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Union Calendar No. 26

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 800

[Report No. 106–43]

To provide for education flexibility partnerships.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 23, 1999

Mr. CASTLE (for himself, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. DEAL of Georgia,

Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mr. DREIER, Mr. FORBES, Mr. GOODLING, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr.

GREENWOOD, Mr. HILLEARY, Mr. HOBSON, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Ms.

HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mrs. MALONEY of New

York, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. PETRI, Mr. SESSIONS,

Mr. SHOWS, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SOUDER, Mrs. TAUSCHER,

Mr. UPTON, and Mr. WEYGAND) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

MARCH 8, 1999

Additional sponsors: Mr. KOLBE, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. GREEN of Texas,

Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. KUYKENDALL, Mr. HOYER, Mr. REGULA, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. SHAYS,

Mr. MOORE, Mr. WU, Mr. FORD, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. PETERSON

of Pennsylvania, Mr. TERRY, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. PHELPS, Mr.

FROST, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. TRANCREDO, Mr. KIND, Mr.

LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. LARGENT, Mr. FLETCHER, Mr. MCKEON, Mr.

CLEMENT, Mr. SHERMAN, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. PORTMAN, Ms. STABENOW,

Ms. DUNN, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mrs. BIGGERT, and

Mr. LATOURETTE

MARCH 8, 1999

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 23, 1999]

A BILL

To provide for education flexibility 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 ‘‘Education Flexibility

5 Partnership Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) States differ substantially in demographics,

9 in school governance, and in school finance and fund10 ing. The administrative and funding mechanisms

11 that help schools in 1 State improve may not prove

12 successful in other States.

13 (2) Although the Elementary and Secondary

14 Education Act of 1965 and other Federal education

15 statutes afford flexibility to State and local edu16 cational agencies in implementing Federal programs,

17 certain requirements of Federal education statutes or

18 regulations may impede local efforts to reform and

19 improve education.
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1 (3) By granting waivers of certain statutory and

2 regulatory requirements, the Federal Government can

3 remove impediments for local educational agencies in

4 implementing education reforms and raising the

5 achievement levels of all children.

6 (4) State educational agencies are closer to local

7 school systems, implement statewide education re8 forms with both Federal and State funds, and are re9 sponsible for maintaining accountability for local ac10 tivities consistent with State standards and assess11 ment systems. Therefore, State educational agencies

12 are often in the best position to align waivers of Fed13 eral and State requirements with State and local ini14 tiatives.

15 (5) The Education Flexibility Partnership Dem16 onstration Act allows State educational agencies the

17 flexibility to waive certain Federal requirements,

18 along with related State requirements, but allows only

19 12 States to qualify for such waivers.

20 (6) Expansion of waiver authority will allow for

21 the waiver of statutory and regulatory requirements

22 that impede implementation of State and local edu23 cational improvement plans, or that unnecessarily

24 burden program administration, while maintaining

25 the intent and purposes of affected programs, such as
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1 the important focus on improving math and science

2 performance under title II of the Elementary and

3 Secondary Education Act of 1965, (Dwight D. Eisen4 hower Professional Development Program), and

5 maintaining such fundamental requirements as those

6 relating to civil rights, educational equity, and ac7 countability.

8 (7) To achieve the State goals for the education

9 of children in the State, the focus must be on results

10 in raising the achievement of all students, not process.

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

12 In this Act:

13 (1) ATTENDANCE AREA.—The term ‘‘attendance

14 area’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘school attend15 ance area’’ in section 1113(a)(2)(A) of the Elemen16 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

17 (2) ED-FLEX PARTNERSHIP STATE.—The term

18 ‘‘Ed-Flex Partnership State’’ means an eligible State

19 designated by the Secretary under section 4(a)(1)(B).

20 (3) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY; STATE EDU21 CATIONAL AGENCY.—The terms ‘‘local educational

22 agency’’ and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the

23 meaning given such terms in section 14101 of the Ele24 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
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1 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

2 the Secretary of Education.

3 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the

4 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Common5 wealth of Puerto Rico, and each of the outlying areas.

6 SEC. 4. EDUCATION FLEXIBILITY PARTNERSHIP.

7 (a) EDUCATION FLEXIBILITY PROGRAM.—

8 (1) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may

10 carry out an education flexibility program under

11 which the Secretary authorizes a State edu12 cational agency that serves an eligible State to

13 waive statutory or regulatory requirements ap14 plicable to 1 or more programs or Acts described

15 in subsection (b), other than requirements de16 scribed in subsection (c), for the State edu17 cational agency or any local educational agency

18 or school within the State.

19 (B) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary shall

20 designate each eligible State participating in the

21 program described in subparagraph (A) to be an

22 Ed-Flex Partnership State.

23 (2) ELIGIBLE STATE.—For the purpose of this

24 subsection the term ‘‘eligible State’’ means a State

25 that—
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1 (A)(i) has—

2 (I) developed and implemented the

3 challenging State content standards, chal4 lenging State student performance stand5 ards, and aligned assessments described in

6 section 1111(b) of the Elementary and Sec7 ondary Education Act of 1965, and for

8 which local educational agencies in the

9 State are producing the individual school

10 performance profiles required by section

11 1116(a) of such Act; or

12 (II) developed and implemented con13 tent standards and interim assessments and

14 made substantial progress, as determined by

15 the Secretary, toward developing and imple16 menting performance standards and final

17 aligned assessments, and toward having

18 local educational agencies in the State

19 produce the profiles, described in subclause

20 (I); and

21 (ii) holds local educational agencies and

22 schools accountable for meeting the educational

23 goals described in the local applications submit24 ted under paragraph (4); and
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1 (B) waives State statutory or regulatory re2 quirements relating to education while holding

3 local educational agencies or schools within the

4 State that are affected by such waivers account5 able for the performance of the students who are

6 affected by such waivers.

7 (3) STATE APPLICATION.—

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational

9 agency desiring to participate in the education

10 flexibility program under this section shall sub11 mit an application to the Secretary at such time,

12 in such manner, and containing such informa13 tion as the Secretary may reasonably require.

14 Each such application shall demonstrate that the

15 eligible State has adopted an education flexibil16 ity plan for the State that includes—

17 (i) a description of the process the

18 State educational agency will use to evalu19 ate applications from local educational

20 agencies or schools requesting waivers of—

21 (I) Federal statutory or regu22 latory requirements as described in

23 paragraph (1)(A); and
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1 (II) State statutory or regulatory

2 requirements relating to education;

3 and

4 (ii) a detailed description of the State

5 statutory and regulatory requirements relat6 ing to education that the State educational

7 agency will waive;

8 (iii) a description of specific edu9 cational objectives the State intends to meet

10 under such a plan;

11 (iv) a description of the process by

12 which the State will measure the progress of

13 local educational agencies in meeting spe14 cific goals described in subsection

15 (a)(4)(A)(iii); and

16 (v) an assurance that, not less than 30

17 days prior to waiving any Federal statu18 tory or regulatory requirement, or in ac19 cordance with State law, the State edu20 cational agency shall give public notice in

21 widely-read publications, such as large cir22 culation newspapers and community news23 papers, of its intent to grant such a waiver,

24 a description of the Federal statutory or

25 regulatory requirements that the State edu-
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1 cational agency proposes to waive, any im2 proved performance of students that is ex3 pected to result from the waiver, and the

4 State official—

5 (I) to whom comments on the pro6 posed waiver may be sent by interested

7 individuals and organizations; and

8 (II) who will make all the com9 ments received available for review by

10 any member of the public.

11 (B) APPROVAL AND CONSIDERATIONS.—The

12 Secretary may approve an application described

13 in subparagraph (A) only if the Secretary deter14 mines that such application demonstrates sub15 stantial promise of assisting the State edu16 cational agency and affected local educational

17 agencies and schools within such State in carry18 ing out comprehensive education reform, after

19 considering—

20 (i) the comprehensiveness and quality

21 of the education flexibility plan described in

22 subparagraph (A);

23 (ii) the ability of such plan to ensure

24 accountability for the activities and goals

25 described in such plan;
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1 (iii) the degree to which the State’s ob2 jectives described in subparagraph

3 (A)(iii)—

4 (I) are specific and measurable;

5 and

6 (II) measure the performance of

7 local educational agencies or schools

8 and specific groups of students affected

9 by waivers;

10 (iv) the significance of the State statu11 tory or regulatory requirements relating to

12 education that will be waived; and

13 (v) the quality of the State educational

14 agency’s process for approving applications

15 for waivers of Federal statutory or regu16 latory requirements described in paragraph

17 (1)(A) and for monitoring and evaluating

18 the results of such waivers.

19 (4) LOCAL APPLICATION.—

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational

21 agency or school requesting a waiver of a Federal

22 statutory or regulatory requirement described in

23 paragraph (1)(A) and any relevant State statu24 tory or regulatory requirement from a State edu25 cational agency shall submit an application to
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1 the State educational agency at such time, in

2 such manner, and containing such information

3 as the State educational agency may reasonably

4 require. Each such application shall—

5 (i) indicate each Federal program af6 fected and the statutory or regulatory re7 quirement that will be waived;

8 (ii) describe the purposes and overall

9 expected results of waiving each such re10 quirement;

11 (iii) describe, for each school year, spe12 cific, measurable, educational goals for each

13 local educational agency, school, or group of

14 students affected by the proposed waiver;

15 (iv) explain why the waiver will assist

16 the local educational agency or school in

17 meeting such goals; and

18 (v) provide an assurance that, not less

19 than 30 days prior to submitting the appli20 cation to the State educational agency for a

21 waiver under this section, or in accordance

22 with State law, the local educational agency

23 or school shall give public notice in widely24 read publications, such as large circulation

25 newspapers and community newspapers, of
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1 its intent to request the waiver, a descrip2 tion of the Federal statutory or regulatory

3 requirements that will be waived, any im4 proved performance of students that is ex5 pected to result from the waiver, and the

6 name and address of the local educational

7 agency official—

8 (I) to whom comments on the pro9 posed waiver may be sent by interested

10 individuals and organizations; and

11 (II) who will make all the com12 ments received available for review by

13 any member of the public.

14 (B) EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.—A

15 State educational agency shall evaluate an ap16 plication submitted under subparagraph (A) in

17 accordance with the State’s education flexibility

18 plan described in paragraph (3)(A).

19 (C) APPROVAL.—A State educational agen20 cy shall not approve an application for a waiver

21 under this paragraph unless—

22 (i) the local educational agency or

23 school requesting such waiver has developed

24 a local reform plan that is applicable to

25 such agency or school, respectively; and
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1 (ii) the waiver of Federal statutory or

2 regulatory requirements described in para3 graph (1)(A) will assist the local edu4 cational agency or school in meeting its

5 educational goals.

6 (D) TERMINATION.—If a local educational

7 agency or school that receives a waiver under

8 this section experiences a statistically significant

9 decrease in the level of performance in achieving

10 the objectives described in paragraph (3)(A)(iii)

11 or goals in paragraph (4)(A)(iii) for 2 consecu12 tive years, the State educational agency shall,

13 after notice and an opportunity for a hearing to

14 explain such decrease, terminate the waiver au15 thority granted to such local educational agency

16 or school. If, after notice and an opportunity for

17 a hearing, the State educational agency deter18 mines that the decrease in performance was jus19 tified due to exceptional or uncontrollable cir20 cumstances such as a natural disaster or a pre21 cipitous and unforeseen decline in the financial

22 resources of the local educational agency or

23 school, the waiver shall not be terminated.

24 (5) MONITORING.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational

2 agency participating in the program under this

3 section shall annually monitor the activities of

4 local educational agencies and schools receiving

5 waivers under this section and shall submit an

6 annual report regarding such monitoring to the

7 Secretary.

8 (B) PERFORMANCE DATA.—Not later than 2

9 years after a State is designated as an Ed-Flex

10 Partnership State, each such State shall include

11 performance data demonstrating the degree to

12 which progress has been made toward meeting

13 the objectives outlined in paragraph (3)(A)(iii).

14 (6) DURATION OF FEDERAL WAIVERS.—

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not

16 approve the application of a State educational

17 agency under paragraph (3) for a period exceed18 ing 5 years, except that the Secretary may ex19 tend such period if the Secretary determines that

20 such agency’s authority to grant waivers has

21 been effective in enabling such State or affected

22 local educational agencies or schools to carry out

23 their local reform plans.
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1 (B) PERFORMANCE REVIEW.—Three years

2 after a State is designated an Ed-Flex Partner3 ship State, the Secretary shall—

4 (i) review the performance of any State

5 educational agency in such State that

6 grants waivers of Federal statutory or regu7 latory requirements described in paragraph

8 (1)(A); and

9 (ii) terminate such agency’s authority

10 to grant such waivers if the Secretary deter11 mines, after notice and opportunity for a

12 hearing, that such agency has failed to

13 make measurable progress in meeting the

14 objectives outlined in paragraph (3)(A)(iii)

15 to justify continuation of such authority.

16 (7) AUTHORITY TO ISSUE WAIVERS.—Notwith17 standing any other provision of law, the Secretary is

18 authorized to carry out the education flexibility pro19 gram under this subsection for each of the fiscal years

20 1999 through 2004.

21 (b) INCLUDED PROGRAMS.—The statutory or regu22 latory requirements referred to in subsection (a)(1)(A) are

23 any such requirements under the following programs or

24 Acts:
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1 (1) Title I of the Elementary and Secondary

2 Education Act of 1965.

3 (2) Part B of title II of the Elementary and Sec4 ondary Education Act of 1965.

5 (3) Subpart 2 of part A of title III of the Ele6 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (other

7 than section 3136 of such Act).

8 (4) Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary

9 Education Act of 1965.

10 (5) Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary

11 Education Act of 1965.

12 (6) Part C of title VII of the Elementary and

13 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

14 (7) The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Tech15 nical Education Act of 1998.

16 (c) WAIVERS NOT AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may

17 not waive any statutory or regulatory requirement of the

18 programs or Acts authorized to be waived under subsection

19 (a)(1)(A)—

20 (1) relating to—

21 (A) maintenance of effort;

22 (B) comparability of services;

23 (C) the equitable participation of students

24 and professional staff in private schools;
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1 (D) parental participation and involve2 ment;

3 (E) the distribution of funds to States or to

4 local educational agencies;

5 (F) the selection of schools to participate in

6 part A of title I of the Elementary and Second7 ary Education Act of 1965, except that a State

8 educational agency may grant waivers to allow

9 schools to participate in part A of title I of such

10 Act if the percentage of children from low-income

11 families in the attendance area of such school or

12 who actually attend such school is within 5 per13 centage points of the lowest percentage of such

14 children for any school in the local educational

15 agency that meets the requirements of section

16 1113 of the Act;

17 (G) use of Federal funds to supplement, not

18 supplant, non-Federal funds; and

19 (H) applicable civil rights requirements;

20 and

21 (2) unless the underlying purposes of the statu22 tory requirements of each program or Act for which

23 a waiver is granted continue to be met to the satisfac24 tion of the Secretary.

25 (d) APPLICATION.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graphs (2) and (3), this Act shall not apply to a

3 State educational agency that has been granted waiv4 er authority under the following provisions of law:

5 (A) Section 311(e) of the Goals 2000: Edu6 cate America Act.

7 (B) The proviso referring to such section

8 311(e) under the heading ‘‘EDUCATION REFORM’’

9 in the Department of Education Appropriations

10 Act, 1996 (Public Law 104–134; 110 Stat. 1321–

11 229).

12 (2) EXCEPTION.—If a State educational agency

13 that has been granted waiver authority, pursuant to

14 paragraph (1)(A) or (B), applies to the Secretary to

15 extend such authority, the provisions of this Act, ex16 cept subsection (e)(1), shall apply to such agency.

17 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE FOR EXISTING ED-FLEX

18 PROGRAMS.—This Act shall apply to a State edu19 cational agency described in paragraph (2) beginning

20 on the date that such an extension is granted.

21 (e) ACCOUNTABILITY.—

22 (1) EVALUATION FOR ED-FLEX PARTNERSHIP

23 STATES.—In deciding whether to extend a request for

24 a State educational agency’s authority to issue waiv25 ers under this section, the Secretary shall review the
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1 progress of the State educational agency to determine

2 if such agency—

3 (A) makes measurable progress toward

4 achieving the objectives described in the applica5 tion submitted pursuant to subsection

6 (a)(3)(A)(iii); and

7 (B) demonstrates that local educational

8 agencies or schools affected by such waiver or au9 thority have made measurable progress toward

10 achieving the desired results described in the ap11 plication submitted pursuant to subsection

12 (a)(4)(A)(iii).

13 (2) EVALUATION FOR EXISTING ED-FLEX PRO14 GRAMS.—In deciding whether to extend a request for

15 a State educational agency described in subsection

16 (d)(2) to issue waivers under this section, the Sec17 retary shall review the progress of the agency in

18 achieving the objectives set forth in the application

19 submitted pursuant to subsection (a)(2)(B)(iii) of the

20 Goals 2000: Educate America Act.

21 (f) PUBLICATION.—A notice of the Secretary’s decision

22 to authorize State educational agencies to issue waivers

23 under this section shall be published in the Federal Register

24 and the Secretary shall provide for the dissemination of

25 such notice to State educational agencies, interested parties,
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1 including educators, parents, students, advocacy and civil

2 rights organizations, other interested parties, and the pub3 lic.

4 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall be effective dur5 ing the period beginning on the date of the enactment of

6 this Act and ending on the date of the enactment of an Act

7 (enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act) that

8 reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

9 of 1965 in its entirety.

Union Calendar No. 26

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 800

[Report No. 106–43]

A BILL

To provide for education flexibility partnerships.

MARCH 8, 1999

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and