I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3008 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to promote civic 
learning and engagement, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 9, 2015 
Mr. HONDA (for himself and Mr. COLE) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants 
to promote civic learning and engagement, 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 ‘‘Sandra Day O’Connor 
Civic Learning Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. CIVIC LEARNING GRANTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart 3 of part C of title II 
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 6711 et seq.) is amended— 
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(1) by repealing sections 2341 through 2344 
and inserting the following: 
‘‘SEC. 2341. CIVIC LEARNING GRANTS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award com-
petitive grants to eligible entities for the development and 
implementation of programs to promote civic learning and 
engagement, American history, geography, and economics. 
‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity shall use a 
grant received under this section to develop and implement 
a program to promote civic learning and engagement, 
American history, geography, or economics through in-
struction, professional development, and evaluation activi-
ties that promote any of the following: 
‘‘(1) Equity through access to funding and pro-
gram benefits, including— 
‘‘(A) programs that meet the needs of stu-
dents with divergent learning styles, students of 
varying ethnic, racial, and socio-economic back-
grounds, and students who are English lan-
guage learners; and 
‘‘(B) resources that serve student popu-
lations that have not traditionally received op-
portunities for high quality, engaging instruc-
tion in civics, history, geography or economics, 
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with a special emphasis on inner-city and rural 
underserved students. 
‘‘(2) Innovation through design, settings, and 
delivery, including service learning, interactive on- 
line programming, and other approaches to engaging 
students in active learning and civic participation. 
‘‘(3) Scalability through broad, cost-effective 
implementation and institutionalization, including— 
‘‘(A) use of the latest technological devel-
opments; 
‘‘(B) an emphasis on programs designed to 
address relevant State and National educational 
standards; and 
‘‘(C) utilization of low per-participant cost 
models of expanding the number of active stu-
dents and teachers. 
‘‘(4) Accountability through assessment and 
identification of best practice models, including— 
‘‘(A) independent research and evaluation 
to help assess the effects of civic education pro-
grams on students’ knowledge, skills, and traits 
of character essential for the preservation and 
improvement of constitutional democracy; 
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‘‘(B) identifying techniques that succeed 
with traditionally underserved student popu-
lations; and 
‘‘(C) evaluation of teachers’ knowledge and 
the adequacy of the teaching facility. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec-
tion, the term ‘eligible entity’ means a nonprofit edu-
cational organization.’’; and 
(2) by redesignating sections 2345 and 2346 as 
sections 2342 and 2343, respectively. 
(b) CONFORMING CHANGES.— 
(1) Section 2342 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 6715), 
as redesignated by subsection (a)(2), is amended— 
(A) in subsection (a)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘organizations de-
scribed in section 2343(a)(3)’’ each place it 
appears and inserting ‘‘organizations expe-
rienced in the development of curricula and 
programs in civics and government edu-
cation and economic education for students 
in 
elementary 
schools 
and 
secondary 
schools in countries other than the United 
States’’; and 
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‘‘SEC. 2343. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated for each of 
fiscal years 2016 through 2021— 
‘‘(1) $28,500,000 for grants under section 
2341; and 
‘‘(2) $1,500,000 for programs under section 
2342.’’. 
Æ 
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