US Congress House Bill 2411 (Prior Session Legislation)

---

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 81-1)
Status: Introduced on May 19 2015 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2015-11-16 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Pending: House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Strong Start for America's Children Act of 2015 This bill directs the Department of Education (ED) to allot matching grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies, childhood education program providers, or consortia of those entities to implement high-quality prekindergarten programs for children from low-income families. Grants are allotted to states based on each state's proportion of children who are age four and who are from families with incomes at or below 200% of the poverty level. "High-quality prekindergarten programs" are those that serve children three or four years of age and meet criteria concerning: class size; learning environments; teacher qualifications, salaries, and professional development; program monitoring; and accessibility to comprehensive health and support services. Programs supported by a state must conduct criminal history background checks on employees and applicants for employment with unsupervised access to children. States may apply to use up to 15% of their grant for subgrants to high-quality early childhood education and care programs for infants and toddlers whose family income is at or below 200% of the poverty level. ED and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall develop a process to: (1) provide Head Start program services to children younger than age four in states or regions that already provide four-year-olds whose family income is at or below 200% of the poverty level with sustained access to high-quality prekindergarten programs, or (2) convert programs to serve infants and toddlers. ED shall award competitive matching grants to states to increase their capacity to offer high-quality prekindergarten programs. States must provide assurances that they will use their grant to become eligible, within three years of receiving the grant, for this Act's grants for high-quality prekindergarten programs. The bill amends the Head Start Act to direct HHS to make grants to Early Head Start agencies to partner with center-based or family child care providers, particularly those that receive support under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, to assist them in meeting program performance standards. Such partnerships may serve children through age three. The bill reauthorizes the programs providing: (1) preschool grants for special education and related services, and (2) early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. The bill expresses the sense of the House of Representatives concerning the value of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program.

Strong Start for America's Children Act of 2015

Rep. Richard Hanna [R-NY]	Rep. Robert Scott [D-VA]	Rep. Suzan DelBene [D-WA]	Rep. Derek Kilmer [D-WA]
Rep. John Garamendi [D-CA]	Rep. Frederica Wilson [D-FL]	Rep. Michael Honda [D-CA]	Rep. Joe Courtney [D-CT]
Rep. Jared Polis [D-CO]	Rep. Katherine Clark [D-MA]	Rep. Mark Pocan [D-WI]	Rep. Gregorio Sablan [D-MP]
Rep. Patrick Murphy [D-FL]	Rep. Alan Grayson [D-FL]	Rep. Chellie Pingree [D-ME]	Sen. Chris Van Hollen [D-MD]
Rep. Don Beyer [D-VA]	Rep. Jared Huffman [D-CA]	Rep. Luis Gutierrez [D-IL]	Rep. Bonnie Coleman [D-NJ]
Rep. Andre Carson [D-IN]	Rep. Alan Lowenthal [D-CA]	Rep. Paul Tonko [D-NY]	Rep. Gwen Moore [D-WI]
Rep. Anna Eshoo [D-CA]	Rep. Gregory Meeks [D-NY]	Rep. Barbara Lee [D-CA]	Rep. Louise Slaughter [D-NY]
Rep. James McGovern [D-MA]	Rep. Jim McDermott [D-WA]	Rep. Charles Rangel [D-NY]	Rep. Richard Nolan [D-MN]
Sen. Peter Welch [D-VT]	Rep. Kathy Castor [D-FL]	Rep. Mark Takano [D-CA]	Rep. John Yarmuth [D-KY]
Sen. Ben Lujan [D-NM]	Rep. Alcee Hastings [D-FL]	Rep. Scott Peters [D-CA]	Rep. Pete Aguilar [D-CA]
Rep. Judy Chu [D-CA]	Rep. Yvette Clarke [D-NY]	Rep. Marcia Fudge [D-OH]	Rep. John Larson [D-CT]
Sen. Tammy Duckworth [D-IL]	Rep. Ann Kuster [D-NH]	Rep. John Delaney [D-MD]	Rep. Lois Frankel [D-FL]
Rep. Eleanor Norton [D-DC]	Rep. Joseph Kennedy [D-MA]	Rep. William Keating [D-MA]	Rep. Marcy Kaptur [D-OH]
Rep. David Loebsack [D-IA]	Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D-FL]	Rep. David Cicilline [D-RI]	Rep. Dina Titus [D-NV]
Rep. Joyce Beatty [D-OH]	Rep. Jerry McNerney [D-CA]	Rep. Mark DeSaulnier [D-CA]	Rep. Sander Levin [D-MI]
Rep. Doris Matsui [D-CA]	Rep. Earl Blumenauer [D-OR]	Rep. Donna Edwards [D-MD]	Rep. Nydia Velazquez [D-NY]
Rep. Sean Maloney [D-NY]	Rep. Steve Cohen [D-TN]	Rep. Matthew Cartwright [D-PA]	Rep. Tim Ryan [D-OH]
Rep. Julia Brownley [D-CA]	Rep. Robert Brady [D-PA]	Rep. John Conyers [D-MI]	Rep. Debbie Dingell [D-MI]
Rep. Susan Davis [D-CA]	Rep. Bill Foster [D-IL]	Rep. Zoe Lofgren [D-CA]	Rep. Theodore Deutch [D-FL]
Rep. Gerald Connolly [D-VA]	Rep. Juan Vargas [D-CA]	Rep. Eric Swalwell [D-CA]	Rep. Suzanne Bonamici [D-OR]
Rep. Gwen Graham [D-FL]	Rep. Denny Heck [D-WA]

Date	Chamber	Action
2015-11-16	House	Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
2015-05-19	House	Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
2015-05-19	House	Introduced in House

SB1380 (Related) 2015-05-19 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2411/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr2411/BILLS-114hr2411ih.pdf