[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5084 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5084

   To authorize the Secretary of Education to make formula grants to 
 States to ensure that families have access to high-quality, voluntary 
              preschool education, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 15, 2004

  Ms. Solis introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize the Secretary of Education to make formula grants to 
 States to ensure that families have access to high-quality, voluntary 
              preschool education, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Smart from the Start Preschool 
Education for America Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FORMULA GRANTS TO STATES FOR PRESCHOOL EDUCATION.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to help America's families 
obtain high-quality, voluntary preschool education, thereby providing 
to each child the best possible start in life and an equal opportunity 
to succeed.
    (b) Grants.--For the activities described in subsection (c), the 
Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services, shall make a grant each fiscal year to each State 
that submits an application in accordance with subsection (e).
    (c) Authorized Activities.--A funding agreement for a grant under 
this Act is that the State involved will expend the grant only for 
providing families in the State with access to high-quality, voluntary 
preschool education.
    (d) Program Quality Standards.--
            (1) In general.--A funding agreement for a grant under this 
        Act is that the State involved will meet or exceed the 
        requirements of each of the program quality standards described 
        in paragraph (2).
            (2) Standards.--For purposes of this Act, the Secretary 
        shall develop program quality standards based on the 
        recommendations of an independent panel of experts convened by 
        the National Academy of Sciences.
    (e) Application.--A grant application is in accordance with this 
Act if the application--
            (1) includes each funding agreement described in this Act;
            (2) with respect to such agreements, provides assurances of 
        compliance satisfactory to the Secretary; and
            (3) is in such form, is made in such manner, and contains 
        such agreements, assurances, and information as the Secretary 
        determines to be necessary to carry out this Act.
    (f) Determination of Amount of Grants.--
            (1) Amounts reserved.--
                    (A) Territories and possessions.--The Secretary 
                shall reserve not to exceed one half of 1 percent of 
                the amount appropriated to carry out this Act in each 
                fiscal year for payments to the outlying areas to be 
                allotted in accordance with their respective needs.
                    (B) Indian tribes.--The Secretary shall reserve not 
                less than 1 percent, and not more than 2 percent, of 
                the amount appropriated to carry out this Act in each 
                fiscal year for payments to Indian tribes and tribal 
                organizations with applications approved under this 
                section.
            (2) State allotment.--
                    (A) In general.--From the amounts appropriated to 
                carry out this Act for each fiscal year remaining after 
                reservations under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
                allot to each State (except those described in 
                paragraph (1)) an amount equal to the sum of--
                            (i) an amount that bears the same ratio to 
                        50 percent of such remainder as the product of 
                        the young child factor of the State and the 
                        allotment percentage of the State bears to the 
                        sum of the corresponding products for all 
                        States; and
                            (ii) an amount that bears the same ratio to 
                        50 percent of such remainder as the product of 
                        the school lunch factor of the State and the 
                        allotment percentage of the State bears to the 
                        sum of the corresponding products for all 
                        States.
                    (B) Young child factor.--The term ``young child 
                factor'' means the ratio of the number of children in 
                the State under 5 years of age to the number of such 
                children in all States as provided by the most recent 
                annual estimates of population in the States by the 
                Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce.
                    (C) School lunch factor.--The term ``school lunch 
                factor'' means the ratio of the number of children in 
                the State who are receiving free or reduced price 
                lunches under the school lunch program established 
                under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
                (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) to the number of such children 
                in all the States as determined annually by the 
                Department of Agriculture.
                    (D) Allotment percentage.--
                            (i) In general.--The allotment percentage 
                        for a State is determined by dividing the per 
                        capita income of all individuals in the United 
                        States, by the per capita income of all 
                        individuals in the State.
                            (ii) Limitation.--If an allotment 
                        percentage determined under clause (i)--
                                    (I) exceeds 1.2 percent, then the 
                                allotment percentage of that State 
                                shall be considered to be 1.2 percent; 
                                and
                                    (II) is less than 0.8 percent, then 
                                the allotment percentage of the State 
                                shall be considered to be 0.8 percent.
                            (iii) Per capita income.--For purposes of 
                        clause (i), per capita income shall be--
                                    (I) determined at 2-year intervals;
                                    (II) applied for the 2-year period 
                                beginning on October 1 of the first 
                                fiscal year beginning on the date such 
                                determination is made; and
                                    (III) equal to the average of the 
                                annual per capita incomes for the most 
                                recent period of 3 consecutive years 
                                for which satisfactory data are 
                                available from the Department of 
                                Commerce at the time such determination 
                                is made.
    (g) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) The term ``Indian tribe'' has the meaning given to such 
        term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 
        Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).
            (2) The term ``outlying area'' includes--
                    (A) American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 
                Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the United States 
                Virgin Islands; and
                    (B) the freely associated states of the Republic of 
                the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of 
                Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau until an 
                agreement for the extension of United States education 
                assistance under the Compact of Free Association for 
                each of the freely associated states becomes effective 
                after the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (3) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Education.
            (4) Subject to subsection (f)(2)(A), the term ``State'' 
        means each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, each of the outlying areas, and 
        any Indian tribe or tribal organization.
            (5) The term ``tribal organization''--
                    (A) has the meaning given to such term in section 4 
                of the Indian Self-Determination and Education 
                Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b); and
                    (B) includes a Native Hawaiian Organization, as 
                defined in section 7207 of the Elementary and Secondary 
                Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7517), and a private 
                nonprofit organization established for the purpose of 
                serving youth who are Indians or Native Hawaiians.
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this Act $5,000,000,000 for the period of 
fiscal years 2005 through 2009.
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