Draft Legislation from the U.S. Senate

A comprehensive ESEA reauthorization bill was marked up by the Senate HELP Committee in fall 2011, during the first session fo the 112th Congress.  A bill number has yet to be assigned, and report language remains under development as of December 2011.  The Committee has posted the draft of the bill prior to Committee mark-up, as well as text of the amendments that passed and information on the many hearings held during the 111th Congress. The bill could be voted on on the Senate floor in 2012.  The bill includes changes to the 21st CCLC initiative that are of concern to the afterschool community. Several ‘marker’ bills that address individual pieces of ESEA have been introduced:

  • Afterschool for America's Children Act. Sens. Boxer (D-CA), Murkowski (R-AK) and Murray (D-WA) introduced this bill to reauthorize and strengthen the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative in July 2011. The bill is based upon many of the recommendations put forth by the afterschool field and strengthens school-community partnerships to include sharing of data and resources, the ability to better leverage relationships within the community and provides an intentional alignment with the school day. The bill also would promote professional development and training of afterschool program staff; encourage innovative new ways to engage students in learning that looks different from a traditional school day, with an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning; science, technology, engineering, and math; and physical activity and nutrition education; support approaches that focus on individualized learning that provide a variety of ways for students to master core skills and knowledge; provide accountability measures that are connected to college- and career-readiness goals and show student progress over time towards meeting indicators of student success including school attendance, grades and on-time grade level advancement; ensure that funding supports programs that utilize evidence-based, successful practices; increase quality and accountability through parent engagement, better alignment with state learning objectives and coordination between federal, state and local agencies. Finally, the legislation does not prioritize any one model of expanded learning opportunity over another and maintains formula grants to states that then distribute funds to local school-community partnerships through a competitive grant process. Read more.

Additional legislation introduced in the Senate this Congress that relates to ESEA and that positively impacts afterschool programs includes:

 

 

S. 1675 - Preparing Students for Success in the Global Economy Act of 2011

 

S. 1372 - No Child Left Inside Act of 2011

 

S. 1175 - 21st Century Readiness Act

 

S. 1004 - A bill to support Promise Neighborhoods

 

S. 969 - Engineering Education for Innovation Act or E 2 for Innovation Act

 

S. 941 - The Family Engagement in Education Act

 

S. 929 - Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation Act or LEARN Act

 

S. 919 - Successful, Safe, and Healthy Students Act of 2011

 

S. 851 - Time for Innovation Matters in Education (TIME) Act

 

S. 833 - Success in the Middle Act of 2009

S. 716 - Innovation Inspiration School Grant Program Act

 

S. 426 - Developing Innovative Partnerships and Learning Opportunities that Motivate Achievement Act or DIPLOMA Act

 

S. 576 - FIT Kids Act