I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 958

To assist local educational agencies in financing and establishing alternative

education systems, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 8, 2001

Mr. KILDEE (for himself, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, and

Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To assist local educational agencies in financing and establishing alternative education systems, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Alternative Education

5 for Safe Schools and Safe Communities Act of 2001’’.
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1 TITLE I—ALTERNATIVE

2 EDUCATION PROGRAM

3 Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education

4 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) is amended by add5 ing at the end the following new part:

6 ‘‘PART B—ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION FINANCING

7 AND ESTABLISHMENT GRANTS

8 ‘‘SEC. 4201. PURPOSE.

9 ‘‘The purpose of this part is to assist local edu10 cational agencies to implement, establish, develop, or

11 improve—

12 ‘‘(1) sound and equitable policies that ensure a

13 safe, orderly, and drug-free learning environment for

14 all children, while reducing the need to suspend or

15 expel students and the number of such suspensions

16 and expulsions; and

17 ‘‘(2) educational supports, services, and pro18 grams, using trained and qualified staff, for children

19 aged 5 through 21 who have been suspended or ex20 pelled so such children make continuing progress to21 ward meeting the State’s challenging academic

22 standards.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 4202. RESERVATION AND ALLOTMENTS.

2 ‘‘(a) RESERVATION.—From the amount made avail3 able under section 4214 to carry out this part for each

4 fiscal year, the Secretary—

5 ‘‘(1) shall reserve 0.5 percent of such amount

6 for grants to Guam, American Samoa, the United

7 States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the

8 Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of Palau,

9 the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of

10 Micronesia;

11 ‘‘(2) shall reserve 1 percent of such amount for

12 the Secretary of Interior to carry out programs

13 under this part for Indian children; and

14 ‘‘(3) may reserve not more than the lesser of 5

15 percent or $5,000,000 for evaluation and national

16 activities under section 4212.

17 ‘‘(b) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY ALLOTMENTS.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para19 graph (2), and after making the reservations in sub20 section (a), the Secretary shall, for each fiscal year,

21 allot among the States the remainder according to

22 the ratio between the amount each State received

23 under part A of title I for the preceding year and

24 the sum of such amounts received by all the States

25 for such year.
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1 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM.—For any fiscal year, the Sec2 retary shall not allot to a State an amount under

3 this subsection that is less than one-quarter of 1

4 percent of the total amount allotted to all the States

5 under this subsection.

6 ‘‘(3) REALLOTMENT.—The Secretary may

7 reallot any amount of any allotment to a State if the

8 Secretary determines that the State will be unable to

9 use such amount within two years of such allotment.

10 Such reallotments shall be made on the same basis

11 as allotments are made under paragraph (1).

12 ‘‘(c) WITHIN-STATE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.—

13 Each State educational agency having an approved appli14 cation pursuant to section 4203 and receiving an allot15 ment under subsection (b), shall—

16 ‘‘(1) allot not less than 95 percent of such allo17 cation to local educational agencies pursuant to sec18 tion 4207(a) or 4207(b); and

19 ‘‘(2) reserve not more than 5 percent for State

20 level activities and evaluation, of which not more

21 than 40 percent may be used for administration.

22 ‘‘SEC. 4203. STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY APPLICATIONS.

23 ‘‘Each State educational agency seeking a grant

24 under this part shall submit an application in such form,

25 and containing such information, as the Secretary may
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1 reasonably require. At a minimum, the application shall

2 include—

3 ‘‘(1) a description of the competitive process the

4 State educational agency will use to award grants to

5 local educational agencies if the total amount appro6 priated under this part is less than $350,000,000 in

7 any given fiscal year;

8 ‘‘(2) a description of the performance indicators

9 the State educational agency will establish, con10 sistent with section 4206 that will be used to evalu11 ate local educational agency programs funded under

12 this part;

13 ‘‘(3) an assurance that State educational agen14 cy programs funded under this part shall be based

15 on the most effective research;

16 ‘‘(4) a description of the research-base of pro17 grams funded under this part;

18 ‘‘(5) a description of the professional develop19 ment necessary for teachers, other educators, and

20 pupil services personnel to implement alternative

21 education supports, services, and programs based on

22 the most effective research;

23 ‘‘(6) a description of how the State will ensure

24 a reduction in the number of suspensions and expul-
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1 sions, including reductions among groups of minor2 ity, low-income, and disabled children;

3 ‘‘(7) a description of the programs and activi4 ties the State will carry out under section 4205;

5 ‘‘(8) an assurance that the State educational

6 agency will make awards to local educational agen7 cies under section 4207(a) based on the quality of

8 their programs and their need for assistance under

9 this part;

10 ‘‘(9) a description of how the State will ensure

11 the implementation of disciplinary policies that are

12 fair and equitable;

13 ‘‘(10) a description of how the State will ensure

14 that supports, services, and programs funded under

15 this part will enable children to meet challenging

16 State academic standards;

17 ‘‘(11) a description of how the State will ensure

18 that programs funded under this part include ade19 quate support services for students and their fami20 lies, including counseling, and will coordinate with

21 and use services available through juvenile justice,

22 mental health, and social services agencies;

23 ‘‘(12) an assurance that the State and local

24 educational agencies which receive funds under this

25 part will use such funds to provide educational serv-
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1 ices to children who have been suspended or expelled

2 from school; and

3 ‘‘(13) a description of how the State will ensure

4 the programs funded under this part provide ade5 quate support for students to return to a regular

6 education setting, if appropriate.

7 ‘‘SEC. 4204. STATE APPLICATION APPROVAL.

8 ‘‘The Secretary shall review the application of a State

9 educational agency for assistance under this part and shall

10 approve the application, unless the Secretary makes a de11 termination in writing that such application does not meet

12 the specific requirements of this part or is of insufficient

13 quality to meet the purposes of this part.

14 ‘‘SEC. 4205. STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY ACTIVITIES.

15 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS.—A State edu16 cational agency shall use funds made available under sec17 tion 4202(c)(2) for the following activities:

18 ‘‘(1) IDENTIFICATION.—Identification and dis19 semination of effective supports, services, and pro20 grams that are consistent with the purposes of this

21 part, based on the most effective research, to local

22 educational agencies within the State.

23 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE.—Technical assistance de24 signed to improve the performance of supports, serv25 ices, and programs funded under this part.
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1 ‘‘(3) EVALUATION.—Evaluation of programs

2 funded under this part, and dissemination of the

3 findings of the evaluations.

4 ‘‘(b) PERMISSIVE USES OF FUNDS.—A State edu5 cational agency may use funds made available under sec6 tion 4202(c)(2) for the following activities:

7 ‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT.—Development of effective

8 supports, services, and programs consistent with the

9 purposes of this part.

10 ‘‘(2) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.—Profes11 sional development designed to provide teachers,

12 pupil services personnel, and other related instruc13 tional personnel with skills necessary to integrate be14 havior intervention techniques and methodology into

15 the academic curriculum used by the State and local

16 educational agencies to maintain effective discipline

17 and an environment conducive to learning that re18 duces the need to suspend or expel students.

19 ‘‘(3) OTHER ACTIVITIES.—Any other activities

20 consistent with the purposes of this part.

21 ‘‘SEC. 4206. STATE PERFORMANCE MEASURES.

22 ‘‘Each State educational agency shall establish per23 formance indicators and acceptable goals of progress to

24 evaluate the effectiveness of programs funded under this
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1 part. Such performance indicators shall include, at a min2 imum:

3 ‘‘(1) reduction in the number of incidents of

4 disruptive and violent behavior;

5 ‘‘(2) reduction in the number of suspensions

6 and expulsions;

7 ‘‘(3) reduction in the total amount of time stu8 dents are out of school as a result of being sus9 pended or expelled;

10 ‘‘(4) attainment of challenging State academic

11 standards by students in programs funded under

12 this part;

13 ‘‘(5) reduction in dropout rate; and

14 ‘‘(6) an increase in the number of students re15 turning successfully to a regular education program,

16 as appropriate.

17 ‘‘SEC. 4207. LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY DISTRIBUTION

18 OF FUNDS.

19 ‘‘(a) COMPETITIVE GRANTS.—In any fiscal year in

20 which the total amount provided under section 4214 is less

21 than $350,000,000, a State educational agency shall dis22 tribute funds under section 4202(c)(1) on a competitive

23 basis to local educational agencies that have an approved

24 application under section 4208 and can demonstrate a sig25 nificant number of incidents of children aged 5 through
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1 21 who have been suspended or expelled from public

2 school. Such competitive grant process shall—

3 ‘‘(1) give priority to local educational agencies

4 in which more than 30 percent of the children are

5 from families with incomes below the poverty line;

6 ‘‘(2) ensure that each grant shall be of suffi7 cient size and scope so as to be effective;

8 ‘‘(3) ensure, to the extent practicable, distribu9 tion of grants on an equitable geographic basis, in10 cluding selecting agencies that serve urban, subur11 ban, and rural populations; and

12 ‘‘(4) utilize a peer review process to approve ap13 plications.

14 ‘‘(b) FORMULA GRANTS.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In any fiscal year in which

16 the total amount provided under section 4214 equals

17 or exceeds $350,000,000, the State educational

18 agency shall distribute funds under section

19 4202(c)(1) on the following basis:

20 ‘‘(A) 80 percent of such amount shall be

21 allocated to such local educational agencies in

22 proportion to the number of children, aged 5

23 through 17, who reside in the school district

24 served by the local educational agency from

25 families with incomes below the poverty line ap-
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1 plicable to a family of the size involved for the

2 most recent fiscal year for which satisfactory

3 data are available compared to the number of

4 such individuals who reside in the school dis5 tricts served by all the local educational agen6 cies in the State for that fiscal year.

7 ‘‘(B) 20 percent of such amount to local

8 educational agencies, based on the relative en9 rollments in public and private nonprofit ele10 mentary and secondary schools within the

11 boundaries of such agencies.

12 ‘‘(2) REALLOCATION.—If a local educational

13 agency chooses not to apply to receive the amount

14 allocated to such agency under paragraph (1), or if

15 such agency’s application is disapproved by the State

16 educational agency pursuant to section 4209, the

17 State educational agency shall reallocate such

18 amount to other local educational agencies on the

19 same basis as allocations are made under paragraph

20 (1).

21 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of pro22 grams funded under this part shall be—

23 ‘‘(1) 75 percent for local educational agencies in

24 which 30 or more percent of the children who reside

25 in the school district served by the local educational
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1 agency are from families with incomes below the

2 poverty line; and

3 ‘‘(2) 35 percent for local educational agencies in

4 which less than 30 percent of the children who re5 side in the school district served by the local edu6 cational agency are from families with incomes below

7 the poverty line.

8 ‘‘(d) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—Local educational

9 agencies may satisfy the non-Federal share funding re10 quirements of this section with in-kind contributions and

11 may use Federal funds, other than those provided under

12 this part, that may be used to carry out the purposes of

13 this part.

14 ‘‘SEC. 4208. LOCAL APPLICATION.

15 ‘‘In order to be eligible to receive a grant under sec16 tion 4207, for any fiscal year, a local educational agency

17 shall submit an application to the State educational agen18 cy, at such time, and containing such information as the

19 State educational agency shall require. Such application

20 shall, at a minimum, include—

21 ‘‘(1) an assurance that programs shall serve

22 children aged 5 through 21 who have been sus23 pended or expelled from another public school within

24 the local educational agency;
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1 ‘‘(2) a description of how the local educational

2 agency will provide, in a safe, orderly, and drug-free

3 learning environment with trained and qualified

4 staff, educational supports, services, and programs

5 for students who have been suspended or expelled so

6 such students are able to meet the State’s chal7 lenging academic standards;

8 ‘‘(3) a description of the plan of the local edu9 cational agency for reducing the number of suspen10 sions and expulsions and reducing the total amount

11 of time students are out of a regular education set12 ting as a result of being suspended or expelled;

13 ‘‘(4) a plan for training teachers, pupil services

14 personnel, and other appropriate school staff on ef15 fective strategies for dealing with disruptive stu16 dents;

17 ‘‘(5) a description of how the local educational

18 agency will involve parents in the education of chil19 dren who have been suspended or expelled, to the ex20 tent possible;

21 ‘‘(6) an assurance that local educational agen22 cies will develop annually increasing quantifiable

23 program performance goals, consistent with the

24 State’s performance indicators under section 4206;
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1 ‘‘(7) information demonstrating how the appli2 cant will continue the programs and activities devel3 oped under this part after completion of the grant;

4 ‘‘(8) an assurance that the program will provide

5 sufficient support services for children and their

6 families, including counseling, and will coordinate

7 with and utilize services provided through juvenile

8 justice, social service, and mental health agencies;

9 ‘‘(9) an assurance that the program will assist

10 participating students in making the transition back

11 to a regular education setting, as appropriate; and

12 ‘‘(10) provide an assurance that such program

13 will place an emphasis on personal, academic, social,

14 and workplace skills and behavior modification, as

15 appropriate.

16 ‘‘SEC. 4209. LOCAL APPLICATION APPROVAL.

17 ‘‘The State educational agency shall review the appli18 cation of a local educational agency for assistance under

19 this part. For the purposes of grants awarded under sec20 tion 4207(b), such application shall be deemed approved

21 unless the State makes a determination in writing that

22 such application does not meet the specific requirements

23 of this part or is of insufficient quality to meet the pur24 poses of this part.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 4210. LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY USES OF FUNDS.

2 ‘‘Each local educational agency, with an approved ap3 plication under section 4209, shall use funds provided

4 under section 4207 for one or more of the following activi5 ties, which shall be based on the most effective research:

6 ‘‘(1) The development, establishment, or im7 provement of alternative schools, either established

8 within a school or separate and apart from an exist9 ing school, that are designed—

10 ‘‘(A) to reduce disruptive behavior;

11 ‘‘(B) to reduce the need for repeat suspen12 sions and expulsions; and

13 ‘‘(C) to enable students to meet chal14 lenging State academic standards.

15 ‘‘(2) The development, establishment, or im16 provement of alternative supports, services, pro17 grams, and strategies for students served by pro18 grams funded under this part.

19 ‘‘(3) Professional development for teachers, ad20 ministrators, pupil services personnel, and other

21 school staff on the most effective ways of preventing

22 students from disrupting class, and for dealing with

23 those students who disrupt class.

24 ‘‘(4) Mentoring, tutoring, and other services for

25 students.
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1 ‘‘(5) Counseling and mental health services,

2 such as mental health assessment and counseling,

3 counseling on transitioning to work or other edu4 cational options, and family counseling.

5 ‘‘(6) Programs in such areas as conflict resolu6 tion, peer mediation, character education, social

7 skills building, alcohol, drug, and violence preven8 tion, and behavior interventions.

9 ‘‘(7) Programs providing sufficient support

10 services for children and their families, including

11 counseling, and coordination with and utilization of

12 services provided through juvenile justice, social

13 service, and mental health agencies.

14 ‘‘(8) Activities to assist students in making the

15 transition back to regular school programs, as ap16 propriate.

17 ‘‘(9) Programs to assist students to meet chal18 lenging academic standards.

19 ‘‘(10) Other programs and activities consistent

20 with the purposes of this part.

21 ‘‘SEC. 4211. PROGRAM EVALUATION.

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Each State educational

23 agency receiving funds under this part shall evaluate the

24 effectiveness of programs and activities carried out under

25 this part in reducing the need to suspend or expel students
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1 and in helping students who have been suspended or ex2 pelled to meet the State’s challenging academic standards.

3 ‘‘(2) In evaluating local programs, the State edu4 cational agency shall, as appropriate, review performance

5 data based on the attainment of the goals established by

6 local educational agencies under section 4208(6),

7 disaggregated, as appropriate, on the basis of gender,

8 race, ethnicity, migrant status, limited English proficiency

9 status, disability, primary versus secondary education, and

10 economic status.

11 ‘‘(b) EVALUATION RESULTS, CORRECTIVE ACTION,

12 AND TERMINATION OF FUNDS.—

13 ‘‘(1) RESULTS.—Each State educational agency

14 shall submit the results of its evaluation to the Sec15 retary in an annual report. The Secretary shall sub16 mit a summary of the annual reports to both the

17 Committee on Education and the Workforce of the

18 House of Representatives and the Health, Edu19 cation, Labor, and Pensions Committee of the Sen20 ate.

21 ‘‘(2) DISTRIBUTION.—Each State educational

22 agency shall distribute the results of the evaluation

23 of individual programs to each evaluated program.

24 ‘‘(3) INSUFFICIENT PROGRESS.—If a State edu25 cational agency determines that a local educational
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1 agency’s program under this part did not make suf2 ficient progress toward the performance indicators

3 established by the State educational agency based on

4 the goals described in section 4208(6), the State

5 educational agency shall provide technical assistance

6 to such program. After two consecutive years of fail7 ure by a program to make sufficient progress toward

8 the levels of performance established by the State

9 educational agency, the State educational agency

10 shall take such action as may be necessary, includ11 ing the withdrawal of funds, in whole or in part,

12 from such program.

13 ‘‘SEC. 4212. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND EVALUATION.

14 ‘‘(a) EVALUATION BY THE SECRETARY.—The Sec15 retary shall evaluate a representative sample of the pro16 grams funded under this part, and shall report the find17 ings of the evaluation to the Committee on Education and

18 the Workforce of the House of Representatives and the

19 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of

20 the Senate not later than 3 years after the first grants

21 are made under this part.

22 ‘‘(b) RESEARCH.—The Secretary shall conduct re23 search, directly or through grants or contracts, to develop

24 and identify proven alternative education practices. The

25 Secretary shall disseminate such alternative education
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1 practices to State educational agencies and local edu2 cational agencies receiving funds under this Act.

3 ‘‘(c) OTHER NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary

4 may directly, or through grants or contracts, carry out

5 programs and activities consistent with the purposes of

6 this part such as, collection of data, dissemination of infor7 mation, and development of model programs and activi8 ties.

9 ‘‘SEC. 4213. SPECIAL RULE, DEFINITION.

10 ‘‘(a) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this part shall be

11 construed to affect the requirements of the Individuals

12 with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.)

13 or the Gun-Free Schools Act (20 U.S.C. 8921 et seq.).

14 ‘‘(b) SUPPLEMENT.—Funds made available under

15 this part shall be used to supplement, and shall not sup16 plant, non-Federal funds expended to carry out programs

17 and activities authorized by this part.

18 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For the purposes of this part, the

19 term ‘poverty line’ is defined as such term is defined by

20 the Office of Management and Budget and revised annu21 ally in accordance with section 672(2) of the Community

22 Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)).

23 ‘‘SEC. 4214. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

24 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

25 this part $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such
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1 sums as may be necessary for each of the four succeeding

2 fiscal years.

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