§2306a — Title 20 Education | U.S. Code

Summary

Federal officials may not make a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement depend on a State, school, or other eligible group adopting or using particular lessons, academic standards, tests, curricula, or programs. That ban includes pressuring or rewarding adoption of the Common Core or any other standards used by many States. Federal officials may also not use those awards to force or control a State or school’s specific curriculum or tests. Except as required by sections 2322(b), 2391(b), and 2413, they may not require a State to change how it spends its money or force a State or local government to pay for things that are not covered by this law. A State that chooses not to apply for help under this law can still apply for other programs from the Secretary. The Federal Government cannot demand that States get their academic or career/technical standards approved by the Federal Government to receive aid. The Administrative Procedure Act and the Congressional Review Act still apply. States decide what counts as “coherent and rigorous” content, consistent with section 6311(b)(1). Before publishing a proposed rule about this law, the Secretary must give certain Congressional committees at least 15 business days’ notice with the proposed rule, why it’s needed, how it fits the law, the expected burdens and benefits (including effects on rural areas), and any rules it would repeal. Congress then gets 15 business days to comment, the Secretary must include those comments in the public record, and the public comment period must be at least 60 days unless a declared emergency shortens it. In an emergency, the Secretary must explain why, publish the shortened comment period, and hold regional meetings before issuing a final rule.

Title 20, §2306a

Education — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize an officer or employee of the Federal Government—

(1)to condition or incentivize the receipt of any grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, or the receipt of any priority or preference under such grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, upon a State, local educational agency, eligible agency, eligible recipient, eligible entity, or school’s adoption or implementation of specific instructional content, academic standards and assessments, curricula, or program of instruction (including any condition, priority, or preference to adopt the Common Core State Standards developed under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, any other academic standards common to a significant number of States, or any assessment, instructional content, or curriculum aligned to such standards);

(2)through grants, contracts, or other cooperative agreements, to mandate, direct, or control a State, local educational agency, eligible agency, eligible recipient, eligible entity, or school’s specific instructional content, academic standards and assessments, curricula, or program of instruction (including any requirement, direction, or mandate to adopt the Common Core State Standards developed under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, any other academic standards common to a significant number of States, or any assessment, instructional content, or curriculum aligned to such standards); or

(3)except as required under section 2322(b), 2391(b), and 2413 of this title—

(A)to mandate, direct, or control the allocation of State or local resources; or

(B)to mandate that a State or a political subdivision of a State spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this chapter.

(b)Any State that declines to submit an application to the Secretary for assistance under this chapter shall not be precluded from applying for assistance under any other program administered by the Secretary.

(c)Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal law, no State shall be required to have academic and career and technical content standards or student academic and career and technical achievement standards approved or certified by the Federal Government, in order to receive assistance under this chapter.

(d)Nothing in this section affects the applicability of subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5 (commonly known as the “Administrative Procedure Act”) or chapter 8 of title 5, commonly 11 So in original. Probably should be “title 5 (commonly”. known as the “Congressional Review Act”).

(e)For the purposes of this chapter, coherent and rigorous content shall be determined by the State consistent with section 6311(b)(1) of this title.

(f)(1)Not less than 15 business days prior to issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking related to this chapter in the Federal Register, the Secretary shall provide to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives, and other relevant congressional committees, notice of the Secretary’s intent to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking that shall include—

(A)a copy of the proposed regulation;

(B)the need to issue the regulation;

(C)a description of how the regulation is consistent with the scope of this chapter;

(D)the anticipated burden (including the time, cost, and paperwork burden) the regulation will impose on an eligible agency, institution, or recipient that may be impacted by the regulation, including the potential impact on rural areas;

(E)the anticipated benefits to an eligible agency, institution, or recipient that may be impacted by the regulation, including in rural areas; and

(F)any regulations that will be repealed when the new regulation is issued.

(2)The Secretary shall—

(A)before issuing any notice of proposed rulemaking under this subsection, provide Congress with a comment period of 15 business days to make comments on the proposed regulation, beginning on the date that the Secretary provides the notice of intent to the appropriate committees of Congress under paragraph (1); and

(B)include and seek to address all comments submitted by members of Congress in the public rulemaking record for the regulation published in the Federal Register.

(3)The comment and review period for any proposed regulation shall be not less than 60 days unless an emergency requires a shorter period, in which case the Secretary shall—

(A)designate the proposed regulation as an emergency with an explanation of the emergency in the notice to Congress under paragraph (1);

(B)publish the length of the comment and review period in such notice and in the Federal Register; and

(C)conduct immediately thereafter regional meetings to review such proposed regulation before issuing any final regulation.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 8 of Pub. L. 88–210 was classified to section 2307 of this title prior to the general amendment of this chapter by Pub. L. 109–270.

Amendments

2018—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–224, § 201(b), which made technical amendment to references in original Act which appeared in text as references to section 2391(b) and 2413 of this title, could not be executed because of the intervening amendment by Pub. L. 115–224, § 9(1), which had already amended those references. See below. Pub. L. 115–224, § 9(1), substituted “Federal Government—” for “Federal Government to mandate, direct, or control a State, local educational agency, or school’s curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State or local resources, or mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this chapter, except as required under section 2322(b), 2391(b), and 2413 of this title.” and added pars. (1) to (3). Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 115–224, § 9(2), amended subsec. (d) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the requirements under section 2323 of this title.” Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 115–224, § 9(3), added subsec. (f). 2015—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 114–95 substituted “section 6311(b)(1) of this title” for “section 6311(b)(1)(D) of this title”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–224 effective July 1, 2019, see section 4 of Pub. L. 115–224, set out as a note under section 2301 of this title.

Effective Date

of 2015 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 114–95 effective Dec. 10, 2015, except with respect to certain noncompetitive programs and competitive programs, see section 5 of Pub. L. 114–95, set out as a note under section 6301 of this title.

§2306a Prohibitions

Summary

Title 20, §2306a

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Amendments

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Effective Date

Citations & Metadata