Head Start Improvement Act of 2014 - Amends the Head Start Act to eliminate, beginning on the first fiscal year following this Act's enactment, the formula for allotting Head Start program funds to Head Start agencies.
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to allot block grants for prekindergarten programs to states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, the Republic of Palau, and each federally recognized Indian tribe on the basis of each jurisdiction's share of children aged five and younger who are from families with incomes below 130% of the poverty level.
Requires the Governor or other chief executive of each grantee to certify that all grant funds will be used to directly or indirectly provide comprehensive education and related services to low-income children and their families.
Requires grantees to: (1) award subgrants to prekindergarten providers of their choosing, (2) establish rules and standards for those subgrantees to follow, and (3) monitor compliance with those rules and standards.
Gives grantees full flexibility to use the grant funds to finance a prekindergarten education provider, service, or program, including to establish a portable voucher system.
Requires grantees to provide matching funds from nonfederal sources equal to 20% of their grant.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4481 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4481
To amend the Head Start Act to authorize block grants to States for
prekindergarten education.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 10, 2014
Mr. Salmon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Head Start Act to authorize block grants to States for
prekindergarten education.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Head Start Improvement Act of
2014''.
SEC. 2. HEAD START BLOCK GRANTS.
The Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 640, by adding at the end the following:
``(p) Beginning on October 1 of the first fiscal year following the
date of enactment of the Head Start Improvement Act of 2014, the
Secretary shall not allocate, reserve, or otherwise provide funds
pursuant to this section.''; and
(2) by inserting after section 640 the following:
``SEC. 640A. BLOCK GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE GRANTEES.
``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this
subchapter, beginning on October 1 of the first fiscal year following
the date of enactment of the Head Start Improvement Act of 2014, from
the amounts appropriated to carry out this subchapter under section 639
for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall award grants to eligible
grantees in accordance with this section.
``(b) Allotments.--
``(1) Eligible grantee defined.--In this section, the term
`eligible grantee' means each of the 50 States of the United
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa,
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic
of Palau, and each of the federally recognized Indian tribes.
``(2) Formula.--The Secretary shall allot the amount
appropriated under section 639 for a fiscal year among the
eligible grantees in proportion to the number of children, aged
5 and younger, who reside within the eligible grantee and are
from families with incomes below 130 percent of the poverty
line for the most recent fiscal year for which satisfactory
data are available, compared to the number of such children who
reside in all such eligible grantees for that fiscal year.
``(c) Use of Funds.--
``(1) In general.--An eligible grantee that receives a
grant under this section shall use 100 percent of the grant
funds--
``(A) for prekindergarten education programs in the
eligible grantee;
``(B) for the administration of the programs
described in subparagraph (A); and
``(C) to provide direct technical assistance,
oversight, monitoring, research, and training with
respect to the programs described in subparagraph (A).
``(2) Certification.--The Governor, or other chief
executive, of each eligible grantee that receives a grant under
this section shall certify that all grant funds received under
this section will be used to directly or indirectly provide
comprehensive education and related services to low-income
children and their families.
``(3) Eligible grantee responsibilities.--An eligible
grantee that receives a grant under this section shall--
``(A) award subgrants to eligible entities (as
defined by the eligible grantee) to enable such
entities to provide prekindergarten education programs
in the eligible grantee;
``(B) establish rules and standards for the
entities awarded subgrants under subparagraph (A); and
``(C) monitor compliance by entities awarded
subgrants under subparagraph (A).
``(4) Flexibility.--Subject to the requirements of this
section, an eligible grantee that receives a grant under this
section shall have full flexibility to use grant funds to
finance a prekindergarten education provider, service, or
program, including to establish a portable voucher system.
``(5) Members of federally recognized indian tribes.--A
member of a federally recognized Indian tribe who is eligible
to receive services pursuant to a program funded under this
section may elect to receive such services from any eligible
entity in the eligible grantee in which the member resides.
``(d) Matching Funds.--An eligible grantee that receives a grant
under this section shall provide matching funds from non-Federal
sources equal to 20 percent of the amount of the grant to carry out the
activities described in this section.''.
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Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
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