I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2252

To provide demonstration grants to secondary schools for the purpose of

extending the length of the academic year at such schools.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 4, 1995

Mr. TORRICELLI (for himself, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. LIPINSKI, Ms.

RIVERS, Mr. FRAZER, and Mr. SERRANO) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To provide demonstration grants to secondary schools for

the purpose of extending the length of the academic

year at such schools.

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

3 SECTION 1. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

4 The Congress finds that—

5 (1) the President has set several ambitious na6 tional goals to improve education in the United

7 States as part of the America 2000 program;

8 (2) the length of the academic year at most ele9 mentary and secondary schools in the United States
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1 consists of approximately 175 to 180 academic days

2 while the length of the academic year at elementary

3 and secondary schools in a majority of the other in4 dustrialized countries consists of approximately 190

5 to 240 academic days;

6 (3) an international testing organization has

7 found in various studies of 15 developed and less de8 veloped countries that secondary students from the

9 United States scored at or near the bottom in geom10 etry, advanced algebra, and calculus;

11 (4) various studies indicate that extending the

12 length of the academic year at elementary and sec13 ondary schools results in a significant increase in ac14 tual student learning time, even when much of the

15 time in the extended portion of the academic year is

16 used for increased teacher training and increased

17 parent-teacher interaction;

18 (5) extending the length of the academic year

19 at elementary and secondary schools will lessen the

20 need for review at the beginning of an academic year

21 of course material covered in the previous academic

22 year;

23 (6) in 1988 the report entitled ‘‘A Nation At

24 Risk’’ recommended that school districts extend the

25 length of the academic year at elementary and sec-
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1 ondary schools to 220 academic days and increase

2 the academic day from 6 to 7 hours; and

3 (7) elementary and secondary schools in the

4 United States have increased the number and types

5 of courses they offer students, including health edu6 cation courses and driver education courses, without

7 increasing the overall amount of time spent for

8 course instruction.

9 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF DEMONSTRATION GRANT PRO10 GRAM.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, from

12 amounts appropriated under section 3, provide grants to

13 secondary schools to extend the length of the academic

14 year at such schools to not fewer than 200 academic days.

15 A grant under this subsection may extend over a period

16 of not more than 3 fiscal years. The provision of payments

17 under such grant shall be subject to annual approval by

18 the Secretary and subject to the availability of appropria19 tions for the fiscal year involved to make the payments.

20 (b) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—To receive a

21 grant under subsection (a), a secondary school shall sub22 mit to the Secretary an application which contains assur23 ances satisfactory to the Secretary that—

24 (1) such school will extend the length of each

25 of the 3 consecutive academic years falling within
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1 the years for which such school receives payments of

2 a grant under subsection (a) to not fewer than 200

3 academic days, with each such academic day to con4 sist of not fewer than 7 hours devoted to actual in5 struction, as determined by the Secretary; and

6 (2) except as provided in subsection (c), such

7 school will provide funds from non-Federal sources,

8 in an amount equal to 20 percent of the Federal

9 funds provided in the grant, for the purpose of ex10 tending the length of its academic year.

11 (c) GOOD-FAITH EXCEPTION.—A secondary school

12 shall be considered to have satisfied the requirement of

13 subsection (b)(2) if such school makes a good-faith at14 tempt to satisfy such requirement, as determined by the

15 Secretary.

16 (d) SELECTION REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary

17 shall select secondary schools to receive grants under sub18 section (a) which—

19 (1) have submitted an application in accordance

20 with subsection (b);

21 (2) currently have academic years consisting of

22 fewer than 200 academic days;

23 (3) to the extent practicable, consist of a high

24 percentage of students from single-parent homes or

25 homes where both parents work; and
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1 (4) to the extent practicable, are located in eco2 nomically depressed communities which have a high

3 percentage of individuals—

4 (A) with alcohol abuse and other drug

5 abuse problems; and

6 (B) involved in gang-related activities.

7 (e) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY REQUIREMENT.—To the

8 extent practicable, the Secretary shall ensure that grants

9 received by secondary schools under this Act are equitably

10 distributed among the various regions of the United States

11 and among rural and urban areas within such regions.

12 (f) SELECTION OF REPLACEMENT SCHOOLS.—If any

13 secondary school which receives a grant under subsection

14 (a) fails to comply with any of the requirements of the

15 demonstration grant program, then the Secretary may se16 lect another secondary school which complies with such re17 quirements to replace such school for the remaining num18 ber of years in such grant.

19 (g) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary

20 shall notify each State and local educational agency of a

21 secondary school which receives a grant under subsection

22 (a) that such school is participating in the demonstration

23 grant program.

24 (h) STUDY.—The Secretary shall conduct a study

25 which shall—
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1 (1) include a test of the students at each sec2 ondary school which receives a grant under sub3 section (a) by measuring the extent to which the ex4 tended academic year increased the learning reten5 tion of such students;

6 (2) examine the effects of the extended aca7 demic year on the learning process of such students

8 in general, including the extent to which the dem9 onstration grant program has—

10 (A) increased the daily attendance rate

11 and decreased the drop-out rate of such stu12 dents;

13 (B) increased the parental involvement at

14 each such school;

15 (C) increased the number of such students

16 attending post-secondary educational institu17 tions;

18 (D) positively influenced the behavioral

19 and social skills of such students; and

20 (E) reduced alcohol abuse, other drug

21 abuse, and gang-related activities among such

22 students; and

23 (3) examine the extent to which such students,

24 teachers, parents of such students, and the local

25 educational agency and State educational agency of
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1 such secondary school, believe the extended academic

2 year to have been successful with respect to the

3 goals specified in paragraphs (1) and (2).

4 (i) REPORTS.—

5 (1) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—The Secretary

6 shall submit a preliminary report to the President,

7 the Congress, and each State educational agency of

8 a secondary school which receives a grant under sub9 section (a) not later than August 1, 1999, contain10 ing—

11 (A) a compilation of the information re12 sulting from the study conducted pursuant to

13 subsection (h);

14 (B) a description of the extent to which

15 the Secretary believes the demonstration grant

16 program to have been successful; and

17 (C) recommendations for changes and im18 provements in such demonstration grant pro19 gram.

20 (2) FINAL REPORT.—To the extent significant

21 additional information from the study is received

22 after the submission of the preliminary report pursu23 ant to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit a

24 final report containing such information to each of
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1 the authorities described in paragraph (1) not later

2 than January 1, 2000.

3 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

4 There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000

5 for each of the fiscal years 1997, 1998, and 1999, and

6 such sums may remain available until expended.

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

8 As used in this Act:

9 (1) The terms ‘‘local educational agency’’,

10 ‘‘State’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the

11 respective meanings given such terms in section

12 14101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education

13 Act of 1965.

14 (2) The term ‘‘secondary school’’ has the mean15 ing given such term in section 14101 of the Elemen16 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, except

17 that such term does not include any education pro18 vided below grade 7.

19 (3) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

20 of Education.

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