I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1717 

To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the Secretary of 

Education to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement 

of students. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 25, 2009 

Mr. HOEKSTRA (for himself, Mr. AKIN, Mrs. BACHMANN, Mr. BARRETT of 

South Carolina, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mrs. BLACKBURN, 

Mr. BLUNT, Mr. BONNER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. CARTER, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. CULBERSON, Ms. FALLIN, Mr. FLAKE, Ms. 

FOXX, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. 

GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. HERGER, 

Mr. INGLIS, Mr. ISSA, Mr. JONES, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. LINDER, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. MANZULLO, Mrs. MILLER of 

Michigan, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Mr. PAUL, Mr. 

PENCE, Mr. PITTS, Mr. PRICE of Georgia, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. 

ROHRABACHER, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. 

SHADEGG, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. WESTMORELAND, and 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the 

Secretary of Education to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement of students. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; PURPOSE; 

2 DEFINITIONS. 

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

4 ‘‘Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act’’ or the 

5 ‘‘A PLUS Act’’. 

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

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; purpose; definitions. 

Sec. 2. Declaration of intent. 

Sec. 3. Transparency for results of public education. 

Sec. 4. Maintenance of funding levels spent by States on education. 

Sec. 5. Administrative expenses. 

Sec. 6. Equitable participation of private schools. 

8 (c) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act are as fol9 lows: 

10 (1) To give States and local communities max11 imum flexibility to determine how to improve aca12 demic achievement and implement education re13 forms. 

14 (2) To reduce the administrative costs and com15 pliance burden of Federal education programs in 

16 order to focus Federal resources on improving aca17 demic achievement. 

18 (3) To ensure that States and communities are 

19 accountable to the public for advancing the academic 

20 achievement of all students, especially disadvantaged 

21 children. 

22 (d) DEFINITIONS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro2 vided, the terms used in this Act have the meanings 

3 given the terms in section 9101 of the Elementary 

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

5 7801 et seq.). 

6 (2) OTHER TERMS.—In this Act: 

7 (A) DECLARATION OF INTENT.—The term 

8 ‘‘declaration of intent’’ means a decision by a 

9 State made by State Authorizing Officials or by 

10 referendum to assume full management respon11 sibility for the expenditure of Federal funds for 

12 certain eligible programs for the purpose of ad13 vancing on a more comprehensive and effective 

14 basis the educational policy of such State. 

15 (B) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the 

16 meaning given such term in section 1122(e) of 

17 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

18 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6332(e)). 

19 (C) STATE AUTHORIZING OFFICIALS.—The 

20 term ‘‘State Authorizing Officials’’ means the 

21 State officials who shall authorize the submis22 sion of a declaration of intent, and any amend23 ments thereto, on behalf of the State. Such offi24 cials shall include not less than 2 of the fol25 lowing: 


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1 (i) The governor of the State. 

2 (ii) The highest elected education offi3 cials of the State, if any. 

4 (iii) The legislature of the State. 

5 (D) STATE DESIGNATED OFFICER.—The 

6 term ‘‘State Designated Officer’’ means the 

7 person designated by the State Authorizing Of8 ficials to submit to the Secretary on behalf of 

9 the State a declaration of intent, and any 

10 amendments thereto, and to function as the 

11 point-of-contact for the State for the Secretary 

12 and others relating to any responsibilities aris13 ing under this Act. 

14 (E) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The term ‘‘ac15 countability’’ means that public schools are an16 swerable to parents and other taxpayers for the 

17 use of public funds and shall report student 

18 progress to them regularly. 

19 SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF INTENT. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State is authorized to sub21 mit to the Secretary a declaration of intent permitting the 

22 State to receive Federal funds on a consolidated basis to 

23 manage the expenditure of such funds to advance the edu24 cational policy of the State. 


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1 (b) PROGRAMS ELIGIBLE FOR CONSOLIDATION AND

2 PERMISSIBLE USE OF FUNDS.— 

3 (1) SCOPE.—A State may choose to include 

4 within the scope of its declaration of intent any pro5 gram for which Congress makes funds available to 

6 the State if the program is for a purpose described 

7 in section 1001 of the Elementary and Education 

8 Secondary Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301). A State 

9 may not include any program funded pursuant to 

10 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 

11 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.). 

12 (2) USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available to 

13 a State pursuant to a declaration of intent under 

14 this Act shall be used for any educational purpose 

15 permitted by State law of the State submitting a 

16 declaration of intent. 

17 (c) CONTENTS OF DECLARATION.—Each such dec18 laration shall contain— 

19 (1) a list of eligible programs that are subject 

20 to the declaration of intent; 

21 (2) an assurance that the submission of the 

22 declaration of intent has been authorized by the 

23 State Authorizing Officials, specifying the identity of 

24 the State Designated Officer; 


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1 (3) the duration of the declaration of intent 

2 shall not exceed 5 years; 

3 (4) an assurance that the State will use fiscal 

4 control and fund accounting procedures; 

5 (5) an assurance that the State will meet the 

6 requirements of applicable Federal civil rights laws 

7 in carrying out the declaration of intent and in con8 solidating and using the funds under the declaration 

9 of intent; 

10 (6) an assurance that in implementing the dec11 laration of intent the State will seek to advance edu12 cational opportunities for the disadvantaged; and 

13 (7) a description of the plan for maintaining di14 rect accountability to parents and other citizens of 

15 the State. 

16 (d) REVIEW AND RECOGNITION BY THE SEC17 RETARY.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall review 

19 the declaration of intent received from the State 

20 Designated Officer within 60 days of the date of re21 ceipt, and shall recognize such declaration of intent 

22 unless it fails to meet the requirements of subsection 

23 (c). 

24 (2) RECOGNITION BY OPERATION OF LAW.—If 

25 the Secretary fails to take action within the time 


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1 specified in paragraph (1), the declaration of intent, 

2 as submitted, shall be deemed to be approved. 

3 (e) AMENDMENT TO DECLARATION OF INTENT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The State Authorizing Offi5 cials may direct the State Designated Officer to sub6 mit amendments to the declaration of intent which 

7 is in effect. Such amendments shall be submitted to 

8 the Secretary and considered by such officer pursu9 ant to subsection (d). 

10 (2) AMENDMENTS AUTHORIZED.—A declaration 

11 of intent in effect may be amended to— 

12 (A) expand the scope of such declaration of 

13 intent to encompass additional eligible pro14 grams; 

15 (B) reduce the scope of such declaration of 

16 intent by excluding coverage of a Federal pro17 gram included in the original declaration of in18 tent; 

19 (C) modifying the duration of such dec20 laration of intent; or 

21 (D) such other modifications that the 

22 State Authorizing Officials deem appropriate. 

23 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment shall 

24 specify an effective date. Such effective date shall 

25 provide adequate time to assure full compliance with 


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1 Federal program requirements relating to an eligible 

2 program that has been removed from the coverage of 

3 the declaration of intent by the proposed amend4 ment. 

5 (4) TREATMENT OF PROGRAM FUNDS WITH6 DRAWN FROM DECLARATION OF INTENT.—Begin7 ning on the effective date of an amendment executed 

8 under paragraph (2)(B), each program requirement 

9 of each program removed from the declaration of in10 tent shall apply to the State’s use of funds made 

11 available under the program. 

12 SEC. 3. TRANSPARENCY FOR RESULTS OF PUBLIC EDU13 CATION. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State operating under a 

15 declaration of intent pursuant to under this Act shall in16 form parents and the general public regarding the student 

17 achievement assessment system, demonstrating student 

18 progress relative to the State’s determination of student 

19 proficiency, for the purpose of public accountability to par20 ents and taxpayers. 

21 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM.—The accountability 

22 system shall be determined by the State. 

23 (c) REPORT ON STUDENT PROGRESS.—Not later 

24 than 1 year after the effective date of the declaration of 

25 intent, and annually thereafter, a State shall disseminate 


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1 widely to parents and the general public a report that de2 scribes student progress. The report shall include— 

3 (1) student performance data disaggregated in 

4 the same manner as data are disaggregated under 

5 section 1111(b)(3)(C)(xiii) of the Elementary and 

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

7 6311(b)(3)(C)(xiii)); and 

8 (2) a description of how the State has used 

9 Federal funds to improve academic achievement, re10 duce achievement disparities between various stu11 dent groups, and improve educational opportunities 

12 for the disadvantaged. 

13 SEC. 4. MAINTENANCE OF FUNDING LEVELS SPENT BY 

14 STATES ON EDUCATION. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—For each State consolidating and 

16 using funds pursuant to a declaration of intent under this 

17 Act, for each school year of the declaration of intent, the 

18 aggregate amount of funds spent by the State on elemen19 tary and secondary education shall be not less than 90 

20 percent of the aggregate amount of funds spent by the 

21 State on elementary and secondary education for the 

22 school year that coincides with the date of enactment of 

23 this Act. 

24 (b) EXCEPTION.—The requirement of subsection (a) 

25 may be waived by the State Authorizing Officials if the 


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1 State having a declaration of intent in effect makes a de2 termination, supported by specific findings, that uncon3 trollable or exceptional circumstances, such as a natural 

4 disaster or extreme contraction of economic activity, pre5 clude compliance for a specified period, which may be ex6 tended. Such determination shall be presented to the Sec7 retary by the State Designated Officer and action shall 

8 be taken in the manner prescribed by section 2(d). 

9 SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

11 (b), the amount that a State with a declaration of intent 

12 may expend for administrative expenses shall be limited 

13 to 1 percent of the aggregate amount of Federal funds 

14 made available to the State through the eligible programs 

15 included within the scope of such declaration of intent. 

16 (b) STATES NOT CONSOLIDATING FUNDS UNDER

17 PART A OF TITLE I.—If the declaration of intent does 

18 not include within its scope part A of title I of the Elemen19 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

20 6311 et seq.), the amount spent on administrative ex21 penses shall be limited to 3 percent of the aggregate 

22 amount of Federal funds made available to the State pur23 suant to such declaration of intent. 


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1 SEC. 6. EQUITABLE PARTICIPATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 

2 Funds made available by a State pursuant to a dec3 laration of intent under this Act shall be distributed in 

4 a manner that provides for the equitable, as determined 

5 by the State, participation of private schools, and the stu6 dents and professional staff of such schools. 

Æ 


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