SOAR Act Improvements Act
Latest action · Sep 10, 2025 Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 25 - 20.
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.
- IntroducedSep 8, 2025
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
SOAR Act Improvements Act
This bill reauthorizes through FY2032 and modifies the District of Columbia (DC) Opportunity Scholarship Program, which is a federal program that funds private school scholarships for low-income students in DC.
Under the program, the Department of Education (ED) issues grants to nonprofit organizations to pay for income-qualified DC residents to attend DC private elementary or secondary schools of their choice. The bill expands the program to include pre-kindergarten students and authorizes ED to renew grants for up to five years without a new application.
Current law requires nonprofits to ensure that if more scholarship students apply to a particular school than the school can accommodate, students will be randomly selected for admission. The bill specifies that this only applies if random selection would not interfere with the school's regular admission standards or procedures.
Current law also requires schools to be properly accredited in order to participate in the program (i.e., enroll scholarship students). The bill authorizes a nonparticipating school to enroll scholarship students provided it obtains accreditation within five years of first pursuing participation in the program.
The bill also makes other administrative changes to the program, including (1) authorizing the majority of voting members of a nonprofit’s board to live in the DC metropolitan area, rather than in DC itself; (2) removing a cap on the use of funds for tutoring students; and (3) directing ED and the mayor of DC to periodically evaluate and publicly report on the program.
Cosponsors 1
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Sep 9, 2025.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-LA | Clay Higgins | Sep 9, 2025 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Oversight and Government Reform Committee | Referred Sep 8, 2025Markup Sep 10, 2025 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Sep 10, 2025Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
- Sep 10, 2025Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 25 - 20.
- Sep 8, 2025Introduced in House
- Sep 8, 2025Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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.
Congressional Budget Office cost estimate
- Oct 16, 2025H.R. 5181, SOAR Act Improvements Act of 2025As ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on September 10, 2025
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 171, no. 146, September 8, 2025, page H3893.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 3710 | SOAR Permanent Authorization Act | Related bill | Jan 28, 2026 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To amend the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act to make improvements in the program for awarding school choice scholarships to students in the District of Columbia.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- SOAR Act Improvements Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Education.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Sep 8, 2025Introduced 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; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
