HR 471 · 112th Congress 2011–2013, ended

SOAR Act

Introduced Jan 26, 2011 Originated House Sponsor John A. Boehner R-OH

Fact sheet Spreadsheet

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.

  1. IntroducedJan 26, 2011
  2. Passed HouseMar 30, 2011
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. 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including those of eligible students notified as selected for a scholarship for school year 2009-2010, which was later rescinded by the Secretary.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 callQuestionResultDate
House 204Passed225–195Mar 30, 2011
House 203Failed185–238Mar 30, 2011
House 202On Agreeing to the AmendmentFailed185–237Mar 30, 2011

Yea 185

Nay 237

Not voting 10

Cosponsors 50

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jan 26, 2011 to Mar 17, 2011; 5 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-ILDaniel LipinskiOriginalJan 26, 2011
R-CADarrell IssaOriginalJan 26, 2011
R-CADuncan HunterOriginalJan 26, 2011
R-MNJohn KlineOriginalJan 26, 2011
R-SCTrey GowdyOriginalJan 26, 2011
R-ILAaron SchockFeb 8, 2011
R-MDAndy HarrisFeb 8, 2011
R-NYAnn Marie BuerkleFeb 8, 2011
R-LABill CassidyFeb 8, 2011
R-FLBill PoseyFeb 8, 2011
R-PABill ShusterFeb 8, 2011
R-MICandice S. MillerFeb 8, 2011
R-WACathy McMorris RodgersFeb 8, 2011
R-INDan BurtonFeb 8, 2011
R-FLDaniel WebsterFeb 8, 2011
Show all 50 cosponsors

Committees 1

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

ChamberCommitteeWhat it did
HouseOversight and Government Reform Committee
Referred Jan 26, 2011Markup Mar 10, 2011Reported Mar 17, 2011
Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee
Referred Feb 8, 2011

Actions 22

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Apr 4, 2011Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 24.
  2. Mar 31, 2011Received in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
  3. Mar 30, 2011Rule H. Res. 186 passed House.
  4. 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)
  5. Mar 30, 2011Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 471 with 1 hour of general debate. Previous question shall be considered as ordered without intervening motions except motion to recommit with or without instructions. Measure will be considered read. A specified amendment is in order. The amendment recommended by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.
Show all 22 actions

In the Congressional Record 8

Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.

WhereIn the RecordMembersDate
ExtensionsDebate and remarks E71Mike Pence R-INJan 25, 2012
House · ExtensionsDebate and remarks E631, H2323–H2325Betty McCollum D-MN, Eleanor Holmes Norton D-DCApr 5, 2011
SenateDebate and remarks S2063Harry Reid D-NVApr 4, 2011
ExtensionsDebate and remarks E601Debbie Wasserman Schultz D-FLApr 1, 2011
House · Senate · ExtensionsDebate and remarks E581, H2115, S2060Harry Reid D-NV, Judy Chu D-CA, Rush Holt D-NJMar 31, 2011
Show all 8 days

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Committee report

Congressional Budget Office cost estimate

  1. Mar 14, 2011H.R. 471, Scholarships for Opportunity and Results ActCost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on March 10, 2011

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Clause 1 and Clause 17 of Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution of the United States grants the Congress the power to enact this law.

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the page H511.

Printed hearings 2

Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.

NumberHearingCommitteeHeld
Serial No. 112-48THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA'S FISCAL YEAR 2010 BUDGET: ENSURING FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY100 pagesOversight and Government Reform CommitteeMay 12, 2011
Serial No. 112-5THE DC OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM: KEEPING THE DOOR OPEN122 pagesOversight and Government Reform CommitteeMar 1, 2011

Amendments 2

Amendments offered to this bill.

AmendmentDescriptionOffered byStatus
HAmdt 208Amendment in the nature of a substitute.Oversight and Government Reform CommitteeHouse amendment offered
HAmdt 209An amendment printed in House Report 112-45 to redirect the religious and other private school voucher funding to District of Columbia public schools and District of Columbia public charter schools.Eleanor Holmes Norton D-DCOn agreeing to the Norton amendment (A002) Failed by the Yeas and Nays: 185 - 237 (Roll no. 202).

Related bills 2

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
HRES 186Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 471) to reauthorize the DC opportunity scholarship program, and for other purposes.Procedurally relatedMar 30, 2011
S 206SOAR ActRelated billFeb 16, 2011

Titles 7

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced
To reauthorize the DC opportunity scholarship program, and for other purposes.
Short Titles as Introduced
SOAR Act
Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act
Short Titles as Reported to House
SOAR Act
Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act
Short Titles as Passed House
Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act
SOAR Act

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Education.

Text 4

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Apr 4, 2011Placed on Calendar Senate
  2. Mar 30, 2011Engrossed in House
  3. Mar 17, 2011Reported in House
  4. Jan 26, 2011Introduced in House

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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; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.