUIRED.—No
State shall receive a grant under subsection (a) un-
less it has submitted to the Secretary a plan, which
the Secretary has approved.
‘‘(2) STATE PLAN CONTENTS.—The State plan
described in paragraph (1) shall include—
‘‘(A) a description of how the State will
use a grant;
‘‘(B) a description of how the programs
supported by a grant will—
‘‘(i) involve the business community;
and
‘‘(ii) be coordinated with other rel-
evant Federal, State, regional, and local
programs; and
‘‘(C) a description of how the State will
evaluate program performance.