[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 70 (Friday, May 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H4023-H4038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SUCCESS AND OPPORTUNITY THROUGH QUALITY CHARTER SCHOOLS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 576 and rule 
XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House 
on the state of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, 
H.R. 10.
  Will the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Yoder) kindly take the chair.

                              {time}  1000


                     In the Committee of the Whole

  Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the 
Whole House on the state of the Union for the further consideration of 
the bill (H.R. 10) to amend the charter school program under the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, with Mr. Yoder (Acting 
Chair) in the chair.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The Acting CHAIR. When the Committee of the Whole rose on Thursday, 
May 8, 2014, all time for general debate had expired.
  Pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment 
under the 5-minute rule.
  Pursuant to the rule, the amendment in the nature of a substitute 
recommended by the Committee on Education and the Workforce, printed in 
the bill, shall be considered as an original bill for the purpose of 
amendment under the 5-minute rule and shall be considered read.
  The text of the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute is 
as follows:

                                H.R. 10

       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 ``Success and Opportunity 
     through Quality Charter Schools Act''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in this 
     Act a section or other provision is amended or repealed, such 
     amendment or repeal shall be considered to be made to that 
     section or other provision of the Elementary and Secondary 
     Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.).

     SEC. 3. SUBPART HEADING; PURPOSE.

       (a) Subpart Heading.--The heading for subpart 1 of part B 
     of title V (20 U.S.C. 7221 et seq.) is amended to read as 
     follows: ``Charter School Program''.
       (b) Purpose.--Section 5201 (20 U.S.C. 7221) is amended to 
     read as follows:

     ``SEC. 5201. PURPOSE.

       ``It is the purpose of this subpart to--
       ``(1) improve the United States education system and 
     education opportunities for all Americans by supporting 
     innovation in public education in public school settings that 
     prepare students to compete and contribute to the global 
     economy;
       ``(2) provide financial assistance for the planning, 
     program design, and initial implementation of charter 
     schools;
       ``(3) expand the number of high-quality charter schools 
     available to students across the Nation;
       ``(4) evaluate the impact of such schools on student 
     achievement, families, and communities, and share best 
     practices between charter schools and other public schools;
       ``(5) encourage States to provide support to charter 
     schools for facilities financing in an amount more nearly 
     commensurate to the amount the States have typically provided 
     for traditional public schools;
       ``(6) improve student services to increase opportunities 
     for students with disabilities, limited English proficient 
     students, and other traditionally underserved students to 
     attend charter schools and meet challenging State academic 
     achievement standards;
       ``(7) support efforts to strengthen the charter school 
     authorizing process to improve performance management, 
     including transparency, oversight, monitoring, and evaluation 
     of such schools; and
       ``(8) support quality accountability and transparency in 
     the operational performance of all authorized public 
     chartering agencies, which include State educational 
     agencies, local educational agencies, and other authorizing 
     entities.''.

     SEC. 4. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

       Section 5202 (20 U.S.C. 7221a) is amended to read as 
     follows:

     ``SEC. 5202. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

       ``(a) In General.--This subpart authorizes the Secretary to 
     carry out a charter school program that supports charter 
     schools that serve elementary school and secondary school 
     students by--
       ``(1) supporting the startup of charter schools, and the 
     replication and expansion of high-quality charter schools;
       ``(2) assisting charter schools in accessing credit to 
     acquire and renovate facilities for school use; and
       ``(3) carrying out national activities to support--
       ``(A) charter school development;
       ``(B) the dissemination of best practices of charter 
     schools for all schools;
       ``(C) the evaluation of the impact of the program on 
     schools participating in the program; and
       ``(D) stronger charter school authorizing.
       ``(b) Funding Allotment.--From the amount made available 
     under section 5211 for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall--
       ``(1) reserve 12.5 percent to support charter school 
     facilities assistance under section 5204;
       ``(2) reserve not more than 10 percent to carry out 
     national activities under section 5205; and
       ``(3) use the remaining amount after the Secretary reserves 
     funds under paragraphs (1) and (2) to carry out section 5203.
       ``(c) Prior Grants and Subgrants.--The recipient of a grant 
     or subgrant under this subpart or subpart 2, as such subpart 
     was in effect

[[Page H4024]]

     on the day before the date of enactment of the Success and 
     Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act, shall 
     continue to receive funds in accordance with the terms and 
     conditions of such grant or subgrant.''.

     SEC. 5. GRANTS TO SUPPORT HIGH-QUALITY CHARTER SCHOOLS.

       Section 5203 (20 U.S.C. 7221b) is amended to read as 
     follows:

     ``SEC. 5203. GRANTS TO SUPPORT HIGH-QUALITY CHARTER SCHOOLS.

       ``(a) In General.--From the amount reserved under section 
     5202(b)(3), the Secretary shall award grants to State 
     entities having applications approved pursuant to subsection 
     (f) to enable such entities to--
       ``(1) award subgrants to eligible applicants for opening 
     and preparing to operate--
       ``(A) new charter schools;
       ``(B) replicated, high-quality charter school models; or
       ``(C) expanded, high-quality charter schools; and
       ``(2) provide technical assistance to eligible applicants 
     and authorized public chartering agencies in carrying out the 
     activities described in paragraph (1) and work with 
     authorized public chartering agencies in the State to improve 
     authorizing quality.
       ``(b) State Uses of Funds.--
       ``(1) In general.--A State entity receiving a grant under 
     this section shall--
       ``(A) use not less than 90 percent of the grant funds to 
     award subgrants to eligible applicants, in accordance with 
     the quality charter school program described in the State 
     entity's application approved pursuant to subsection (f), for 
     the purposes described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of 
     subsection (a)(1);
       ``(B) reserve not less than 7 percent of such funds to 
     carry out the activities described in subsection (a)(2); and
       ``(C) reserve not more than 3 percent of such funds for 
     administrative costs which may include technical assistance.
       ``(2) Contracts and grants.--A State entity may use a grant 
     received under this section to carry out the activities 
     described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) 
     directly or through grants, contracts, or cooperative 
     agreements.
       ``(3) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this Act shall 
     prohibit the Secretary from awarding grants to States that 
     use a weighted lottery to give slightly better chances for 
     admission to all, or a subset of, educationally disadvantaged 
     students if--
       ``(A) the use of weighted lotteries in favor of such 
     students is not prohibited by State law, and such State law 
     is consistent with laws described in section 5210(1)(G); and
       ``(B) such weighted lotteries are not used for the purpose 
     of creating schools exclusively to serve a particular subset 
     of students.
       ``(c) Program Periods; Peer Review; Grant Number and 
     Amount; Diversity of Projects; Waivers.--
       ``(1) Program periods.--
       ``(A) Grants.--A grant awarded by the Secretary to a State 
     entity under this section shall be for a period of not more 
     than 5 years.
       ``(B) Subgrants.--A subgrant awarded by a State entity 
     under this section shall be for a period of not more than 5 
     years, of which an eligible applicant may use not more than 
     18 months for planning and program design.
       ``(2) Peer review.--The Secretary, and each State entity 
     receiving a grant under this section, shall use a peer review 
     process to review applications for assistance under this 
     section.
       ``(3) Grant awards.--The Secretary shall--
       ``(A) for each fiscal year for which funds are appropriated 
     under section 5211--
       ``(i) award not less than 3 grants under this section;
       ``(ii) wholly fund each grant awarded under this section, 
     without making continuation awards; and
       ``(iii) fully obligate the funds appropriated for the 
     purpose of awarding grants under this section in the fiscal 
     year for which such grants are awarded; and
       ``(B) midway through the grant period of each grant awarded 
     under this section to a State entity, review the grant to 
     determine whether the State entity will meet the agreed upon 
     uses of funds in the State entity's application, and if not, 
     reallot the grant funds that will not be used for such agreed 
     upon uses of funds to other State entities during the 
     succeeding grant competition under this section.
       ``(4) Diversity of projects.--Each State entity receiving a 
     grant under this section shall award subgrants under this 
     section in a manner that, to the extent possible, ensures 
     that such subgrants--
       ``(A) are distributed throughout different areas, including 
     urban, suburban, and rural areas; and
       ``(B) will assist charter schools representing a variety of 
     educational approaches.
       ``(5) Waivers.--The Secretary may waive any statutory or 
     regulatory requirement over which the Secretary exercises 
     administrative authority except any such requirement relating 
     to the elements of a charter school described in section 
     5210(1), if--
       ``(A) the waiver is requested in an approved application 
     under this section; and
       ``(B) the Secretary determines that granting such a waiver 
     will promote the purpose of this subpart.
       ``(d) Limitations.--
       ``(1) Grants.--A State entity may not receive more than 1 
     grant under this section for a 5-year period.
       ``(2) Subgrants.--An eligible applicant may not receive 
     more than 1 subgrant under this section per individual 
     charter school for a 5-year period, unless the eligible 
     applicant demonstrates to the State entity not less than 3 
     years of improved educational results in the areas described 
     in subparagraphs (A) and (D) of section 5210(8) for students 
     enrolled in such charter school.
       ``(e) Applications.--A State entity desiring to receive a 
     grant under this section shall submit an application to the 
     Secretary at such time and in such manner as the Secretary 
     may require. The application shall include the following:
       ``(1) Description of program.--A description of the State 
     entity's objectives under this section and how the objectives 
     of the program will be carried out, including a description--
       ``(A) of how the State entity--
       ``(i) will support the opening of new charter schools, 
     replicated, high-quality charter school models, or expanded, 
     high-quality charter schools, and a description of the 
     proposed number of each type of charter school or model, if 
     applicable, to be opened under the State entity's program;
       ``(ii) will inform eligible charter schools, developers, 
     and authorized public chartering agencies of the availability 
     of funds under the program;
       ``(iii) will work with eligible applicants to ensure that 
     the eligible applicants access all Federal funds that they 
     are eligible to receive, and help the charter schools 
     supported by the applicants and the students attending the 
     charter schools--

       ``(I) participate in the Federal programs in which the 
     schools and students are eligible to participate;
       ``(II) receive the commensurate share of Federal funds the 
     schools and students are eligible to receive under such 
     programs; and
       ``(III) meet the needs of students served under such 
     programs, including student with disabilities and English 
     learners;

       ``(iv) will have clear plans and procedures to assist 
     students enrolled in a charter school that closes or loses 
     its charter to attend other high-quality schools;
       ``(v) in the case in which the State entity is not a State 
     educational agency--

       ``(I) will work with the State educational agency and the 
     charter schools in the State to maximize charter school 
     participation in Federal and State programs for charter 
     schools; and
       ``(II) will work with the State educational agency to 
     adequately operate the State entity's program under this 
     section, where applicable;

       ``(vi) will ensure each eligible applicant that receives a 
     subgrant under the State entity's program to open and prepare 
     to operate a new charter school, a replicated, high-quality 
     charter school model, or an expanded, high-quality charter 
     school--

       ``(I) will ensure such school or model meets the 
     requirements under section 5210(1); and
       ``(II) is prepared to continue to operate such school or 
     model, in a manner consistent with the eligible applicant's 
     application, after the subgrant funds have expired;

       ``(vii) will support charter schools in local educational 
     agencies with large numbers of schools identified by the 
     State for improvement;
       ``(viii) will work with charter schools to promote 
     inclusion of all students and support all students once they 
     are enrolled to promote retention;
       ``(ix) will work with charter schools on recruitment 
     practices, including efforts to engage groups that may 
     otherwise have limited opportunities to participate in 
     charter schools, and to ensure such schools do not have in 
     effect policies or procedures that may create barriers to 
     enrollment of students, including educationally disadvantaged 
     students, and are in compliance with all Federal and State 
     laws on enrollment practices;
       ``(x) will share best and promising practices between 
     charter schools and other public schools, including, where 
     appropriate, instruction and professional development in core 
     academic subjects, and science, technology, engineering, and 
     math education, including computer science;
       ``(xi) will ensure the charter schools receiving funds 
     under the State entity's program meet the educational needs 
     of their students, including students with disabilities and 
     English learners;
       ``(xii) will support efforts to increase quality 
     initiatives, including meeting the quality authorizing 
     elements described in paragraph (2)(E);
       ``(xiii) in the case of a State entity not described in 
     clause (xiv), will provide oversight of authorizing activity, 
     including how the State will approve, actively monitor, and 
     re-approve or revoke the authority of an authorized public 
     chartering agency based on the performance of the charter 
     schools authorized by such agency in the areas of student 
     achievement, student safety, financial management, and 
     compliance with all applicable statutes and regulations; and
       ``(xiv) in the case of a State entity defined in subsection 
     (i)(4), will work with the State to provide assistance to and 
     oversight of authorized public chartering agencies for 
     authorizing activity described in clause (xiii);
       ``(B) of the extent to which the State entity--
       ``(i) is able to meet and carry out the priorities listed 
     in subsection (f)(2); and
       ``(ii) is working to develop or strengthen a cohesive 
     statewide system to support the opening of new charter 
     schools, replicated, high-quality charter school models, or 
     expanded, high-quality charter schools;
       ``(C) of how the State entity will carry out the subgrant 
     competition, including--
       ``(i) a description of the application each eligible 
     applicant desiring to receive a subgrant will submit, 
     including--

       ``(I) a description of the roles and responsibilities of 
     eligible applicants, partner organizations, and management 
     organizations, including the administrative and contractual 
     roles and responsibilities;
       ``(II) a description of the quality controls agreed to 
     between the eligible applicant and the authorized public 
     chartering agency involved,

[[Page H4025]]

     such as a contract or performance agreement, how a school's 
     performance in the State's academic accountability system 
     will be a primary factor for renewal or revocation of the 
     school's charter, and how the State entity and the authorized 
     public chartering agency involved will reserve the right to 
     revoke or not renew a school's charter based on financial, 
     structural, or operational factors involving the management 
     of the school;
       ``(III) a description of how the eligible applicant will 
     solicit and consider input from parents and other members of 
     the community on the implementation and operation of each 
     charter school receiving funds under the State entity's 
     program; and
       ``(IV) a description of the planned activities and 
     expenditures for the subgrant funds for purposes of opening 
     and preparing to operate a new charter school, a replicated, 
     high-quality charter school model, or an expanded, high-
     quality charter school, and how the school or model will 
     maintain financial sustainability after the end of the 
     subgrant period; and

       ``(ii) a description of how the State entity will review 
     applications;
       ``(D) in the case of an entity that partners with an 
     outside organization to carry out the State entity's quality 
     charter school program, in whole or in part, of the roles and 
     responsibilities of this partner;
       ``(E) of how the State entity will help the charter schools 
     receiving funds under the State entity's program consider the 
     transportation needs of the schools' students; and
       ``(F) of how the State entity will support diverse charter 
     school models, including models that serve rural communities.
       ``(2) Assurances.--Assurances, including a description of 
     how the assurances will be met, that--
       ``(A) each charter school receiving funds under the State 
     entity's program will have a high degree of autonomy over 
     budget and operations;
       ``(B) the State entity will support charter schools in 
     meeting the educational needs of their students as described 
     in paragraph (1)(A)(x);
       ``(C) the State entity will ensure that the authorized 
     public chartering agency of any charter school that receives 
     funds under the State entity's program--
       ``(i) adequately monitors each charter school in 
     recruiting, enrolling, and meeting the needs of all students, 
     including students with disabilities and English learners; 
     and
       ``(ii) ensures that each charter school solicits and 
     considers input from parents and other members of the 
     community on the implementation and operation of the school;
       ``(D) the State entity will provide adequate technical 
     assistance to eligible applicants to--
       ``(i) meet the objectives described in clauses (vii) and 
     (viii) of paragraph (1)(A) and paragraph (2)(B); and
       ``(ii) recruit, enroll, and retain traditionally 
     underserved students, including students with disabilities 
     and English learners, at rates similar to traditional public 
     schools;
       ``(E) the State entity will promote quality authorizing, 
     such as through providing technical assistance and supporting 
     all authorized public chartering agencies in the State to 
     improve the oversight of their charter schools, including 
     by--
       ``(i) assessing annual performance data of the schools, 
     including, as appropriate, graduation rates and student 
     academic growth;
       ``(ii) reviewing the schools' independent, annual audits of 
     financial statements conducted in accordance with generally 
     accepted accounting principles, and ensuring any such audits 
     are publically reported; and
       ``(iii) holding charter schools accountable to the 
     academic, financial, and operational quality controls agreed 
     to between the charter school and the authorized public 
     chartering agency involved, such as through renewal, non-
     renewal, or revocation of the school's charter;
       ``(F) the State entity will work to ensure that charter 
     schools are included with the traditional public schools in 
     decision-making about the public school system in the State; 
     and
       ``(G) the State entity will ensure that each charter school 
     in the State make publicly available, consistent with the 
     dissemination requirements of the annual State report card, 
     information to help parents make informed decisions about the 
     education options available to their children, including 
     information on the educational program, student support 
     services, and annual performance and enrollment data for the 
     groups of students described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II).
       ``(3) Requests for waivers.--A request and justification 
     for waivers of any Federal statutory or regulatory provisions 
     that the State entity believes are necessary for the 
     successful operation of the charter schools that will receive 
     funds under the State entity's program under this section, 
     and a description of any State or local rules, generally 
     applicable to public schools, that will be waived, or 
     otherwise not apply to such schools or, in the case of a 
     State entity defined in subsection (i)(4), a description of 
     how the State entity will work with the State to request 
     necessary waivers where applicable.
       ``(f) Selection Criteria; Priority.--
       ``(1) Selection criteria.--The Secretary shall award grants 
     to State entities under this section on the basis of the 
     quality of the applications submitted under subsection (e), 
     after taking into consideration--
       ``(A) the degree of flexibility afforded by the State's 
     public charter school law and how the State entity will work 
     to maximize the flexibility provided to charter schools under 
     the law;
       ``(B) the ambitiousness of the State entity's objectives 
     for the quality charter school program carried out under this 
     section;
       ``(C) the quality of the strategy for assessing achievement 
     of those objectives;
       ``(D) the likelihood that the eligible applicants receiving 
     subgrants under the program will meet those objectives and 
     improve educational results for students;
       ``(E) the State entity's plan to--
       ``(i) adequately monitor the eligible applicants receiving 
     subgrants under the State entity's program;
       ``(ii) work with the authorized public chartering agencies 
     involved to avoid duplication of work for the charter schools 
     and authorized public chartering agencies; and
       ``(iii) provide adequate technical assistance and support 
     for--

       ``(I) the charter schools receiving funds under the State 
     entity's program; and
       ``(II) quality authorizing efforts in the State; and

       ``(F) the State entity's plan to solicit and consider input 
     from parents and other members of the community on the 
     implementation and operation of the charter schools in the 
     State.
       ``(2) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
     Secretary shall give priority to State entities to the extent 
     that they meet the following criteria:
       ``(A) In the case of a State entity located in a State that 
     allows an entity other than a local educational agency to be 
     an authorized public chartering agency, the State has a 
     quality authorized public chartering agency that is an entity 
     other than a local educational agency.
       ``(B) The State entity is located in a State that does not 
     impose any limitation on the number or percentage of charter 
     schools that may exist or the number or percentage of 
     students that may attend charter schools in the State.
       ``(C) The State entity is located in a State that ensures 
     equitable financing, as compared to traditional public 
     schools, for charter schools and students in a prompt manner.
       ``(D) The State entity is located in a State that uses 
     charter schools and best practices from charter schools to 
     help improve struggling schools and local educational 
     agencies.
       ``(E) The State entity partners with an organization that 
     has a demonstrated record of success in developing management 
     organizations to support the development of charter schools 
     in the State.
       ``(F) The State entity supports charter schools that 
     support at-risk students through activities such as dropout 
     prevention or dropout recovery.
       ``(G) The State entity authorizes all charter schools in 
     the State to serve as school food authorities.
       ``(H) The State entity has taken steps to ensure that all 
     authorizing public chartering agencies implement best 
     practices for charter school authorizing.
       ``(g) Local Uses of Funds.--An eligible applicant receiving 
     a subgrant under this section shall use such funds to carry 
     out activities related to opening and preparing to operate a 
     new charter school, a replicated, high-quality charter school 
     model, or an expanded, high-quality charter school, such as--
       ``(1) preparing teachers and school leaders, including 
     through professional development;
       ``(2) acquiring equipment, educational materials, and 
     supplies; and
       ``(3) necessary renovations and minor facilities repairs 
     (excluding construction).
       ``(h) Reporting Requirements.--Each State entity receiving 
     a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary, at 
     the end of the third year of the 5-year grant period and at 
     the end of such grant period, a report on--
       ``(1) the number of students served by each subgrant 
     awarded under this section and, if applicable, how many new 
     students were served during each year of the subgrant period;
       ``(2) the progress the State entity made toward meeting the 
     priorities described in subsection (f)(2), as applicable;
       ``(3) how the State entity met the objectives of the 
     quality charter school program described in the State 
     entity's application under subsection (e);
       ``(4) how the State entity complied with, and ensured that 
     eligible applicants complied with, the assurances described 
     in the State entity's application;
       ``(5) how the State entity worked with authorized public 
     chartering agencies, including how the agencies worked with 
     the management company or leadership of the schools that 
     received subgrants under this section; and
       ``(6) the number of subgrants awarded under this section to 
     carry out each of the following:
       ``(A) The opening of new charter schools.
       ``(B) The opening of replicated, high-quality charter 
     school models.
       ``(C) The opening of expanded, high-quality charter 
     schools.
       ``(i) State Entity Defined.--For purposes of this section, 
     the term `State entity' means--
       ``(1) a State educational agency;
       ``(2) a State charter school board;
       ``(3) a Governor of a State; or
       ``(4) a charter school support organization.''.

     SEC. 6. FACILITIES FINANCING ASSISTANCE.

       Section 5204 (20 U.S.C. 7221c) is amended to read as 
     follows:

     ``SEC. 5204. FACILITIES FINANCING ASSISTANCE.

       ``(a) Grants to Eligible Entities.--
       ``(1) In general.--From the amount reserved under section 
     5202(b)(1), the Secretary shall not use less than 50 percent 
     to award grants to eligible entities that have the highest-
     quality applications approved under subsection (d), after 
     considering the diversity of such applications, to 
     demonstrate innovative methods of assisting charter schools 
     to address the cost of acquiring, constructing, and 
     renovating facilities by enhancing the availability of loans 
     or bond financing.
       ``(2) Eligible entity defined.--For purposes of this 
     section, the term `eligible entity' means--
       ``(A) a public entity, such as a State or local 
     governmental entity;

[[Page H4026]]

       ``(B) a private nonprofit entity; or
       ``(C) a consortium of entities described in subparagraphs 
     (A) and (B).
       ``(b) Grantee Selection.--The Secretary shall evaluate each 
     application submitted under subsection (d), and shall 
     determine whether the application is sufficient to merit 
     approval.
       ``(c) Grant Characteristics.--Grants under subsection (a) 
     shall be of a sufficient size, scope, and quality so as to 
     ensure an effective demonstration of an innovative means of 
     enhancing credit for the financing of charter school 
     acquisition, construction, or renovation.
       ``(d) Applications.--
       ``(1) In general.--To receive a grant under subsection (a), 
     an eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary an 
     application in such form as the Secretary may reasonably 
     require.
       ``(2) Contents.--An application submitted under paragraph 
     (1) shall contain--
       ``(A) a statement identifying the activities proposed to be 
     undertaken with funds received under subsection (a), 
     including how the eligible entity will determine which 
     charter schools will receive assistance, and how much and 
     what types of assistance charter schools will receive;
       ``(B) a description of the involvement of charter schools 
     in the application's development and the design of the 
     proposed activities;
       ``(C) a description of the eligible entity's expertise in 
     capital market financing;
       ``(D) a description of how the proposed activities will 
     leverage the maximum amount of private-sector financing 
     capital relative to the amount of public funding used and 
     otherwise enhance credit available to charter schools, 
     including how the eligible entity will offer a combination of 
     rates and terms more favorable than the rates and terms that 
     a charter school could receive without assistance from the 
     eligible entity under this section;
       ``(E) a description of how the eligible entity possesses 
     sufficient expertise in education to evaluate the likelihood 
     of success of a charter school program for which facilities 
     financing is sought; and
       ``(F) in the case of an application submitted by a State 
     governmental entity, a description of the actions that the 
     entity has taken, or will take, to ensure that charter 
     schools within the State receive the funding the charter 
     schools need to have adequate facilities.
       ``(e) Charter School Objectives.--An eligible entity 
     receiving a grant under this section shall use the funds 
     deposited in the reserve account established under subsection 
     (f) to assist one or more charter schools to access private 
     sector capital to accomplish one or more of the following 
     objectives:
       ``(1) The acquisition (by purchase, lease, donation, or 
     otherwise) of an interest (including an interest held by a 
     third party for the benefit of a charter school) in improved 
     or unimproved real property that is necessary to commence or 
     continue the operation of a charter school.
       ``(2) The construction of new facilities, or the 
     renovation, repair, or alteration of existing facilities, 
     necessary to commence or continue the operation of a charter 
     school.
       ``(3) The predevelopment costs required to assess sites for 
     purposes of paragraph (1) or (2) and which are necessary to 
     commence or continue the operation of a charter school.
       ``(f) Reserve Account.--
       ``(1) Use of funds.--To assist charter schools to 
     accomplish the objectives described in subsection (e), an 
     eligible entity receiving a grant under subsection (a) shall, 
     in accordance with State and local law, directly or 
     indirectly, alone or in collaboration with others, deposit 
     the funds received under subsection (a) (other than funds 
     used for administrative costs in accordance with subsection 
     (g)) in a reserve account established and maintained by the 
     eligible entity for this purpose. Amounts deposited in such 
     account shall be used by the eligible entity for one or more 
     of the following purposes:
       ``(A) Guaranteeing, insuring, and reinsuring bonds, notes, 
     evidences of debt, loans, and interests therein, the proceeds 
     of which are used for an objective described in subsection 
     (e).
       ``(B) Guaranteeing and insuring leases of personal and real 
     property for an objective described in subsection (e).
       ``(C) Facilitating financing by identifying potential 
     lending sources, encouraging private lending, and other 
     similar activities that directly promote lending to, or for 
     the benefit of, charter schools.
       ``(D) Facilitating the issuance of bonds by charter 
     schools, or by other public entities for the benefit of 
     charter schools, by providing technical, administrative, and 
     other appropriate assistance (including the recruitment of 
     bond counsel, underwriters, and potential investors and the 
     consolidation of multiple charter school projects within a 
     single bond issue).
       ``(2) Investment.--Funds received under this section and 
     deposited in the reserve account established under paragraph 
     (1) shall be invested in obligations issued or guaranteed by 
     the United States or a State, or in other similarly low-risk 
     securities.
       ``(3) Reinvestment of earnings.--Any earnings on funds 
     received under subsection (a) shall be deposited in the 
     reserve account established under paragraph (1) and used in 
     accordance with such paragraph.
       ``(g) Limitation on Administrative Costs.--An eligible 
     entity may use not more than 2.5 percent of the funds 
     received under subsection (a) for the administrative costs of 
     carrying out its responsibilities under this section 
     (excluding subsection (k)).
       ``(h) Audits and Reports.--
       ``(1) Financial record maintenance and audit.--The 
     financial records of each eligible entity receiving a grant 
     under subsection (a) shall be maintained in accordance with 
     generally accepted accounting principles and shall be subject 
     to an annual audit by an independent public accountant.
       ``(2) Reports.--
       ``(A) Grantee annual reports.--Each eligible entity 
     receiving a grant under subsection (a) annually shall submit 
     to the Secretary a report of its operations and activities 
     under this section.
       ``(B) Contents.--Each annual report submitted under 
     subparagraph (A) shall include--
       ``(i) a copy of the most recent financial statements, and 
     any accompanying opinion on such statements, prepared by the 
     independent public accountant reviewing the financial records 
     of the eligible entity;
       ``(ii) a copy of any report made on an audit of the 
     financial records of the eligible entity that was conducted 
     under paragraph (1) during the reporting period;
       ``(iii) an evaluation by the eligible entity of the 
     effectiveness of its use of the Federal funds provided under 
     subsection (a) in leveraging private funds;
       ``(iv) a listing and description of the charter schools 
     served during the reporting period, including the amount of 
     funds used by each school, the type of project facilitated by 
     the grant, and the type of assistance provided to the charter 
     schools;
       ``(v) a description of the activities carried out by the 
     eligible entity to assist charter schools in meeting the 
     objectives set forth in subsection (e); and
       ``(vi) a description of the characteristics of lenders and 
     other financial institutions participating in the activities 
     undertaken by the eligible entity under this section 
     (excluding subsection (k)) during the reporting period.
       ``(C) Secretarial report.--The Secretary shall review the 
     reports submitted under subparagraph (A) and shall provide a 
     comprehensive annual report to Congress on the activities 
     conducted under this section (excluding subsection (k)).
       ``(i) No Full Faith and Credit for Grantee Obligation.--No 
     financial obligation of an eligible entity entered into 
     pursuant to this section (such as an obligation under a 
     guarantee, bond, note, evidence of debt, or loan) shall be an 
     obligation of, or guaranteed in any respect by, the United 
     States. The full faith and credit of the United States is not 
     pledged to the payment of funds which may be required to be 
     paid under any obligation made by an eligible entity pursuant 
     to any provision of this section.
       ``(j) Recovery of Funds.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary, in accordance with 
     chapter 37 of title 31, United States Code, shall collect--
       ``(A) all of the funds in a reserve account established by 
     an eligible entity under subsection (f)(1) if the Secretary 
     determines, not earlier than 2 years after the date on which 
     the eligible entity first received funds under this section 
     (excluding subsection (k)), that the eligible entity has 
     failed to make substantial progress in carrying out the 
     purposes described in subsection (f)(1); or
       ``(B) all or a portion of the funds in a reserve account 
     established by an eligible entity under subsection (f)(1) if 
     the Secretary determines that the eligible entity has 
     permanently ceased to use all or a portion of the funds in 
     such account to accomplish any purpose described in 
     subsection (f)(1).
       ``(2) Exercise of authority.--The Secretary shall not 
     exercise the authority provided in paragraph (1) to collect 
     from any eligible entity any funds that are being properly 
     used to achieve one or more of the purposes described in 
     subsection (f)(1).
       ``(3)  Procedures.--The provisions of sections 451, 452, 
     and 458 of the General Education Provisions Act 20 U.S.C. 
     124, 1234a, 1234g shall apply to the recovery of funds under 
     paragraph (1).
       ``(4) Construction.--This subsection shall not be construed 
     to impair or affect the authority of the Secretary to recover 
     funds under part D of the General Education Provisions Act 
     (20 U.S.C. 1234 et seq.).
       ``(k) Per-pupil Facilities Aid Program.--
       ``(1) Definition of per-pupil facilities aid program.--In 
     this subsection, the term `per-pupil facilities aid program' 
     means a program in which a State makes payments, on a per-
     pupil basis, to charter schools to provide the schools with 
     financing--
       ``(A) that is dedicated solely for funding charter school 
     facilities; or
       ``(B) a portion of which is dedicated for funding charter 
     school facilities.
       ``(2) Grants.--
       ``(A) In general.--From the amount under section 5202(b)(1) 
     remaining after the Secretary makes grants under subsection 
     (a), the Secretary shall make grants, on a competitive basis, 
     to States to pay for the Federal share of the cost of 
     establishing or enhancing, and administering per-pupil 
     facilities aid programs.
       ``(B) Period.--The Secretary shall award grants under this 
     subsection for periods of not more than 5 years.
       ``(C) Federal share.--The Federal share of the cost 
     described in subparagraph (A) for a per-pupil facilities aid 
     program shall be not more than--
       ``(i) 90 percent of the cost, for the first fiscal year for 
     which the program receives assistance under this subsection;
       ``(ii) 80 percent in the second such year;
       ``(iii) 60 percent in the third such year;
       ``(iv) 40 percent in the fourth such year; and
       ``(v) 20 percent in the fifth such year.
       ``(D) State share.--A State receiving a grant under this 
     subsection may partner with 1 or more organizations to 
     provide up to 50 percent of the State share of the cost of 
     establishing or enhancing, and administering the per-pupil 
     facilities aid program.
       ``(E) Multiple grants.--A State may receive more than 1 
     grant under this subsection, so long as the amount of such 
     funds provided to charter schools increases with each 
     successive grant.
       ``(3) Use of funds.--

[[Page H4027]]

       ``(A) In general.--A State that receives a grant under this 
     subsection shall use the funds made available through the 
     grant to establish or enhance, and administer, a per-pupil 
     facilities aid program for charter schools in the State of 
     the applicant.
       ``(B) Evaluations; technical assistance; dissemination.--
     From the amount made available to a State through a grant 
     under this subsection for a fiscal year, the State may 
     reserve not more than 5 percent to carry out evaluations, to 
     provide technical assistance, and to disseminate information.
       ``(C) Supplement, not supplant.--Funds made available under 
     this subsection shall be used to supplement, and not 
     supplant, State and local public funds expended to provide 
     per pupil facilities aid programs, operations financing 
     programs, or other programs, for charter schools.
       ``(4) Requirements.--
       ``(A) Voluntary participation.--No State may be required to 
     participate in a program carried out under this subsection.
       ``(B) State law.--
       ``(i) In general.--Except as provided in clause (ii), to be 
     eligible to receive a grant under this subsection, a State 
     shall establish or enhance, and administer, a per-pupil 
     facilities aid program for charter schools in the State, 
     that--

       ``(I) is specified in State law; and
       ``(II) provides annual financing, on a per-pupil basis, for 
     charter school facilities.

       ``(ii) Special rule.--Notwithstanding clause (i), a State 
     that is required under State law to provide its charter 
     schools with access to adequate facility space, but which 
     does not have a per-pupil facilities aid program for charter 
     schools specified in State law, may be eligible to receive a 
     grant under this subsection if the State agrees to use the 
     funds to develop a per-pupil facilities aid program 
     consistent with the requirements of this subsection.
       ``(5) Applications.--To be eligible to receive a grant 
     under this subsection, a State shall submit an application to 
     the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing 
     such information as the Secretary may require.''.

     SEC. 7. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

       Section 5205 (20 U.S.C. 7221d) is amended to read as 
     follows:

     ``SEC. 5205. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

       ``(a) In General.--From the amount reserved under section 
     5202(b)(2), the Secretary shall--
       ``(1) use not less than 75 percent of such funds to award 
     grants in accordance with subsection (b); and
       ``(2) use not more than 25 percent of such funds to--
       ``(A) provide technical assistance to State entities in 
     awarding subgrants under section 5203, and eligible entities 
     and States receiving grants under section 5204;
       ``(B) disseminate best practices; and
       ``(C) evaluate the impact of the charter school program, 
     including the impact on student achievement, carried out 
     under this subpart.
       ``(b)  Grants.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall make grants, on a 
     competitive basis, to eligible applicants for the purpose of 
     carrying out the activities described in section 5202(a)(1), 
     subparagraphs (A) through (C) of section 5203(a)(1), and 
     section 5203(g).
       ``(2) Terms and conditions.--Except as otherwise provided 
     in this subsection, grants awarded under this subsection 
     shall have the same terms and conditions as grants awarded to 
     State entities under section 5203.
       ``(3) Charter management organizations.--The Secretary 
     shall--
       ``(A) use not less than 75 percent of the funds described 
     in subsection (a)(1) to make grants, on a competitive basis, 
     to eligible applicants described in paragraph (4)(C); and
       ``(B) notwithstanding paragraphs (1)(A) and (2) of section 
     5203(f)--
       ``(i) award grants to eligible applicants on the basis of 
     the quality of the applications submitted under this 
     subsection; and
       ``(ii) in awarding grants to eligible applicants described 
     in paragraph (4)(C), give priority to each such eligible 
     applicant that--

       ``(I) demonstrates a high proportion of high-quality 
     charter schools within the network of the eligible applicant;
       ``(II) demonstrates success in serving students who are 
     educationally disadvantaged;
       ``(III) does not have a significant proportion of charter 
     schools that have been closed, had their charter revoked for 
     compliance issues, or had their affiliation with such 
     eligible applicant revoked;
       ``(IV) has sufficient procedures in effect to ensure timely 
     closure of low-performing or financially-mismanaged charter 
     schools and clear plans and procedures in effect for the 
     students in such schools to attend other high-quality 
     schools; and
       ``(V) demonstrates success in working with schools 
     identified for improvement by the State.

       ``(4) Eligible applicant defined.--For purposes of this 
     subsection, the term `eligible applicant' means an eligible 
     applicant (as defined in section 5210) that--
       ``(A) desires to open a charter school in--
       ``(i) a State that did not apply for a grant under section 
     5203; or
       ``(ii) a State that did not receive a grant under section 
     5203; or
       ``(B) is a charter management organization.
       ``(c) Contracts and Grants.--The Secretary may carry out 
     any of the activities described in this section directly or 
     through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements.''.

     SEC. 8. RECORDS TRANSFER.

       Section 5208 (20 U.S.C. 7221g) is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``as quickly as possible and'' before ``to 
     the extent practicable''; and
       (2) by striking ``section 602'' and inserting ``section 
     602(14)''.

     SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

       Section 5210 (20 U.S.C. 7221i) is amended--
       (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
       ``(1) Charter school.--The term `charter school' means a 
     public school that--
       ``(A) in accordance with a specific State statute 
     authorizing the granting of charters to schools, is exempt 
     from significant State or local rules that inhibit the 
     flexible operation and management of public schools, but not 
     from any rules relating to the other requirements of this 
     paragraph;
       ``(B) is created by a developer as a public school, or is 
     adapted by a developer from an existing public school, and is 
     operated under public supervision and direction;
       ``(C) operates in pursuit of a specific set of educational 
     objectives determined by the school's developer and agreed to 
     by the authorized public chartering agency;
       ``(D) provides a program of elementary or secondary 
     education, or both;
       ``(E) is nonsectarian in its programs, admissions policies, 
     employment practices, and all other operations, and is not 
     affiliated with a sectarian school or religious institution;
       ``(F) does not charge tuition;
       ``(G) complies with the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, 
     title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, title IX of the 
     Education Amendments of 1972, section 504 of the 
     Rehabilitation Act of 1973, part B of the Individuals with 
     Disabilities Education Act, the Americans with Disabilities 
     Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), and section 444 of the 
     General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232(g)) 
     (commonly known as the `Family Education Rights and Privacy 
     Act of 1974');
       ``(H) is a school to which parents choose to send their 
     children, and admits students on the basis of a lottery if 
     more students apply for admission than can be accommodated, 
     except that in cases in which students who are enrolled in a 
     charter school affiliated (such as by sharing a network) with 
     another charter school, those students may be automatically 
     enrolled in the next grade level at such other charter 
     school, so long as a lottery is used to fill seats created 
     through regular attrition in student enrollment;
       ``(I) agrees to comply with the same Federal and State 
     audit requirements as do other elementary schools and 
     secondary schools in the State, unless such State audit 
     requirements are waived by the State;
       ``(J) meets all applicable Federal, State, and local health 
     and safety requirements;
       ``(K) operates in accordance with State law;
       ``(L) has a written performance contract with the 
     authorized public chartering agency in the State that 
     includes a description of how student performance will be 
     measured in charter schools pursuant to State assessments 
     that are required of other schools and pursuant to any other 
     assessments mutually agreeable to the authorized public 
     chartering agency and the charter school; and
       ``(M) may serve prekindergarten or postsecondary 
     students.'';
       (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (4) as 
     paragraphs (4) through (6), respectively;
       (3) by inserting after paragraph (1), the following:
       ``(2) Charter management organization.--The term `charter 
     management organization' means a not-for-profit organization 
     that manages a network of charter schools linked by 
     centralized support, operations, and oversight.
       ``(3) Charter school support organization.--The term 
     `charter school support organization' means a nonprofit, 
     nongovernmental entity that is not an authorized public 
     chartering agency, which provides on a statewide basis--
       ``(A) assistance to developers during the planning, program 
     design, and initial implementation of a charter school; and
       ``(B) technical assistance to charter schools to operate 
     such schools.'';
       (4) in paragraph (5)(B), as so redesignated, by striking 
     ``under section 5203(d)(3)''; and
       (5) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(7) Expanded, high-quality charter school.--The term 
     `expanded, high-quality charter school' means a high-quality 
     charter school that has either significantly increased its 
     enrollment or added one or more grades to its school.
       ``(8) High-quality charter school.--The term `high-quality 
     charter school' means a charter school that--
       ``(A) shows evidence of strong academic results, which may 
     include strong academic growth as determined by a State;
       ``(B) has no significant issues in the areas of student 
     safety, operational and financial management, or statutory or 
     regulatory compliance;
       ``(C) has demonstrated success in significantly increasing 
     student academic achievement, including graduation rates 
     where applicable, consistent with the requirements under 
     title I, for all students served by the charter school; and
       ``(D) has demonstrated success in increasing student 
     academic achievement, including graduation rates where 
     applicable, for the groups of students described in section 
     1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II), except that such demonstration is not 
     required in a case in which the number of students in a group 
     is insufficient to yield statistically reliable information 
     or the results would reveal personally identifiable 
     information about an individual student.
       ``(9) Replicated, high-quality charter school model.--The 
     term `replicated, high-quality charter school model' means a 
     high-quality charter school that has opened a new campus 
     under an existing charter or an additional charter if 
     required by State law.''.

     SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       Section 5211 (20 U.S.C. 7221j) is amended to read as 
     follows:

     ``SEC. 5211. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
     subpart $300,000,000 for fiscal

[[Page H4028]]

     year 2015 and each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years.''.

     SEC. 11. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

       (a) Repeal.--Subpart 2 of part B of title V (20 U.S.C. 7223 
     et seq.) is repealed.
       (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents in section 2 
     is amended--
       (1) by striking the item relating to subpart 1 of part B of 
     title V and inserting the following:

                 ``Subpart 1--Charter School Program'';

       (2) by striking the item relating to section 5203 and 
     inserting the following:

``Sec. 5203. Grants to support high-quality charter schools.'';

       (3) by striking the item relating to section 5204 and 
     inserting the following:

``Sec. 5204. Facilities financing assistance.''; and

       (4) by striking the items relating to subpart 2 of part B 
     of title V.

  The Acting CHAIR. No amendment to the committee amendment in the 
nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in part A 
of House Report 113-444. Each such amendment may be offered only in the 
order printed in the report, by a Member designated in the report, 
shall be considered read, shall be debatable for the time specified in 
the report, equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an 
opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject 
to a demand for division of the question.


                  Amendment No. 1 Offered by Mr. Kline

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 1 
printed in part A of House Report 113-444.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 4, beginning line 15, strike ``limited English 
     proficient students'' and insert ``English learners''.
       Page 10, beginning line 1, amend subparagraph (B) to read 
     as follows:
       ``(B) prior to the start of the final year of the grant 
     period of each grant awarded under this section to a State 
     entity, review whether the State entity is using the grant 
     funds for the agreed upon uses of funds and whether the full 
     amount of the grant will be needed for the remainder of the 
     grant period and may, as determined necessary based on that 
     review, terminate or reduce the amount of the grant and 
     reallocate the remaining grant funds to other State entities 
     during the succeeding grant competition under this 
     section.''.
       Page 11, beginning line 5, amend paragraph (1) to read as 
     follows:
       ``(1) Grants.--The Secretary shall not award a grant to a 
     State entity under this section in a case in which such award 
     would result in more than 1 grant awarded under this section 
     being carried out in a State at the same time.''.
       Page 14, line 14, insert ``, including supporting the use 
     of charter schools to improve, or in turning around, 
     struggling schools'' after ``improvement''.
       Page 14, line 18, insert ``including through the use of 
     fair disciplinary practices'' after ``retention''.
       Page 19, line 16, strike ``(1)(A)(x)'' and insert 
     ``(1)(A)(xi)''.
       Page 20, line 8, strike ``(vii) and (viii)'' and insert 
     ``(viii) and (ix)''.
       Page 20, line 22, strike ``and student'' and insert ``, 
     student''.
       Page 20, line 23, insert ``, and rates of student 
     attrition'' after ``growth''.
       Page 21, line 17, strike ``make'' and insert ``makes''.
       Page 22, line 2, insert before the period at the end the 
     following: ``, except that such data shall not be made 
     publicly available in a case in which the number of students 
     in a group is insufficient to yield statistically reliable 
     information or the results would reveal personally 
     identifiable information about an individual student''.
       Page 42, line 13, strike ``(4)(C)'' and insert ``(4)(B)''.
       Page 42, line 21, strike ``(4)(C)'' and insert ``(4)(B)''.
       Page 42, beginning line 21, strike ``give priority to each 
     such eligible applicant that'' and inserting ``take into 
     consideration whether such an eligible applicant''.
       Page 49, line 17, insert ``or permitted'' after 
     ``required''.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 576, the gentleman 
from Minnesota (Mr. Kline) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the manager's amendment 
which makes important changes to the bill to support the growth of 
high-performing charter schools.
  Charter schools epitomize choice and flexibility in education. 
Reform-minded States and school districts all across the country have 
embraced this innovative educational model to transform underperforming 
traditional public schools.
  The manager's amendment improves the existing charter school program 
and the underlying bill by clarifying the grant award language, 
ensuring charter school funding is used for the intended purposes.
  Additionally, the manager's amendment adds quality authorizing 
provisions, to include looking at school attrition rates, and asks 
States to assist schools in developing fair discipline practices that 
will help promote student retention.
  Mr. Chairman, the act is an important piece of legislation that will 
streamline and modernize the charter school program to support the 
startup, replication, and expansion of high-quality charter schools. 
The manager's amendment includes commonsense changes to improve the 
underlying legislation.
  I urge my colleagues to support the manager's amendment and the 
Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in 
opposition, although I am not in opposition.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from California is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong 
support of this amendment and thank the chairman for working with me to 
include important improvements in the underlying bill.
  I am especially pleased that this amendment includes provisions to 
promote the use of nondiscriminatory discipline practices as charter 
schools work to serve and retain all students.
  We know that the overreliance on out-of-school suspension and 
expulsion disproportionately impacts educational successes of minority 
students and students with disabilities. According to the most recent 
civil rights data collection, the negative impacts on unequal 
implementation of these disciplines is impacting minority kids as young 
as 4 years old.
  This is unacceptable, and I am pleased that this amendment seeks to 
better position charter schools to understand, implement, and report on 
the use of their fair practices.
  I want to thank Mr. Davis, Ms. Wilson, Mr. Conyers, Ms. Fudge, Ms. 
Clarke, and Mr. Grayson for helping to ensure that these improvements 
in H.R. 10 are included.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this 
amendment and the underlying bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kline).
  The amendment was agreed to.


                 Amendment No. 2 Offered by Mr. Cassidy

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 2 
printed in part A of House Report 113-444.
  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 6, after line 17, insert the following:
       ``(d) GAO Report.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
     enactment of the Success and Opportunity through Quality 
     Charter Schools Act, the Comptroller General of the United 
     States shall submit a report to the Secretary and Congress 
     that--
       ``(1) examines whether the funds authorized to be reserved 
     by State entities for administrative costs under section 
     5203(b)(1)(C) is appropriate; and
       ``(2) if determined not to be appropriate, makes 
     recommendations on the appropriate reservation of funding for 
     such administrative costs.''.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 576, the gentleman 
from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana.
  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. Chairman, the intent of my amendment is to provide 
greater accountability over the use and allocation of administrative 
costs associated with the funds authorized in this bill. It is 
important we attempt to maximize the ability of the dollar to reach the 
classroom.

[[Page H4029]]

  The amendment simply requires that, within 3 years after the 
enactment of H.R. 10, the Government Accountability Office would 
provide a report on whether the amount of funding for State 
administrative costs is appropriate.
  If the funds are determined inappropriate, GAO must provide a 
recommendation on what an appropriate level of funding would be.
  My amendment is budget neutral, with no additional reporting 
requirements. It is simple and straightforward, ensuring that the 
millions of taxpayer dollars will go to classrooms, not caught up in 
bureaucracy.
  We all know how easy it is for administrative costs in the public 
sector to balloon. This amendment helps to prevent this from happening.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition, although I am 
not opposed to the amendment.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from Minnesota is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment, which 
will require a GAO study on the money allocated for administrative 
costs.
  As the gentleman from Louisiana said, we need to ensure that we are 
providing flexibility in the use of funds to run a quality, efficient, 
and effective program; and that means carefully balancing small 
administrative set-asides while supporting the underlying program 
purposes.
  I support this amendment and urge my colleagues to do so as well.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy).
  The amendment was agreed to.


            Amendment No. 3 Offered by Ms. Castor of Florida

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 3 
printed in part A of House Report 113-444.
  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 6, after line 17, insert the following:
       ``(d) Conflicts of Interest.--The Secretary shall develop 
     and enforce conflict of interest guidelines for any charter 
     school receiving assistance under this subpart, which shall 
     include disclosures of any person affiliated with the charter 
     school that has a financial interest in the charter 
     school.''.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 576, the gentlewoman 
from Florida (Ms. Castor) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.
  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chairman, the Castor amendment directs the 
Secretary of the Department of Education to develop and enforce 
conflict of interest guidelines for any charter school receiving 
assistance under this law.
  These guidelines must include disclosures of any person affiliated 
with the charter school that has a financial interest in the charter 
school.
  We all know that a conflict of interest is a situation in which an 
individual who has an obligation or duty to act for the benefit of the 
public--in this case, students and schools--exploits that relationship 
for personal benefit--typically for money--if the individual tries to 
perform that duty while, at the same time, trying to achieve a personal 
gain.
  In the context of charter schools, there have been very serious cases 
all across the country over the past few years involving conflicts of 
interest in charter schools. Despite the overriding duty and 
responsibility to students and schools, individuals have acted to 
benefit or enrich themselves with public money--taxpayer money.
  In my State of Florida, we have had a number of cases of conflict of 
interest in the approval and operation of charter schools. Recently, 
the Department of Education raised serious questions in an audit about 
expenditures of money and conflicts of interest of Florida's largest 
charter school management company. The preliminary audit report 
findings are very disturbing.
  It appears that the charter school corporation entered into leases 
with development companies tied to the president of the company's 
family, that they hired an architectural firm that employs the 
president's brother-in-law, and that the board of directors transferred 
public funds to another organization with the same board of directors.
  In Arizona, The Arizona Republic has reported that boardmembers and 
administrators from more than a dozen State-funded charter schools are 
profiting from their affiliations by doing business with the schools 
they oversee.
  The newspaper reviewed thousands of pages of Federal tax returns, 
audits, corporate filings, and records with the Arizona State Board of 
Charter Schools.
  The analysis looked at the 50 largest nonprofit charter schools in 
the State, as well as schools with assets of more than $10 million. 
They found at least 17 contracts or arrangements totaling more than $70 
million over 5 years and involving about 40 school sites in which the 
money from the nonprofit charter school went to for-profit and 
nonprofit companies run by board of directors, executives, or their 
relatives.
  In Colorado, an audit report took a certain charter school network to 
task for egregious financial improprieties and for severe nepotism. The 
report said that the CEO was paying himself over $340,000 per year. He 
hired his wife as chief operating officer and paid her over $200,000 a 
year, and the chief financial officer was paid over $320,000 per year.
  This far exceeds what the standard salary is for a charter school or 
even when you look at the salaries for our larger district 
superintendents.
  This charter school company then hired 20 members of their own 
family, according to the report and audit, and they racked up over 
$400,000 in credit card charges in one year.
  In California, State auditors found that the president of the 
American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland had given $350,000 in 
improper payouts to his wife. They also found another $350,000 had been 
spent on unauthorized construction projects, all going to companies 
owned by the CEO.
  Also, Mr. Chair, just last week, a report was issued by the Center 
for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education entitled, ``Charter 
School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse.'' That title was 
borrowed from the title of a section of a report that appeared in the 
Department of Education's Office of Inspector General's recent report.
  The report stated that the OIG experienced a steady increase in the 
number of charter school complaints, State-level agencies were failing 
to provide adequate oversight needed to ensure Federal funds were being 
properly used and accounted for. They estimated over $100 million in 
taxpayer losses due to fraud, abuse, and waste in charter schools.
  We can do much better. The conflict of interest problems afflicting 
charter schools across the country endanger the outstanding work being 
done by many charter schools.
  For example, the Pepin Academies in my hometown of Tampa is a 
tuition-free public charter school for students with identified 
learning disabilities. They have an individualized education plan. They 
serve a very important population, and I believe in their mission.
  If charter schools are going to effectively carry out their mission 
for students, using public funds, it is clear that we need more 
accountability and better procedures in place to protect taxpayer 
investment.
  I include for the Record the press report that I referenced, along 
with the letters of support from First Focus, School Superintendents 
Association, NEA, and AFT.

                   [From the Republic, Nov. 17, 2012]

                  Insiders Benefiting in Charter Deals

                            (By Anne Ryman)

       Board members and administrators from more than a dozen 
     state-funded charter schools are profiting from their 
     affiliations by doing business with schools they oversee.
       The deals, worth more than $70 million over the last five 
     years, are legal, but critics of the arrangements say they 
     can lead to conflicts of interest. Charter executives, on the 
     other hand, say they are able to help the schools get better 
     deals on services and goods ranging from air-conditioners to 
     textbooks and thus save taxpayers money.

[[Page H4030]]

       The Arizona Republic reviewed thousands of pages of federal 
     tax returns, audits, corporate filings, and records filed 
     with the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools. The 
     analysis looked at the 50 largest non-profit charter schools 
     in the state as well as schools with assets of more than $10 
     million. For-profit schools were not analyzed because their 
     tax records are not public.
       The Republic's analysis found at least 17 contracts or 
     arrangements, totaling more than $70 million over five years 
     and involving about 40 school sites, in which money from the 
     non-profit charter school went to for-profit or non-profit 
     companies run by board members, executives or their 
     relatives.
       Arizona has 535 charter schools that enrolled about 144,800 
     students this school year, or about 14 percent of students in 
     public schools.
       Arizona's regulations on charter schools are relatively 
     lax. The state allows charters to seek exemptions from state 
     laws that require schools to obtain competitive bids for 
     goods or services. Nearly 90 percent of the state's charter 
     holders have gotten permanent exemptions from the state Board 
     for Charter Schools, according to the state's database.
       The schools' purchases from their own officials range from 
     curriculum and business consulting to land leases and 
     transportation services. A handful of non-profit schools 
     outsource most of their operations to a board member's for-
     profit company. The transactions are legal provided schools 
     report the relationships on their federal tax forms and board 
     members abstain from voting on their own contracts.
       In one case, school officials in Phoenix thought they were 
     exempt from purchasing laws and failed to put a contract out 
     to bid for non-academic services that were worth hundreds of 
     thousands of dollars. In another case, a Glendale school 
     purchased a van for almost twice its value and had to get the 
     money refunded.
       It's impossible to know whether any money was potentially 
     diverted from classrooms through insider transactions or lack 
     of competitive bidding. Several charters said they saved 
     money but were unable to provide specifics; others did not 
     respond to interview requests. Some said they contracted with 
     a school official's company because the quality of the 
     product or service was better than what was on the market.
       Educators and ethicists say the arrangements raise 
     questions about whether the schools are being used partly for 
     personal gain.
       ``This is crony capitalism,'' said Alex Molnar, an 
     education professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder who 
     has studied charter schools. ``This is greasing the palms of 
     special-interest and favored individuals.''
       A for-profit company paid by a charter school, even a 
     company that operates most of the school, does not have to 
     disclose spending details or how much profit it makes. Some 
     board members who did business with their schools told The 
     Republic they macle a profit on the transactions. Others said 
     they lost money. Some refused to comment.
       Charter-school leaders say most executives and board 
     members operate with good intentions when they conduct 
     business transactions with their schools. The schools want to 
     stretch their funding, and school leaders who own businesses 
     can give the schools a good deal on products or services.
       Being exempt from purchasing laws gives schools more 
     flexibility, allowing them to focus more on the classroom and 
     less on red tape, charter-school officials say.
       ``I see a lot of my schools really using thrifty, cost-
     effective methods,'' said Eileen Sigmund, president and CEO 
     of the Arizona Charter Schools Association, a non-profit 
     group that provides support services for charter schools.
       For example, she said, one charter-school leader picked 
     through Northern Arizona University's surplus equipment to 
     get desks for classrooms.
       Because Arizona charter schools receive on average $1,700 
     less in annual state funding per child than district schools, 
     charters ``really have to be efficient,'' she said.
       Charter schools are public schools that are independently 
     run by non-profits, for-profits, school districts or state 
     universities.
       Charters get less funding on average largely because, 
     unlike school districts, they can't ask voters in their 
     surrounding areas to pass bonds and overrides to bring in 
     more money. About 96 percent of charter schools operating now 
     are authorized by the state and the rest by school districts 
     or state universities.
       Molnar, the education professor, said because charters are 
     publicly funded, they should be subject to state procurement 
     laws. Board members shouldn't be allowed to do business with 
     their own schools, either.
                                  ____


               [From the denverchannel.com, May 6, 2010]

        School CEO Ripped for Hiring Wife, Paying Himself $340K

       A new audit report rips the founders of the Cesar Chavez 
     Charter School Network for egregious financial impropriety 
     and ``severe nepotism.''
       The Colorado Department of Education is now calling for an 
     investigation by the Pueblo County District Attorney and the 
     IRS.
       The Cesar Chavez Network operates three schools, one in 
     Denver and two in Pueblo.
       The report said Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Hernandez 
     was paying himself $340,000 per year. He hired his wife as 
     chief operating officer and paid her $201,000 a year. The 
     chief financial officer was paid $321,000.
       ``This far exceeds what is the standard salary for a 
     charter school or even if you look at some of our larger 
     district superintendents,'' said CDE commissioner Dwight D. 
     Jones.
       In fact, Hernandez, who oversaw just three schools, made 
     almost twice as much as the superintendent of the largest 
     school district in the state--Jefferson County. Jeffco School 
     Superintendent Cindy Stevenson makes $180,000 a year 
     overseeing 94 elementary schools, 20 middle schools, 17 high 
     schools, 10 option schools and 14 charter schools.
       Hernandez and his wife then hired 20 members of their own 
     family from 2002 to 2008, according to the CDE report and 
     audit. Hernandez's wife's stepbrother was a board member and 
     the owner of a janitorial service that was a vendor for the 
     schools.
       And, according to the report, school officials racked up 
     $400,000 in credit card charges in one year.
       ``I call it questionable use of taxpayer money,'' Jones 
     said. ``I think it's very concerning and have requested that 
     Pueblo City Schools take immediate action to correct some of 
     the improprieties that were identified.''
                                  ____


        [From Seven Days/The East Bay News Blog, Jun. 18, 2012]

     It's Time To Close the American Indian Public Charter Schools

                           (By Robert Gammon)

       For the past decade Ben Chavis and his so-called American 
     Indian Public Charter schools in Oakland have gotten away 
     with egregious conduct that would be considered grossly 
     unacceptable for any other school--because they have had high 
     test scores. First, there was the revelation that Chavis 
     routinely abused his students verbally, humiliating them in 
     front of their classmates, to force them score higher on 
     tests or quit the school altogether.
       Then came the news that Chavis had hurled racist and sexist 
     comments at others in front of students, and that his schools 
     had stopped serving American Indian children.
       But that's not all. Earlier this year, a draft report by 
     state auditors uncovered evidence that Chavis had engaged in 
     fraud and was illegally pocketing taxpayer funds. Then last 
     week, the Express reported that one of the schools' eye-
     popping test scores appear to be the product not of academic 
     excellence. Instead, there's evidence that the school has 
     been routinely cherry-picking top students from local 
     elementary schools in violation of district regulations. At 
     minimum, Chavis' schools appear to be nothing more than a 
     rigged system in which mostly high-scoring students apply to 
     get in, are accepted, and then continue to score well on 
     tests.
       Then, the state's final audit came out and revealed some 
     truly disturbing evidence, including $350,000 of what appear 
     to be improper payouts to Chavis' wife; $355,000 in payments 
     to Chavis for a summer school program that violated state 
     law; and $348,000 to companies that Chavis owns and did 
     unauthorized construction projects.
       Alameda County schools Superintendent Sheila Jordan 
     requested the audit after receiving complaints from former 
     school employees of financial impropriety by Chavis and his 
     wife. Jordan has turned the final audit results over to 
     Alameda County District Attorney's Office for possible 
     criminal prosecution.
                                  ____


                 [From the Miami Herald, Apr. 21, 2014]

   South Miami-Based Charter School Management Company Under Federal 
                                Scrutiny

                         (By Kathleen McGrory)

       The state's largest charter school management company has 
     come under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Education for 
     potential conflicts of interests in its business practices, 
     federal authorities have confirmed.
       The Education Department's Inspector General Office is 
     auditing the South Miami-based Academica Corp. as part of a 
     broader examination of school management companies 
     nationwide. The audit will be complete this summer, 
     department spokeswoman Catherine Grant said.
       A preliminary audit report obtained by the Herald/Times 
     identified potential conflicts of interest between the for-
     profit company Academica and the Mater Academy charter 
     schools it manages. One example the auditors cited was the 
     transfer of money from Mater Academy to its private support 
     organization, which shares the same board of directors.
       When asked about the potential conflicts of interest raised 
     in the report, Academica attorney Marcos Daniel Jimeenez, in 
     an email to the Herald/Times, touted the charter school 
     network's academic record and commitment to its students.
       Jimeenez also said Academica had sent a response letter to 
     the U.S. Department of Education correcting what he called 
     ``inaccuracies and false statements'' contained in the 
     preliminary report. But Academica declined the Herald/Times 
     request to be provided the response, saying the Education 
     Department considered the report and the response from 
     Academica to be confidential.
       The Education Department's findings come as the Florida 
     Legislature considers a bill that could weaken school 
     districts' ability to control business practices at new 
     charter schools.

[[Page H4031]]

       Under current law, school systems have the power to 
     negotiate contracts with new charter schools. HB 7083 would 
     mandate the use of a standardized contract, meaning school 
     districts would give up most of their leverage.
       Charter schools are funded by tax dollars, but run by non-
     profit governing boards that function independently of local 
     school boards. Some are managed by for-profit companies like 
     Academica.
       Academica oversees nearly 100 charter and virtual charter 
     schools in Florida, according to its website. It also manages 
     schools in Texas, Nevada, Utah, California and Washington, 
     D.C.

     
                                  ____
  Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, A Report 
  From The Center for Popular Democracy & Integrity in Education, May 
                                  2014

       The Center for Popular Democracy is a nonprofit 
     organization that promotes equity, opportunity, and a dynamic 
     democracy in partnership with innovative base-building 
     organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and 
     progressive unions across the country.
       Integrity in Education is a nonprofit organization 
     dedicated to restoring integrity in education. Integrity in 
     Education exists to shine a light on the people making a 
     positive difference for children, and to expose and oppose 
     the corporate interest groups standing in their way.


                                Preamble

       The title of this report, Charter School Vulnerabilities to 
     Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, was borrowed from the title of a 
     section of a report that appeared in The Department of 
     Education's Office of the Inspector General's Semiannual 
     Report to Congress, No. 60. The report references a 
     memorandum issued by the OIG to the Department. The OIG 
     stated that the purpose of the memorandum was to, ``alert you 
     of our concern about vulnerabilities in the oversight of 
     charter schools.'' The report went on to state that the OIG 
     had experienced, ``a steady increase in the number of charter 
     school complaints'' and that state level agencies were 
     failing ``to provide adequate oversight needed to ensure that 
     Federal funds [were] properly used and accounted for.''
       The purpose of this report is to echo the warning issued by 
     the OIG and to inform the public and lawmakers of the 
     mounting risk that an inadequately regulated charter industry 
     presents to our communities and taxpayers. Our examination, 
     which focused on 15 large charter markets, found fraud, 
     waste, and abuse cases totaling over $100 million in losses 
     to taxpayers. Despite rapid growth in the charter school 
     industry, no agency, federal or state, has been given the 
     resources to properly oversee it. Given this inadequate 
     oversight, we worry that the fraud and mismanagement that has 
     been uncovered thus far might be just the tip of the iceberg. 
     Our hope is that lawmakers will use the information and 
     concrete recommendations that we outline in this report to 
     pass meaningful oversight legislation.

  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. I ask for approval of this amendment regarding 
conflict of interest.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1015

  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment and 
claim the time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Minnesota is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would require the Secretary 
of Education to not only develop, but also enforce, guidelines on 
conflict of interest for charter schools. The gentlewoman points out 
that there are charter schools and charter school managers who 
sometimes don't perform as they should.
  We believe very strongly that the underlying law and that the 
underlying bill here addresses that issue, because this amendment is an 
overreach of Federal authority. Each State that allows charter schools 
has determined what requirements the schools must follow in creating, 
opening, and operating the schools. We address the authorizing 
responsibilities in the underlying bill.
  Simply put, this amendment is unnecessary. The underlying bill 
includes several provisions to have States help schools run more 
effectively and includes a set-aside of each State grant for quality 
authorizing. Quality authorizing will help each charter school run more 
effectively, both in academics and in operations.
  We do not need the Secretary of Education getting more involved in 
these schools by layering on more burdensome requirements. These are 
issues best addressed at the State and local level, and the underlying 
bill already provides support for these efforts.
  Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor).
  The question was taken; and the Acting Chair announced that the noes 
appeared to have it.
  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.
  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further 
proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Florida 
will be postponed.


                  Amendment No. 4 Offered by Ms. Moore

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 4 
printed in part A of House Report 113-444.
  Ms. MOORE. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 8, line 1, strike ``7 percent'' and insert ``5 
     percent''.
       Page 8, line 3, strike ``and''.
       Page 8, line 6, strike the period at the end and insert ``; 
     and''.
       Page 8, after line 6, insert the following:
       ``(D) reserve not less than 2 percent of such funds for 
     oversight of the use of public funds (which shall cover 
     Federal, State, and local funds) and private funds by each 
     public chartering agency in the State of the State entity for 
     each charter school authorized by such agency, by each local 
     educational agency in the State for each charter school 
     served by such agency, and by the State as a whole for each 
     charter school in the State, which shall include the 
     investigation of fraud, waste, mismanagement and misconduct, 
     including monitoring the annual filing and public reporting 
     of independently audited financial statements (including 
     disclosure of amount and duration of any Federal, State, and 
     local, and private financial and in-kind contributions of 
     support, and expenditures of such support).''.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 576, the gentlewoman 
from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Wisconsin.
  Ms. MOORE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chair, I rise to offer an amendment to H.R. 10, which 
reauthorizes our Nation's charter school program. I would just like to 
start out by saying this is a great improvement over the charter school 
legislation that we have seen in past times.
  When the charter school movement began, as many of you may recall, 
lawmakers exempted those schools from many of the rules governing 
traditional public schools in order to allow educators their ability to 
explore new, innovative methods and models of teaching.
  This yielding of exempting them from this rule yielded some 
unintended consequences. There have been stories in many States, and 
you just heard Ms. Castor of Florida talk about financial waste, fraud, 
murky funders or managers, conflicts of interest. It is a problem, 
notwithstanding our desire to see innovation.
  This has got to be addressed because taxpayer dollars are, in fact, 
lost along with private funds, as well as innovation. The greatest 
cost, of course, is our children, who become, sometimes, puppets of 
other folks' financial interests.
  A new report from the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in 
Education released just this month examined 15 of the largest charter 
markets and found $100 million in losses to taxpayers since charter 
schools entered these markets.
  It is very important to put sensible oversight into place to ensure 
that public funds are not being wasted or misused. This amendment does 
just that. It simply requires that States receiving charter school 
grants must set aside 2 percent of that grant to provide financial 
oversight of charters of publicly funded money and to disclose private 
contributions that they receive.
  I just want to say, anticipating some rebuttal, that the funds would 
be set aside and the authorizing agencies of these charter schools, be 
they the State or the local education agency, would be able to use the 
set-aside for appropriate financial oversight.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.
  The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Minnesota is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, this amendment will force States to reserve

[[Page H4032]]

more funds for review of public and private charter school funding.
  The underlying bill, Mr. Chairman, includes audits as an important 
aspect of quality authorizing measures.
  In addition, States already require multiple audits of their charter 
schools. This amendment will take money away from the quality 
authorizing set-aside, where funds will otherwise be used to support 
measures to open and run schools with effective operations practices in 
addition to high-quality academics.
  Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KLINE. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Unfortunately, I too oppose this 
amendment of my good friend, Ms. Moore, for the reasons that the 
chairman has just said, that we believe that much of this is already 
taken care of in the underlying bill and that we are directing money 
away from the program for responsibilities that should in fact be the 
responsibility of the authorizers, be they the State or local 
authorizers. That is their job. We are trying to strengthen that in 
this legislation to lead to high-quality expansion of these programs, 
with the caveat being that you can only authorize those high-quality 
programs that deal with the question of accountability and so forth.
  I too find myself in the unfortunate position of opposing my friend 
on this legislation and expect the States, in response to continuing to 
receive these grants, to step up to their responsibility to deal with 
these problems.
  Mr. KLINE. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. MOORE. Mr. Chairman, I think it is unfortunate that the gentleman 
from California is opposing this amendment as well and my Republican 
friends opposing it, because we often find ourselves talking about 
unfunded mandates. What my amendment does is try to make sure that we 
are providing not only the guidance and insistence that there be 
audits, but that we actually provide the ways and means for it to be 
done.
  It is one thing to say, oh, yeah, they are going to audit themselves. 
With what? Audits cost money. So I find it unfortunate that they would 
pass this unfunded mandate on to these chartering agencies.
  I would urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment. I think it 
improves the bill. I think it provides the needed resources for this 
accountability, these accountability activities.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chair, how much time do I have?
  The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Minnesota has 3\1/2\ minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I think the points were made. I thank the ranking member, Mr. Miller, 
for making those points.
  What concerns me about the gentlewoman's amendment is this is going 
to take money away from the purposes for which we have designed it and 
put it in this bill. We are trying to make sure that good, high-quality 
charter schools can be expanded and replicated, and this will detract 
from that ability.
  So I urge my colleagues to vote ``no,'' and I yield back the balance 
of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).
  The amendment was rejected.


                  Amendment No. 5 Offered by Ms. Bass

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 5 
printed in part A of House Report 113-444.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 14, line 16, insert ``, including eliminating any 
     barriers to enrollment for foster youth or unaccompanied 
     homeless youth,'' after ``students''.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 576, the gentlewoman 
from California (Ms. Bass) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment along with 
fellow congressional Caucus on Foster Youth cochairs Tom Marino, Jim 
McDermott, and Michele Bachmann. I also want to thank the chairman and 
the ranking member for their leadership on this issue.
  This amendment will help ensure that foster and homeless youth are 
not unfairly disadvantaged in the enrollment process for charter 
schools.
  Across the country, charter schools often have requirements that 
don't exist in traditional public schools. For example, they may 
require parent interviews or parent involvement volunteer service 
during the academic year. Sadly, foster and homeless students might not 
be able to meet that requirement because they might not have adults in 
their life that are available to meet these standards, and foster 
parents may be unwilling or unable to do this. In turn, these youth may 
not be able to attend charter schools.
  This really isn't acceptable, especially since the academic 
achievement gap between foster youth and their peers is quite 
significant. In fact, a recent study by the Stuart Foundation in 
California indicated that test results for students in foster care fell 
into the two lowest performance levels for language arts and 
mathematics at twice the rate of the statewide student population. 
Additionally, the 2010 graduation rate for all high school seniors was 
84 percent; but for students in foster care, it was just 58 percent, 
the lowest rate among at-risk student groups.
  Foster and homeless youth need more educational options, not less. 
This amendment will provide the nearly 400,000 foster youth and 1.7 
million homeless youth in the United States with greater access to 
quality schools.
  In the spirit of National Foster Care Month this May, I want to thank 
the Democrats and Republicans in the Foster Youth Caucus who came 
together to author this commonsense but necessary amendment.
  I urge my colleagues to support the amendment.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Will the gentlewoman yield?
  Ms. BASS. I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this 
amendment to ensure that all students reap the benefits of the public 
charter schools. That is the purpose of this legislation, and certainly 
including foster youth.
  I also rise to thank the gentlewoman for her just unrelenting effort 
to make sure that foster youth are not diminished because of their 
family status, if you will, because of the uncertain situation that 
they find themselves, many times in different situations throughout a 
given year, maybe in different schools. Both in her time in the State 
legislature and here in the Congress, she has just been remarkable in 
her advocacy on behalf of these students.
  We all know the difficulty that these students have, the uncertainty 
that they have to deal with. Just the proximity of their families to be 
able to go to school creates a great deal of hardship and difficulty 
for these students. We definitely owe them an extra effort to make sure 
that they get full inclusion in those academic offerings and 
participation in the charter schools in this country.
  Thank you so very, very much.
  Ms. BASS. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member, and I urge my colleagues to 
support the amendment.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition although I am 
not opposed to the amendment.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from Minnesota is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Cantor), the distinguished majority leader.
  Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman, the gentleman from 
Minnesota, as well.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the amendment and in strong 
support of the Success and Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools 
Act.
  Mr. Chairman, a great education is the foundation that Americans need 
to climb the economic ladder of success and to build a bright future. 
America doesn't work when our students are trapped in failing schools 
or denied the

[[Page H4033]]

opportunity to attend the school that meets their learning needs.
  For far too many children in our country, a quality education remains 
out of reach. Kids without access to a quality education struggle to 
even see any opportunity to get ahead. They struggle to lift themselves 
out of a life of poverty.
  Expanding education opportunity for all students everywhere is the 
civil rights issue of our time. Fortunately, we have a chance today to 
bring more opportunities to students all over America who are looking 
for that chance to learn, to grow, and to succeed.

                              {time}  1030

  The legislation before us today will reform existing programs and 
will authorize grants so that high-performing charter schools can 
expand and be replicated throughout the country. It will also give 
families and students more freedom, flexibility, and choice when it 
comes to deciding where they can go to school.
  Currently, Mr. Chairman, there are almost 1 million students stuck on 
waiting lists for charter schools simply because there aren't enough 
slots. I say we help those students by expanding those slots so they 
can get off the waiting lists and into the classroom.
  Taking such action would seem like the obvious and smart thing to do. 
However, there are some who are more beholden to special interests than 
to the children's needs. In New York City, the mayor there, Bill de 
Blasio, recently attempted to deliver on his threat to kick public 
charter schools out of the space that they share or were planning to 
share with other traditional public schools. This kind of activity 
completely undermines the essence of education reform.
  Fortunately for New York City students, Governor Cuomo did not allow 
this to become a reality. Those kids who would otherwise have ended up 
without a school in the fall now have one. This bill provides even more 
opportunities for States like New York State to help high quality 
charter schools expand and replicate.
  Those who choose to wage a war on kids stand on the wrong side of 
this debate and risk allowing themselves to become enemies of 
opportunity and roadblocks to success. Bottom line, the expansion of 
charter schools will work.
  In my hometown of Richmond, I have toured the Patrick Henry School of 
Science and Arts, one of only a few charter schools in all of Virginia. 
There I met a retired public school teacher named Gwen. Gwen's grandson 
had a particular interest in science, but Gwen felt that the school he 
attended wasn't offering a strong enough science curriculum to match 
her grandson's needs and desires. Fortunately, Gwen had a choice and 
now sends her grandson to Patrick Henry. More families deserve that 
kind of choice.
  In visits to other charter schools throughout the country, I have met 
dozens of children who were once trapped in failing schools and schools 
that couldn't meet their individual learning needs. These kids are now 
attending charter schools and they are thriving.
  These are not isolated cases. Nationally, charter school students do 
better than non-charter students in reading, math, and science. While 
the growth of charters is relatively new, charter schools currently 
make up more than a quarter of the Newsweek/U.S. News Best High Schools 
in America. The question is: Shouldn't more of our children have the 
chance to attend a quality school that happens to be a charter school?
  Mr. Chairman, this legislation is about upward mobility. It is about 
giving families and students more hope for their future. This 
legislation is about expanding education opportunity for more kids so 
that we can begin to create an America that works again and works again 
for everybody.
  This should not be a partisan issue. This is a bill we can all 
proudly get behind. Today, let's stand united and show our constituents 
that we understand a strong education is the first rung in climbing 
that economic ladder of success.
  I want to thank Chairman Kline, the gentleman from Minnesota, for his 
tireless work in the area of education, and in this bill in the area of 
charter schools. I also want to thank the gentleman from California, 
the ranking member, for his work on this legislation.
  I urge my colleagues in the House in a bipartisan fashion to support 
this legislation.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, this amendment ensures that foster kids do 
not face barriers to enrollment in charter schools. The amendment does 
improve the bill and does help foster kids.
  I want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass) for 
offering this amendment.
  I am pleased to yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Polis).
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Chairman Kline and Ranking 
Member Miller for their work, and Representative Bass for her 
leadership in working with youth and foster care, and homeless youth in 
particular, on this bill.
  Before I came to Congress I founded a charter school with the focus 
of serving homeless youth and youth in transitional housing called the 
Academy of Urban Learning in Denver. Not every area, not every city, 
not every county might have a charter school with a particular focus of 
working with kids that are in transitional housing, so it is incumbent 
upon us to ensure that all public charter schools that are supported 
under this bill ensure that they don't have barriers for foster youth 
or barriers for youth in transitional housing.
  There are a lot of particular needs around kids that are going 
through turmoil in their home life, whether it is at the elementary 
level or whether it is at the high school level. By adding the language 
Representative Bass introduced in her bipartisan amendment, we can 
ensure that any participant in the Federal charter school program 
doesn't have any barriers to enrolling kids.
  This week here on the floor of the House has been characterized by 
partisan rancor around Benghazi and Lois Lerner. How wonderful that 
Democrats and Republicans can come together not only around this 
amendment by Karen Bass, but also around the bill itself. The upgrade 
of the Federal Charter Schools Program to the 2.0 version takes into 
account the learning of the last 15 years to ensure that our very 
limited Federal footprint and investment has the maximum possible 
impact on increasing student achievement and increasing transparency 
and accountability for public charter schools.
  I thank Representative Bass for offering her amendment, which I am 
proud to support.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass).
  The amendment was agreed to.


                 Amendment No. 6 Offered by Mr. Messer

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 6 
printed in part A of House Report 113-444.
  Mr. MESSER. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 16, line 7, strike ``and''.
       Page 16, line 13, insert ``and'' at the end.
       Page 16, after line 13, insert the following:
       ``(xv) will work with eligible applicants receiving a 
     subgrant under the State entity's program to support the 
     opening of charter schools or charter school models described 
     in clause (i) that are secondary schools;''.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 576, the gentleman 
from Indiana (Mr. Messer) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana.
  Mr. MESSER. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the chairman and ranking 
member for their leadership on this bill.
  I rise today to offer a simple amendment that will encourage the 
opening, replication, and expansion of high quality secondary charter 
schools.
  Too many students don't have the chance to attend the secondary 
charter school of their choice because there simply are not enough of 
these schools to meet the demand for them. Many charter networks don't 
have a secondary school, and where there are such schools the demand 
for the spots

[[Page H4034]]

in these schools exceeds the number of slots available.
  The underlying bill takes a big step in the right direction to meet 
this challenge by clarifying that State-determined weighted lotteries 
are permitted under the charter school program.
  The bill allows for children to continue in the school program of 
their choice by ensuring students in affiliated charter schools can 
attend the next immediate grade in a charter school network. This is 
very important. It will help alleviate the need for students to 
essentially win the lottery twice. However, I believe more can and must 
be done.
  My amendment is designed to help build on the progress made by the 
underlying bill. It would simply require State entities applying for 
charter school program grant funds to explain how they will work with 
eligible applicants within the State to encourage the opening, 
replication, and expansion of high quality secondary charter schools.
  By encouraging grantees to open, replicate, and expand high quality 
secondary charter schools, more students who want to continue attending 
such schools will be able to do so.
  As the founder and chairman of the Congressional School Choice 
Caucus, one of my top priorities is ensuring that more families have 
access to high quality educational opportunities. Supporting the growth 
of successful secondary charter schools is critically important to this 
effort.
  I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and the underlying 
bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, although I 
am not opposed to the amendment.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from Colorado is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Messer 
amendment, which encourages States to support the opening or 
replication of charter schools that are secondary schools.
  The area that this impacts and improves in the bill is one of the 
most important policy changes over the previous authorizing program. 
Under the current Federal Charter Schools Program, only new schools can 
be funded and participate in this program.
  What we allow under this bill is the replication and expansion of 
models that we know work. For instance, if there is a K-8 school that 
wants to expand into high school or there is a school that wants to 
growth from 400 to 600 students, if we have the evidence-based 
information that shows that that school is transforming lives and 
helping kids achieve, we want to ensure that we can have the maximum 
possible impact with our limited Federal dollars.
  What this amendment does is it ensures that States as part of their 
plan allow for the replication and expansion of public charter schools.
  I want to thank my colleague from Indiana for recognizing the 
importance of charter schools in serving high school students and the 
opportunity that these models have to provide a flexible educational 
environment for older students to prepare them for college and careers.
  The charter school models that are allowed give schools the 
flexibility they need to meet the needs of the students, whether it is 
longer hours, longer school years, additional support service, or 
daycare vouchers for pregnant or young mother teens. This flexibility 
can be critical to helping students succeed at the secondary level.
  This amendment improves the bill and makes sure that States encourage 
the opening, replication, and expansion of public charter high schools. 
Having founded two public charter high schools myself before I served 
in the United States Congress, I can personally give testimony to the 
transformational impact that it has on young people every day. In many 
cases, young people that would otherwise be dropouts or not even in the 
public education system are able to have a specific educational product 
that is tailored around their real world needs. There is a charter 
school for pregnant teens in Montrose, Colorado. Whether it is a 
vocational or work focus school that gives kids the skills they need to 
compete in the workforce, the Messer amendment is a step forward in 
building upon the language which is already an improvement over the 
existing authorization, and brings it to a better place that we can all 
be proud of, Democrats and Republicans.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MESSER. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank my colleague, the gentleman 
from Colorado (Mr. Polis), for his support of this amendment, and, more 
importantly, for his remarkable vision and leadership in charter 
schools across the country.
  I have no further comments, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Chairman, in this week of partisan divisions here on 
the floor of the House of Representatives, we have a unique opportunity 
in this amendment, in this bill, to come together around supporting 
public charter schools.
  This week, Mr. Chairman, is Public Charter Schools Week. What better 
way to celebrate than to upgrade the Federal Charter Schools Program 
with language that Democrats, Republicans, and all important 
stakeholders can agree on. Truly, all stakeholders are part of this 
discussion. Authorizers, including districts and States and special 
districts, public charter schools themselves, teachers unions, 
teachers, were all at the table to ensure that we can create a program 
that builds upon the successes of the two decades of the public charter 
school movement and will allow it to reach even greater heights in the 
next decade.

  On behalf of Ranking Member Miller and myself, we are proud to 
support the Messer amendment. We are also proud to support the 
underlying bill.
  By ensuring that States that apply for this program explain how they 
will work with applicants to encourage replication and expansion at the 
secondary level, we can ensure that the needs of all students are 
better met. Particularly, in many areas of our country we have high 
schools that are persistently failing, with dropout rates of 50 percent 
year after year, where half the kids coming in the door in ninth grade 
don't leave in 12th. Through upgrading with better opportunities for 
parents to choose, we can turn it around and make sure that kids have 
the opportunity to graduate and have a good job in an economy in the 
21st century that increasingly relies on both a high school education 
and a college education.
  I rise in support of this amendment, I urge my colleagues to vote 
``yes'' on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Messer).
  The amendment was agreed to.

                              {time}  1045

  The Acting CHAIR. The Chair understands that amendment No. 7 will not 
be offered.


               Amendment No. 8 Offered by Ms. Jackson Lee

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 8 
printed in part A of House Report 113-444.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 21, line 15, strike ``and''.
       Page 22, line 2, strike the period at the end and insert 
     ``; and''.
       Page 22, after line 2, insert the following:
       ``(H) the State entity will ensure that charter schools and 
     local educational agencies serving charter schools post on 
     their websites materials with respect to charter school 
     student recruitment, student orientation, enrollment 
     criteria, student discipline policies, behavior codes, and 
     parent contract requirements, including any financial 
     obligations (such as fees for tutoring or extracurricular 
     activity).''.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 576, the gentlewoman 
from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Let me thank the proponents of this bill.
  Mr. Chairman, this is a very important bill, and I believe it opens 
the doors of opportunity for quality and excellence in charter schools. 
I hope, as we move forward as to the issues dealing with charter 
schools that are located in minority communities and

[[Page H4035]]

that are created by minority members of the community, like in Texas, 
where in some instances there is an unfair process, H.R. 10 will bring 
an evenness and a quality in excellence and also opportunity for the 
creativity of charter schools that can lift up at-risk children. I 
think that is one of the key elements of, hopefully, this legislation.
  I want to cite in my own district that we have, yes, KIPP and Harmony 
that are well-known across the country and somewhat around the world. 
It is my understanding that KIPP is now moving to Israel, but we also 
have a school like Pro-Vision, its work of which I have known for over 
20 years. It lifts at-risk children up to the levels of opportunity.
  My amendment is an amendment that directs the Web site publication of 
materials on the Web sites of charter schools regarding student 
recruitment, orientation materials, enrollment criteria, student 
discipline policies, behavior codes, and parent contract requirements.
  It would also include any financial obligations, such as fees for 
tutoring or extracurricular. That is transparency. That is allowing, if 
you will, the opportunity for parents to have full information in a 
different setting from public schools.
  My children went to public schools. I went to public schools. I 
believe in public schools--I strongly believe in them--but I believe 
this new idea, that of the partnership of charter schools with public 
schools, should include a format of transparency.
  I should be clear that public schools have a challenge with 
transparency as well. As I interact with my constituents, many parents 
don't know the opportunities that they may have in a public school--
vanguard or the special classes that they may have or sufficient arts 
and music and which school has it; yet as this is going to be a 
federally funded program, it is important to ensure that our parents 
have information.
  Certainly, they should have information regarding the kind of 
discipline atmosphere that is there. They should also know whether or 
not there are serious commitments to making sure that their children's 
holistic futures are in front of them and that they are not subjected 
to policies that would intervene on issues dealing with bullying or 
with the prevention of bullying.
  This is a very good amendment to H.R. 10, and I ask my colleagues to 
support it.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the 
amendment.
  The Acting CHAIR (Mr. Poe of Texas). The gentleman from Minnesota is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I want to say to my colleague that I really 
appreciate her effort to ensure that all schools, both traditional 
public schools and public charter schools, share the information needed 
by parents.
  We agree on that point, and I believe that the underlying bill 
addresses it; so I must, regrettably, oppose the gentlelady's 
amendment, but I certainly thank her for the discussion.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chairman, it is not often that we mention our 
great disappointment on the floor of the House. We usually battle it 
out. I know I am right on this amendment, and I am highly disappointed 
in the majority's representation.
  I would like to submit for the Record a letter from the AFT, which is 
supporting the Jackson Lee amendment extremely enthusiastically, and a 
letter from the National Education Association, which is endorsing the 
Jackson Lee amendment.
  It is strongly supported by the NEA, which gives me pause as to why 
this amendment is an amendment that is not agreed to.

                              American Federation of Teachers,

                                      Washington, DC, May 8, 2014.
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the more than 1.5 million 
     members of the American Federation of Teachers--including 
     individual AFT members who teach in charter schools and who, 
     with me, wrote to you this week--I offer our collective views 
     on H.R. 10, the Success and Opportunity through Quality 
     Charter Schools Act, as well as our position on several 
     important amendments that will be considered during today's 
     debate on the underlying bill.
       The bill combines a number of existing charter school 
     programs into one that would provide federal funds for new 
     charters; expand and replicate existing charters; acquire, 
     construct and renovate facilities; establish and administer 
     per-pupil facilities-aid programs; and, fund national 
     activities. H.R. 10 provides important accountability 
     measures for charter schools but, primarily, provides for 
     their expansion.
       Since our former President Albert Shanker first promoted 
     them, the AFT has believed that publicly financed charter 
     schools have a role in public education. The best charters 
     have served as incubators of good practice and have helped 
     provide parents and students access to high-quality public 
     education. For example, in 2013, University Prep, a unionized 
     public charter school started by Steve Barr, founder of Green 
     Dot Public Schools, and me several years ago in New York 
     City, graduated every single child, all of whom were admitted 
     to college.
       The reality in communities across the country is a mixed 
     bag--while many charter schools are well-managed and serve 
     the children who are accepted and decide to attend, many 
     others do not provide equitable access for all students, are 
     poorly managed, and are not transparent with their finances. 
     Further, there are unfortunately too many instances where 
     charters are used as a tool to destabilize or compete with 
     other public schools.
       H.R. 10 includes many provisions to bring charter schools 
     closer to the standards of accountability, equitable access, 
     and transparency that traditional public schools must meet, 
     but there are still real gaps. Improved accountability and 
     transparency is owed to the students who attend charter 
     schools and to the taxpayers who financially support these 
     schools. In requiring these new standards, Congress would in 
     no way be limiting charter schools' potential to serve as 
     laboratories of innovation. It would, however, be ensuring 
     that those innovations are transparent, sustainable, and 
     scalable, and that all our public school students and their 
     schools are treated equitably.
       The AFT is pleased the bill includes some improvements over 
     current law in the areas of ensuring equitable access to 
     charter schools for all students; in seeking to prevent 
     charter schools from allowing barriers to enrollment that 
     result in the exclusion of English language learners, 
     students with disabilities, and other disadvantaged students 
     from enrolling; and, in ensuring that charter schools are 
     appropriately monitored in the areas of student safety and 
     financial management. We also appreciate the bipartisan 
     acknowledgement that charter schools need better oversight by 
     state entities.
       However, we believe that H.R. 10 can be strengthened by 
     approving the following amendments aimed at improving the 
     overall bill. To this end, we urge you to support:
       Moore: This amendment would require states receiving 
     charter school grants to set aside 2 percent of the grant 
     amount for financial oversight of charters. It would also 
     ensure that charter schools include private and public 
     contributions in their audits.
       A report from the Center for Popular Democracy and 
     Integrity in Education outlines $100 million in losses to 
     taxpayers in 15 of the largest charter markets since charter 
     schools entered these markets. This is a problem that needs 
     to be addressed.
       H.R. 10 would provide $300 million annually in support of 
     charter schools. The Moore amendment would help ensure that 
     these funds are being properly spent and that charters are 
     incubators of innovation, not enablers of waste, cronyism, or 
     fraud. It would also help monitor the influence of private 
     investors by requiring the disclosure of private 
     contributions.
       Wilson / Davis / Duckworth / Grayson / McKinley / Fudge: 
     This amendment would require that information about each 
     charter school be made available, including disaggregated 
     enrollment and academic performance data. This amendment will 
     better ensure that parents have information on how charter 
     schools are educating students, and will shine a light on 
     enrollment rates of populations that have often been excluded 
     from charter schools.
       Additionally, the AFT urges your support for the following 
     additional amendments:
       Jackson Lee: This amendment requires charters to publicize 
     their information on student recruitment, orientation 
     materials, enrollment criteria, student discipline policies, 
     behavior codes, and parent contract requirements, which 
     should include any financial obligations such as fees for 
     tutoring and extra-curricular activities.
       Langevin: This amendment would provide for comprehensive 
     career counseling, a much needed resource in all schools.
       Castor: This amendment would develop and enforce conflict 
     of interest guidelines for all charter schools receiving 
     federal assistance.
       Bonamici: This amendment requires states to report on the 
     sharing of best practices by charter and traditional public 
     schools.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Randi Weingarten,
     President.
                                  ____



                               National Education Association,

                                      Washington, DC, May 8, 2014.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the three million members 
     of the National Education Association (NEA), and the students 
     they serve, we offer our views on select amendments to the 
     Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act 
     (H.R. 10) scheduled for votes Friday. While the underlying 
     bill includes some improvements to existing law, it falls 
     short of what is needed

[[Page H4036]]

     to ensure greater accountability and transparency. Votes 
     associated with amendments to H.R. 10 may be included in the 
     NEA Legislative Report Card for the 113th Congress.
       NEA supports high-quality charter schools that operate in a 
     manner that is transparent and accountable to parents and 
     taxpayers; ensures equity and access; and solicits and 
     benefits from input from parents, educators, and the 
     communities they serve. We caution, however, that charter 
     schools are not a panacea for solving all education 
     challenges.
       Some provisions of the underlying bill represent 
     improvements, such as requiring greater charter authorizer 
     accountability, and including weighted lotteries to address 
     under-enrollment of disadvantaged students. However, the 
     underlying bill falls short in key areas: including no 
     mandatory disclosure and reporting on key data including 
     funding from private sources, no independent audit 
     requirements, no open meetings requirements and no conflict 
     of interest guidelines. Please refer to NEA's full letter on 
     the underlying bill for more details.
       NEA's views on specific amendments are listed below.
       The following are amendments strongly supported by NEA:
       #3 by Rep. Castor--Requires the Secretary of Education to 
     develop and enforce conflict of interest guidelines for all 
     charter schools receiving federal assistance. Guidelines must 
     include disclosures from anyone affiliated with the charter 
     school that has a financial interest in the school.
       #4 by Rep. Moore--This amendment would establish a two 
     percent set-aside of funds to assist with state oversight of 
     their charter schools, and ensure disclosure of private 
     sources of funding in audits.
       #7 by Reps. Grayson/Clarke/Wilson--This amendment ensures 
     that an application by a state entity to receive grants 
     through the Charter School Program contains an assurance that 
     charter schools will also measure student retention rates in 
     their annual performance assessments--as well as graduation 
     rates and student academic growth, as currently required by 
     this bill.
       #8 by Rep. Jackson Lee--This amendment ensures that charter 
     schools make certain information publicly available on their 
     website including student recruitment, enrollment criteria, 
     student discipline policies, behavior codes, and any parent 
     contract requirements or financial obligations.
       #9 by Reps. Wilson/R. Davis/Duckworth/Grayson/McKinley/
     Fudge--This amendment will ensure collection and public 
     dissemination of information that will help parents make 
     informed decisions about education options for their 
     children, including disaggregated data on student outcomes, 
     suspensions, and expulsions.
       #12 by Rep. Loretta Sanchez--This amendment requires states 
     to report how they have worked with their charter schools to 
     foster community involvement.
       NEA is also supportive of these amendments to H.R. 10:
       #5 by Reps. Bass/Marino/McDermott/Bachmann--This amendment 
     ensures there are no unnecessary barriers for foster youth in 
     charter school enrollment and ensures the inclusion and 
     retention of all students no matter the involvement or lack 
     of involvement of parents.
       #10 by Reps. Langevin/G. Thompson--This amendment would add 
     comprehensive career counseling to the criteria that the 
     Secretary of Education will take into account when 
     prioritizing grants to school districts.
       #11 by Rep. Bonamici--This amendment would clarify the 
     reporting requirements of State entities to include the 
     sharing of best practices by charters and traditional public 
     schools.
       We thank you for your consideration of our views on these 
     select amendments and urge your support for them.
           Sincerely,
                                                      Mary Kusler,
                                   Director, Government Relations.

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chairman, let me conclude my remarks by saying 
that, across America, children are bullied every day, and across 
America, parents are baffled by the educational system.
  Any time that you can reinforce this idea of transparency, I believe 
that it is an important step forward, and I would hope that my 
colleagues would be able to support this amendment. I believe it is a 
strong, but positive amendment.
  I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota for an inquiry, please, to 
the chairman of the committee.
  What modification could occur with this amendment? It is a strong 
amendment that is supported by educational groups, and it just 
reinforces, I believe, in a more specific manner the intent of H.R. 10.
  Mr. KLINE. Will the gentlewoman yield?
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota.
  Mr. KLINE. I thank the gentlelady.
  Mr. Chairman, my concern with the amendment is that this puts 
additional reporting requirements on the charter schools that are not 
required of traditional public schools.
  We are trying to make it easier, and we are trying to streamline the 
process. We are trying to expand the charter school movement of quality 
charter schools, and I don't think we should be adding additional 
burdens onto charter schools which make it harder for them to move 
forward.
  The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I do appreciate the gentlelady's efforts to 
get information out there.
  As I said earlier, unfortunately, I want to be very, very careful in 
avoiding adding additional burdens or more red tape or more 
requirements to charter schools at the very time when we are trying to 
streamline the system and make it easier to expand and to replicate 
quality charter schools.
  So, unfortunately, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the 
amendment.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chair, I would like to offer my thanks and 
appreciation to Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Miller for all of 
their work in their stewardship in bringing this strongly bipartisan 
bill to the House Floor for consideration.
  They have both worked hard on ways to improve education for our 
nation's youth and I have had the pleasure of working with the Chair on 
many issues of mutual interest for the improvement of education.
  Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to explain my amendment to 
H.R. 10. My amendment directs State Education Agencies that award 
Federally funded grants to charter schools under this bill to work with 
those schools so that they provide information on their websites 
regarding student recruitment, orientation materials, enrollment 
criteria, student discipline policies, behavior codes, and parent 
contract requirements, which should include any financial obligations 
such as fees for tutoring, and extra-circular activities.
  My amendment has the support of the National Educational Association 
and the American Federation of Teachers. I have letters from both 
organizations that I would like included in the Record along with my 
statement.
  Charter schools were new--but today they have become for many parents 
an important public education option. Not all public charter schools 
have been successful, but the work of those that have been successful 
have led us to this point of considering legislation to provide 
additional Federal funding for the creation of additional charter 
schools.
  This amendment is a pro-education consumer amendment that would 
educate parents who are investigating the public charter school option 
for their child's education.
  The Jackson Lee Amendment will make it possible for parents to learn 
more about how schools deal with important education issues such as 
academic performance, enrichment programs, anti quality of education 
life issues programs for children with learning disabilities like 
dyslexia are taught.
  Many public charter schools provide this information online, and the 
amendment would support this good transparency practice. The Jackson 
Lee amendment is good for parents and for charter schools because 
parents would have access to information that helps them make education 
decisions for their children; and charter schools would speak to a 
larger audience regarding their education programs.
  This information being provided on Charter School websites would help 
us better understand what public charter schools are offering to 
parents and students. It would also bring additional transparency 
regarding the drivers of higher enrollment in public charter schools 
and promote greater public awareness regarding polices on such as 
discipline, counseling, drop-outs, bullying, as well as programs that 
impact of education on children with learning disabilities like 
dyslexia on student retention.
  In Houston, I have had the benefit of seeing the work of public 
charter schools at work: Harmony Public Schools, YesPrep Public Charter 
Schools, and KIPP Public Charter Schools have made tremendous 
advancements.
  It is my hope that charter school districts and charter schools will 
take up the challenge of providing hard data to make the case for their 
approaches to education.
  I offered two amendments for consideration by the House Rules 
Committee that would strengthen the legislative goals of H.R. 10.
  I also offered a second Jackson Lee Amendment in the form of a 
``Sense of the Congress'' on the promotion of, and support for anti-
bullying programs in charter schools, including those that serve rural 
communities not supported by the Rules Committee. I regret that this 
amendment was not made in order for consideration of this bill because 
the prevention of bullying is one of the most challenging problems 
facing school officials.
  Bullying is not a new behavior. Kids have been exposed to bullying in 
school for generations. Now, however, bullying has taken on

[[Page H4037]]

new heights and sometimes victims of bullies suffer severe and lasting 
consequences.
  For victims of bullying, they go to school every day facing 
harassment, taunting, and humiliation. Studies show that 25-35 percent 
of teens encountered some type of bullying in their lifetime. Bullying 
is a form of violent behavior that happens not only in the schools but 
everywhere.
  The National Center for Educational Studies reports show that 14 
percent of 12- to 18-year-olds surveyed report being victims of direct 
or indirect bullying. 1 out of 4 kids is bullied. The Department of 
Justice reports that 1 out of every 4 kids will be abused by another 
youth.
  I introduced H.R. 2585, the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant 
Reauthorization and the Bullying Prevention and Intervention Act of 
2013. This bill amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 
of 1968 by expanding the juvenile accountability block grant program 
with respect to programs for the prevention of bullying to include 
intervention programs. The bill's objective is to reduce and prevent 
bullying and establish best practices for all activities that are 
likely to help reduce bullying among young people.

  This year a million children will be teased, taunted, and physically 
assaulted by their peers. Bullying is the most common form of violence 
faced by our nation's youth.
  The frequency and intensity of bullying that young people face are 
astounding:
  1 in 7 students in grades K-12 is either a bully or a victim of 
bullying.
  90 percent of 4th to 8th grade students report being victims of 
bullying of some type.
  56 percent of students have personally witnessed some type of 
bullying at school.
  71 percent of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at 
their school.
  15 percent of all students who don't show up for school report it to 
being out of fear of being bullied while at school.
  1 out of 20 students has seen a student with a gun at school,
  282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each 
month.
  Consequences of bullying:
  15 percent of all school absenteeism is directly related to fears of 
being bullied at school.
  According to bullying statistics, 1 out of every 10 students who 
drops out of school does so because of repeated bullying.
  Suicides linked to bullying are the saddest statistic.
  Statistics on gun violence:
  Homicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for young people ages 15 
to 24 years old.
  Homicide is the leading cause of death for African Americans between 
ages 10 and 24.
  Thirteen young people from ages 10-24 become victims of homicide 
every day.
  82.8 percent of those youths were killed with a firearm.
  Every 30 minutes, a child or teenager in America is injured by a gun.
  Every 3 hours and 15 minutes, a child or teenager loses their life to 
a firearm.
  In 2010, 82 children under 5 years of age lost their lives due to 
guns.
  One of four high school males reportedly carry a weapon to school, 
with 8.6 percent of reportedly carry a gun.
  87 percent of youth said shootings are motivated by a desire to ``get 
back at those who have hurt them, and 86 percent said, ``other kids 
picking on them, making fun of them or bullying them'' causes teenagers 
to turn to lethal violence in the schools.
  In 2011, over 707,000 young people, aged 10 to 24 years, had to be 
rushed to the emergency room as a result of physical assault injuries.
  Victims of bullying often suffer in silence and parents are the last 
ones to know that their child is being bullied or may be a bully. What 
once was thought to be a childhood ritual has been proven by school 
psychologists, law enforcement officials, parents, and students to be 
much more serious.
  Anti-bullying programs can help children understand the seriousness 
of bullying; and assist parents in learning the signs of bullying as 
well as learning how to speak to their children about the issue of 
bullying.
  Mr. Chair, I ask my colleagues to support my amendment to make 
information available on publicly funded charter school websites so 
that parents are afforded the opportunity to make the best education 
decisions for their children.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
  The question was taken; and the Acting Chair announced that the noes 
appeared to have it.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further 
proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Texas will 
be postponed.


            Amendment No. 9 Offered by Ms. Wilson of Florida

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 9 
printed in part A of House Report 113-444.
  Ms. WILSON of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 21, beginning line 16, amend subparagraph (G) to read 
     as follows:
       ``(G) The State entity will ensure that each charter school 
     in the State makes publicly available, consistent with the 
     dissemination requirements of the annual State report card, 
     information to help parents make informed decisions about the 
     education options available to their children, including 
     information for each school on--
       ``(i) the educational program;
       ``(ii) student support services;
       ``(iii) annual performance and enrollment data, 
     disaggregated by the groups of students described in section 
     1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II); and
       ``(iv) any other information the State requires all other 
     public schools to report for purposes of section 
     1111(h)(1)(D).''.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 576, the gentlewoman 
from Florida (Ms. Wilson) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.
  Ms. WILSON of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment to 
H.R. 10.
  Although I have very significant concerns about charter schools, it 
is important to note that defeating H.R. 10 would not eliminate charter 
schools; it would just maintain the broken status quo. As lawmakers, we 
must make laws better. We must shape the narrative to benefit the 
entire Nation.
  So, today, I am offering a bipartisan amendment to H.R. 10 to 
increase accountability, quality, transparency, and to put into 
priority order access and services for disadvantaged students who are 
currently underserved by charter schools.
  It would require charter schools to disclose information relating to 
their demographic makeup, how well they educate students, school 
attendance, average class size, academic achievement gains, parental 
involvement, and discipline. It holds charter schools to the same 
disclosure standards as traditional public schools.
  We know, when public charters are held to the same standards of 
accountability, equitable access, and transparency, as in traditional 
public schools, all of our students receive a better education, but 
when public charters are not held to these standards, a student's 
learning suffers, and taxpayers' money is wasted.
  I want to thank Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Miller for their 
leadership on this issue and for their support of my amendment. I also 
thank the cosponsors of this amendment, Representatives Rodney Davis, 
Tammy Duckworth, Alan Grayson, David McKinley, and Marcia Fudge.
  Thank you for your commitment to provide every child access to a 
quality education. I would appreciate your support on my amendment.
  I now yield to the gentleman from Illinois, Representative Rodney 
Davis.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Thank you to my colleague from Florida 
for yielding time, and thank you for your leadership on this issue.
  First, I want to commend my colleagues on the Education and the 
Workforce Committee--Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, and all of 
those who serve on that committee on both sides of the aisle--for their 
work in crafting this bipartisan bill that promotes quality charter 
schools.
  Mr. Chairman, my district is located in central and southwestern 
Illinois, and we are fortunate to have many effective public schools 
and also charter schools, including the public schools that my three 
children attend in Taylorville, Illinois.
  Successful charter schools can partner with public schools and give 
children at all levels, in many of the areas of our country, more 
opportunities to receive the quality education they deserve.
  In over the last decade, charter schools have more than doubled in 
number and now serve, roughly, 2.6 million students. As this number 
continues to grow, we must make sure

[[Page H4038]]

charter schools are also like our public schools--accountable and 
transparent to the taxpayers and, most importantly, to parents.
  The amendment I am offering, along with my colleagues, would do just 
that by requiring charter schools to collect the same data required of 
public schools by our States. Additionally, our amendment ensures this 
information is made public, so parents can make the best decisions for 
their students.
  I want to thank my colleagues for their work on this amendment; and 
I, again, thank Chairman Kline for his leadership on this issue.
  Ms. WILSON of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I now yield to the gentleman 
from Colorado (Mr. Polis).
  Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentlelady for working on this important 
amendment.
  Mr. Chairman, public school choice is only as good as informational 
options are placed before parents. Too often, only the already 
enfranchised parents have the ability to choose a school that works for 
their kids.
  What this amendment ensures is that all parents are able to find 
publicly available information, consistent with State law, about the 
quality of public school options in their areas, in order to help make 
better informed decisions in the education marketplace.
  For public education to work and for competition to have a 
constructive impact on public education, parents and families need to 
be able to make informed decisions.
  This amendment is an important step towards helping families have the 
information they need to make public school choice work, to make sure 
that public charter schools that offer the transformational opportunity 
to help kids succeed have the information placed in the hands of the 
most at-risk families, as well as of the families who are already 
enfranchised through active parents.
  I strongly support this amendment, and I encourage my colleagues to 
include it in the bill.
  Ms. WILSON of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the 
amendment, although I do not oppose it.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from Minnesota is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I very much appreciate the work that Ms. 
Wilson and the other coauthors of this amendment have put into this. I 
think it helps the bill, and I would urge my colleagues to support this 
amendment.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wilson).
  The question was taken; and the Acting Chair announced that the ayes 
appeared to have it.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further 
proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Florida 
will be postponed.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Committee will rise informally.
  The Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Amodei) assumed the chair.

                          ____________________