[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1247 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1247

     To establish a grant program to promote emotional and social 
                   development and school readiness.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 25, 2001

  Mr. Kennedy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To establish a grant program to promote emotional and social 
                   development and school readiness.

    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 ``Foundations for Learning Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

     Congress finds the following:
            (1) It has been and continues to be the policy of Congress 
        that all children enter school ready to learn.
            (2) Success in school is dependent on emotional and social 
        development, including--
                    (A) the development of curiosity, self-direction, 
                and persistence in learning situations;
                    (B) the ability to cooperate, demonstrate caring, 
                and resolve conflict with peers; and
                    (C) the capacity to recognize and regulate one's 
                own emotions and behaviors.
            (3) Kindergarten teachers report that increasing numbers of 
        children are unprepared to cope with the demands of school, not 
        because they do not have the academic tools, but because they 
        lack the social skills and emotional self-regulation necessary 
        to succeed. In a recent survey, 46 percent of kindergarten 
        teachers reported that at least half of their class had 
        difficulty following direction, 34 percent reported half of the 
        class or more had difficulty working as part of a group, and 20 
        percent said at least half of the class had problems with 
        social skills.
            (4) The National Academy of Sciences has recommended that 
        resources on par with those focused on literacy and numerical 
        skills should be devoted to strategies promoting young 
        children's emotional, regulatory, and social development. It 
        concluded that enhancement of social and emotional development 
        are as important in early childhood as enhancement of 
        linguistic and cognitive competence.
            (5) Few early childhood programs, including those supported 
        by the Federal Government such as Head Start, have sufficient 
        capacity adequately to address the emotional and social 
        developmental needs of eligible children with prevention and 
        early intervention services.
            (6) Extensive research has identified a number of risk 
        factors, including poverty, parental depression and substance 
        abuse, abuse and neglect, homelessness, low birth weight and 
        other medical problems, and others, the presence of which, 
        particularly when more than one is present, increase a child's 
        likelihood of early school failure.
            (7) Although a child's development will vary from 
        individual to individual and depends on a multitude of 
        biological and environmental factors, early interventions with 
        eligible children and their families can increase the 
        probability of a more favorable developmental and academic 
        trajectory.
            (8) Research overwhelmingly demonstrates that a child's 
        development is deeply influenced by the relationships with 
        parents, the behavior of parents, and the environment in the 
        home. Parents are the most influential adults in their 
        children's lives and are responsible for promoting their 
        children's healthy development. Therefore, any effective 
        attempt to improve young children's social and emotional 
        development necessarily must involve the families of those 
        children.
            (9) Second only to the immediate family, child care 
        providers shape children's emotional and social development. 
        Sixty-one percent of children under the age of 4 are in 
        regularly scheduled child-care by someone other than a parent, 
        including 44 percent of infants under 1, 53 percent of 1-year-
        olds, and 57 percent of 2-year-olds.
            (10) The Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental 
        Health has recommended the creation of tangible tools for early 
        childhood service providers to help them assess children's 
        social and emotional needs and discuss those issues with 
        families and make referrals.
            (11) A child's healthy emotional and social development 
        must be assessed in the context of cultural influences and 
        consequently any efforts to promote development must be 
        culturally competent.
            (12) Early interventions for eligible children have 
        demonstrated later savings in public expenditures for special 
        education, income support, and criminal justice.

SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Education, in consultation with 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is authorized to make 
grants to States to assist eligible children to become ready for 
school.
    (b) Allotments.--If the amount appropriated under section 9 and not 
reserved under subsection (c) for a fiscal year exceeds $200,000,000, 
the Secretary shall--
            (1) except as provided in paragraph (2), allocate funds to 
        the States based on the ratio of the amount of funds received 
        by a State under part A of title I of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 for the preceding fiscal year 
        to the amount of funds received by all the States under such 
        part for such fiscal year; and
            (2) allocate not less than 0.40 percent for each State.
    (c) Reservations of Funds.--Of the amount appropriated under 
section 9 for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve--
            (1) one-half of one percent for Indian tribes;
            (2) one-half of one percent for Native Alaskan regional 
        corporations and Native Hawaiian entities;
            (3) one percent for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
            (4) not more than 3 percent for administrative costs; and
            (5) not more than 3 percent for technical assistance, 
        sharing of best practices, and evaluations described under 
        subsection (e).
    (d) Special Rule.--If the amount appropriated under this Act in a 
fiscal year is less than $200,000,000, the Secretary, in consultation 
with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is authorized to award 
grants to local coordinating councils, consistent with priorities 
described in section 7(b), on a competitive basis, of sufficient size 
and for a period of sufficient duration to assist eligible children to 
be ready for school.
    (e) Evaluation.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall, on an ongoing basis--
                    (A) evaluate promising strategies being implemented 
                in the States pursuant to this Act and the success of 
                those strategies in promoting emotional and social 
                development and school readiness in eligible children, 
                including, at the Secretary's discretion, by the 
                performance of long-term longitudinal studies; and
                    (B) issue reports and provide technical assistance 
                based on the knowledge gained from those evaluations.
            (2) Review expenditures.--Not less than once every 3 years, 
        the Secretary shall evaluate the expenditure of grants made 
        under this Act in order to assess and report on the range of 
        services being provided, the success of States in meeting the 
        performance measures established pursuant to their State plans, 
        and make recommendations regarding changes needed in program 
        design or operations.

SEC. 4. STATE PLANS.

    (a) In General.--In order to receive a grant under section 3, a 
State shall submit a State plan to the Secretary, at such time and in 
such form as the Secretary may require, and shall include in the State 
plan--
            (1) an assurance that the State shall provide, either 
        directly or through private contributions, non-Federal matching 
        funds equal to not less than 20 percent of the amount of the 
        grant with such funds contributed in cash or in kind, fairly 
        evaluated, including contributions of facilities, staff time, 
        or donated equipment;
            (2) specification of the sources of non-Federal matching 
        funds described in paragraph (1);
            (3) an assurance that funds received shall supplement, not 
        supplant, other public funds expended to promote the emotional, 
        social, and behavioral development of young children;
            (4) an assurance that the State and its political 
        subdivisions shall maintain a level of expending funds that 
        equals or exceeds the amount spent for programs described in 
        section 5(b) in the preceding fiscal year;
            (5) composition of the statewide coordinating council 
        (referred to in this Act as the ``SCC'');
            (6) the name of the agency designated as the lead agency;
            (7) a description of the population the State intends to 
        serve, the manner in which the grant will be expended to 
        improve the emotional and social development of children 
        served, and measurable performance goals consistent with the 
        planned uses of the grant;
            (8) an assurance that activities conducted with the grant 
        will be undertaken in a culturally competent and 
        developmentally appropriate manner; and
            (9) the manner in which services will be coordinated with 
        existing similar services provided by public and nonprofit 
        entities within the State.
    (b) Approval.--The Secretary shall approve an application by a 
State under this Act unless the Secretary determines that--
            (1) the matching requirement of section 4(1) is not met;
            (2) the performance measures set forth in the State plan 
        are not satisfactory; or
            (3) the State plan is otherwise inconsistent with the 
        purposes of this Act.

SEC. 5. USES OF FUNDS.

    (a) Permissible Uses of Funds.--A State that receives funds under 
this Act may use such funds in a manner intended to benefit eligible 
children, for the following:
            (1) Screening.--To use valid, reliable, and appropriate 
        measures, procedures, or methods to screen children suspected 
        of developmental delays or being eligible for services under 
        this Act to determine if a child has 2 or more characteristics 
        described in section 8(2) and, when appropriate, to develop a 
        comprehensive plan to address the emotional and social 
        development of eligible children.
            (2) Family support initiatives.--
                    (A) Parenting education.--To provide 
                individualized, intensive parenting skills training and 
                support, including opportunities for family-to-family 
                support, to parents of eligible children.
                    (B) Family support.--To provide appropriate family 
                support services designed to help parents increase 
                their capacity to foster their children's emotional, 
                social, and behavioral development.
                    (C) Regular and intensive home visits.--To provide 
                regular and intensive home visits to families with 
                eligible children, including infants, or increase the 
                capacity of existing home visitation programs to 
                provide interventions or services that assist families 
                in promoting the emotional and social development of 
                young children.
            (3) Consultations and support to providers of early 
        childhood services.--
                    (A) Professional development.--To provide 
                professional development to child care workers, Early 
                Head Start, Head Start, preschool, and kindergarten 
                teachers and other providers of early childhood 
                services to help them foster the healthy emotional, 
                social, and behavioral development of children in their 
                care or with whom they have regular contact.
                    (B) Programmatic consultation.--To provide 
                programmatic consultations to child care providers, 
                Early Head Start and Head Start providers, preschools, 
                and kindergartens and other providers of early 
                childhood services to assist them in creating an 
                environment and interventions or supports most 
                conducive to the healthy emotional, social, and 
                behavioral development of young children in their care 
                or with whom they have regular contact.
                    (C) Family consultations.--To provide child- or 
                family-centered consultations to child care providers, 
                Early Head Start and Head Start providers, preschools, 
                and kindergartens and other providers of early 
                childhood services to help them address the emotional, 
                social, and behavioral developmental needs of eligible 
                children in their care or with whom they have regular 
                contact.
                    (D) Hiring practices.--To assist child care 
                providers, Early Head Start and Head Start providers, 
                preschools, and kindergartens and other providers of 
                early childhood services in hiring qualified mental 
                health or behavioral health specialists.
            (4) Services to eligible children and their families.--
                    (A) Early interventions.--To deliver and coordinate 
                a continuum of early intervention services, crisis 
                intervention services, screening and other appropriate, 
                reliable, and valid assessments, referrals, and other 
                classroom and home-based interventions that promote the 
                emotional and social development and school readiness 
                of eligible children by identifying and addressing the 
                unique needs of the children and their families.
                    (B) Mental health.--To provide mental health 
                services to eligible children and, when necessary to 
                promote the child's healthy development, their 
                families, provided that such services cannot be paid 
                for by other sources.
                    (C) Coordination.--To coordinate and facilitate 
                access by eligible children and their families to the 
                services available through--
                            (i) part C or section 619 of part B of the 
                        Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 
                        U.S.C. 1431 et seq.);
                            (ii) the medicaid program under title XIX 
                        of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et 
                        seq.);
                            (iii) State children's health insurance 
                        program under title XXI of the Social Security 
                        Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.); and
                            (iv) other community resources, including 
                        mental health, physical health, substance 
                        abuse, educational, domestic violence, child 
                        welfare, and social services.
                    (D) Program participation.--To facilitate 
                participation in Head Start, Early Head Start, or child 
                care and preschool programs offering substantially the 
                same range of services as Head Start or Early Head 
                Start for eligible children by removing ancillary 
                barriers to access such as transportation difficulties 
                and the absence of programs during nontraditional work 
                times.
                    (E) Ancillary services.--To provide ancillary 
                services such as transportation or child care in order 
                to facilitate the delivery of any other services or 
                activities authorized by this Act.
            (5) Development of community resources.--
                    (A) Curriculums.--To develop social and emotional 
                competencies curricula for use in early childhood 
                settings.
                    (B) Partnerships.--To develop or enhance early 
                childhood community partnerships and build towards a 
                community system of care that brings together child-
                serving agencies and or organizations to provide 
                individualized supports for eligible children and their 
                families.
                    (C) Evaluation.--To evaluate the success of 
                strategies and services provided pursuant to this Act 
                in promoting young children's successful entry to 
                school and maintain data systems required for effective 
                evaluations.
            (6) Administrative costs.--To pay for costs of 
        administering the activities authorized by this Act, provided 
        such expenditures shall not exceed 4 percent of the grant 
        received by a local coordinating council.
    (b) Limitation.--A State may use funds under this Act to pay only 
for services that--
            (1) the State is currently not providing under--
                    (A) the medicaid program under title XIX of the 
                Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.);
                    (B) the State children's health insurance program 
                under title XXI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
                1397aa et seq.);
                    (C) early intervention services under part C or 
                section 619 of part B of the Individuals with 
                Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.); 
                and
                    (D) State and local mental health programs; and
            (2) cannot be paid for by other Federal, State, or local 
        sources, excluding Head Start or Early Head Start, or by 
        private insurance.
    (c) Provision of Services.--All services provided pursuant to this 
Act--
            (1) shall be provided in the most culturally competent 
        manner practicable;
            (2) if a charge is imposed for such services, shall be 
        based on a sliding scale based on ability to pay and shall not 
        be imposed on any child of a family whose income is below 200 
        percent of the poverty line (as such term is defined in section 
        673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 
9902(2)));
            (3) shall be provided by or under the supervision of 
        qualified professionals with expertise in early childhood 
        development; and
            (4) shall be intended to benefit eligible children.

SEC. 6. STATE ADMINISTRATION.

    (a) Lead Agency.--
            (1) In general.--The chief executive officer of the State 
        shall name a lead agency to administer a program established 
        pursuant to this Act.
            (2) Duties.--The lead agency shall--
                    (A) in consultation with the SCC, establish 
                performance goals consistent with the purposes 
                described in its State plan;
                    (B) if administering a statewide program, adhere to 
                the priorities described in section 5;
                    (C) monitor and evaluate the success of activities 
                funded under this Act in meeting its performance goals 
                and the long-term impact of such activities on success 
                in school of eligible children;
                    (D) submit an annual report to the Secretary 
                regarding the State's progress in meeting the 
                performance goals, a description of any barriers 
                encountered in serving eligible children, and other 
                pertinent results of its monitoring and evaluation; and
                    (E) provide subgrants in accordance with section 7 
                if not administering a statewide program.
            (3) Funds.--In any fiscal year the lead agency--
                    (A) shall reserve 2 percent of allotted funds under 
                this Act for evaluation and technical assistance; and
                    (B) may use not more than 4 percent of allotted 
                funds under this Act for administrative costs.
    (b) SCC.--
            (1) In general.--The chief executive officer of a State 
        shall appoint individuals to serve on a SCC.
            (2) Representatives.--Individuals who serve on a SCC shall 
        include representation from parents, early childhood providers, 
        early childhood mental health providers, the State educational 
        agency, the State mental health agency, State child care agency 
        (including child care resource and referral staff), the State 
        Head Start association, the State agency responsible for 
        administering part C of the Individuals with Disabilities 
        Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.), the State preschool 
        agency, the State child welfare agency and any other individual 
        or group the chief executive officer considers appropriate.
            (3) Existing council.--If a comparable council or entity 
        exists, the chief executive officer may designate such council 
        or entity to serve as the SCC.
            (4) Role of scc.--The SCC shall establish guidelines for 
        State administration of the program, prepare a State plan in 
        accordance with section 4, and advise the lead agency.

SEC. 7. LOCAL ADMINISTRATION.

    (a) In General.--If the lead agency and SCC determine that the 
program should be administered at a local level, the lead agency shall 
accept applications from local coordinating councils.
    (b) Priority.--The lead agency shall give priority to applications 
from local coordinating councils that--
            (1) demonstrate broad collaboration among relevant local 
        agencies and organizations and others in the development of the 
        application and in the planned implementation;
            (2) involve parents in planning and administration;
            (3) propose projects targeted to eligible children for whom 
        multiple risk factors apply and who are most in need of 
        services to promote emotional and social development;
            (4) can be replicated;
            (5) demonstrate cultural competency;
            (6) integrate planning and services with existing early 
        childhood and school readiness programs;
            (7) provide access to a full spectrum of early intervention 
        services and mental health treatments for children and their 
        families; and
            (8) demonstrate sufficient professional capacity in the 
        community to implement successfully planned activities.
    (c) Sufficient size.--A subgrant made available under this section 
shall be of sufficient size, scope, and quality to enable a local 
coordinating council to carry out the purposes of this Act effectively.

SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

     In this Act:
            (1) The term ``young children'' means children from zero to 
        age 6.
            (2) The term ``eligible children'' means young children to 
        whom 2 or more of the following characteristics apply:
                    (A) Low birth weight.
                    (B) Cognitive deficit or developmental disability.
                    (C) Parental substance abuse.
                    (D) Custodial parent with less than secondary 
                school diploma.
                    (E) Parental depression or other mental illness.
                    (F) Abuse, maltreatment, or neglect.
                    (G) Family income below 200 percent of the Federal 
                poverty line (as such term is defined in section 673(2) 
                of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 
                9902(2))).
                    (H) Early behavioral and peer relationship 
                problems.
                    (I) Exposure to violence.
                    (J) Homelessness.
                    (K) Removed from child care, Head Start, or 
                preschool for behavioral reasons or at risk of being so 
                removed.
            (3) The term ``local coordinating council'' means a group 
        composed of some combination of parents, early childhood 
        providers, early childhood mental health providers, community 
        mental health centers, local schools, and local agencies 
        involved in early childhood emotional, social, and behavioral 
        development and school readiness including local councils 
        established under the Early Learning Opportunities Act of 2000, 
        or other existing local councils focusing on children and 
        families.
            (4) The term ``provider of early childhood services'' means 
        a public or private entity that has regular contact with young 
        children, including child welfare agencies, child care 
        providers, Head Start and Early Head Start providers, 
        preschools, kindergartens, mental health professionals, family 
        courts, homeless shelters, libraries, and primary care 
        providers.
            (5) The term ``parent'' means the biological or adoptive 
        parent, foster parent, grandparent, or other family member or 
        legal guardian having physical custody of the child.
            (6) The term ``family member of a child'' means a person 
        related to the child by blood, marriage, or adoption who shares 
        a primary residence with the child or shares custody of the 
        child.
            (7) The term ``early intervention services'' means services 
        that--
                    (A) are provided to--
                            (i) eligible children who have not been 
                        diagnosed with a mental health disorder; or
                            (ii) if necessary to promote such 
                        children's emotional and social development, 
                        their families;
                    (B) promote healthy emotional and social 
                development by remedying or permitting children to 
                overcome risk factors or develop protective factors 
                against such risks; and
                    (C) connect children and their families to other 
                community resources and services as appropriate.
            (8) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Education.
            (9) The term ``State'' means each of the 50 States and the 
        District of Columbia.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$250,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2003, 
and such sums as may be necessary thereafter.
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