HR3605-119

What This Bill Does

The Strength in Diversity Act revives a federal grant model for voluntary school integration. Its purpose is to help covered schools address racial isolation and concentrated poverty by increasing racial and socioeconomic diversity. The Education Secretary may reserve up to 5 percent for national research, data, monitoring, technical assistance, evaluation, and best practices, and up to 10 percent for state educational agency planning and implementation grants. Competitive grants go to eligible entities for planning and implementation, with priority for racial isolation, interdistrict or regional programs, and coordination with housing agencies and transportation departments to increase access to schools with fewer low-income students. Applications must explain the evidence or rationale for the strategy, define racial isolation, income, and socioeconomic status, describe sustainability, evaluate achievement, enrollment, and teacher diversity, and show robust parent and community engagement, including Indian Tribes where relevant. Planning grants can fund assessments of outcomes, stratification, facilities, transportation, teacher diversity, family engagement, weighted lotteries, revised feeder patterns, boundaries, regional coordination, data capacity, court-ordered desegregation plans, and replacement of competitive admissions exams. Implementation grants fund high-quality plans. Performance measures include school readiness, achievement gaps, graduation, postsecondary and career readiness, mental health and social-emotional access, discipline rates, diversity, and isolation. Annual reports are required, and Congress authorizes such sums for fiscal year 2025 and the next five years.

Who Benefits and How

School districts pursuing voluntary integration benefit from federal planning and implementation grants. Students in racially isolated schools benefit if grant-funded strategies expand access to diverse and higher-opportunity schools. Low-income students benefit from regional, transportation, and housing coordination that can reduce concentrated poverty. Parent and community organizations benefit from required engagement in diversity plans and implementation. State educational agencies benefit from reserved funds for statewide planning and support.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Education Department grant staff must run competitions, national activities, technical assistance, and monitoring. Grant recipient school districts must collect data, engage communities, report annually, and measure performance. Transportation departments and housing agencies may need to coordinate school-access strategies. Schools using selective admissions may face pressure to replace entrance exams or competitive procedures. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of the authorized grants.

Key Provisions

• Creates planning and implementation grants to reduce racial isolation and concentrated poverty in schools.
• Reserves funds for national research, technical assistance, monitoring, evaluation, and state grants.
• Prioritizes regional approaches and coordination with housing and transportation agencies.
• Funds strategies such as weighted lotteries, boundary changes, feeder-pattern revisions, and admissions changes.
• Requires annual reports and performance measures on readiness, achievement, graduation, discipline, diversity, and isolation.