# 119-hr-5181: SOAR Act Improvements Act

119-hr-5181, SOAR Act Improvements Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Foxx, Virginia [R-NC-5] (R-NC); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5181
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5181
- Congress: 119
- Title: SOAR Act Improvements Act
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-09-08
- Sponsor: Rep. Foxx, Virginia [R-NC-5] (R-NC)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Education
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**broaden eligibility** for Washington-area families while extending and reshaping the District of Columbia scholarship program's funding, accreditation, testing, and reporting rules to increase access and oversight. - Families and students: Would allow students living anywhere in the Washington metropolitan region to qualify, adding Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland and Arlington and Fairfax counties plus Alexandria and Falls Church in Virginia. It also replaces "kindergarten" with "pre-kindergarten" for scholarship uses to cover younger children. - Schools and scholarship entities: Would make grants 5-year awards with the option to renew for up to another 5 years without a new competition if the Secretary agrees. It requires participating schools to hold national or regional accreditation and gives schools joining after enactment up to 5 years to obtain full accreditation. - Program oversight and funding: Would raise tutoring-related student assistance from $2 million to $2.2 million and let grant recipients set lower maximum scholarship amounts if desired. It directs the Institute of Education Sciences to run evaluations and publish a public report by January 1, 2027 and every 7 years after, updates what evaluations must cover including academic progress, graduation and college outcomes, and expands reporting to include school violence, suspensions, and expulsions. It also extends the program's authorization of appropriations through fiscal year 2032 and changes how yearly funds are split beginning in fiscal year 2024.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Rep. Higgins, Clay [R-LA-3] (R-LA), 2025-09-09T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Regular reviews and school safety reports: benefit, low. If enacted, the Secretary would hire the Institute of Education Sciences to evaluate the scholarship program, with a public report due by January 1, 2027 and then every 7 years. IES could give a nationally norm‑referenced test to grades 3–8 for the study and compare results to similar students. Rev…
- Scholarship program funding through 2032: benefit, low. If enacted, the program’s authorization would run through fiscal year 2032. The law would change how money is split: one share would become one‑half and another would become one‑sixth. These changes would start in fiscal year 2024.
- Steadier management and broader program boards: benefit, low. If enacted, grant terms would stay 5 years, and the Secretary could renew a grant for up to 5 more years without a new competition to keep the program stable. Boards could include members from the Washington metro region: D.C.; Montgomery and Prince George’s (MD); Arlington and Fairfax (VA); and th…
- More tutoring and pre-K, lower caps: mixed, low. If enacted, scholarship funds could be used for pre‑kindergarten. The program could also pay for tutoring, and the student assistance pool would rise from $2.0 million to $2.2 million. If money is short, priority would go to students who attended the District’s lowest‑performing schools. But the gr…
- Tighter school accreditation and admissions rules: mixed, low. If enacted, schools in the program would need recognition from a national or regional accreditor, or the English‑language program accreditor named by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. New schools would have up to 5 years after starting the process to get full accreditation. Any admissions s…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-21: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
- 119-hr-987: Fair Access to Banking Act
- 119-hr-7: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2025
- 119-hr-650: Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act
- 119-hr-404: Hearing Protection Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-5181 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5181)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-21: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-21)
- [119-hr-987: Fair Access to Banking Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-987)
- [119-hr-7: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7)
- [119-hr-650: Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-650)
- [119-hr-404: Hearing Protection Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-404)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5181 (as of 2026-04-21).