S. 1566: Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act

112th Congress · introduced 2011-09-15 · Education · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2011-09-15 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. Kirk, Mark Steven [R-IL] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act

Plain summary

Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act - Amends part B (Public Charter Schools) of title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to revise subpart 1 (Charter School Programs) and subsume subpart 2 (Credit Enhancement Initiatives to Assist Charter School Facility Acquisition, Construction, and Renovation) under subpart 1. (Under subpart 2 the Secretary of Education awards grants to public entities and private nonprofit entities to demonstrate innovative means of enhancing credit to finance the acquisition, construction, or renovation of charter schools.) Replaces the current charter school grant program with a program awarding competitive grants to states, authorized public chartering agencies, and local educational agencies (LEAs) and, through them, subgrants to charter school developers to open new charter schools and expand and replicate high-quality charter schools. Requires such grantees to use 10% of the grant funds to provide technical assistance to subgrantees and authorized public chartering agencies, and work with those agencies to improve the charter school authorization process. Makes authorized public chartering agencies, LEAs, and charter management organizations eligible to receive competitive grants to open new charter schools and expand and replicate high-quality charter schools themselves. Revises the per-pupil facilities aid program (under which the Secretary makes competitive matching grants to states to provide per-pupil financing to charter schools) to allow states to: (1) partner with organizations to provide up to 50% of the state share of funding for the program; and (2) receive more than one program grant, so long as the amount of the grant funds provided to charter schools increases with each successive grant. Directs the Secretary to conduct certain national activities that include awarding competitive grants directly to charter school developers to open, replicate, and expand charter schools in states that have not received, or are nearing the end of, a grant for that purpose. Reauthorizes appropriations under subpart 1 through FY2017.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

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PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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Alternatives

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Kirk, Mark Steven [R-IL] · 8 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Roger F. Wicker (R-MS)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (3)

Appropriation: Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
Authorization: A law that creates or continues a government program and says what it may do, often with a suggested spending ceiling. An authorization alone does not provide money; a separate appropriation does.
Ballot initiative: A proposed law or constitutional amendment that citizens place on the ballot by gathering enough voter signatures, so voters decide it directly. About half the states allow some form of it.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-112s1566.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/112/s>

Record fed-us-cong112-s1566 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong112 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong112