II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1270

To establish a partnership for education progress.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 23, 1999

Mr. FRIST (for himself and Mr. DOMENICI) introduced the following bill;

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

A BILL

To establish a partnership for education progress.

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Education Express Act’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

7 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings.

Sec. 3. Purpose.

Sec. 4. Definitions.

TITLE I—DIRECT CHECK

Sec. 101. State options.

Sec. 102. Direct check fund.
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Sec. 103. Federal statute option.

TITLE II—CHALLENGE FUND

Sec. 201. Challenge fund.

TITLE III—TEACHER QUALITY

Sec. 301. Teacher quality.

TITLE IV—ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITY FUND

Sec. 401. Academic opportunity fund.

TITLE V—GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 501. Plan and report.

Sec. 502. Authorized activities.

Sec. 503. Federal role.

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress makes the following findings:

3 (1) The benefits of a quality education are

4 clear. The benefits are economic independence and

5 prosperity, preservation of our Nation’s democratic

6 society, and endless opportunity for personal growth

7 and enrichment. An emphasis should be placed on

8 student achievement in education and new funding

9 should be provided to focus on improving student

10 learning and achievement. Innovative reforms taking

11 place in our Nation’s States and local communities

12 must not be stifled.

13 (2) Every child must have the opportunity to

14 attend school in an environment where teachers and

15 administrators expect achievement, where every child

16 is respected and nurtured, and where parents are an

17 integral part of the education process. All of our Na-
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1 tion’s students deserve a quality education whether

2 the students are poor, academically struggling, gift3 ed and talented, or living in our Nation’s cities, sub4 urbs or rural communities.

5 (3) Schools must be places where most of the

6 school day is reserved for learning instead of dis7 cipline, paperwork, or dealing with the limiting con8 straints of categorical funding.

9 (4) Parents, community leaders, and local and

10 State governments, not the Federal Government,

11 know best the education needs of their children. All

12 across the United States, States and local commu13 nities are implementing innovative solutions to our

14 Nation’s education challenges.

15 (5) With increased funding and flexibility, more

16 will be expected from States and local communities,

17 and the States and local communities will be in18 creasingly accountable to parents, students, and tax19 payers. Federal education policy has focused a great

20 deal of attention on educational inputs. Instead, our

21 Federal dollars should provide incentives to States

22 and local communities to place a much greater em23 phasis on educational achievement, with a minimum

24 amount of interference from the Federal Govern25 ment.
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1 (6) Where the Federal Government can help is

2 in facilitating the education reform efforts of States

3 by enhancing their efforts through unbiased research

4 and statistics gathering, by facilitating the exchange

5 of ideas and strategies through dissemination of best

6 practices, and by encouraging collaboration among

7 education leaders from across our Nation.

8 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

9 The purpose of this Act is—

10 (1) to infuse significant new dollars into the

11 hands of parents, communities, and State and local

12 governments to improve the educational achievement

13 of students; and

14 (2) to provide an additional $36,500,000,000

15 during the period 2000 through 2004 from the Fed16 eral Government as part of a larger consolidation of

17 duplicative and limiting categorical programs into a

18 much more streamlined and direct funding stream to

19 States and localities to use for a variety of edu20 cational purposes.

21 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

22 In this Act—

23 (1) the terms ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local edu24 cational agency’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘Secretary’’,

25 and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the meanings
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1 given the terms in section 14101 of the Elementary

2 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

3 8801);

4 (2) the term ‘‘Governor’’ means—

5 ‘‘(A) the chief executive of a State; or

6 ‘‘(B) in the case of a State for which the

7 constitution of the State or a State statute des8 ignates an individual, entity or agency in the

9 State to be responsible exclusively for public el10 ementary or secondary education, the indi11 vidual, entity or agency;

12 (3) the term ‘‘outlying area’’ means the United

13 States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the

14 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,

15 the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated

16 States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau; and

17 (4) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several

18 States of the United States, the District of Columbia

19 and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

20 TITLE I—DIRECT CHECK

21 SEC. 101. STATE OPTIONS.

22 (a) STATE OPTIONS.—Notwithstanding any other

23 provision of law, the Governor of each State shall notify

24 the Secretary regarding the State’s election to receive the
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1 State’s portion of the applicable funding described in sub2 section (b) according to one of the following options:

3 (1) DIRECT CHECK OPTION.—The State may

4 receive the funding pursuant to a State allotment

5 described in section 102(a).

6 (2) FEDERAL STATUTE OPTION.—The State

7 may receive the funding according to the provisions

8 of law described in subsection (b).

9 (b) DEFINITION OF APPLICABLE FUNDING.—In this

10 title, the term ‘‘applicable funding’’ means all funds that

11 are appropriated for the Department of Education for

12 each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004 to carry out

13 programs or activities under the following provisions of

14 law:

15 (1) Part A of title II of the Elementary and

16 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6621

17 et seq.).

18 (2) Part B of title II of the Elementary and

19 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6641

20 et seq.).

21 (3) Part C of title II of the Elementary and

22 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

23 (4) Title III of the Elementary and Secondary

24 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.).
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1 (5) Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary

2 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.).

3 (6) Part A of title V of the Elementary and

4 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7201

5 et seq.).

6 (7) Part B of title V of the Elementary and

7 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7231

8 et seq.).

9 (8) Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary

10 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7301 et seq.).

11 (9) Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary

12 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.).

13 (10) Part A of title X of the Elementary and

14 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8001

15 et seq.).

16 (11) Part B of title X of the Elementary and

17 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8031

18 et seq.).

19 (12) Part C of title X of the Elementary and

20 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8061

21 et seq.).

22 (13) Subpart 1 of part D of title X of the Ele23 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

24 U.S.C. 8091).
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1 (14) Part F of title X of the Elementary and

2 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8141

3 et seq.).

4 (15) Part G of title X of the Elementary and

5 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8161

6 et seq.).

7 (16) Part I of title X of the Elementary and

8 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8241

9 et seq.).

10 (17) Part K of title X of the Elementary and

11 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8331

12 et seq.).

13 (18) Part A of title XIII of the Elementary and

14 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8621

15 et seq.).

16 (19) Part C of title XIII of the Elementary and

17 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8671

18 et seq.).

19 (c) REFERENCES.—References to funds for the provi20 sions of law described in subsection (b) shall be considered

21 to be references to funds for this title.

22 SEC. 102. DIRECT CHECK FUND.

23 (a) ALLOTMENTS.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

25 from the total applicable funding available for a fis-
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1 cal year, the Secretary shall make allotments under

2 this section to each Governor selecting the direct

3 check option described in section 101(a)(1) in an

4 amount that bears the same relation to such total

5 applicable funding as the amount the State received

6 under part B of title II of the Elementary and Sec7 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6641 et

8 seq.) for fiscal year 1998 bears to the total amount

9 received under such part by all States for fiscal year

10 1998.

11 (2) HOLD HARMLESS.—A State shall not re12 ceive an allotment under this section for a fiscal year

13 in an amount that is less than the total amount the

14 State received for the preceding fiscal year under

15 those provisions of law described in section 101(b)

16 that distribute funds according to a formula.

17 (b) STATE USES.—Each Governor receiving an allot18 ment under this section shall use—

19 (1) not less than 98 percent of the allotted

20 funds to award assistance to local educational agen21 cies in the State—

22 (A) according to a formula developed by

23 the Governor that targets the funds to the low24 est achieving school districts according to most

25 recent State assessments; and
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1 (B) to enable the local educational agencies

2 to carry out the authorized activities described

3 in section 502; and

4 (2) not more than 2 percent of the allotted

5 funds for administrative expenses.

6 SEC. 103. FEDERAL STATUTE OPTION.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—From the applicable funding that

8 remains after making the allotments under section 102(a)

9 for a fiscal year, the Secretary may make awards accord10 ing to the provisions of law described in section 101(b),

11 to State and local recipients, in States selecting the Fed12 eral statute option described in section 101(a)(2).

13 (b) PERCENTAGE REDUCTIONS.—The Secretary,

14 after making the allotments under section 102(a) for a

15 fiscal year, shall reduce the total amount of applicable

16 funding available to carry out the provisions of law de17 scribed in section 101(b) for the fiscal year, for any State

18 selecting the Federal statute option described in section

19 101(a)(2), by an equal percentage for each such provision.

20 TITLE II—CHALLENGE FUND

21 SEC. 201. CHALLENGE FUND.

22 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized

24 to award funds, from allotments under subsection

25 (b), to Governors to enable local educational agen-
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1 cies to carry out the authorized activities described

2 in section 502.

3 (2) RESERVATION.—The Secretary shall reserve

1 4 ⁄2 of 1 percent of the funds appropriated under sub5 section (d) for a fiscal year to provide assistance to

6 the outlying areas and the Bureau of Indian Affairs

7 according to their respective need for assistance

8 under this title as determined by the Secretary in

9 accordance with the purpose of this Act.

10 (b) ALLOTMENT.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

12 from funds appropriated under subsection (d) and

13 not reserved under subsection (a)(2) for a fiscal

14 year, the Secretary shall make allotments under this

15 section to the Governor of each State in an amount

16 that bears the same relation to such funds as the

17 amount the State received under part B of title II

18 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

19 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6641 et seq.) for fiscal year 1998

20 bears to the total amount received under such part

21 by all States for fiscal year 1998.

22 (2) INCREASED ALLOTMENT.—Each State se23 lecting the direct check option described in section

24 101(a)(1) for a fiscal year shall receive a 10 percent

25 increase in the amount of the State’s allotment
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1 under paragraph (1) for the fiscal year. The Sec2 retary shall proportionately reduce the amount of

3 the allotment for States not making such selection

4 in order to carry out the preceding sentence.

5 (c) STATE USES.—Each Governor receiving an allot6 ment under this section shall use—

7 (1) not less than 98 percent of the allotted

8 funds to award assistance to local educational agen9 cies to enable the local educational agencies to carry

10 out the authorized activities described in section

11 502; and

12 (2) not less than 2 percent of the allotted funds

13 for administrative expenses.

14 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

15 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

16 $1,750,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, $2,000,000,000 for

17 fiscal year 2001, $2,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2002,

18 $5,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2003, and $5,500,000,000

19 for fiscal year 2004.

20 TITLE III—TEACHER QUALITY

21 SEC. 301. TEACHER QUALITY.

22 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized

24 to award funds to Governors, from allotments under

25 subsection (b), to enable the Governors to supple-
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1 ment State efforts to improve the quality of elemen2 tary school and secondary school teachers in the

3 State.

4 (2) RESERVATION.—The Secretary shall reserve

1 5 ⁄2 of 1 percent of the funds appropriated under sub6 section (e) for a fiscal year to provide assistance to

7 the outlying areas and the Bureau of Indian Affairs

8 according to their respective need for assistance

9 under this title as determined by the Secretary in

10 accordance with the purpose of this Act.

11 (b) ALLOTMENT.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

13 from funds appropriated under subsection (e) and

14 not reserved under subsection (a)(2) for a fiscal

15 year, the Secretary shall make allotments under this

16 section to the Governor of each State in an amount

17 that bears the same relation to such funds as the

18 amount the State received under part B of title II

19 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

20 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6641 et seq.) for fiscal year 1998

21 bears to the total amount received under such part

22 by all States for fiscal year 1998.

23 (2) INCREASED ALLOTMENT.—Each State se24 lecting the direct check option described in section

25 101(a)(1) for a fiscal year shall receive a 10 percent
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1 increase in the amount of the State’s allotment

2 under paragraph (1) for the fiscal year. The Sec3 retary shall proportionately reduce the amount of

4 the allotment for States not making such selection

5 in order to carry out the preceding sentence.

6 (c) STATE USES.—Each Governor receiving an allot7 ment under this section shall use—

8 (1) not less than 85 percent of the allotted

9 funds to award assistance to local educational agen10 cies in the State to enable the local educational

11 agencies to carry out the authorized activities de12 scribed in subsection (d);

13 (2) not more than 13 percent of the allotted

14 funds for statewide efforts to improve elementary

15 school and secondary school teacher quality; and

16 (3) not more than 2 percent of the allotted

17 funds for administrative expenses.

18 (d) LOCAL AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—A local edu19 cational agency may use funds received under this section

20 for—

21 (1) hiring highly qualified teachers for every

22 classroom;

23 (2) professional development for educators;

24 (3) rewarding successful teaching through ini25 tiatives such as merit pay;
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1 (4) higher teacher salaries;

2 (5) improving the quality of teacher training at

3 the postsecondary level;

4 (6) alternative certification of teachers;

5 (7) continuing teach education (CTE) credits;

6 (8) State teacher examinations;

7 (9) scholarships or teacher internship programs;

8 or

9 (10) any other activities the Governor or local

10 educational agency determine will improve the re11 cruitment and retention of highly qualified teachers.

12 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

13 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

14 $1,750,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, $26,400,000,000 for

15 fiscal year 2001, $2,400,000,000 for fiscal year 2002,

16 $3,400,000,000 for fiscal year 2003, and $4,400,000,000

17 for fiscal year 2004.

18 TITLE IV—ACADEMIC

19 OPPORTUNITY FUND

20 SEC. 401. ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITY FUND.

21 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized

23 to award funds, from allotments under subsection

24 (b), to Governors who select the direct check option

25 described in section 101(a)(1) to enable the Gov-
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1 ernors to reward elementary schools, secondary

2 schools, or local educational agencies that meet or

3 exceed State-determined goals and performance ob4 jectives for student achievement and teacher quality.

5 (2) RESERVATION.—The Secretary shall reserve

1 6 ⁄2 of 1 percent of the funds appropriated under sub7 section (d) for a fiscal year to provide assistance to

8 the outlying areas and the Bureau of Indian Affairs

9 according to their respective need for assistance

10 under this title as determined by the Secretary in

11 accordance with the purpose of this Act.

12 (b) ALLOTMENTS.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2)

14 and (3), from funds appropriated under subsection

15 (d) and not reserved under subsection (a)(2) for a

16 fiscal year the Secretary shall make allotments

17 under this section to the Governor of a State who

18 selects the direct check option described in section

19 101(a)(1) in an amount that bears the same relation

20 to such funds as the amount the State received

21 under part B of title II of the Elementary and Sec22 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6641 et

23 seq.) for fiscal year 1998 bears to the total amount

24 received under such part by all States for fiscal year

25 1998.
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1 (2) INCREASED ALLOTMENT.—The Secretary

2 shall increase the total amount of a State’s allot3 ment under paragraph (1) by 10 percent if the

4 State—

5 (A) agrees to devote 25 percent or more of

6 the allotted funds under this section to meet the

7 educational needs of children with disabilities in

8 a manner that supplements and does not sup9 plant existing Federal, State, and local funding

10 for such children;

11 (B) demonstrates that the State has im12 proved the educational performance of—

13 (i) limited English proficient students;

14 (ii) students who, at one time or an15 other, have dropped out of school; and

16 (iii) students who are eligible for a

17 free school lunch; or

18 (C) adopts or shows improved performance

19 on the State-level National Assessment of Edu20 cational Progress.

21 (3) RATABLE REDUCTION.—The Secretary shall

22 ratably reduce the amount of the allotment under

23 this section for each State that does not receive an

24 increase under paragraph (2) in order to carry out

25 paragraph (2).
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1 (c) STATE USES.—Each Governor receiving an allot2 ment under this section shall use—

3 (1) not less than 98 percent of the allotted

4 funds—

5 (A) to implement statewide education re6 forms such as implementing standards and as7 sessments; or

8 (B) to provide bonus payments to elemen9 tary schools, secondary schools, or local edu10 cational agencies that adopt reforms or achieve

11 goals determined important by the Governor,

12 including rewarding schools that encourage

13 more students to take honors courses or the

14 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), or rewarding

15 local educational agencies that improve dis16 cipline policies or teacher training; and

17 (2) not more than 2 percent of the allotted

18 funds for administrative expenses.

19 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

20 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

21 $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2001, $600,000,000 for fis22 cal year 2002, $1,600,000,000 for fiscal year 2003, and

23 $3,100,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
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1 TITLE V—GENERAL PROVISIONS

2 SEC. 501. PLAN AND REPORT.

3 (a) PLAN.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to receive funds

5 under this Act a Governor or a designee of the Gov6 ernor shall develop a 5-year educational reform plan

7 for improving the academic achievement of all ele8 mentary school and secondary school students in the

9 State. Any State-level comprehensive education re10 form plan developed prior to the date of enactment

11 of this Act that meets the requirements of this sec12 tion shall satisfy the requirements of the preceding

13 sentence.

14 (2) PLAN DEVELOPMENT.—In developing the

15 plan the Governor or the designee shall hold regional

16 hearings in the State so that State and local legisla17 tive officials, parents, teachers, and other edu18 cational leaders are given ample opportunity to pro19 vide input into the State’s educational reform plan.

20 (3) CONTENTS.—The plan shall—

21 (A) demonstrate how the State will use the

22 funds under this Act to supplement and not

23 supplant existing State education funding;

24 (B) outline the objective criteria by which

25 the Governor will determine student achieve-
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1 ment, and the testing and other measures the

2 Governor will utilize to measure student

3 achievement based on such objective criteria,

4 which testing and other measures shall be used

5 throughout the 5-year period of the plan;

6 (C) describe how decisionmaking will be

7 devolved to the local, school, community, and

8 parental levels;

9 (D) describe how the funds will be used

10 and how schools will meet the State’s reform

11 goals; and

12 (E) describe how the Governor will provide

13 for the equitable participation of nonpublic

14 school students in the activities assisted under

15 this Act.

16 (b) REPORT.—Each Governor shall report on a yearly

17 basis to the public regarding the progress of the State in

18 meeting the education goals of the State. Such report shall

19 include student achievement data as measured by any

20 State-level or other assessments utilized at the State or

21 local level, including the National Assessment of Edu22 cational Progress if applicable.

23 SEC. 502. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.

24 (a) ACTIVITIES.—Each local educational agency re25 ceiving assistance under title I or II—
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1 (1) shall use the assistance to design and imple2 ment programs to improve student learning, such

3 as—

4 (A) any activity focused on improved stu5 dent learning;

6 (B) new books;

7 (C) additional technology;

8 (D) high standards and assessments;

9 (E) teacher hiring and quality improve10 ments;

11 (F) class size reduction;

12 (G) alternative schools;

13 (H) school-to-work programs or partner14 ships with institutions of higher education;

15 (I) school construction;

16 (J) special education;

17 (K) vouchers;

18 (L) charter schools or other school choice

19 initiatives;

20 (M) character education;

21 (N) dropout prevention;

22 (O) tutoring and remedial help for strug23 gling students; or
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1 (P) any activity determined by the Gov2 ernor or local educational agency to improve the

3 educational achievement of all children; and

4 (2) shall set yearly targets for how to achieve

5 the goals in the State plan described in section

6 501(a)(3)(D) and describe plans for corrective action

7 if the targets are not met.

8 (b) LIMITATION.—A local educational agency may

9 not use more than 25 percent of the total amount of funds

10 the agency receives under titles I and II for a fiscal year

11 to carry out any 1 activity described in subsection (a).

12 SEC. 503. FEDERAL ROLE.

13 (a) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made

14 available under this Act shall be used to supplement and

15 not supplant other Federal, State and local expenditures

16 for education.

17 (b) CIVIL RIGHTS.—Nothing in this Act shall be con18 strued to modify any Federal law governing discrimination

19 in the provision of Federal benefits on the basis of race,

20 color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability.

21 (c) KEY DEFINITIONS.—Not later than 12 months

22 after the date of enactment of this Act the Commissioner

23 of Education Statistics, in consultation with leading State

24 and local educators, policymakers, and representatives of

25 the general public, shall develop key definitions for terms
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1 and uniform and comparable reporting methods related to

2 core indicators of State education performance. Such indi3 cators shall focus on a limited set of critical student-level

4 educational results and related measures that are closely

5 associated with such results, including indicators of stu6 dent achievement, graduation or dropout rates, measures

7 of teacher qualifications and preparation, and student

8 course-taking patterns. Data may come from State admin9 istrative record systems or from State representative sur10 veys administered by the National Center for Education

11 Statistics, such as the National Assessment of Edu12 cational Progress.

13 (d) AWARDS.—The Commissioner of Education Sta14 tistics is authorized to make awards through the National

15 Cooperative Educational Statistics System to assist States

16 in developing uniform and comparable measures for iden17 tified core indicators of State education performance.

18 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 24 months after the

19 date of enactment of this Act and every 2 years thereafter,

20 the Commissioner of Education Statistics shall produce a

21 report for Congress and the American people regarding

22 the core indicators of State education performance. The

23 report shall include data from each State providing uni24 form and comparable data to the National Center for Edu25 cation Statistics on the identified measures and results.
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1 (f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Commissioner of

2 Education Statistics shall provide technical assistance to

3 States in developing accountability systems relating to the

4 academic performance goals that States establish under

5 this Act. The technical assistance shall include electronic

6 information dissemination through the World Wide Web,

7 publications, and consultations with State and local edu8 cation officials who are charged with designing and main9 taining such systems. The technical assistance shall be

10 provided in such areas as the selection of appropriate test11 ing and other measures consistent with specified State

12 goals, the development of data collection instruments, en13 suring the validity, reliability, and comparability of data,

14 and assisting States in ensuring that their system for

15 making bonus payments under title IV is technically

16 sound.

17 (g) PERSONNEL SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall

18 work with the Commissioner of Education Statistics to

19 provide any necessary personnel support to the National

20 Center for Education Statistics for the purpose of carrying

21 out this section.

22 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

23 are authorized to be appropriated to the National Center

24 for Education Statistics $18,000,000 for fiscal year 2000,
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1 and such sums as may be necessary for each succeeding

2 fiscal year, to carry out this section.

Æ