I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3499 

To restore State sovereignty over public elementary and secondary education. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2005 

Mr. CULBERSON (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BISHOP of 

Utah, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. PAUL, Mr. PENCE, Mr. PITTS, Mr. POE, and 

Mr. ROHRABACHER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To restore State sovereignty over public elementary and 

secondary education. 

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 ‘‘Local Control of Edu5 cation Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDING. 

7 The Congress finds that the creation, funding, sup8 port, maintenance, operation, and all other aspects of ele9 mentary and secondary education are residual core sov10 ereign functions reserved to the control of the States 
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1 under the United States Constitution, as expressed in the 

2 Tenth Amendment. 

3 SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

4 This Act shall be liberally construed and shall be vig5 orously and promptly enforced so as to ensure the preser6 vation of the States’ core sovereign authority over all as7 pects of elementary and secondary education under the 

8 United States Constitution, as expressed in the Tenth 

9 Amendment. 

10 SEC. 4. RESTORATION OF STATE SOVEREIGNTY WITH RE11 SPECT TO CERTAIN FEDERAL EDUCATION 

12 FUNDS. 

13 (a) FUNDING TO STATES.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to any program 

15 under which Federal funds may be provided to a 

16 State under the Elementary and Secondary Edu17 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), unless 

18 the legislature of the State has by law expressly and 

19 specifically authorized operation of the program and, 

20 in doing so, has waived the State’s rights and au21 thorities to act inconsistently with any requirement 

22 that might be imposed by the Federal Government 

23 as a condition of receiving Federal funds under the 

24 program— 
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1 (A) the Secretary of Education may not 

2 provide any funds to the State pursuant to the 

3 program; 

4 (B) no officer, employee, or other authority 

5 of the Federal Government shall enforce against 

6 an authority of the State, nor shall any author7 ity of the State have any obligation to obey, any 

8 requirement of the program; and 

9 (C) the program shall not operate within 

10 the State. 

11 (2) TERM OF AUTHORIZATION.—If a State en12 acts (and does not repeal or otherwise terminate) a 

13 law authorizing operation of an education program 

14 described in paragraph (1), such authorization shall 

15 have effect for purposes of paragraph (1) until the 

16 later of— 

17 (A) the end of the 5-year period beginning 

18 on the date of the enactment of the law; or 

19 (B) the end of any regular legislative ses20 sion of the State that begins during the last 

21 year of such 5-year period and is ongoing at the 

22 end of such period. 

23 (b) FUNDING TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL ENTI24 TIES.—With respect to any program under which Federal 

25 funds may be provided to a local governmental entity (in-
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1 cluding any local educational agency, public kindergarten, 

2 public elementary school, or public secondary school) 

3 under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

4 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), the Secretary of Education 

5 may not provide any funds to the local governmental enti6 ty under such program unless the chief law enforcement 

7 officer of the State involved certifies that participation by 

8 the entity in the program is consistent with any applicable 

9 requirements under the law of the State. 

10 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

11 (1) The term ‘‘authority of a State’’ includes 

12 any officer or employee of the State and any local 

13 government authority of the State. 

14 (2) The terms ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local edu15 cational agency’’, and ‘‘secondary school’’ have the 

16 meanings given to those terms in section 9101 of the 

17 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

18 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

19 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section applies in each 

20 State beginning at the end of the first regular session of 

21 the legislature of that State that begins after the date of 

22 the enactment of this Act and shall continue to apply in 

23 subsequent years until otherwise provided by law. 

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