H.R. 5181 — SOAR Act Improvements Act

This section revises grant duration and application requirements under the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act (i.e., D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provides federally funded scholarships for low-income students in the District of Columbia to attend participating private schools). Specifically, it (1) authorizes the Secretary to renew grants for up to an additional 5 years after the initial 5-year period, without competition, if appropriate to maintain program continuity; (2) revises an application content requirement to specify that it applies "if such a process will not interfere with the regular admission standards or procedures of the school"; and (3) changes the residency requirement for board members of the eligible entity from the District of Columbia to the Washington metropolitan region (newly defined to include the District of Columbia; Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland; and Arlington and Fairfax Counties and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church in Virginia).

This section revises accreditation requirements for schools participating in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program under the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act by (1) requiring participating schools as of enactment to be recognized by a national or regional accrediting body or an accrediting body sited by the Student and Visitor Exchange English Language Program administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and (2) requiring non-participating schools to become fully accredited by such a body not later than five years after beginning the process of pursuing participation. The section also strikes the requirement for a report on accreditation compliance.

This section modifies allowable uses of funds under the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program—providing federal scholarships to low-income District of Columbia students for private school tuition, fees, and related expenses—as follows: (1) extends scholarship funds for use in pre-kindergarten (from kindergarten); (2) authorizes an eligible entity to establish a maximum scholarship amount below the amount otherwise permitted under the Act; (3) adds tutoring services for participating students needing additional academic assistance—with priority for students previously enrolled in D.C.'s lowest-performing public schools—to allowable expenses under subsection (b), strikes former subsection (c) on a separate study, and makes conforming changes; (4) increases the cap on such subsection (b) expenses to $2.2 million (from $2 million); and (5) removes a completed study requirement from allowable expenses.

This section revises standardized testing requirements for participants in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program evaluation (i.e., Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act) as follows: (1) broadens the cross-reference in paragraph (1) from section 3009(a)(2)(A)(i) to section 3009(a); (2) replaces paragraph (2) to authorize—but not require—the Institute of Education Sciences to administer assessments to participating students for evaluation purposes; and (3) changes paragraph (3) to require a nationally norm-referenced standardized test (from the specific test described in paragraph (2)). (Thus, the changes increase flexibility in test selection and administration for evaluating the federally funded scholarship program for low-income D.C. students to attend private or non-assigned public schools.)

This section revises evaluation requirements for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (i.e., federal scholarships enabling low-income students to attend private schools). Specifically, it (1) requires the Secretary of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences to issue public reports on the program by January 1, 2027, and every seven years thereafter; (2) directs that evaluations be rigorous and disseminate information on impacts to academic progress and educational attainment; (3) requires assessment of participating students' academic progress in grades 3 through 8 (striking prior requirement for another grade range); and (4) specifies evaluation topics, including academic progress, parent and student satisfaction, high school graduation and college enrollment/persistence/graduation rates, and school safety compared to public school students (striking prior topics on parental choice exercise and effects on public schools). The amendments apply to evaluations carried out on or after two years from enactment.

This section revises annual reporting requirements for the entity administering the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (i.e., federally funded scholarships enabling low-income D.C. residents to attend private elementary, secondary, or public charter schools outside their assigned district). Specifically, it (1) strikes subparagraph (A) from subsection (b)(1) and redesignates the remaining subparagraphs; (2) removes from subsection (c)(1)(A) the requirement to report aggregate academic achievement of other participating students at a student's school in the same grade or level; and (3) revises subsection (c)(1)(B) to require reporting of any incidents of school violence, student suspensions, and student expulsions. The changes apply to reports submitted for school years beginning on or after the date of enactment.

This section extends the authorization of appropriations under the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act (i.e., D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provides federal vouchers for low-income D.C. students to attend participating private schools and supports certain D.C. public school reforms) through FY2032 (from FY2023). Effective FY2024, it revises the allocation of appropriated funds by (1) increasing the share under paragraph (1) to one-half (from one-third), and (2) decreasing the share under paragraph (2) to one-sixth (from one-third).