From amounts appropriated under subsection (h) for a fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized to award grants to four State educational agencies to enable the State educational agencies to pay the administrative expenses incurred in participating in the demonstration program under this section by carrying out a demonstration project under which eighth grade students described in subsection (b)(1)(B) receive a commitment early in the students’ academic careers to receive a Federal Pell Grant.
The Secretary shall award grants under this section in equal amounts to each of the four participating State educational agencies.
Each cohort of students shall consist of not more than 10,000 eighth grade students who qualify for a free or reduced price school lunch under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.).
The State educational agency shall ensure that student data from local educational agencies serving students who participate in the demonstration project, as well as student data from local educational agencies serving a comparable group of students who do not participate in the demonstration project, are available for evaluation of the demonstration project, and are made available in accordance with the requirements of section 1232g of this title (commonly known as the “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974”).
Each student who participates in the demonstration project receives a commitment from the Secretary to receive a Federal Pell Grant during the first academic year that the student is in attendance at an institution of higher education as an undergraduate, provided that the student applies for Federal financial aid (via the FAFSA or EZ FAFSA) for such academic year.
Each State educational agency shall establish an application process to select local educational agencies within the State to participate in the demonstration project in accordance with subsection (d)(2).
Subject to the 10,000 statewide student limitation described in paragraph (1), a local educational agency serving students, not less than 50 percent of whom are eligible for a free or reduced price school lunch under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.), shall be eligible to participate in the demonstration project.
Each State educational agency desiring to participate in the demonstration program under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time and in such manner as the Secretary may require.
From amounts appropriated under subsection (h) for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve not more than $1,000,000 to award a grant or contract to an organization outside the Department for an independent evaluation of the impact of the demonstration program assisted under this section.
The findings of the evaluation shall be reported to the Secretary, who shall widely disseminate the findings to the public.
Each State educational agency receiving a grant under this section shall, in cooperation with the participating local educational agencies within the State and the Secretary, develop a targeted information campaign for the demonstration project assisted under this section.
A description of the outreach to students and the students’ families at the beginning and end of each academic year of the demonstration project, at a minimum.
A description of how the State educational agency plans to provide the outreach described in subparagraph (A) and to provide the information described in subparagraph (C).
The information described in paragraph (2)(C) shall be provided annually to the two successive cohorts of students described in subsection (b)(1)(A) for the duration of the students’ participation in the demonstration project.
Each State educational agency receiving a grant under this section shall reserve not more than 15 percent of the grant funds received each fiscal year to carry out the targeted information campaign described in this subsection.
A State educational agency shall use grant funds received under this section only to supplement the funds that would, in the absence of such grant funds, be made available from non-Federal sources for students participating in the demonstration project under this section, and not to supplant such funds.
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2009 and each of the five succeeding fiscal years.