In the Senate of the United States,

March 11, 1999.

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 800) entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for education

flexibility partnerships.’’, do pass with the following

AMENDMENT:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Education Flexibility

3 Partnership Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress makes the following findings:

6 (1) States differ substantially in demographics,

7 in school governance, and in school finance and fund8 ing. The administrative and funding mechanisms

9 that help schools in 1 State improve may not prove

10 successful in other States.

11 (2) Although the Elementary and Secondary

12 Education Act of 1965 and other Federal education
2

HR 800 EAS

1 statutes afford flexibility to State and local edu2 cational agencies in implementing Federal programs,

3 certain requirements of Federal education statutes or

4 regulations may impede local efforts to reform and

5 improve education.

6 (3) By granting waivers of certain statutory and

7 regulatory requirements, the Federal Government can

8 remove impediments for local educational agencies in

9 implementing educational reforms and raising the

10 achievement levels of all children.

11 (4) State educational agencies are closer to local

12 school systems, implement statewide educational re13 forms with both Federal and State funds, and are re14 sponsible for maintaining accountability for local ac15 tivities consistent with State standards and assess16 ment systems. Therefore, State educational agencies

17 are often in the best position to align waivers of Fed18 eral and State requirements with State and local ini19 tiatives.

20 (5) The Education Flexibility Partnership Dem21 onstration Act allows State educational agencies the

22 flexibility to waive certain Federal requirements,

23 along with related State requirements, but allows only

24 12 States to qualify for such waivers.
3

HR 800 EAS

1 (6) Expansion of waiver authority will allow for

2 the waiver of statutory and regulatory requirements

3 that impede implementation of State and local edu4 cational improvement plans, or that unnecessarily

5 burden program administration, while maintaining

6 the intent and purposes of affected programs, and

7 maintaining such fundamental requirements as those

8 relating to civil rights, educational equity, and ac9 countability.

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

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

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

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

14 In this Act:

15 (1) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY; STATE EDU16 CATIONAL AGENCY.—The terms ‘‘local educational

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

18 meanings given such terms in section 14101 of the El19 ementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

20 (2) OUTLYING AREA.—The term ‘‘outlying area’’

21 means Guam, American Samoa, the United States

22 Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern

23 Mariana Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Republic

24 of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of

25 Micronesia.
4

HR 800 EAS

1 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

2 the Secretary of Education.

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

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

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 any local edu17 cational agency or school within the State.

18 (B) DESIGNATION.—Each eligible State

19 participating in the program described in sub20 paragraph (A) shall be known as an ‘‘Ed-Flex

21 Partnership State’’.

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

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

24 that—

25 (A)(i) has—
5

HR 800 EAS

1 (I) developed and implemented the

2 challenging State content standards, chal3 lenging State student performance stand4 ards, and aligned assessments described in

5 section 1111(b) of the Elementary and Sec6 ondary Education Act of 1965, including

7 the requirements of that section relating to

8 disaggregation of data, and for which local

9 educational agencies in the State are pro10 ducing the individual school performance

11 profiles required by section 1116(a) of such

12 Act; or

13 (II) made substantial progress, as de14 termined by the Secretary, toward develop15 ing and implementing the standards and

16 assessments, and toward having local edu17 cational agencies in the State produce the

18 profiles, described in subclause (I); and

19 (ii) holds local educational agencies and

20 schools accountable for meeting educational goals

21 and for engaging in the technical assistance and

22 corrective actions consistent with section 1116 of

23 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

24 1965, for the local educational agencies and

25 schools that do not make adequate yearly
6

HR 800 EAS

1 progress as described in section 1111(b) of that

2 Act; and

3 (B) waives State statutory or regulatory re4 quirements relating to education while holding

5 local educational agencies or schools within the

6 State that are affected by such waivers account7 able for the performance of the students who are

8 affected by such waivers.

9 (3) STATE APPLICATION.—

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational

11 agency desiring to participate in the education

12 flexibility program under this section shall sub13 mit an application to the Secretary at such time,

14 in such manner, and containing such informa15 tion as the Secretary may reasonably require.

16 Each such application shall demonstrate that the

17 eligible State has adopted an educational flexi18 bility plan for the State that includes—

19 (i) a description of the process the

20 State educational agency will use to evalu21 ate applications from local educational

22 agencies or schools requesting waivers of—

23 (I) Federal statutory or regu24 latory requirements as described in

25 paragraph (1)(A); and
7

HR 800 EAS

1 (II) State statutory or regulatory

2 requirements relating to education;

3 (ii) a detailed description of the State

4 statutory and regulatory requirements relat5 ing to education that the State educational

6 agency will waive;

7 (iii) a description of how the edu8 cational flexibility plan is consistent with

9 and will assist in implementing the State

10 comprehensive reform plan or, if a State

11 does not have a comprehensive reform plan,

12 a description of how the educational flexi13 bility plan is coordinated with activities de14 scribed in section 1111(b) of the Elementary

15 and Secondary Education Act of 1965;

16 (iv) a description of how the State edu17 cational agency will meet the requirements

18 of paragraph (8); and

19 (v) a description of how the State edu20 cational agency will evaluate, (consistent

21 with the requirements of title I of the Ele22 mentary and Secondary Education Act of

23 1965), the performance of students in the

24 schools and local educational agencies af25 fected by the waivers.
8

HR 800 EAS

1 (B) APPROVAL AND CONSIDERATIONS.—The

2 Secretary may approve an application described

3 in subparagraph (A) only if the Secretary deter4 mines that such application demonstrates sub5 stantial promise of assisting the State edu6 cational agency and affected local educational

7 agencies and schools within the State in carry8 ing out comprehensive educational reform, after

9 considering—

10 (i) the eligibility of the State as de11 scribed in paragraph (2);

12 (ii) the comprehensiveness and quality

13 of the educational flexibility plan described

14 in subparagraph (A);

15 (iii) the ability of such plan to ensure

16 accountability for the activities and goals

17 described in such plan;

18 (iv) the significance of the State statu19 tory or regulatory requirements relating to

20 education that will be waived; and

21 (v) the quality of the State educational

22 agency’s process for approving applications

23 for waivers of Federal statutory or regu24 latory requirements as described in para-
9

HR 800 EAS

1 graph (1)(A) and for monitoring and evalu2 ating the results of such waivers.

3 (4) LOCAL APPLICATION.—

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational

5 agency or school requesting a waiver of a Federal

6 statutory or regulatory requirement as described

7 in paragraph (1)(A) and any relevant State

8 statutory or regulatory requirement from a State

9 educational agency shall submit an application

10 to the State educational agency at such time, in

11 such manner, and containing such information

12 as the State educational agency may reasonably

13 require. Each such application shall—

14 (i) indicate each Federal program af15 fected and the statutory or regulatory re16 quirement that will be waived;

17 (ii) describe the purposes and overall

18 expected results of waiving each such re19 quirement;

20 (iii) describe for each school year spe21 cific, measurable, and educational goals for

22 each local educational agency or school af23 fected by the proposed waiver;
10

HR 800 EAS

1 (iv) explain why the waiver will assist

2 the local educational agency or school in

3 reaching such goals; and

4 (v) in the case of an application from

5 a local educational agency, describe how the

6 local educational agency will meet the re7 quirements of paragraph (8).

8 (B) EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.—A

9 State educational agency shall evaluate an ap10 plication submitted under subparagraph (A) in

11 accordance with the State’s educational flexibil12 ity plan described in paragraph (3)(A).

13 (C) APPROVAL.—A State educational agen14 cy shall not approve an application for a waiver

15 under this paragraph unless—

16 (i) the local educational agency or

17 school requesting such waiver has developed

18 a local reform plan that is applicable to

19 such agency or school, respectively; and

20 (ii) the waiver of Federal statutory or

21 regulatory requirements as described in

22 paragraph (1)(A) will assist the local edu23 cational agency or school in reaching its

24 educational goals, particularly goals with

25 respect to school and student performance.
11

HR 800 EAS

1 (5) MONITORING AND PERFORMANCE REVIEW.—

2 (A) MONITORING.—Each State educational

3 agency participating in the program under this

4 section shall annually monitor the activities of

5 local educational agencies and schools receiving

6 waivers under this section and shall submit an

7 annual report regarding such monitoring to the

8 Secretary.

9 (B) PERFORMANCE REVIEW.—The State

10 educational agency shall annually review the

11 performance of any local educational agency or

12 school granted a waiver of Federal statutory or

13 regulatory requirements as described in para14 graph (1)(A) in accordance with the evaluation

15 requirement described in paragraph (3)(A)(v),

16 and shall terminate any waiver granted to the

17 local educational agency or school if the State

18 educational agency determines, after notice and

19 opportunity for hearing, that the local edu20 cational agency or school’s performance with re21 spect to meeting the accountability requirement

22 described in paragraph (2)(B) and the goals de23 scribed in paragraph (4)(A)(iii) has been inad24 equate to justify continuation of such waiver.

25 (6) DURATION OF FEDERAL WAIVERS.—
12

HR 800 EAS

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

2 approve the application of a State educational

3 agency under paragraph (3) for a period exceed4 ing 5 years, except that the Secretary may ex5 tend such period if the Secretary determines that

6 such agency’s authority to grant waivers has

7 been effective in enabling such State or affected

8 local educational agencies or schools to carry out

9 their local reform plans and to continue to meet

10 the accountability requirement described in sub11 section (a)(2)(B), and has improved student per12 formance.

13 (B) PERFORMANCE REVIEW.—The Secretary

14 shall periodically review the performance of any

15 State educational agency granting waivers of

16 Federal statutory or regulatory requirements as

17 described in paragraph (1)(A) and shall termi18 nate such agency’s authority to grant such waiv19 ers if the Secretary determines, after notice and

20 opportunity for hearing, that such agency’s per21 formance has been inadequate to justify continu22 ation of such authority.

23 (7) AUTHORITY TO ISSUE WAIVERS.—Notwith24 standing any other provision of law, the Secretary is

25 authorized to carry out the education flexibility pro-
13

HR 800 EAS

1 gram under this subsection for each of the fiscal years

2 2000 through 2004.

3 (8) PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENT.—Each State

4 educational agency granted waiver authority under

5 this section and each local educational agency receiv6 ing a waiver under this section shall provide the pub7 lic adequate and efficient notice of the proposed waiv8 er authority or waiver, consisting of a description of

9 the agency’s application for the proposed waiver au10 thority or waiver in a widely read or distributed me11 dium, shall provide the opportunity for parents, edu12 cators, and all other interested members of the com13 munity to comment regarding the proposed waiver

14 authority or waiver, shall provide that opportunity in

15 accordance with any applicable State law specifying

16 how the comments may be received, and shall submit

17 the comments received with the agency’s application

18 to the Secretary or the State educational agency, as

19 appropriate.

20 (b) INCLUDED PROGRAMS.—The statutory or regu21 latory requirements referred to in subsection (a)(1)(A) are

22 any such requirements under the following programs or

23 Acts:
14

HR 800 EAS

1 (1) Title I of the Elementary and Secondary

2 Education Act of 1965 (other than subsections (a)

3 and (c) of section 1116 of such Act).

4 (2) Part B of title II of the Elementary and Sec5 ondary Education Act of 1965.

6 (3) Subpart 2 of part A of title III of the Ele7 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (other

8 than section 3136 of such Act).

9 (4) Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary

10 Education Act of 1965.

11 (5) Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary

12 Education Act of 1965.

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

14 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

15 (7) The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Tech16 nical Education Act of 1998.

17 (c) WAIVERS NOT AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary and

18 the State educational agency may not waive any statutory

19 or regulatory requirement of the programs or Acts author20 ized to be waived under subsection (a)(1)(A)—

21 (1) relating to—

22 (A) maintenance of effort;

23 (B) comparability of services;

24 (C) the equitable participation of students

25 and professional staff in private schools;
15

HR 800 EAS

1 (D) parental participation and involve2 ment;

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

4 local educational agencies;

5 (F) serving eligible school attendance areas

6 in rank order under section 1113(a)(3) of the El7 ementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;

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

9 supplant, non-Federal funds; and

10 (H) applicable civil rights requirements;

11 and

12 (2) unless the underlying purposes of the statu13 tory requirements of each program or Act for which

14 a waiver is granted continue to be met to the satisfac15 tion of the Secretary.

16 (d) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational agen18 cy that is granted waiver authority under the provi19 sions of law described in paragraph (2) shall be eligi20 ble to continue the waiver authority under the terms

21 and conditions of the provisions of law as the provi22 sions of law are in effect on the date of enactment of

23 this Act.

24 (2) PROVISIONS OF LAW.—The provisions of law

25 referred to in paragraph (1) are as follows:
16

HR 800 EAS

1 (A) Section 311(e) of the Goals 2000: Edu2 cate America Act.

3 (B) The proviso referring to such section

4 311(e) under the heading ‘‘EDUCATION RE5 FORM’’ in the Department of Education Appro6 priations Act, 1996 (Public Law 104–134; 110

7 Stat. 1321–229).

8 (e) ACCOUNTABILITY.—In deciding whether to extend

9 a request for a State educational agency’s authority to issue

10 waivers under this section, the Secretary shall review the

11 progress of the State education agency, local educational

12 agency, or school affected by such waiver or authority to

13 determine if such agency or school has made progress to14 ward achieving the desired results and goals described in

15 the application submitted pursuant to clauses (ii) and (iii)

16 of subsection (a)(4)(A), respectively.

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

18 to authorize State educational agencies to issue waivers

19 under this section, including a description of the rationale

20 the Secretary used to approve applications under subsection

21 (a)(3)(B), shall be published in the Federal Register and

22 the Secretary shall provide for the dissemination of such

23 notice to State educational agencies, interested parties, in24 cluding educators, parents, students, advocacy and civil
17

HR 800 EAS

1 rights organizations, other interested parties, and the pub2 lic.

3 SEC. 5. PROGRESS REPORTS.

4 The Secretary, not later than 1 year after the date of

5 enactment of this Act and biennially thereafter, shall submit

6 to Congress a report that describes—

7 (1) the Federal statutory and regulatory require8 ments for which waiver authority is granted to State

9 educational agencies under this Act;

10 (2) the State statutory and regulatory require11 ments that are waived by State educational agencies

12 under this Act;

13 (3) the effect of the waivers upon implementation

14 of State and local educational reforms; and

15 (4) the performance of students affected by the

16 waivers.

17 SEC. 6. FLEXIBILITY TO DESIGN CLASS SIZE REDUCTION

18 PROGRAMS.

19 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that if part B of the

20 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

21 1411 et seq.) were fully funded, local educational agencies

22 and schools would have the flexibility in their budgets to

23 design class size reduction programs, or any other programs

24 deemed appropriate by the local educational agencies and
18

HR 800 EAS

1 schools that best address their unique community needs and

2 improve student performance.

3 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 307 of the Department of

4 Education Appropriations Act, 1999, is amended by adding

5 after subsection (g) the following:

6 ‘‘(h) Notwithstanding subsections (b)(2), and (c)

7 through (g), a local educational agency may use funds re8 ceived under this section to carry out activities under part

9 B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20

10 U.S.C. 1411 et seq.) in accordance with the requirements

11 of such part.’’.

12 SEC. 7. FLEXIBILITY TO DEVELOP DROPOUT PREVENTION

13 PROGRAMS.

14 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that if part B of the

15 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

16 1411 et seq.) were fully funded, local educational agencies

17 and schools would have the flexibility in their budgets to

18 develop dropout prevention programs, or any other pro19 grams deemed appropriate by the local educational agencies

20 and schools, that best address their unique community needs

21 and improve student performance.

22 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 307 of the Department of

23 Education Appropriations Act, 1999, is amended by adding

24 after subsection (g) the following:
19

HR 800 EAS

1 ‘‘(h) Notwithstanding subsections (b)(2), and (c)

2 through (g), a local educational agency may use funds re3 ceived under this section to carry out activities under part

4 B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20

5 U.S.C. 1411 et seq.) in accordance with the requirements

6 of such part.’’.

7 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

8 In addition to other funds authorized to be appro9 priated to carry out part B of the Individuals with Disabil10 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1411 et seq.), there are au11 thorized to be appropriated $150,000,000 to carry out such

12 part.

13 SEC. 9. FLEXIBILITY TO DEVELOP AFTERSCHOOL PRO14 GRAMS.

15 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that if part B of the

16 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

17 1411 et seq.) were fully funded, local educational agencies

18 and schools would have the flexibility in their budgets to

19 develop afterschool programs, or any other programs

20 deemed appropriate by the local educational agencies and

21 schools, that best address their unique community needs and

22 improve student performance.

23 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 307 of the Department of

24 Education Appropriations Act, 1999, is amended by adding

25 after subsection (g) the following:
20

HR 800 EAS

1 ‘‘(h) Notwithstanding subsections (b)(2), and (c)

2 through (g), a local educational agency may use funds re3 ceived under this section to carry out activities under part

4 B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20

5 U.S.C. 1411 et seq.) in accordance with the requirements

6 of such part.’’.

7 SEC. 10. ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA8 TIONS.

9 In addition to other funds authorized to be appro10 priated to carry out part B of the Individuals with Disabil11 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1411 et seq.), there are au12 thorized to be appropriated $600,000,000 to carry out such

13 part.

14 SEC. 11. FLEXIBILITY TO DEVELOP PROGRAMS TO REDUCE

15 SOCIAL PROMOTION AND ESTABLISH SCHOOL

16 ACCOUNTABILITY PROCEDURES.

17 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that if part B of the

18 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

19 1411 et seq.) were fully funded, local educational agencies

20 and schools would have the flexibility in their budgets to

21 develop programs to reduce social promotion, establish

22 school accountability procedures, or any other programs

23 deemed appropriate by the local educational agencies and

24 schools, that best address their unique community needs and

25 improve student performance.
21

HR 800 EAS

1 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 307 of the Department of

2 Education Appropriations Act, 1999, is amended by adding

3 after subsection (g) the following:

4 ‘‘(h) Notwithstanding subsections (b)(2), and (c)

5 through (g), a local educational agency may use funds re6 ceived under this section to carry out activities under part

7 B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20

8 U.S.C. 1411 et seq.) in accordance with the requirements

9 of such part.’’.

10 SEC. 12. ALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONAL SETTING.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 615(k)(1)(A)(ii)(I) of the

12 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

13 1415(k)(1)(A)(ii)(I)) is amended to read as follows:

14 ‘‘(I) the child carries or possesses

15 a weapon to or at school, on school

16 premises, or to or at a school function

17 under the jurisdiction of a State or a

18 local educational agency; or’’.

19 (b) APPLICATION.—The amendment made by sub20 section (a) shall apply to conduct occurring not earlier than

21 the date of enactment of this Act.

22 SEC. 13. FURTHER AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

23 In addition to other funds authorized to be appro24 priated to carry out part B of the Individuals with Disabil25 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1411 et seq.), there are au-
22

HR 800 EAS

1 thorized to be appropriated $500,000,000 to carry out such

2 part.

Attest:

Secretary.
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 800

AMENDMENT