Title: To distribute Federal funds for elementary and secondary education in the form of vouchers for eligible students and to repeal a certain rule relating to nutrition standards in schools.
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Choices in Education Act of 2017
This bill repeals the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and limits the authority of the Department of Education (ED) such that ED is authorized only to award block grants to qualified states.
The bill establishes an education voucher program, through which each state shall distribute block grant funds among local educational agencies (LEAs) based on the number of eligible children within each LEA's geographical area. From these amounts, each LEA shall: (1) distribute a portion of funds to parents who elect to enroll their child in a private school or to home-school their child, and (2) do so in a manner that ensures that such payments will be used for appropriate educational expenses.
To be eligible to receive a block grant, a state must: (1) comply with education voucher program requirements, and (2) make it lawful for parents of an eligible child to elect to enroll their child in any public or private elementary or secondary school in the state or to home-school their child.
No Hungry Kids Act
The bill repeals a specified rule that established certain nutrition standards for the national school lunch and breakfast programs. (In general, the rule requires schools to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or fat free milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat, and trans fat in school meals; and meet children's nutritional needs within their caloric requirements.)

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 610 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 610

 To distribute Federal funds for elementary and secondary education in 
the form of vouchers for eligible students and to repeal a certain rule 
              relating to nutrition standards in schools.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 23, 2017

 Mr. King of Iowa (for himself, Mr. Harris, and Mr. Franks of Arizona) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                      Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To distribute Federal funds for elementary and secondary education in 
the form of vouchers for eligible students and to repeal a certain rule 
              relating to nutrition standards in schools.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

                   TITLE I--CHOICES IN EDUCATION ACT

SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

    This title may be cited as the ``Choices in Education Act of 
2017''.

SEC. 102. REPEAL OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT AND 
              LIMITATION ON SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY.

    (a) Repeal.--The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is repealed.
    (b) Limitation on Secretarial Authority.--The authority of the 
Secretary under this title is limited to evaluating State applications 
under section 104 and making payments to States under section 103. The 
Secretary shall not impose any further requirements on States with 
respect to elementary and secondary education beyond the requirements 
of this title.

SEC. 103. BLOCK GRANTS TO STATES.

    (a) Grants to States.--From amounts appropriated to carry out this 
title for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall award grants (from 
allotments made under subsection (b)) to qualified States to enable 
such States to carry out an education voucher program under section 
105.
    (b) Allotment.--From amounts described in subsection (a) for a 
fiscal year, the Secretary shall allot to each qualified State for that 
fiscal year an amount that bears the same ratio to those amounts as the 
number of eligible children in the qualified State (as determined by 
the Secretary on the basis of the most recent satisfactory data) bears 
to the number of all eligible children in all States in such school 
year.
    (c) Reallotment.--If a State does not receive funds under 
subsection (b) for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall allot the 
remainder of such funds to each qualified State in an amount that bears 
the same ratio to such remainder for such year as the amount received 
under subsection (b) by such qualified State bears to the amount 
received under such subsection for such year by all qualified States.
    (d) Deficit Reduction.--Any amounts remaining after allotments are 
made under subsection (c) for a fiscal year shall not be available for 
any purpose other than deficit reduction.

SEC. 104. APPLICATION.

    (a) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this 
title, a State shall submit an application to the Secretary that 
includes assurances that the State will--
            (1) comply with the requirements of section 105; and
            (2) make it lawful for parents of an eligible child to 
        elect--
                    (A) to enroll their child in any public or private 
                elementary or secondary school in the State; or
                    (B) to home-school their child.
    (b) Approval.--Not later than 30 days after receiving an 
application from a State that meets the requirements of subsection (a), 
the Secretary shall approve such application.

SEC. 105. EDUCATION VOUCHER PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Education Voucher Program.--
            (1) In general.--The State shall distribute funds received 
        under this title among the local educational agencies in the 
        State based on the number of eligible children enrolled in the 
        public schools operated by each local educational agency and 
        the number of eligible children within each local educational 
        agency's geographical area whose parents elect to send their 
        child to a private school or to home-school their child.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        States should distribute non-Federal funds for elementary and 
        secondary education in a manner that promotes competition and 
        choices in education.
    (b) Identification of Eligible Children; Allocation and 
Distribution of Funds.--
            (1) Identification of eligible children.--
                    (A) LEA identification.--On an annual basis, on a 
                date to be determined by the Secretary, each local 
                educational agency shall inform the State educational 
                agency of--
                            (i) the number of eligible children 
                        enrolled in public schools served by the local 
                        educational agency; and
                            (ii) the number of eligible children within 
                        each local educational agency's geographical 
                        area whose parents elect--
                                    (I) to send their child to a 
                                private school; or
                                    (II) to home-school their child.
                    (B) State identification.--On an annual basis, on a 
                date to be determined by the Secretary, each State 
                educational agency shall inform the Secretary of the 
                total number of children identified by all local 
                educational agencies in the State under subparagraph 
                (A).
            (2) Amount of payment.--
                    (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the 
                amount of payment for each eligible child in a State 
                shall be equal to--
                            (i) the total amount allotted to the State 
                        under this title; divided by
                            (ii) the total number of eligible children 
                        in the State identified under paragraph (1).
                    (B) Limitations.--
                            (i) In the case of a payment made to the 
                        parent of an eligible child who elects to 
                        attend a private school, the amount of the 
                        payment described in subparagraph (A) for each 
                        eligible child shall not exceed the cost for 
                        tuition, fees, and transportation for the 
                        eligible child to attend the private school.
                            (ii) In the case of a payment made to a 
                        parent of an eligible child who elects to home-
                        school such child, the amount of the payment 
                        described in subparagraph (A) for each eligible 
                        child shall not exceed the cost of home-
                        schooling the child.
            (3) Allocation to local educational agencies.--Based on the 
        identification of eligible children in paragraph (1), the State 
        educational agency shall provide to a local educational agency 
        an amount equal to the product of--
                    (A) the amount available for each eligible child in 
                the State, as determined in paragraph (2); multiplied 
                by
                    (B) the number of eligible children identified by 
                the local educational agency under paragraph (1)(A).
            (4) Distribution to schools.--From amounts allocated under 
        paragraph (3), each local educational agency that receives 
        funds under such paragraph shall distribute a portion of such 
        funds to the public schools served by the local educational 
        agency, which amount shall--
                    (A) be based on the number of eligible children 
                enrolled in such schools and included in the count 
                submitted under paragraph (1)(A); and
                    (B) be distributed in a manner that would, in the 
                absence of such Federal funds, supplement the funds 
                made available from non-Federal resources for the 
                education of eligible children, and not to supplant 
                such funds.
            (5) Distribution to parents.--
                    (A) In general.--From the amounts allocated under 
                paragraph (3), each local educational agency that 
                receives funds under such paragraph shall distribute a 
                portion of such funds, in an amount equal to the amount 
                described in paragraph (2), to the parents of each 
                eligible child within the local educational agency's 
                geographical area who elect to send their child to a 
                private school or to home-school their child (as the 
                case may be) and whose child is included in the count 
                of such eligible children under paragraph (1)(A), which 
                amount shall be distributed in a manner so as to ensure 
                that such payments will be used for appropriate 
                educational expenses.
                    (B) Reservation.--A local educational agency 
                described in this paragraph may reserve not more than 1 
                percent of the funds available for distribution under 
                subparagraph (A) to pay administrative costs associated 
                with carrying out the activities described in such 
                subparagraph.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Payments to parents under subsection 
(b)(5) shall be considered assistance to the eligible child and shall 
not be considered assistance to the school that enrolls the eligible 
child. The amount of any payment under this section shall not be 
treated as income of the child or his or her parents for purposes of 
Federal tax laws or for determining eligibility for any other Federal 
program.

SEC. 106. DEFINITIONS.

    In this title:
            (1) Eligible child.--The term ``eligible child'' means a 
        child aged 5 to 17, inclusive.
            (2) Parent.--The term ``parent'' includes a legal guardian 
        or other person standing in loco parentis (such as a 
        grandparent or stepparent with whom the child lives, or a 
        person who is legally responsible for the child's welfare).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Education.
            (4) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the 50 States 
        and the District of Columbia.
            (5) Qualified state.--The term ``qualified State'' means a 
        State that has an application approved by the Secretary under 
        section 104.

                      TITLE II--NO HUNGRY KIDS ACT

SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE.

    This title may be cited as the ``No Hungry Kids Act''.

SEC. 202. REPEAL OF RULE.

    The rule prescribed by the Food and Nutrition Service of the 
Department of Agriculture relating to nutrition standards in the 
national school lunch and school breakfast programs published on 
January 26, 2012 (77 Fed. Reg. 4088 et seq.), and revising parts 210 
and 220 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, shall have no force or 
effect.

SEC. 203. LIMITS ON CERTAIN NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.

    Section 9(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(a)(1)(A)(i)) is amended by inserting before 
the semicolon the following: ``, to establish a calorie maximum for 
individual school lunches, or to prohibit a child from eating a lunch 
provided by the child's parent or legal guardian''.
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