II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1029

To amend title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

1965 to provide for digital education partnerships.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 13, 1999

Mr. COCHRAN (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. LEVIN, and Mr. VOINOVICH)

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To amend title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide for digital education partnerships.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Education Act

5 of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. REVISION OF PART C OF TITLE III.

7 Part C of title III of the Elementary and Secondary

8 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.) is amend9 ed to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘PART C—READY-TO-LEARN DIGITAL TELEVISION

2 ‘‘SEC. 3301. FINDINGS.

3 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings:

4 ‘‘(1) In 1994, Congress and the Department

5 collaborated to make a long-term, meaningful and

6 public investment in the principle that high-quality

7 preschool television programming will help children

8 be ready to learn by the time the children entered

9 first grade.

10 ‘‘(2) The Ready to Learn Television Program

11 through the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and

12 local public television stations has proven to be an

13 extremely cost-effective national response to improv14 ing early childhood development and helping parents,

15 caregivers, and professional child care providers

16 learn how to use television as a means to help chil17 dren learn, develop, and play creatively.

18 ‘‘(3) Independent research shows that parents

19 who participate in Ready to Learn workshops are

20 more critical consumers of television and their chil21 dren are more active viewers. A University of Ala22 bama study showed that parents who had attended

23 a Ready to Learn workshop read more books and

24 stories to their children and read more minutes each

25 time than nonattendees. The parents did more

26 hands-on activities related to reading with their chil-
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1 dren. The parents engaged in more word activities

2 and for more minutes each time. The parents read

3 less for entertainment and more for education. The

4 parents took their children to libraries and book5 stores more than nonattendees. For parents, partici6 pating in a Ready to Learn workshop increases their

7 awareness of and interest in educational dimensions

8 of television programming and is instrumental in

9 having their children gain exposure to more edu10 cational programming. Moreover, 6 months after

11 participating in Ready to Learn workshops, parents

12 who attended generally had set rules for television

13 viewing by their children. These rules related to the

14 amount of time the children were allowed to watch

15 television daily, the hours the children were allowed

16 to watch television, and the tasks or chores the chil17 dren must have accomplished before the children

18 were allowed to watch television.

19 ‘‘(4) The Ready to Learn (RTL) Television

20 Program is supporting and creating commercial-free

21 broadcast programs for young children that are of

22 the highest possible educational quality. Program

23 funding has also been used to create hundreds of

24 valuable interstitial program elements that appear

25 between national and local public television pro-
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1 grams to provide developmentally appropriate mes2 sages to children and caregiving advice to parents.

3 ‘‘(5) Through the Nation’s 350 local public tele4 vision stations, these programs and programming

5 elements reach tens of millions of children, their par6 ents, and caregivers without regard to their eco7 nomic circumstances, location, or access to cable. In

8 this way, public television is a partner with Federal

9 policy to make television an instrument, not an

10 enemy, of preschool children’s education and early

11 development.

12 ‘‘(6) The Ready to Learn Television Program

13 extends beyond the television screen. Funds from the

14 Ready to Learn Television Program have funded

15 thousands of local workshops organized and run by

16 local public television stations, almost always in as17 sociation with local child care training agencies or

18 early childhood development professionals, to help

19 child care professionals and parents learn more

20 about how to use television effectively as a develop21 mental tool. These workshops have trained more

22 than 320,000 parents and professionals who, in

23 turn, serve and support over 4,000,000 children

24 across the Nation.
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1 ‘‘(7)(A) The Ready to Learn Television Pro2 gram has published and distributed millions of cop3 ies of a quarterly magazine entitled ‘PBS Families’

4 that contains—

5 ‘‘(i) developmentally appropriate games

6 and activities based on Ready to Learn Tele7 vision programming;

8 ‘‘(ii) parenting advice;

9 ‘‘(iii) news about regional and national ac10 tivities related to early childhood development;

11 and

12 ‘‘(iv) information about upcoming Ready to

13 Learn Television activities and programs.

14 ‘‘(B) The magazine described in subparagraph

15 (A) is published 4 times a year and distributed free

16 of charge by local public television stations in

17 English and in Spanish (PBS para la familia).

18 ‘‘(8) Because reading and literacy are central to

19 the ready to learn principle Ready to Learn Tele20 vision stations also have received and distributed

21 millions of free age-appropriate books in their com22 munities as part of the Ready to Learn Television

23 Program. Each station receives a minimum of 200

24 books each month for free local distribution. Some

25 stations are now distributing more than 1,000 books
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1 per month. Nationwide, more than 300,000 books

2 are distributed each year in low-income and dis3 advantaged neighborhoods free of charge.

4 ‘‘(9) In 1998, the Public Broadcasting Service,

5 in association with local colleges and local public tel6 evision stations, as well as the Annenberg Corpora7 tion for Public Broadcasting Project housed at the

8 Corporation for Public Broadcasting, began a pilot

9 program to test the formal awarding of a Certificate

10 in Early Childhood Development through distance

11 learning. The pilot is based on the local distribution

12 of a 13-part video courseware series developed by

13 Annenberg Corporation for Public Broadcasting and

14 WTVS Detroit entitled ‘The Whole Child’. Louisiana

15 Public Broadcasting, Kentucky Educational Tele16 vision, Maine Public Broadcasting, and WLJT Mar17 tin, Tennessee, working with local and State regu18 latory agencies in the childcare field, have partici19 pated in the pilot program with a high level of suc20 cess. The certificate program is ready for nationwide

21 application using the Public Broadcasting Service’s

22 Adult Learning Service.

23 ‘‘(10) Demand for Ready To Learn Television

24 Program outreach and training has increased dra25 matically, with the base of participating Public
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1 Broadcasting Service member stations growing from

2 a pilot of 10 stations to nearly 130 stations in 5

3 years.

4 ‘‘(11) Federal policy played a crucial role in the

5 evolution of analog television by funding the tele6 vision program entitled ‘Sesame Street’ in the

7 1960’s. Federal policy should continue to play an

8 equally crucial role for children in the digital tele9 vision age.

10 ‘‘SEC. 3302. READY-TO-LEARN.

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

12 award grants to or enter into contracts or cooperative

13 agreements with eligible entities described in section

14 3303(b) to develop, produce, and distribute educational

15 and instructional video programming for preschool and el16 ementary school children and their parents in order to fa17 cilitate the achievement of the National Education Goals.

18 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY.—In making such grants, con19 tracts, or cooperative agreements, the Secretary shall en20 sure that eligible entities make programming widely avail21 able, with support materials as appropriate, to young chil22 dren, their parents, childcare workers, and Head Start

23 providers to increase the effective use of such program24 ming.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 3303. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING.

2 ‘‘(a) AWARDS.—The Secretary shall award grants,

3 contracts, or cooperative agreements under section 3302

4 to eligible entities to—

5 ‘‘(1) facilitate the development directly, or

6 through contracts with producers of children and

7 family educational television programming, of—

8 ‘‘(A) educational programming for pre9 school and elementary school children; and

10 ‘‘(B) accompanying support materials and

11 services that promote the effective use of such

12 programming;

13 ‘‘(2) facilitate the development of programming

14 and digital content especially designed for nation15 wide distribution over public television stations’ dig16 ital broadcasting channels and the Internet, con17 taining Ready to Learn-based children’s program18 ming and resources for parents and caregivers; and

19 ‘‘(3) enable eligible entities to contract with en20 tities (such as public telecommunications entities

21 and those funded under the Star Schools Act) so

22 that programs developed under this section are dis23 seminated and distributed—

24 (A) to the widest possible audience appro25 priate to be served by the programming; and
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1 (B) by the most appropriate distribution

2 technologies.

3 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive

4 a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under sub5 section (a), an entity shall be—

6 ‘‘(1) a public telecommunications entity that is

7 able to demonstrate a capacity for the development

8 and national distribution of educational and instruc9 tional television programming of high quality for

10 preschool and elementary school children; and

11 ‘‘(2) able to demonstrate a capacity to contract

12 with the producers of children’s television program13 ming for the purpose of developing educational tele14 vision programming of high quality for preschool

15 and elementary school children.

16 ‘‘(c) CULTURAL EXPERIENCES.—Programming de17 veloped under this section shall reflect the recognition of

18 diverse cultural experiences and the needs and experiences

19 of both boys and girls in engaging and preparing young

20 children for schooling.

21 ‘‘SEC. 3304. DUTIES OF SECRETARY.

22 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized—

23 ‘‘(1) to award grants, contracts, or cooperative

24 agreements to eligible entities described in section

25 3303(b), local public television stations, or such pub-
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1 lic television stations that are part of a consortium

2 with 1 or more State educational agencies, local edu3 cational agencies, local schools, institutions of higher

4 education, or community-based organizations of

5 demonstrated effectiveness, for the purpose of—

6 ‘‘(A) addressing the learning needs of

7 young children in limited English proficient

8 households, and developing appropriate edu9 cational and instructional television program10 ming to foster the school readiness of such chil11 dren;

12 ‘‘(B) developing programming and support

13 materials to increase family literacy skills

14 among parents to assist parents in teaching

15 their children and utilizing educational tele16 vision programming to promote school readi17 ness; and

18 ‘‘(C) identifying, supporting, and enhanc19 ing the effective use and outreach of innovative

20 programs that promote school readiness; and

21 ‘‘(D) developing and disseminating training

22 materials, including—

23 ‘‘(i) interactive programs and pro24 grams adaptable to distance learning tech25 nologies that are designed to enhance
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1 knowledge of children’s social and cognitive

2 skill development and positive adult-child

3 interactions; and

4 ‘‘(ii) support materials to promote the

5 effective use of materials developed under

6 subparagraph (B) among parents, Head

7 Start providers, in-home and center-based

8 daycare providers, early childhood develop9 ment personnel, elementary school teach10 ers, public libraries, and after- school pro11 gram personnel caring for preschool and

12 elementary school children;

13 ‘‘(2) to establish within the Department a clear14 inghouse to compile and provide information, refer15 rals, and model program materials and programming

16 obtained or developed under this part to parents,

17 child care providers, and other appropriate individ18 uals or entities to assist such individuals and entities

19 in accessing programs and projects under this part;

20 and

21 ‘‘(3) to coordinate activities assisted under this

22 part with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv23 ices in order to—

24 ‘‘(A) maximize the utilization of quality

25 educational programming by preschool and ele-
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1 mentary school children, and make such pro2 gramming widely available to federally funded

3 programs serving such populations; and

4 ‘‘(B) provide information to recipients of

5 funds under Federal programs that have major

6 training components for early childhood devel7 opment, including programs under the Head

8 Start Act and Even Start, and State training

9 activities funded under the Child Care Develop10 ment Block Grant Act of 1990, regarding the

11 availability and utilization of materials devel12 oped under paragraph (1)(D) to enhance parent

13 and child care provider skills in early childhood

14 development and education.

15 ‘‘SEC. 3305. APPLICATIONS.

16 ‘‘Each entity desiring a grant, contract, or coopera17 tive agreement under section 3302 or 3304 shall submit

18 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man19 ner, and accompanied by such information as the Sec20 retary may reasonably require.

21 ‘‘SEC. 3306. REPORTS AND EVALUATION.

22 ‘‘(a) ANNUAL REPORT TO SECRETARY.—An eligible

23 entity receiving funds under section 3302 shall prepare

24 and submit to the Secretary an annual report which con25 tains such information as the Secretary may require. At
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1 a minimum, the report shall describe the program activi2 ties undertaken with funds received under section 3302,

3 including—

4 ‘‘(1) the programming that has been developed

5 directly or indirectly by the eligible entity, and the

6 target population of the programs developed;

7 ‘‘(2) the support materials that have been de8 veloped to accompany the programming, and the

9 method by which such materials are distributed to

10 consumers and users of the programming;

11 ‘‘(3) the means by which programming devel12 oped under this section has been distributed, includ13 ing the distance learning technologies that have been

14 utilized to make programming available and the geo15 graphic distribution achieved through such tech16 nologies; and

17 ‘‘(4) the initiatives undertaken by the eligible

18 entity to develop public-private partnerships to se19 cure non-Federal support for the development, dis20 tribution and broadcast of educational and instruc21 tional programming.

22 ‘‘(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall

23 prepare and submit to the relevant committees of Con24 gress a biannual report which includes—
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1 ‘‘(1) a summary of activities assisted under sec2 tion 3303(a); and

3 ‘‘(2) a description of the training materials

4 made available under section 3304(1)(D), the man5 ner in which outreach has been conducted to inform

6 parents and childcare providers of the availability of

7 such materials, and the manner in which such mate8 rials have been distributed in accordance with such

9 section.

10 ‘‘SEC. 3307. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.

11 ‘‘With respect to the implementation of section 3303,

12 eligible entities receiving a grant, contract, or cooperative

13 agreement from the Secretary may use not more than 5

14 percent of the amounts received under such section for

15 the normal and customary expenses of administering the

16 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement.

17 ‘‘SEC. 3308. DEFINITION.

18 ‘‘For the purposes of this part, the term ‘distance

19 learning’ means the transmission of educational or in20 structional programming to geographically dispersed indi21 viduals and groups via telecommunications.

22 ‘‘SEC. 3309. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap24 propriated to carry out this part, $50,000,000 for fiscal
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1 year 2000, and such sums as may be necessary for each

2 of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

3 ‘‘(b) FUNDING RULE.—Not less than 60 percent of

4 the amounts appropriated under subsection (a) for each

5 fiscal year shall be used to carry out section 3303.’’.

6 SEC. 3. REVISION OF PART D OF TITLE III.

7 Part D of title III of the Elementary and Secondary

8 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6951 et seq.) is amend9 ed to read as follows:

10 ‘‘PART D—THE NEW CENTURY PROGRAM FOR

11 DISTRIBUTED TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DE12 VELOPMENT

13 ‘‘SEC. 3401. FINDINGS.

14 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings:

15 ‘‘(1) Since 1995, the Telecommunications Dem16 onstration Project for Mathematics (as established

17 under this part pursuant to the Improving America’s

18 Schools Act of 1994) (in this section referred to as

19 ‘MATHLINE’) has allowed the Public Broadcasting

20 Service to pioneer and refine a new model of teacher

21 professional development for kindergarten through

22 grade 12 teachers. MATHLINE uses video modeling

23 of standards-based lessons, combined with profes24 sionally facilitated online learning communities of

25 teachers, to help mathematics teachers from elemen-
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1 tary school through secondary school adopt and im2 plement standards-based practices in their class3 rooms. This approach allows teachers to update their

4 skills on their own schedules through video, while

5 providing online interaction with peers and master

6 teachers to reinforce that learning. This integrated,

7 self-paced approach breaks down the isolation of

8 classroom teaching while making standards-based

9 best practices available to all participants.

10 ‘‘(2) MATHLINE was developed specifically to

11 disseminate the first national voluntary standards

12 for teaching and learning as developed by the Na13 tional Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

14 During 3 years of actual deployment, more than

15 5,800 teachers have participated for at least a full

16 year in the demonstration. These teachers, in turn,

17 have taught more than 1,500,000 students cumula18 tively.

19 ‘‘(3)(A) In the first 3 years of the MATHLINE

20 project, the Public Broadcasting Service used the

21 largest portion of the funds provided under this

22 part—

23 ‘‘(i) to produce video-based models of

24 classroom teaching;
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1 ‘‘(ii) to produce and disseminate extensive

2 accompanying print materials;

3 ‘‘(iii) to organize and host professionally

4 moderated, year-long, online learning commu5 nities; and

6 ‘‘(iv) to train the Public Broadcasting

7 Service stations to deploy MATHLINE in their

8 local communities. In fiscal year 1998, the Pub9 lic Broadcasting Service added an extensive

10 Internet-based set of learning tools for teachers’

11 use with the video modules and printed mate12 rials, and the Public Broadcasting Service ex13 panded the online resources available to teach14 ers through Internet-based discussion groups

15 and a national listserv.

16 ‘‘(B) To extend Federal funds, the Public

17 Broadcasting Service has experimented with various

18 fee models for teacher participation, with varying re19 sults. Using fiscal year 1998 Federal funds and pri20 vate money, participation in MATHLINE will in21 crease by 10,000 MATHLINE scholarships to

22 preservice and inservice teachers. The Public Broad23 casting Service and its participating member sta24 tions will distribute scholarships in each congres25 sional district in the United States, with teachers
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1 serving disadvantaged populations given priority for

2 the scholarships.

3 ‘‘(4) Independent evaluations indicate that

4 teaching improves and students benefit as a result of

5 the MATHLINE program.

6 ‘‘(5) The MATHLINE program is ready to be

7 expanded to reach many more teachers in more sub8 ject areas. The New Century Program for Distrib9 uted Teacher Professional Development will link the

10 digitized public broadcasting infrastructure with

11 education networks by working with the program’s

12 digital membership, and Federal and State agencies,

13 to expand the successful MATHLINE model. Tens

14 of thousands of teachers will have access to the New

15 Century Program for Distributed Teacher Profes16 sional Development, to advance their teaching skills

17 and their ability to integrate technology into teach18 ing and learning. The New Century Program for

19 Distributed Teacher Professional Development also

20 will leverage the Public Broadcasting Service’s his21 toric relationships with higher education to improve

22 preservice teacher training.

23 ‘‘SEC. 3402. PROJECT AUTHORIZED.

24 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to make grants to a

25 nonprofit telecommunications entity, or partnership of
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1 such entities, for the purpose of carrying out a national

2 telecommunications-based program to improve teaching in

3 core curriculum areas. The program authorized by this

4 part shall be designed to assist elementary school and sec5 ondary school teachers in preparing all students for

6 achieving State content standards.

7 ‘‘SEC. 3403. APPLICATION REQUIRED.

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each nonprofit telecommuni9 cations entity, or partnership of such entities, desiring a

10 grant under this part shall submit an application to the

11 Secretary. Each such application shall—

12 ‘‘(1) demonstrate that the applicant will use the

13 public broadcasting infrastructure and school digital

14 networks, where available, to deliver video and data

15 in an integrated service to train teachers in the use

16 of standards-based curricula materials and learning

17 technologies;

18 ‘‘(2) assure that the project for which assist19 ance is sought will be conducted in cooperation with

20 appropriate State educational agencies, local edu21 cational agencies, national, State or local nonprofit

22 public telecommunications entities, and national edu23 cation professional associations that have developed

24 content standards in the subject areas;
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1 ‘‘(3) assure that a significant portion of the

2 benefits available for elementary schools and sec3 ondary schools from the project for which assistance

4 is sought will be available to schools of local edu5 cational agencies which have a high percentage of

6 children counted for the purpose of part A of title

7 I; and

8 ‘‘(4) contain such additional assurances as the

9 Secretary may reasonably require.

10 ‘‘(b) APPROVAL OF APPLICATIONS; NUMBER OF

11 SITES.—In approving applications under this section, the

12 Secretary shall assure that the program authorized by this

13 part is conducted at elementary school and secondary

14 school sites in at least 15 States.

15 ‘‘SEC. 3404. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

17 this part, $20,000,000 for the fiscal year 2000, and such

18 sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding

19 fiscal years.’’.

20 SEC. 4. ADDITION OF PART F TO TITLE III.

21 Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education

22 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.) is amended by add23 ing at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘PART F—DIGITAL EDUCATION CONTENT

2 COLLABORATIVE

3 ‘‘SEC. 3701. FINDINGS.

4 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings:

5 ‘‘(1) Over the past several years, both the Fed6 eral and State governments have made significant

7 investments in computer technology and tele8 communications in the Nation’s schools. Tremen9 dous progress has been made in wiring classrooms,

10 equipping the classrooms with multimedia com11 puters, and connecting the classrooms to the Inter12 net.

13 ‘‘(2) There is a great need for aggregating high

14 quality, curriculum-based digital content for teachers

15 and students to easily access and use in order to

16 meet the State standards for student performance.

17 ‘‘(3) Under Federal Communications Commis18 sion policy, public television stations and State net19 works are mandated to convert from analog broad20 casting to digital broadcasting by 2003.

21 ‘‘(4) Most local public television stations and

22 State networks provide high quality video programs,

23 and teacher professional development, as a part of

24 their mission to serve local schools. Programs dis25 tributed by public broadcast stations are used by

26 more classroom teachers than any other because of
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1 their high quality and relevance to the curriculum.

2 However analog distribution has limited kinder3 garten through grade 12 services to a few hours per

4 day of linear video broadcasts on a single channel.

5 ‘‘(5) The new capacity of digital broadcasting,

6 can dramatically increase and improve the types of

7 services public broadcasting stations can offer kin8 dergarten through grade 12 schools.

9 ‘‘(6) Digital broadcasting can contribute to the

10 improvement of schools and student performance as

11 follows:

12 ‘‘(A) Broadcast of multiple video channels

13 and data information simultaneously.

14 ‘‘(B) Data can be transmitted along with

15 the video content enabling students to interact,

16 access additional information, communicate

17 with featured experts, and contribute their own

18 knowledge to the subject.

19 ‘‘(C) Both the video and data can be

20 stored on servers and made available on de21 mand to teachers and students.

22 ‘‘(7) Teachers depend on public television sta23 tions as a primary source of high quality video mate24 rial. The material has not always been as accessible

25 or adaptable to the curriculum as teachers would
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1 prefer. Moreover, direct student interaction with the

2 material was difficult.

3 ‘‘(8) Public television stations and State net4 works will soon have the capability of creating and

5 distributing interactive digital content that can be

6 directly matched to State standards and available to

7 teachers and students on demand to fit their local

8 curriculum.

9 ‘‘(9) Interactive digital education content will

10 be an important component of Federal support for

11 States in setting high standards and increasing stu12 dent performance.

13 ‘‘SEC. 3702. DIGITAL EDUCATION CONTENT COLLABO14 RATIVE.

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

16 award grants to or enter into contracts or cooperative

17 agreements with eligible entities described in section

18 3703(b) to develop, produce, and distribute educational

19 and instructional video programming that is designed for

20 use by kindergarten through grade 12 schools and based

21 on State standards.

22 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY.—In making the grants, con23 tracts, or cooperative agreements, the Secretary shall en24 sure that eligible entities enter into multiyear content de25 velopment collaborative arrangements with State edu-
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1 cational agencies, local educational agencies, institutions

2 of higher education, businesses, or other agencies and or3 ganizations.

4 ‘‘SEC. 3703. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING.

5 ‘‘(a) AWARDS.—The Secretary shall award grants,

6 contracts, or cooperative agreements under this part to eli7 gible entities to—

8 ‘‘(1) facilitate the development of educational

9 programming that shall—

10 ‘‘(A) include student assessment tools to

11 give feedback on student performance;

12 ‘‘(B) include built-in teacher utilization

13 and support components to ensure that teachers

14 understand and can easily use the content of

15 the programming with group instruction or for

16 individual student use;

17 ‘‘(C) be created for, or adaptable to, State

18 content standards; and

19 ‘‘(D) be capable of distribution through

20 digital broadcasting and school digital networks.

21 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive

22 a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under sub23 section (a), an entity shall be a local public telecommuni24 cations entity as defined by section 397(12) of the Com25 munications Act of 1934 that is able to demonstrate a ca-
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1 pacity for the development and distribution of educational

2 and instructional television programming of high quality.

3 ‘‘(c) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—Grants under this part

4 shall be awarded on a competitive basis as determined by

5 the Secretary.

6 ‘‘(d) DURATION.—Each grant under this part shall

7 be awarded for a period of 3 years in order to allow time

8 for the creation of a substantial body of significant con9 tent.

10 ‘‘SEC. 3704. APPLICATIONS.

11 ‘‘Each eligible entity desiring a grant under this part

12 shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time,

13 in such manner, and accompanied by such information as

14 the Secretary may reasonably require.

15 ‘‘SEC. 3705. MATCHING REQUIREMENT.

16 ‘‘An eligible entity receiving a grant under this part

17 shall contribute to the activities assisted under this part

18 non-Federal matching funds equal to not less than 100

19 percent of the amount of the grant. Matching funds may

20 include funds provided for the transition to digital broad21 casting, as well as in-kind contributions.

22 ‘‘SEC. 3706. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.

23 ‘‘With respect to the implementation of this part, en24 tities receiving a grant under this part from the Secretary

25 may use not more than 5 percent of the amounts received
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1 under the grant for the normal and customary expenses

2 of administering the grant.

3 ‘‘SEC. 3707. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

4 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

5 this part, $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, and such sums

6 as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal

7 years.’’.

Æ