S 3595 118th Congress Senate Education Academic performance and assessments Education programs funding Elementary and secondary education Foreign language and bilingual programs Indian social and development programs Minority education

BEST Act

Introduced: January 17, 2024 Introduced by: Schatz, Brian Democratic · Hawaii See on congress.gov

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Jan 17, 2024

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Jan 17, 2024

Introduced in Senate

Ask about this bill AI · grounded in the bill text

Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.

AI answers can be imperfect; always confirm against the full bill text.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Biliteracy Education Seal and Teaching Act or the BEST Act

This bill directs the Department of Education to award renewable two-year grants to states to establish or improve, and carry out, Seal of Biliteracy programs and early language programs to recognize student proficiency in both English and a second language. Student proficiency shall be demonstrated through proficiency in speaking and writing in both languages and may also be demonstrated through reading and listening in both languages.

Further, these programs must allow speakers of any official Native American language to use equivalent proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in such language in lieu of proficiency in English.

What's happening now January 17, 2024

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Related & companion bills 1

Bill text 1 version