The Social Security Act, referred to in par. (1), is act Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, 49 Stat. 620. Part A of title IV of the Act is classified generally to part A (§ 601 et seq.) of subchapter IV of chapter 7 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1305 of this title and Tables.

A prior section 9901, Puspan. L. 97–35, title VI, § 672, Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 511; Puspan. L. 98–558, title II, § 201, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2884; Puspan. L. 99–425, title IV, § 401, Sept. 30, 1986, 100 Stat. 968; Puspan. L. 101–501, title IV, § 401(a), Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1251; Puspan. L. 103–252, title II, § 202(a), May 18, 1994, 108 Stat. 651, authorized the Secretary to make community service grants, prior to the general amendment of this chapter by Puspan. L. 105–285.

Puspan. L. 103–252, title II, § 201(a), May 18, 1994, 108 Stat. 651, provided that:

Puspan. L. 97–35, title VI, § 671, as added by Puspan. L. 105–285, title II, § 201, Oct. 27, 1998, 112 Stat. 2728, provided that:

A prior section 671 of Puspan. L. 97–35 provided that subtitle B (§§ 671–683) of title VI of Puspan. L. 97–35, which enacted prior chapter and repealed sections 2701, 2706, 2711 to 2716, 2771, 2781, 2790, 2791, 2795 to 2797, 2808 to 2815, 2823 to 2825, 2827, 2828, 2830, 2833 to 2837, 2841, 2851 to 2856, 2881, 2901 to 2906, 2921 to 2923, 2928 to 2928g, 2928h to 2928n, 2929 to 2929c, 2930 to 2930f, 2931 to 2933, 2941 to 2948, 2950, 2951, 2961 to 2970, 2971a to 2971g, 2972 to 2980, 2981 to 2981c, 2982 to 2982c, 2983 to 2983span, 2984, 2984a, 2985 to 2985c, 2985d to 2985g, and 2995 to 2995c of this title and provisions set out as a note under section 2701 of this title, could be cited as the “Community Services Block Grant Act”, prior to the general amendment of this chapter by Puspan. L. 105–285.

Ex. Ord. No. 13969, Dec. 28, 2020, 86 F.R. 219, provided:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to ensure the education, health, safety, and well-being of America’s children, our most essential resource upon which the future of our great Nation depends, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Purpose. As part of their efforts to address the public health challenges and uncertainties posed by the COVID–19 pandemic, State and local officials shut down in-person learning for the vast majority of our more than 56 million elementary and secondary school students beginning in late February and early March of this year. Since then, however, our Nation has identified effective measures to facilitate the safe resumption of in-person learning, and the Federal Government has provided more than $13 billion to States and school districts to implement those measures.

The prolonged deprivation of in-person learning opportunities has produced undeniably dire consequences for the children of this country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that school attendance is negatively correlated with a child’s risk of depression and various types of abuse. States have seen substantial declines in reports of child maltreatment while school buildings have been closed, indicating that allegations are going unreported. These reductions are driven in part by social isolation from the schoolteachers and support staff with whom students typically interact and who have an obligation to report suspected child maltreatment. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has also found that school closures have a “substantial impact on food security and physical activity for children and families.” Additionally, a recent survey of educators found student absences from school, including virtual learning, have nearly doubled during the pandemic, and as AAP has noted, chronic absenteeism is associated with alcohol and drug use, teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, and suicide attempts.

School closures are especially difficult for families with children with special needs. Schools provide not only academic supports for students with special needs, but they also provide much-needed in-person therapies and services, including physical and occupational therapies. A recent survey found that 80 percent of children with special needs are not receiving the services and supports to which they are entitled and that approximately 40 percent of children with special needs are receiving no services or supports. Moreover, the survey found that virtual learning may not be fully accessible to these students, as children with special needs are twice as likely to receive little or no remote learning and to be dissatisfied with the remote learning received.

Low-income and minority children are also disproportionately affected by school closures. In low-income zip codes, students’ math progress decreased by nearly 50 percent while school buildings were closed in the spring, and the math progress of students in middle-income zip codes fell by almost a third during the same period. A recent analysis projected that, if in-person classes do not fully resume until January 2021, Hispanic, Black, and low-income students will lose 9.2, 10.3, and 12.4 months of learning, respectively.

A failure to quickly resume in-person learning options is likely to have long-term economic effects on children and their families. According to a recent study, if in-person classes do not fully resume until January 2021, the average student could lose $61,000 to $82,000 in lifetime earnings, or the equivalent of a year of full-time work. Additionally, in 2019, more than 90 percent of children under the age of 18 had at least one employed parent. Many employed parents do not have the option of engaging in remote work that allows them the flexibility to supervise their children during the day when in-person learning options are not available. Without the resumption of in-person learning opportunities, the economic and social harms resulting from such lost employment opportunities will continue to compound.

To help mitigate these harms, the Department of Health and Human Services recently announced additional relief for low-income parents by allowing States to use funds available through the Child Care and Development Fund to subsidize child care services and services that supplement academic instruction for children under the age of 13 who are participating in virtual instruction. Nevertheless, virtual instruction is an inadequate substitute for in-person learning opportunities and this aid is insufficient to meet current needs.

While some families, especially those with financial means, have been able to mitigate school disruptions through in-person options such as homeschooling, private schools, charter schools, and innovative models like microschools and “learning pods,” for many families, their children’s residentially assigned public school remains their only financially available option. Unfortunately, more than 50 percent of all public-school students in the United States began school remotely this fall. These children, including those with special needs, are being underserved due to the public education system’s failure to provide in-person learning options.

Students whose families pay tuition for their education are also facing significant hardships due to the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic. Scores of private schools, including approximately 100 Catholic schools, have permanently closed since the onset of COVID–19, and more than half of our Nation’s private schools are believed to have lost enrollment due to the pandemic. These closures and declining enrollments are harmful to students, bad for communities, and likely to impose increased strain on public school systems.

I am committed to ensuring that all children of our great Nation have access to the educational resources they need to obtain a high-quality education and to improving students’ safety and well-being, including by empowering families with emergency learning scholarships.

Sec. 2. Providing Emergency Learning Scholarships for Students. The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall take steps, consistent with law, to allow funds available through the Community Services Block Grant program to be used by grantees and eligible entities to provide emergency learning scholarships to disadvantaged families for use by any child without access to in-person learning. These scholarships may be used for:

(i) tuition and fees for a private or parochial school;

(ii) homeschool, microschool, or learning-pod costs;

(iii) special education and related services, including therapies; or

(iv) tutoring or remedial education.

Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(span) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.