Open Schools Act
This bill directs the Department of Education to make grants to parents of eligible students for certain education-related expenses. Eligible student refers to a student who is enrolled for the 2021-2022 school year in an elementary or secondary school that (1) is located in a local educational agency that received certain COVID-19 relief funds; and (2) does not provide, for any reason related to COVID-19, in-person learning for each enrolled student for each school day during the school year.
Grant funds may be used to pay the tuition and fees for a private elementary or secondary school, pay the cost of attending a public school that provides in-person learning, or for other expenses and educational materials.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6380 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6380
To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a grant program to
make grants to the parents of students enrolled in elementary schools
or secondary schools that, for any reason related to COVID-19, are
failing to provide in-person instruction for each enrolled student for
each school day of school year 2021-2022, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 12, 2022
Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois (for himself, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Johnson of
Ohio, Ms. Herrera Beutler, Mr. Burgess, Mr. LaTurner, Mr. Steil, Mr.
Valadao, Mr. Garbarino, Mr. Babin, and Mr. Obernolte) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and
Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a grant program to
make grants to the parents of students enrolled in elementary schools
or secondary schools that, for any reason related to COVID-19, are
failing to provide in-person instruction for each enrolled student for
each school day of school year 2021-2022, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Open Schools Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Parents are best equipped to make decisions for their
children, including the educational setting that will best
serve the interests and educational needs of their child.
(2) After more than 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is
now known that pandemic-related school closures deprive
children of the equalizing force of education. The pandemic is
widening educational inequality and the learning gaps created
by these shutdowns will only get even worse if they continue.
(3) Peer interactions are a crucial ingredient to academic
success. A Yale University study has found that the inability
to be with friends and peers from different socioeconomic
groups did more damage to children's educational progress than
any other factor and underscored the importance of having kids
from across the socioeconomic spectrum learning together.
(4) When schools close, parents are often asked to
facilitate the learning of children at home and can struggle to
perform this task. This is especially true for parents with
limited resources which can be exacerbated even more for rural
families without access to broadband.
(5) Despite what the mainstream media says about most
parents across America working from home, that simply is not
the case. In fact, the vast majority of parents do not have the
work from home luxury many so-called experts would have you
believe. This has further divided the United States between
regular, hard-working parents and a new ``laptop class'' that
only works remotely. These working-class parents do not have
the ability to help their children learn when their school
switches to remote learning, even if only for a few days at a
time.
(6) Crucial benchmarks like achievement tests and high
stakes examinations that determine admission or advancement to
new education levels and institutions, are thrown into disarray
when schools close. Strategies to postpone, skip, or administer
examinations at a distance raise serious concerns about
fairness, especially when access to learning becomes variable.
Disruptions to assessments results in stress for students and
their families and often trigger disengagement.
(7) Youth may be uniquely susceptible to negative mental
health outcomes if they are experiencing pandemic-related
disruptions to in-person schooling in intersection with other
adverse circumstances, such as racism, poverty, food
insecurity, or home instability. Loss of access to school-based
mental health care may be of heightened importance for youth
from low-income families, as they are most likely to receive
mental health services solely from their school.
(8) Online learning is no substitute for classroom
instruction. Nationally, on average, teachers say they're
working 2 fewer hours per day than when they were in their
classrooms. And they estimate that their students are spending
half as much time learning, 3 hours a day, as they were before
the coronavirus pandemic.
(9) Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago public schools
leadership insist schools are safe and have called the refusal
of the Chicago Teachers Union to work in-person a strike and an
illegal work action. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has
confirmed schools are safe for students, including in Chicago.
More than 300,000 public school students in Chicago were off in
January after the district canceled classes when the Chicago
Teachers Union voted to refuse orders to work in-person. ``Our
schools are safe'', Chicago public schools CEO Pedro Martinez
said during a press conference on January 4, 2022, after the
results of the vote were announced. ``There is no evidence that
our schools have ever been unsafe this school year.''. He added
that Chicago schools rarely saw evidence of any major
transmission.
(10) Instead of pouring money into schools that are failing
to stay open for full, in-person learning, the United States
must instead use these taxpayer dollars to support children,
not the teacher's unions, and allow parents to make decisions
about their child's educational future. The United States
should provide eligible parents the ability to elect to educate
their child in an alternate manner, apart from their local
public school that has closed for in-person learning.
SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Education shall establish a grant
program to make grants to parents of eligible students for the purposes
described in subsection (d).
(b) Application.--
(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
this section, a parent of an eligible student shall submit to
the Secretary an application demonstrating that, for any reason
related to COVID-19, the covered school in which such student
is enrolled for school year 2021-2022 is failing to provide in-
person learning for each enrolled student for each school day
during such school year.
(2) Other requirements.--The Secretary shall accept
applications under paragraph (1) on an annual rolling basis and
make such application available as a standardized form in
electronic and written format.
(c) Amount of Grants.--
(1) In general.--A parent of 1 or more eligible students
whom the Secretary determines qualifies for a grant under this
section shall receive such grant for each eligible student of
such parent in an amount that does not exceed $10,000. An
eligible student may not benefit from more than 1 grant under
this section.
(2) Funding.--To award such a grant, the Secretary shall--
(A) require the State that provided funds under
section 2001 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
(20 U.S.C. 3401 note) to the local educational agency
in which the applicable covered school is located to
return such funds to the Secretary; and
(B) use such returned funds for such grant.
(d) Use of Funds.--Any amounts made available to a parent under
this section may be used, with respect to an eligible student--
(1) to pay the tuition and fees for a private elementary
school or a private secondary school;
(2) to pay the cost (such as the average per pupil price)
of attending a public elementary school or secondary school
that provides in-person school;
(3) for private tutoring (including through a learning pod
or microschool);
(4) for the home school expenses;
(5) to purchase educational materials, including
instruction materials and textbooks;
(6) for purchasing electronic devices to facilitate the
education of such eligible student; or
(7) for such other purposes as the Secretary determines
appropriate.
(e) Documentation.--The Secretary may request documentation from a
recipient of a grant under this section that demonstrates that such
grant was used in accordance with subsection (d).
(f) Rules of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed--
(1) to impact any aspect of private, religious, or home
education providers;
(2) to exclude private, religious, or home education
providers from receiving funds pursuant to a grant under this
section; or
(3) to require a qualified educational service provider to
alter any creed, practice, admissions policy, or curriculum in
order to receive funds pursuant to a grant under this section.
(g) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Eligible student.--The term ``eligible student'' means
a student who is enrolled for school year 2021-2022 in a
covered school that, for any reason related to COVID-19, is
failing to provide in-person learning for each enrolled student
for each school day during such school year.
(2) Covered school.--The term ``covered school'' means an
elementary school or secondary school located in a local
educational agency that received an amount under section 2001
of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (20 U.S.C. 3401 note).
(3) ESEA terms.--The terms ``elementary school'',
``secondary school'', ``parent'', and ``Secretary'' have the
meanings given such terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
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