II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1225

To provide for a rural education initiative, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 16, 1999

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. GREGG, Mr. CONRAD, Mr. BURNS, Mr.

KERREY, Mr. HAGEL, and Mr. HUTCHINSON) introduced the following

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To provide for a rural education initiative, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. RURAL EDUCATION.

4 (a) RURAL EDUCATION INITIATIVE.—Part J of title

5 X of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

6 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8271 et seq.) is amended—

7 (1) by redesignating section 10975 as section

8 10976; and

9 (2) by striking sections 10971 through 10974,

10 and inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 10971. SHORT TITLE.

2 ‘‘This subpart may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Education

3 Initiative Act’’.

4 ‘‘SEC. 10972. FINDINGS.

5 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings:

6 ‘‘(1) Under Federal law there is no consistent

7 definition of rural schools.

8 ‘‘(2) Rural school districts do not benefit as

9 much as the school districts could from Federal edu10 cation funding because the unique needs of rural

11 school districts do not necessarily fit the categorical

12 Federal formula programs.

13 ‘‘(3) Rural schools often cannot compete for

14 Federal funding distributed by competitive grants

15 because the schools lack the personnel needed to

16 prepare grant applications and the resources to hire

17 specialists in the writing of Federal grant proposals.

18 ‘‘(4) Small school districts with fewer than 600

19 students often cannot use Federal grant funds dis20 tributed by formula because the formula allocation

21 does not provide enough revenue to carry out the

22 program the grant is intended to fund.

23 ‘‘SEC. 10973. FORMULA GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

24 ‘‘(a) ALTERNATIVE USES.—

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

26 provision of law, an eligible local educational agency
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1 may use the applicable funding, that the agency is

2 eligible to receive from the State educational agency

3 for a fiscal year, to support local or statewide edu4 cation reform efforts intended to improve the

5 achievement of elementary school and secondary

6 school students and the quality of instruction pro7 vided for the students.

8 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION.—An eligible local edu9 cational agency shall notify the State educational

10 agency of the local educational agency’s intention to

11 use the applicable funding in accordance with para12 graph (1) not later than a date that is established

13 by the State educational agency for the notification.

14 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A local educational agency shall

15 be eligible to use the applicable funding in accordance with

16 subsection (a) if—

17 ‘‘(1) the total number of students in average

18 daily attendance at all of the schools served by the

19 local educational agency is less than 600; and

20 ‘‘(2) all of the schools served by the local edu21 cational agency are located in a community with a

22 Rural-Urban Continuum Code of 6, 7, 8, or 9, as

23 determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.
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1 ‘‘(c) APPLICABLE FUNDING.—In this section, the

2 term ‘‘applicable funding’’ means funds provided under

3 each of the following provisions of law:

4 ‘‘(1) Section 307 of the Department of Edu5 cation Appropriations Act, 1999.

6 ‘‘(2) Titles II, IV, and VI.

7 ‘‘(d) DISBURSAL.—Each State educational agency

8 that receives applicable funding for a fiscal year shall dis9 burse the applicable funding to local educational agencies

10 for alternative uses under this section for the fiscal year

11 at the same time that the State educational agency dis12 burses the applicable funding to local educational agencies

13 that do not intend to use the applicable funding for such

14 alternative uses for the fiscal year.

15 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made

16 available under this section shall be used to supplement

17 and not supplant any other Federal, State or local edu18 cation funds.

19 ‘‘(f) SPECIAL RULE.—References in Federal law to

20 funds for the provisions of law set forth in subsection (c)

21 may be considered to be references to funds for this sec22 tion.

23 ‘‘SEC. 10974. COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to

25 award grants to eligible local educational agencies to en-
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1 able the local educational agencies to support local or

2 statewide education reform efforts intended to improve the

3 achievement of elementary school and secondary school

4 students and the quality of instruction provided for the

5 students.

6 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A local educational agency shall

7 be eligible to receive a grant under this section if—

8 ‘‘(1) the total number of students in average

9 daily attendance at all of the schools served by the

10 local educational agency is less than 600; and

11 ‘‘(2) all of the schools served by the local edu12 cational agency are located in a community with a

13 Rural-Urban Continuum Code of 6, 7, 8, or 9, as

14 determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.

15 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award

17 a grant to a local educational agency under this sec18 tion for a fiscal year in an amount equal to the

19 amount determined under paragraph (2) for the fis20 cal year minus the total amount received under the

21 provisions of law described under section 10973(c)

22 for the fiscal year.

23 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION.—The amount referred

24 to in paragraph (1) is as follows:
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1 ‘‘(A) If the number of children in average

2 daily attendance at the schools served by such

3 agency is greater than 0 and less than 50, then

4 the amount is $20,000.

5 ‘‘(B) If the number of such children is

6 greater than or equal to 50 and less than 150,

7 then the amount is $30,000.

8 ‘‘(C) If the number of such children is

9 greater than or equal to 150 and less than 300,

10 then the amount is $40,000.

11 ‘‘(D) If the number of such children is

12 greater than or equal to 300 and less than 450,

13 then the amount is $50,000.

14 ‘‘(E) If the number of such children is

15 greater than or equal to 450 and less than 600,

16 then the amount is $60,000.

17 ‘‘(3) CENSUS DETERMINATION.—

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational

19 agency desiring a grant under this section shall

20 conduct a census not later than December 1 of

21 each year to determine the number of kinder22 garten through grade 12 students in average

23 daily attendance at the schools served by the

24 local educational agency.
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1 ‘‘(B) SUBMISSION.—Each local educational

2 agency shall submit the number described in

3 subparagraph (A) to the Secretary not later

4 than March 1 of each year.

5 ‘‘(4) PENALTY.—If the Secretary determines

6 that a local educational agency has knowingly sub7 mitted false information under paragraph (3) for the

8 purpose of gaining additional funds under this sec9 tion, then the local educational agency shall be fined

10 an amount equal to twice the difference between the

11 amount the local educational agency received under

12 this section, and the correct amount the local edu13 cational agency would have received under this sec14 tion if the agency had submitted accurate informa15 tion under paragraph (3).

16 ‘‘(d) DISBURSAL.—The Secretary shall disburse the

17 funds awarded to a local educational agency under this

18 section for a fiscal year not later than July 1 of that year.

19 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULE.—Any local educational agency

20 that receives a grant under this section for a fiscal year

21 shall be ineligible to receive funds for the fiscal year under

22 the following provisions of law:

23 ‘‘(1) Subpart 2 of part A of title III.

24 ‘‘(2) Subpart 1 of part A of title VII.

25 ‘‘(3) Subpart 2 of part A of title VII.
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1 ‘‘(4) Section 7142.

2 ‘‘(5) Part A of title X.

3 ‘‘(6) Part B of title X.

4 ‘‘(7) Part I of title X.

5 ‘‘(f) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made

6 available under this section shall be used to supplement

7 and not supplant any other Federal, State or local edu8 cation funds.

9 ‘‘SEC. 10975. ACCOUNTABILITY.

10 ‘‘(a) ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational

12 agency that uses or receives funds under section

13 10973 or 10974 for a fiscal year shall—

14 ‘‘(A) administer a test, that is used State15 wide, to assess the academic achievement of

16 students in the schools served by the local edu17 cational agency; or

18 ‘‘(B) in the case of a local educational

19 agency for which there is no Statewide test de20 scribed in subparagraph (A), administer a test,

21 that is selected by the local educational agency,

22 to assess the academic achievement of students

23 in the schools served by the local educational

24 agency.
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1 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE.—Each local educational

2 agency that uses or receives funds under section

3 10973 or 10974 shall use the same test described in

4 paragraph (1) for each year of participation in the

5 program under such section.

6 ‘‘(b) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY DETERMINATION

7 REGARDING CONTINUING PARTICIPATION.—Each State

8 educational agency that receives funding under the provi9 sions of law described in section 10973(c) shall—

10 ‘‘(1) after the 5th year that a local educational

11 agency participates in a program under section

12 10973 or 10974 and on the basis of the results of

13 the tests described in subsection (a), determine

14 whether the students served by the local educational

15 agency participating in the program performed bet16 ter on the tests after the 5th year of the participa17 tion compared to the results on the tests after the

18 1st year of the participation;

19 ‘‘(2) only permit those local educational agen20 cies that so participated and performed better on the

21 tests to continue to so participate for an additional

22 period of 5 years; and

23 ‘‘(3) prohibit those local educational agencies

24 that so participated and did not perform better on
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1 the tests from such participation for a period of 5

2 years from the date of the determination.’’.

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Part J of title X

4 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

5 (20 U.S.C. 8271 et seq.) is amended—

6 (1) in section 10951 (20 U.S.C. 8271)—

7 (A) in subsections (a)(1) and (b), by strik8 ing ‘‘1995’’ and inserting ‘‘2000’’; and

9 (B) in subsections (a)(1), (a)(3), and (b),

10 by striking ‘‘10975’’ and inserting ‘‘10976’’;

11 (2) in section 10952 (20 U.S.C. 8272)—

12 (A) by striking paragraph (4); and

13 (B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as

14 paragraph (4);

15 (3) in the heading for subpart 2, by striking

16 ‘‘Demonstration Grants’’ and inserting ‘‘Ini17 tiative’’; and

18 (4) in section 10976 (as redesignated by sub19 section (a)(1)), by adding at the end the following:

20 ‘‘(d) RURAL ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN21 CY.—The term ‘rural eligible local educational agency’

22 means a local educational agency—

23 ‘‘(1)(A) in which at least 15 percent of the chil24 dren enrolled in the schools served by such agency

25 are eligible to be counted under part A of title I; and
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1 ‘‘(B) which is not in a metropolitan statistical

2 area; or

3 ‘‘(2) in which the total enrollment in the schools

4 served by such agency is less than 2,500 students

5 and that does not serve schools located in a metro6 politan statistical area.’’.

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