SOAR Act
Latest action · Apr 4, 2011 Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 24.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJan 26, 2011
- Passed HouseMar 30, 2011
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on March 17, 2011. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act or SOAR Act - (Sec. 4) Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award five-year grants on a competitive basis to nonprofit organizations to carry out a program to provide expanded school choice opportunities to students who are District of Columbia (DC) residents and who come from households: (1) receiving assistance under the supplemental nutrition assistance program under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008; or (2) with incomes not exceeding 185% of the poverty line, except in certain grandfathered circumstances.
Requires the Secretary to provide funds to the Mayor of the District of Columbia, if the Mayor agrees to specified requirements, for: (1) the DC public schools to improve public education, and (2) the DC public charter schools to improve and expand quality public charter schools.
(Sec. 5) Prescribes requirements for schools participating in such grant programs.
(Sec. 6) Requires the Secretary to give priority to certain applications, including those of eligible students notified as selected for a scholarship for school year 2009-2010, which was later rescinded by the Secretary.
(Sec. 7) Limits the amount of assistance for school year 2011-2012 at $8,000 for grade school students and $12,000 for high school students.
(Sec. 8) Prescribes nondiscrimination requirements, with certain exceptions for religiously affiliated and single-sex schools.
Requires each participating school to comply with any testing requirements determined necessary for evaluations which use the strongest possible research design for determining the effectiveness of the opportunity scholarship program.
Requires the Secretary (through the Institute of Education Sciences of the Department of Education) to administer the nationally norm-referenced standardized test at least one time during a school year for each student receiving a scholarship if a participating school does not administer such test or the Institute does not receive data on such student.
(Sec. 9) Requires the Institute to use a grade appropriate, nationally norm-referenced standardized test each school year to assess participating eligible students.
(Sec. 12) Repeals the DC School Choice Incentive Act of 2003.
Prescribes special rules for funding opportunity scholarships for DC students.
(Sec. 14) Authorizes appropriations for FY2012-FY2016.
Recorded votes 3
Newest first. Open one to see how every member voted.
| Roll call | Question | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| House 204 | On Passage | Passed225–195 | Mar 30, 2011 |
| House 203 | On Motion to Recommit with Instructions | Failed185–238 | Mar 30, 2011 |
| House 202 | On Agreeing to the Amendment | Failed185–237 | Mar 30, 2011 |
Cosponsors 50
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jan 26, 2011 to Mar 17, 2011, with 5 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-IL | Daniel Lipinski | Original | Jan 26, 2011 |
| R-CA | Darrell Issa | Original | Jan 26, 2011 |
| R-CA | Duncan Hunter | Original | Jan 26, 2011 |
| R-MN | John Kline | Original | Jan 26, 2011 |
| R-SC | Trey Gowdy | Original | Jan 26, 2011 |
| R-IL | Aaron Schock | Feb 8, 2011 | |
| R-MD | Andy Harris | Feb 8, 2011 | |
| R-NY | Ann Marie Buerkle | Feb 8, 2011 | |
| R-LA | Bill Cassidy | Feb 8, 2011 | |
| R-FL | Bill Posey | Feb 8, 2011 | |
| R-PA | Bill Shuster | Feb 8, 2011 | |
| R-MI | Candice S. Miller | Feb 8, 2011 | |
| R-WA | Cathy McMorris Rodgers | Feb 8, 2011 | |
| R-IN | Dan Burton | Feb 8, 2011 | |
| R-FL | Daniel Webster | Feb 8, 2011 |
Actions 23
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Apr 4, 2011Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 24.
- Mar 31, 2011Received in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
- Mar 30, 2011Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 186. (consideration: CR H2060-2082; text of measure as reported in House: CR H2060-2063)
- Mar 30, 2011DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 186, the House proceeded with 40 minutes of debate on the Norton substitute amendment.
- Mar 30, 2011DEBATE - The House proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Cummings motion to recommit with instructions. The instructions contained in the motion seek to require the bill to be reported back to the House with an amendment which strikes all after the enacting clause and inserts two sections. Section 1 is entitled "FUNDING FOR DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS". Section 2 is entitled "AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPRIATIONS".
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HRES 186 | Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 471) to reauthorize the DC opportunity scholarship program, and for other purposes. | Procedurally related | Mar 30, 2011 |
| S 206 | SOAR Act | Related bill | Feb 16, 2011 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Education.
Text 4
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Apr 4, 2011Placed on Calendar Senate
- Mar 30, 2011Engrossed in House
- Mar 17, 2011Reported in House
- Jan 26, 2011Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.