“A bill to establish an alternative use of certain Federal education funds when in-person instruction is not available.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states congressional findings that COVID-19 school closures have caused disproportionate and long-lasting harm to low-income students, students of color, and other disadvantaged groups (e.g., those with low mathematics scores, limited English proficiency, or qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch), including a predicted 25% decrease in post-educational earning potential for ninth graders in the poorest 20% of neighborhoods from one year of closure.
This section amends local educational agency (LEA) plan requirements under Title I-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (i.e., formula grants to high-poverty public schools to help disadvantaged students meet challenging state academic standards) to require compliance with new in-person instruction requirements. (As background, Title I-A plans must be state-approved and outline services ensuring served students meet state standards.) Specifically, the section (1) adds to the list of required plan provisions in subsection (c) a new paragraph (8) mandating compliance with subsection (f); and (2) establishes new subsection (f), under which, beginning with the first school year after enactment of the Kids in Classes Act, each LEA must establish and agree to implement a "failure to open direct payment plan." Under the new requirements, if a covered school (i.e., public elementary or secondary school receiving Title I-A funds) fails for more than three days in a school year, due to public health emergency or collective bargaining action, to offer in-person instruction to all students who wish to attend, the LEA must directly pay parents of affected students the "covered funding amount" (i.e., Title I-A funds allocated to the school divided by student enrollment and school days funded) multiplied by the number of such days, for "qualified educational expenses" (e.g., curriculum materials, tutoring, private school tuition, educational therapies). (Thus, payments must be made daily to the extent practicable; parents must submit receipts or return unused funds within 30 days of in-person instruction resuming.)