(a) Local controlNothing 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
(c) Prohibition on requiring Federal approval or certification of standards
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) Rule of construction
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 [1] known as the “Congressional Review Act”).
(e) Coherent and rigorous content
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) Congressional notice and comment
(1) Notice to CongressNot 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—
(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
(2) Comment period for CongressThe 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
(3) Comment and review period; emergency situationsThe 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);
(Pub. L. 88–210, § 8, as added Pub. L. 109–270, § 1(b), Aug. 12, 2006, 120 Stat. 690; amended Pub. L. 114–95, title IX, § 9215(n)(2), Dec. 10, 2015, 129 Stat. 2169; Pub. L. 115–224, § 9, title II, § 201(b), July 31, 2018, 132 Stat. 1574, 1622.)