H.R. 10 — what changed

Section 3006(1) (sec. 38–1853.06(1), D.C. Official Code) is amended—

“(G) conducts criminal background checks on school employees who have direct and unsupervised interaction with students; and

“(H) complies with all requests for data and information regarding the reporting requirements described in section 3010.”

“(5) Accreditation requirements

“(A) In general—None of the funds provided under this division for opportunity scholarships may be used by an eligible student to enroll in a participating private school unless one of the following applies:

changed “(i) In the case of a school that, as of the date of enactment of the SOAR Reauthorization Act, is a participating school, the school is provisionally or fully accredited by an accrediting body described in subparagraphs (A) through (G) of section 2202(16) of the District of Columbia School Reform Act of 1995 (sec. 38–1802.02(16)(A–G), D.C. Official Code), or by any other accrediting body determined appropriate by the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent for Schools for the purposes of accrediting an elementary or secondary school.Code).

“(ii) In the case of a school that, as of the day before the date of enactment of the SOAR Reauthorization Act, is a participating school but does not meet the requirements of clause (i)—

“(I) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of such Act, the school is pursuing full accreditation by an accrediting body described in clause (i); and

“(II) not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of such Act, the school meets the requirements of clause (i), except that an eligible entity may extend this deadline for a single 1-year period if the school provides the eligible entity with evidence from such an accrediting body that the school’s application for accreditation is in process and that the school will be awarded accreditation before the end of such period.

“(iii) In the case of a school that, as of the date of enactment of the SOAR Reauthorization Act, is not a participating school, the school meets the requirements of clause (i) or, if it does not meet the requirements of clause (i)—

removed “(I) the school is actively pursuing full accreditation by an accrediting body described in clause (i); and

removed “(II) the school meets all of the other requirements for participating schools under this Act.

removed “(iii) In the case of a school that, as of the date of enactment of the SOAR Reauthorization Act, is not a participating school, the school meets the requirements of clause (i) or, if it does not meet the requirements of clause (i)—

“(I) at the time the school notifies an eligible entity that it seeks to be a participating school, the school is actively pursuing full accreditation by an accrediting body described in clause (i);

“(II) not later than 5 years after the school notifies an eligible entity that it seeks to be a participating school, the school meets the requirements of clause (i), except that an eligible entity may extend this deadline for a single 1-year period if the school provides the eligible entity with evidence from such an accrediting body that the school’s application for accreditation is in process and that the school will be awarded accreditation before the end of such period; and

“(III) the school meets all of the other requirements for participating schools under this Act.

“(B) Reports to eligible entity—Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of the SOAR Reauthorization Act, each participating school shall submit to the eligible entity a certification that the school has been fully or provisionally accredited in accordance with subparagraph (A), or has been granted an extension by the eligible entity in accordance with subparagraph (A)(ii)(II).

“(C) Assisting students in enrolling in other schools—If a participating school fails to meet the requirements of subparagraph (A), the eligible entity shall assist the parents of the eligible students who attend the school in identifying, applying to, and enrolling in another participating school under this Act.”

“(b) Administrative Expenses and Parental Assistance—The Secretary shall make $2,000,000 of the amount provided under the grant each year available to an eligible entity receiving a grant under section 3004(a) to cover the following expenses:

“(1) The administrative expenses of carrying out its program under this Act during the year, including—

“(A) determining the eligibility of students to participate;

“(B) selecting the eligible students to receive scholarships;

“(C) determining the amount of the scholarships and issuing the scholarships to eligible students;

“(D) compiling and maintaining financial and programmatic records; and

“(E) conducting site visits as described in section 3005(b)(1)(l).

“(2) The expenses of educating parents about the entity’s program under this Act, and assisting parents through the application process under this Act, including—

“(A) providing information about the program and the participating schools to parents of eligible students;

“(B) providing funds to assist parents of students in meeting expenses that might otherwise preclude the participation of eligible students in the program; and

“(C) streamlining the application process for parents.”

removed “(d) Permitting Use of Funds Remaining Unobligated From Previous Fiscal Years—To the extent that any funds appropriated for the opportunity scholarship program under this Act for a fiscal year remain unobligated at the end of the fiscal year, the Secretary shall make such funds available during subsequent fiscal years for scholarships for eligible students, except that an eligible entity may use not more than 5 percent of the funds for administrative expenses, parental assistance, and tutoring, in addition to the amounts appropriated for such purposes under section 3007(b) and (c).

“(d) Permitting Use of Funds Remaining Unobligated from Previous Fiscal Years—To the extent that any funds appropriated for the opportunity scholarship program under this Act for any fiscal year (including a fiscal year occurring prior to the enactment of this subsection) remain unobligated at the end of the fiscal year, the Secretary shall make such funds available during the next fiscal year and (if still unobligated as of the end of that fiscal year) any subsequent fiscal year for scholarships for eligible students, except that an eligible entity may use not more than 5 percent of the funds for administrative expenses, parental assistance, and tutoring, in addition to the amounts appropriated for such purposes under section 3007(b) and (c).”

“(a) In General

“(1) Duties of the Secretary and the Mayor—The Secretary and the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall—

“(A) jointly enter into an agreement with the Institute of Education Sciences of the Department of Education to evaluate annually the opportunity scholarship program under this Act;

changed “(B) jointly enter into an agreement to monitor and evaluate report on the use of funds authorized and appropriated for the District of Columbia Public Schools and the District of Columbia public charter schools under this Act; and

“(C) make the evaluations described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) public in accordance with subsection (c).

“(2) Duties of the Secretary—The Secretary, through a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, shall—

“(A) ensure that the evaluation under paragraph (1)(A)—

“(i) is conducted using an acceptable quasi-experimental research design for determining the effectiveness of the opportunity scholarship program under this Act which does not use a control study group consisting of students who applied for but who did not receive opportunity scholarships; and

“(ii) addresses the issues described in paragraph (4); and

“(B) disseminate information on the impact of the program—

“(i) in increasing academic achievement and educational attainment of participating eligible students; and

“(ii) on students and schools in the District of Columbia.

“(3) Duties of the Institute of Education Sciences—The Institute of Education Sciences of the Department of Education shall—

“(A) assess participating eligible students in each of the grades 3 through 8, as well as one of the grades in the high school level, by supervising the administration of the same reading and math assessment used by the District of Columbia Public Schools to comply with section 1111(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b));

“(B) measure the academic achievement of all participating students in the grades described in subparagraph (A); and

“(C) work with the eligible entities to ensure that the parents of each student who receives a scholarship under this Act agree to permit the student to participate in the evaluations and assessments carried out by the Institute under this subsection.

“(4) Issues to be evaluated—The issues to be evaluated under paragraph (1)(A) shall include the following:

“(A) A comparison of the academic achievement of participating eligible students in the measurements described in paragraph (3) to the academic achievement of a comparison group of students with similar backgrounds in the District of Columbia Public Schools.

changed “(B) The success of the program under this Act in expanding choice options for parents of participating eligible students and increasing their satisfaction with their child’s school the satisfaction of such parents and students with their choice.

“(C) The reasons parents of participating eligible students choose for their children to participate in the program, including important characteristics for selecting schools.

changed “(D) A comparison of the retention rates, high school graduation rates, college admission college enrollment rates, college persistence rates, and college graduation rates of participating eligible students with the rates of students in the comparison group described in subparagraph (A).

changed “(E) A comparison of report on the college admission college enrollment rates, college persistence rates, and college graduation rates of students who participated in the program in 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 as the result of winning the Opportunity Scholarship Program lottery with as well as the rates of students who entered but did not win such lottery in those years and who, as a result, served as the control group for previous evaluations of the program under this Act.Act. Nothing in this subparagraph may be construed to waive section 3004(a)(3)(A)(iii) with respect to any such student.

“(F) A comparison of the safety of the schools attended by participating eligible students and the schools in the District of Columbia attended by students in the comparison group described in subparagraph (A), based on the perceptions of the students and parents.

“(G) Such other issues with respect to participating eligible students as the Secretary considers appropriate for inclusion in the evaluation, such as the impact of the program on public elementary schools and secondary schools in the District of Columbia.

“(5) Prohibiting disclosure of personal information

“(A) In general—Any disclosure of personally identifiable information shall be in compliance with section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (commonly known as the “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974”) (20 U.S.C. 1232g).

changed “(B) Students not attending public schools—With respect to any student who is not attending a public elementary school or secondary school, personally identifiable information may not be disclosed outside of the group of individuals carrying out the evaluation for such student, such student or the group of individuals providing information for carrying out the evaluation of such student, other than to the parents of such student.”

“(1) Information necessary to carry out evaluations—Ensure that all District of Columbia public schools and District of Columbia public charter schools make available to the Institute of Education Sciences of the Department of Education all of the information the Institute requires to carry out the assessments and perform the evaluations required under section 3009(a).”

“(b) Enforcement—If, after reasonable notice and an opportunity for a hearing, the Secretary determines that the Mayor has failed to comply with any of the requirements of subsection (a), the Secretary may withhold from the Mayor, in whole or in part—

“(1) the funds otherwise authorized to be appropriated under section 3014(a)(2), if the failure to comply relates to the District of Columbia public schools;

“(2) the funds otherwise authorized to be appropriated under section 3014(a)(3), if the failure to comply relates to the District of Columbia public charter schools; or

“(3) the funds otherwise authorized to be appropriated under both section 3014(a)(2) and section 3014(a)(3), if the failure relates to both the District of Columbia public schools and the District of Columbia public charter schools.”

“(c) Specific Rules Regarding Funds Provided for Support of Public Charter Schools—The following rules shall apply with respect to the funds provided under this Act for the support of District of Columbia public charter schools:

changed “(1) The Secretary may shall direct the funds provided for any fiscal year, or any portion thereof, year to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education of the District of Columbia (OSSE).

“(2) The OSSE may transfer the funds to subgrantees who are specific District of Columbia public charter schools or networks of such schools or who are District of Columbia-based non-profit organizations with experience in successfully providing support or assistance to District of Columbia public charter schools or networks of schools.

“(3) The funds shall be available to any District of Columbia public charter school in good standing with the District of Columbia Charter School Board (Board), and the OSSE and Board may not restrict the availability of the funds to certain types of schools on the basis of the school’s location, governing body, or any other characteristic.”