[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4175 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4175

       To promote youth entrepreneurship education and training.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 25, 1998

  Mr. Kucinich (for himself, Mr. Peterson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Romero-
 Barcelo, Mr. Abercrombie, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Mr. LaTourette, 
 Mr. Martinez, Mr. English of Pennsylvania, Mr. Hilliard, Ms. Woolsey, 
 Ms. Carson, Ms. Christian-Green, Mr. Ford, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Hinojosa, 
Mr. Sanders, Mr. Frost, Ms. Lofgren, and Ms. Velazquez) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
                             the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
       To promote youth entrepreneurship education and training.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Future Entrepreneurs of America 
Act''.

SEC. 2. 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 high school students wish their schools would do 
        more to teach them about entrepreneurship and starting a 
        business.
            (3) States have begun to express increased interest in 
        entrepreneurship education and training. State educational 
        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, 
        entrepreneurship education and training helps teach young 
        people about the economy, helps increase their motivation to 
        learn, helps develop in them 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 develop in them the sort of 
        optimistic outlook and self-reliant attitudes that will benefit 
        them for their entire working lives.
            (5) The entrepreneurs and inventors of tomorrow are in our 
        schools today. The entrepreneurial spirit needs to be nurtured 
        at all levels of our Nation's educational system beginning with 
        students in grades 7 through 12.

SEC. 3. STATE GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) Authority.--In any fiscal year in which the appropriations 
under section 9(a) equal or exceed $50,000,000, the Secretary may make 
grants to States from allocations under subsection (d) to enable them 
to carry out entrepreneurship education and training programs for 
students in grades 7 through 12.
    (b) Agency To Receive Grant.--A grant to a State under subsection 
(a) shall be made to the State educational agency, or to another agency 
designated to receive the grant by the Governor of the State.
    (c) State Plan.--
            (1) Approved state plan required.--No State shall receive a 
        grant under subsection (a) unless 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) descriptions of how the State will use a grant; 
                and
                    (B) descriptions of how the programs supported by a 
                grant will--
                            (i) involve the business community; and
                            (ii) be coordinated with other relevant 
                        Federal, State, regional, and local programs.
    (d) Allocation of Funds.--
            (1) Allocation factors.--Except as otherwise provided in 
        paragraph (2), the Secretary shall allocate the amounts 
        available to carry out this section pursuant to subsection (a) 
        to each State according to the relative populations in the 
        States of students in grades 7 through 12, as determined by the 
        Secretary based on the most recent satisfactory data.
            (2) Minimum allocation.--From amounts available to carry 
        out this section pursuant to subsection (a), no State that has 
        submitted under subsection (c) a plan that has been approved by 
        the Secretary shall be allocated an amount less than $400,000 
        for a fiscal year.
            (3) Reallocation.--In any fiscal year an allocation under 
        this subsection--
                    (A) for a State that has not submitted a plan under 
                subsection (c); or
                    (B) for a State whose plan submitted under 
                subsection (c) has been disapproved by the Secretary.
        shall be reallocated to the remaining States in accordance with 
        paragraph (1).
    (e) Use of Grant Funds.--
            (1) Required uses.--A grant made to a State under 
        subsection (a) shall be used--
                    (A) to provide funds to local educational agencies 
                and public schools to carry out entrepreneurship 
                education and training programs for students in grades 
                7 through 12; and
                    (B) to monitor and evaluate programs supported 
                under subparagraph (A).
            (2) Limitation on administrative costs.--A State receiving 
        a grant under subsection (a) may use not more than 4 percent of 
        the total amount of the grant in each fiscal year for the 
        administrative costs of carrying out this section.
    (f) Report to the Secretary.--Each agency receiving a grant as 
described in subsection (b) shall transmit a report to the Secretary 
with respect to each fiscal year for which a grant was received. The 
report shall describe the programs supported by the grant and the 
results of the State's monitoring and evaluation of such programs.

SEC. 4. DIRECT FEDERAL GRANT PROGRAM.

    In any fiscal year in which the appropriations under section 9(a) 
do not equal or exceed $50,000,000, the Secretary may make grants to 
local educational authorities and public schools to provide 
entrepreneurship education and training to students in grades 7 through 
12.

SEC. 5. CLEARINGHOUSE.

    (a) Authority.--The Secretary shall make a grant or contract to 
establish, operate, and maintain a national clearinghouse (in this Act 
referred to as the ``Clearinghouse'') for instructional materials and 
information regarding exemplary entrepreneurship education and training 
programs and best practices.
    (b) Application.--An entity desiring to establish, operate, and 
maintain the Clearinghouse shall submit an application to the Secretary 
at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such information, as 
the Secretary may reasonably require.
    (c) Basis and Term.--The Secretary shall make the grant or contract 
authorized by subsection (a) on a competitive, merit basis for a term 
of 5 years.
    (d) Use of Funds.--The Clearinghouse shall use the funds provided 
under a grant or contract made under subsection (a)--
            (1) to maintain a repository of instructional materials and 
        related information regarding entrepreneurship education and 
        training programs for secondary schools, including middle 
        schools, for use by States, localities, and the general public;
            (2) to disseminate to States, localities, and the general 
        public, through electronic and other means, instructional 
        materials and related information regarding entrepreneurship 
        education and training programs for secondary schools, 
        including middle schools; and
            (3) to the extent that resources allow, to provide 
        technical assistance to States, localities, and the general 
        public on the design, establishment, and implementation of 
        entrepreneurship education and training programs for secondary 
        schools, including middle schools.
    (e) Consultation.--The Clearinghouse shall consult with the Small 
Business Administration with respect to its activities under subsection 
(d).
    (f) Submission to Clearinghouse.--Each Federal agency or department 
that develops entrepreneurship education and training programs or 
instructional materials for such programs shall submit to the 
Clearinghouse information on the programs and copies of the materials.
    (g) Application of Copyright Laws.--In carrying out this section 
the Clearinghouse shall ensure compliance with title 17, United States 
Code.

SEC. 6. EVALUATION.

    (a) Performance Measures.--The Secretary shall develop measures to 
evaluate the performance of programs assisted under sections 3 and 4.
    (b) Evaluation According to Performance Measures.--Applying the 
performance measures developed under subsection (a), the Secretary 
shall evaluate programs assisted under sections 3 and 4--
            (1) to judge their performance and effectiveness;
            (2) to identify which of the programs represent the best 
        practices of entities developing entrepreneurship education and 
        training programs for students in grades 7 through 12; and
            (3) to identify which of the programs can be replicated and 
        used to provide technical assistance to States, localities, and 
        the general public.

SEC. 7. REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.

    For each fiscal year for which there are appropriations under 
section 9(a), the Secretary shall transmit a report to the Congress 
describing the status of the implementation of this Act. The report 
shall include the results of the evaluation required by section 6 and a 
description of the programs supported under sections 3 and 4.

SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``entrepreneurship education and training'' 
        means educational activities and experiences, planned and 
        supervised by qualified teachers, that enable students to 
        explore business ownership opportunities, acquire the skills 
        and knowledge necessary to start a business, and develop a 
        range of entrepreneurial competencies that will help them to 
        explore and identify their lifelong career goals as business 
        owners or as competent employees;
            (2) the term ``local educational agency'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 14101(18) of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(18));
            (3) the term ``qualified teachers'' means teachers who hold 
        valid teaching certifications or are considered to be qualified 
        by the State educational agencies in the States in which they 
        work;
            (4) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Education;
            (5) the term ``State'' has the meaning given the term in 
        section 14101(27) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
        of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(27)); and
            (6) the term ``State educational agency'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 14101(28) of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(28)).

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Authorization.--For the purposes of carrying out this Act, 
there are authorized to be appropriated $60,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 1999 through 2004.
    (b) Limitation on Funds for Clearinghouse.--The Secretary may use 
not less than 2 percent and not more than 5 percent of amounts 
appropriated under subsection (a) for each fiscal year to carry out 
section 5.
    (c) Limitation on Funds for Secretary's Evaluation.--The Secretary 
may use not more than $200,000 from the amounts appropriated under 
subsection (a) for each fiscal year to carry out section 6.
    (d) Limitation on Administrative Costs.--Except as necessary to 
carry out section 6 using amounts described in subsection (c), the 
Secretary shall use no portion of the amounts appropriated under 
subsection (a) for the costs of administering this Act.
    (e) Funds for Grants.--For each fiscal year the Secretary shall use 
all amounts appropriated under subsection (a), other than the amounts 
described in subsections (b) and (c), only for grants under section 3 
or 4.
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