Financial education for students

(a)

In general

Subpart 13 of part D of title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7267 et seq.) is amended to read as follows:

Financial Education for Students

5531.

Short title

This subpart may be cited as the

Financial Education in the Classroom Act

5532.

Purpose and goals

(a)

Purpose

The purpose of this subpart is to promote and carry out economic and financial literacy among all students in kindergarten through grade 12 by awarding competitive grants to State educational agencies to improve the quality of student understanding of personal finance and economics. (b)

Goals

The goals of this subpart are the following: (1)To increase students’ knowledge of, and achievement in, economics and financial literacy to enable the students to become more productive and informed citizens. (2)To strengthen teachers’ understanding of, and competency in, economics and personal finance to enable the teachers to increase student mastery of economic and financial education principles and the practical application of those principles. (3)To assist State educational agencies in measuring the impact of education in economics and personal finances. (4)To encourage economic and financial education research and development, disseminate effective instructional materials, and promote replication of best practices and exemplary programs that foster economic and financial literacy. (5)To leverage and expand private and public support for economic education partnerships at national, State, and local levels.

5533.

Grants to State educational agencies for financial education for students

(a)

Grants to State educational agencies

From the funds appropriated under section 5536 to carry out this section for each fiscal year, the Secretary shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to State educational agencies to award subgrants to eligible local entities to develop and carry out programs that are designed to provide financial education to students in the classroom. (b)

State educational agency uses of funds

(1)

In general

A State educational agency that receives a grant under this section— (A)shall— (i)use the grant funds to award subgrants, on a competitive basis, to eligible local entities, to develop and carry out financial education programs to assist students in kindergarten through grade 12 achieve financial literacy by teaching such students— (I)personal financial management skills; and (II)the basic principles involved with earning, spending, saving, investing, credit, and insurance; and (ii)reserve not less than 2 percent of the grant funds to provide State-wide professional development activities to prepare teachers and school administrators in economic and financial literacy; and (B)may reserve not more than 3 percent of the grant funds for— (i)administrative expenses, including ongoing technical assistance, training, monitoring, and dissemination of promising practices for eligible local entities that receive subgrants under this section; and (ii)conducting, in accordance with subsection (c)(2)(E), an evaluation of the financial education programs developed and carried out by such eligible local entities. (2)

Subgrants to eligible local entities

(A)

Application

Each eligible local entity desiring a subgrant under this section shall submit an application to the State educational agency at such time, in such manner, and including such information as the State educational agency may reasonably require. (B)

Application contents

Each application submitted under subparagraph (A) shall include— (i)a description of how the eligible local entity will use funds received under this section, including a description of the financial education program (in this subparagraph referred to as the proposed program) the entity plans to develop and carry out using the funds; (ii)a description of each partner in the eligible local entity; (iii)if the eligible local entity does not include a partnership with a small or large business described in subsection (g)(1)(F), a description of how the entity will collaborate with the business community to promote the connection between financial education and economic development; (iv)an identification of Federal, State, and local programs that the eligible local entity will coordinate with the proposed program to make the most effective use of public resources; (v)an evaluation of the community needs and available resources, and a description of how the proposed program will address those needs; (vi)if the eligible local entity plans to use volunteers, a description of how the entity will encourage and use individuals with appropriate financial literacy qualifications to serve as the volunteers; (vii)an assurance that the eligible local entity has experience, or promise of success, in developing, implementing, and providing high-quality financial education or personal finance education training or instruction; and (viii)such other information and assurances as the State educational agency may reasonably require. (C)

Use of funds

An eligible local entity that receives a subgrant under this section— (i)shall use funds made available under the subgrant to develop and carry out financial education programs to assist students in kindergarten through grade 12 achieve financial literacy by teaching such students— (I)personal financial management skills; and (II)the basic principles involved with earning, spending, saving, investing, credit, and insurance; and (ii)may use funds made available under the subgrant to— (I)develop or acquire financial educational materials, activities, or coursework, that have been integrated into the curricula of the schools served by the local educational agency of the eligible local entity; or (II)develop or carry out for teachers and administrators, professional development programs that use effective and innovative approaches to the teaching of financial education and personal finance. (D)

Approval of local application

The State educational agency shall approve only those applications from eligible local entities that have developed plans that the State educational agency determines to be feasible and appropriate in order to achieve the desired purpose of the subgrants. (E)

Considerations

In awarding subgrants under this section, the State educational agency shall take into consideration— (i)whether the eligible local entities that will be awarded a subgrant under this section are equitably distributed among the different geographic regions of the State and serve urban and rural areas; and (ii)local educational agencies that may benefit from a subgrant under this subsection that are serving higher percentages or numbers of school-age children who are from low-income families, as compared to other such local educational agencies. (F)

Permissive local match

(i)

In general

A State educational agency may require an eligible local entity to match the subgrant funds the entity receives under this section, except that such match may not be derived from other Federal funds. (ii)

Sliding scale

The amount of a match under clause (i)— (I)shall be established based on a sliding fee scale that takes into account the ability of the eligible local entity to obtain such matching funds; and (II)shall not exceed an amount equal to 50 percent of the cost of the activities supported under the subgrant. (iii)

In-kind contributions

Each State educational agency that requires an eligible local entity to match funds under this section shall permit the entity to provide all or any portion of such match in the form of in-kind contributions. (iv)

Consideration

Notwithstanding clause (i), a State educational agency shall not consider an eligible local entity’s ability to match funds when determining whether the entity will receive a subgrant under this section. (c)

State educational agency Application

(1)

In general

Each State educational agency that desires to receive a grant under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary, at such time, in such manner, and including such information as the Secretary may reasonably require. (2)

Contents

Each application submitted under paragraph (1) shall include— (A)a description of how the State educational agency will use funds received under this section, including— (i)how the State will use funds reserved for State-wide professional development activities under subsection (b)(1)(A)(ii); and (ii)how the State educational agency will select eligible local entities to receive subgrants under this section; (B)a description of how the State educational agency will assist local educational agencies in partnering with one of the entities described in subparagraphs (A) through (F) of subsection (g)(1) in order to become eligible local entities; (C)an identification of Federal and State programs that the State will coordinate with the programs developed and carried out by eligible entities that receive subgrants under this section to make the most effective use of public resources; (D)a description of the steps that the State educational agency will take to ensure that programs developed and carried out by the eligible local entities receiving subgrants under this section implement effective strategies, including by providing such entities ongoing technical assistance, training, monitoring, and dissemination of promising practices; (E)an assurance that the State educational agency will conduct an independent evaluation that is based on rigorous scientifically based research to assess— (i)the effectiveness of the programs developed and carried out by the eligible local entities receiving subgrants under this section; and (ii)the impact of economic and financial literacy education on students served by such programs ; and (F)such other information and assurances as the Secretary may reasonably require. (3)

Approval

In approving applications submitted under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— (A)to the extent feasible, ensure an equitable geographic distribution of grants awarded under this section; and (B)consider local educational agencies that may benefit from a subgrant under this section that are serving higher percentages or numbers of school-age children who are from low-income families, as compared to other such local educational agencies. (d)

Duration of grants

Grants under this section may be awarded for a period of not less than 3 years and not more than 5 years. (e)

Amount of grants

A grant awarded under this section may not be made in an amount that is less than $50,000 per award year. (f)

Reports

(1)

State educational agency

Each State educational agency receiving a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary, a report for each fiscal year for which a grant is received that describes— (A)the programs supported by the grant; and (B)the results of the State educational agency’s monitoring and evaluation of such programs. (2)

Secretary

The Secretary shall publicly release a copy of the report, including by posting the report on the Internet website of the Department of Education. (g)

Definitions

In this section: (1)

Eligible local entity

The term eligible local entity means a partnership consisting of a local educational agency and not less than 1 of the following entities: (A)A nonprofit organization with experience, or promise of success, in developing, administering, and carrying out high-quality financial education or personal finance education programs. (B)A nonprofit organization with experience, or promise of success, in developing, administering, and carrying out high-quality professional development for teachers that leads to an increase in student academic achievement in subjects integral to financial education or personal finance education. (C)A recipient of an Excellence in Economic Education grant under section 5534. (D)An institution of higher education. (E)A community-based organization with experience, or promise of success, in developing, administering, and carrying out high-quality financial education or personal finance education programs. (F)A small or large business with experience, or promise of success, in developing, administering, and carrying out high-quality financial education or personal finance education programs. (2)

Low-income family

The term low-income family means a family below the poverty line, as determined under section 1124(c)(2).

5534.

Grant to national organization to improve the quality of financial education programs

(a)

Authorization

From the amounts appropriated under section 5536, the Secretary may award a competitive grant to a national nonprofit educational organization that has as its primary purpose the improvement of the quality of student understanding of personal finance and economics through effective teaching of economics in the Nation’s classrooms (referred to in this section as the grantee). (b)

Uses of funds

(1)

Direct activities

The grantee shall use 25 percent of the funds made available through the grant for a fiscal year to— (A)strengthen and expand the grantee’s relationships with State and local personal finance, entrepreneurial, and economic education organizations; (B)support and promote training of teachers who teach a grade from kindergarten through grade 12 regarding economics, including the dissemination of information on effective practices and research findings regarding the teaching of economics; (C)support research on effective teaching practices and the development of assessment instruments to document student understanding of personal finance and economics; and (D)develop and disseminate appropriate materials to foster economic literacy. (2)

Subgrants

The grantee shall use 75 percent of the funds made available through the grant for a fiscal year to award subgrants to State educational agencies or local educational agencies, and State or local economic, personal finance, or entrepreneurial education organizations (referred to in this section as the recipient). The grantee shall award such a subgrant to pay for the Federal share of the cost of enabling the recipient to work in partnership with one or more of the entities described in paragraph (3) for one or more of the following purposes: (A)Collaboratively establishing and conducting teacher training programs that use effective and innovative approaches to the teaching of economics, personal finance, and entrepreneurship. (B)Providing resources to local educational agencies that desire to incorporate economics and personal finance into the curricula of the schools served by the agencies. (C)Conducting evaluations of the impact of economic and financial literacy education on students. (D)Conducting economic and financial literacy education research. (E)Encouraging replication of best practices to promote economic and financial literacy. (3)

Partnership entities

The entities described in this paragraph are the following: (A)A private sector entity. (B)A State educational agency. (C)A local educational agency. (D)An institution of higher education. (E)An organization promoting economic development. (F)An organization promoting educational excellence. (G)An organization promoting personal finance or entrepreneurial education. (c)

Grantee applications

(1)

In general

To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, the grantee shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such information as the Secretary may require. (2)

Recipient applications

(A)

Submission

To be eligible to receive a subgrant under this section, a recipient shall submit an application to the grantee at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such information as the grantee may require. (B)

Review

The grantee shall invite the individuals described in subparagraph (C) to review all applications from recipients for a subgrant under this section and to make recommendations to the grantee regarding the approval of the applications. (C)

Reviewers

The individuals described in this subparagraph are the following: (i)Leaders in the fields of economics and education. (ii)Such other individuals as the grantee determines to be necessary, especially members of the State and local business, banking, and finance communities. (d)

Administrative costs

The grantee and each recipient receiving a subgrant under this section for a fiscal year may use not more than 5 percent of the funds made available through the grant or subgrant for administrative costs. (e)

Teacher training programs

In carrying out the teacher training programs described in subsection (b)(2)(A), a recipient shall— (1)train teachers who teach a grade from kindergarten through grade 12; and (2)encourage teachers from disciplines other than economics and financial literacy to participate in such teacher training programs, if the training will promote the economic and financial literacy of those teachers’ students. (f)

Involvement of business community

In carrying out the activities assisted under this section, the grantee and recipients are strongly encouraged to— (1)include interactions with the local business community to the fullest extent possible to reinforce the connection between economic and financial literacy and economic development; and (2)work with private businesses to obtain matching contributions for Federal funds and assist recipients in working toward self-sufficiency. (g)

Additional requirements and technical assistance

The grantee shall— (1)meet such other requirements as the Secretary determines to be necessary to assure compliance with this section; and (2)receive from the Secretary such technical assistance as may be necessary to carry out this section. (h)

Federal share

The Federal share of the cost described in subsection (b)(2) shall be 50 percent. (i)

Payment of non-Federal share

The non-Federal share may be paid in cash or in kind (fairly evaluated, including plant, equipment, or services). (j)

Reports to congress

Not later than 2 years after the date funds are first made available to carry out this section, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report regarding activities assisted under this section.

5535.

Supplement, not supplant

Funds made available to carry out this subpart shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, other Federal, State, and local funds expended for the purpose described in section 5532(a).

5536.

Authorization of appropriations

(a)

In general

There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this subpart for fiscal year 2011 and each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years. (b)

Distribution of funds

Of the funds appropriated under subsection (a) for each fiscal year— (1)the Secretary shall reserve up to 4 percent to carry out the activities described in section 5534; and (2)shall use the remaining funds to carry out section 5533.