[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2119 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2119

  To amend the Head Start Act to authorize block grants to States for 
                       prekindergarten education.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 12, 2014

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Head Start Act to authorize block grants to States for 
                       prekindergarten education.

    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 ``Head Start Improvement Act of 
2014''.

SEC. 2. HEAD START BLOCK GRANTS.

    The Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 640, by adding at the end the following:
    ``(p) Beginning on October 1 of the first fiscal year following the 
date of enactment of the Head Start Improvement Act of 2014, the 
Secretary shall not allocate, reserve, or otherwise provide funds 
pursuant to this section.''; and
            (2) by inserting after section 640 the following:

``SEC. 640A. BLOCK GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE GRANTEES.

    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
subchapter, beginning on October 1 of the first fiscal year following 
the date of enactment of the Head Start Improvement Act of 2014, from 
the amounts appropriated to carry out this subchapter under section 639 
for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall award grants to eligible 
grantees in accordance with this section.
    ``(b) Allotments.--
            ``(1) Eligible grantee defined.--In this section, the term 
        `eligible grantee' means each of the 50 States of the United 
        States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
        Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, 
        the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic 
        of Palau, and each of the federally recognized Indian tribes.
            ``(2) Formula.--The Secretary shall allot the amount 
        appropriated under section 639 for a fiscal year among the 
        eligible grantees in proportion to the number of children, aged 
        5 and younger, who reside within the eligible grantee and are 
        from families with incomes below 130 percent of the poverty 
        line for the most recent fiscal year for which satisfactory 
        data are available, compared to the number of such children who 
        reside in all such eligible grantees for that fiscal year.
    ``(c) Use of Funds.--
            ``(1) In general.--An eligible grantee that receives a 
        grant under this section shall use 100 percent of the grant 
        funds--
                    ``(A) for prekindergarten education programs in the 
                eligible grantee;
                    ``(B) for the administration of the programs 
                described in subparagraph (A); and
                    ``(C) to provide direct technical assistance, 
                oversight, monitoring, research, and training with 
                respect to the programs described in subparagraph (A).
            ``(2) Certification.--The Governor, or other chief 
        executive, of each eligible grantee that receives a grant under 
        this section shall certify that all grant funds received under 
        this section will be used to directly or indirectly provide 
        comprehensive education and related services to low-income 
        children and their families.
            ``(3) Eligible grantee responsibilities.--An eligible 
        grantee that receives a grant under this section shall--
                    ``(A) award subgrants to eligible entities (as 
                defined by the eligible grantee) to enable such 
                entities to provide prekindergarten education programs 
                in the eligible grantee;
                    ``(B) establish rules and standards for the 
                entities awarded subgrants under subparagraph (A); and
                    ``(C) monitor compliance by entities awarded 
                subgrants under subparagraph (A).
            ``(4) Flexibility.--Subject to the requirements of this 
        section, an eligible grantee that receives a grant under this 
        section shall have full flexibility to use grant funds to 
        finance a prekindergarten education provider, service, or 
        program, including to establish a portable voucher system.
            ``(5) Members of federally recognized indian tribes.--A 
        member of a federally recognized Indian tribe who is eligible 
        to receive services pursuant to a program funded under this 
        section may elect to receive such services from any eligible 
        entity in the eligible grantee in which the member resides.
    ``(d) Matching Funds.--An eligible grantee that receives a grant 
under this section shall provide matching funds from non-Federal 
sources equal to 20 percent of the amount of the grant to carry out the 
activities described in this section.''.
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