On Tuesday, December 6, 2011, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 3237, the SOAR Technical Corrections Act, under a suspension of the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority for passage.  H.R. 3237 was introduced by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) on October 18, 2011, and was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

H.R. 3237 would amend the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act (SOAR Act) to ensure that participating students are taught by core subject matter teachers who have a baccalaureate degree or equivalent degree, whether such degree was awarded in or outside of the United States. 

The bill would strike a section of the SOAR Act to require that the Institute of Education Sciences administer nationally norm-referenced standardized tests to students participating in the evaluation, except where a student is attending a participating school that is administering the same nationally norm-referenced standardized test.  H.R. 3237 would require each participating school that administers the test to an eligible student to make the test results available to the Secretary of Education.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that implementing H.R. 3237 would have no effect on discretionary spending.  In addition, enacting the bill would have no impact on direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.