II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 102

To provide assistance to address school dropout problems.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 22, 2001

Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself and Mr. REID) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,

Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To provide assistance to address school dropout problems.

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

3 SECTION 1. ASSISTANCE TO ADDRESS SCHOOL DROPOUT

4 PROBLEMS.

5 Part D of title I of the Elementary and Secondary

6 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6421 et seq.) is amend7 ed by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘Subpart 4—Assistance to Address School Dropout

2 Problems

3 ‘‘SEC. 1441. SHORT TITLE.

4 ‘‘This subpart may be cited as the ‘Dropout Preven5 tion Act’.

6 ‘‘SEC. 1442. PURPOSE.

7 ‘‘The purpose of this subpart is to provide for school

8 dropout prevention and reentry and to raise academic

9 achievement levels by providing grants, to schools through

10 State educational agencies, that—

11 ‘‘(1) challenge all children to attain their high12 est academic potential; and

13 ‘‘(2) ensure that all students have substantial

14 and ongoing opportunities to do so through

15 schoolwide programs proven effective in school drop16 out prevention.

17 ‘‘Chapter 1—Coordinated National Strategy

18 ‘‘SEC. 1451. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized—

20 ‘‘(1) to collect systematic data on the participa21 tion in the programs described in paragraph (2)(C)

22 of individuals disaggregated within each State, local

23 educational agency, and school by gender, by each

24 major racial and ethnic group, by English pro25 ficiency status, by migrant status, by students with

26 disabilities as compared to nondisabled students, and
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1 by economically disadvantaged students as compared

2 to students who are not economically disadvantaged;

3 ‘‘(2) to establish and to consult with an inter4 agency working group which shall—

5 ‘‘(A) address inter- and intra-agency pro6 gram coordination issues at the Federal level

7 with respect to school dropout prevention and

8 middle school and secondary school reentry, as9 sess the targeting of existing Federal services to

10 students who are most at risk of dropping out

11 of school, and the cost-effectiveness of various

12 programs and approaches used to address

13 school dropout prevention;

14 ‘‘(B) describe the ways in which State and

15 local agencies can implement effective school

16 dropout prevention programs using funds from

17 a variety of Federal programs, including the

18 programs under title I and the School-to-Work

19 Opportunities Act of 1994; and

20 ‘‘(C) address all Federal programs with

21 school dropout prevention or school reentry ele22 ments or objectives, programs under title I of

23 this Act, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act

24 of 1994, subtitle C of title I of the Workforce
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1 Investment Act of 1998, and other programs;

2 and

3 ‘‘(3) carry out a national recognition program

4 in accordance with subsection (b) that recognizes

5 schools that have made extraordinary progress in

6 lowering school dropout rates under which a public

7 middle school or secondary school from each State

8 will be recognized.

9 ‘‘(b) RECOGNITION PROGRAM.—

10 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL GUIDELINES.—The Secretary

11 shall develop uniform national guidelines for the rec12 ognition program which shall be used to recognize

13 schools from nominations submitted by State edu14 cational agencies.

15 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE SCHOOLS.—The Secretary may

16 recognize under the recognition program any public

17 middle school or secondary school (including a char18 ter school) that has implemented comprehensive re19 forms regarding the lowering of school dropout rates

20 for all students at that school.

21 ‘‘(3) SUPPORT.—The Secretary may make mon22 etary awards to schools recognized under the rec23 ognition program in amounts determined by the Sec24 retary. Amounts received under this section shall be
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1 used for dissemination activities within the school

2 district or nationally.

3 ‘‘(c) CAPACITY BUILDING.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, through a

5 contract with a non-Federal entity, may conduct a

6 capacity building and design initiative in order to in7 crease the types of proven strategies for dropout

8 prevention and reentry that address the needs of an

9 entire school population rather than a subset of stu10 dents.

11 ‘‘(2) NUMBER AND DURATION.—

12 ‘‘(A) NUMBER.—The Secretary may award

13 not more than 5 contracts under this sub14 section.

15 ‘‘(B) DURATION.—The Secretary may

16 award a contract under this subsection for a pe17 riod of not more than 5 years.

18 ‘‘(d) SUPPORT FOR EXISTING REFORM NET19 WORKS.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide

21 appropriate support to eligible entities to enable the

22 eligible entities to provide training, materials, devel23 opment, and staff assistance to schools assisted

24 under this chapter.
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1 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In

2 this subsection, the term ‘eligible entity’ means an

3 entity that, prior to the date of enactment of the

4 Dropout Prevention Act—

5 ‘‘(A) provided training, technical assist6 ance, and materials to 100 or more elementary

7 schools or secondary schools; and

8 ‘‘(B) developed and published a specific

9 educational program or design for use by the

10 schools.

11 ‘‘Chapter 2—National School Dropout Prevention

12 Initiative

13 ‘‘SEC. 1461. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

14 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—

15 ‘‘(1) DISCRETIONARY GRANTS.—If the sum ap16 propriated under section 1472 for a fiscal year is

17 less than $250,000,000, then the Secretary shall use

18 such sum to award grants, on a competitive basis,

19 to State educational agencies to enable the State

20 educational agencies to award grants under sub21 section (b).

22 ‘‘(2) FORMULA.—If the sum appropriated

23 under section 1472 for a fiscal year equals or ex24 ceeds $250,000,000, then the Secretary shall use

25 such sum to make an allotment to each State in an
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1 amount that bears the same relation to the sum as

2 the amount the State received under part A of title

3 I for the preceding fiscal year bears to the amount

4 received by all States under such part for the pre5 ceding fiscal year.

6 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION OF STATE.—In this chapter,

7 the term ‘State’ means each of the several States of

8 the United States, the District of Columbia, the

9 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States

10 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Com11 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Re12 public of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States

13 of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.

14 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—From amounts made available to a

15 State under subsection (a), the State educational agency

16 may award grants to public middle schools or secondary

17 schools that serve students in grades 6 through 12, that

18 have school dropout rates which are the highest of all

19 school dropout rates in the State, to enable the schools

20 to pay only the startup and implementation costs of effec21 tive, sustainable, coordinated, and whole school dropout

22 prevention programs that involve activities such as—

23 ‘‘(1) professional development;

24 ‘‘(2) obtaining curricular materials;

25 ‘‘(3) release time for professional staff;
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1 ‘‘(4) planning and research;

2 ‘‘(5) remedial education;

3 ‘‘(6) reduction in pupil-to-teacher ratios;

4 ‘‘(7) efforts to meet State student achievement

5 standards;

6 ‘‘(8) counseling and mentoring for at-risk stu7 dents; and

8 ‘‘(9) comprehensive school reform models.

9 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (d)

11 and except as provided in paragraph (2), a grant

12 under this chapter shall be awarded—

13 ‘‘(A) in the first year that a school receives

14 a grant payment under this chapter, based on

15 factors such as—

16 ‘‘(i) school size;

17 ‘‘(ii) costs of the model or set of pre18 vention and reentry strategies being imple19 mented; and

20 ‘‘(iii) local cost factors such as poverty

21 rates;

22 ‘‘(B) in the second such year, in an

23 amount that is not less than 75 percent of the

24 amount the school received under this chapter

25 in the first such year;
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1 ‘‘(C) in the third year, in an amount that

2 is not less than 50 percent of the amount the

3 school received under this chapter in the first

4 such year; and

5 ‘‘(D) in each succeeding year in an amount

6 that is not less than 30 percent of the amount

7 the school received under this chapter in the

8 first such year.

9 ‘‘(2) INCREASES.—The Secretary shall increase

10 the amount awarded to a school under this chapter

11 by 10 percent if the school creates smaller learning

12 communities within the school and the creation is

13 certified by the State educational agency.

14 ‘‘(d) DURATION.—A grant under this chapter shall

15 be awarded for a period of 3 years, and may be continued

16 for a period of 2 additional years if the State educational

17 agency determines, based on the annual reports described

18 in section 1467(a), that significant progress has been

19 made in lowering the school dropout rate for students par20 ticipating in the program assisted under this chapter com21 pared to students at similar schools who are not partici22 pating in the program.

23 ‘‘SEC. 1462. STRATEGIES AND CAPACITY BUILDING.

24 ‘‘Each school receiving a grant under this chapter

25 shall implement research-based, sustainable, and widely
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1 replicated, strategies for school dropout prevention and re2 entry that address the needs of an entire school population

3 rather than a subset of students. The strategies may

4 include—

5 ‘‘(1) specific strategies for targeted purposes,

6 such as effective early intervention programs de7 signed to identify at-risk students, effective pro8 grams encompassing traditionally underserved stu9 dents, including racial and ethnic minorities and

10 pregnant and parenting teenagers, designed to pre11 vent such students from dropping out of school, and

12 effective programs to identify and encourage youth

13 who have already dropped out of school to reenter

14 school and complete their secondary education; and

15 ‘‘(2) approaches such as breaking larger schools

16 down into smaller learning communities and other

17 comprehensive reform approaches, creating alter18 native school programs, developing clear linkages to

19 career skills and employment, and addressing spe20 cific gatekeeper hurdles that often limit student re21 tention and academic success.

22 ‘‘SEC. 1463. SELECTION OF SCHOOLS.

23 ‘‘(a) SCHOOL APPLICATION.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each school desiring a

25 grant under this chapter shall submit an application
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1 to the State educational agency at such time, in

2 such manner, and accompanied by such information

3 as the State educational agency may require.

4 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted

5 under paragraph (1) shall—

6 ‘‘(A) contain a certification from the local

7 educational agency serving the school that—

8 ‘‘(i) the school has the highest number

9 or rates of school dropouts in the age

10 group served by the local educational agen11 cy;

12 ‘‘(ii) the local educational agency is

13 committed to providing ongoing oper14 ational support, for the school’s com15 prehensive reform plan to address the

16 problem of school dropouts, for a period of

17 5 years; and

18 ‘‘(iii) the local educational agency will

19 support the plan, including—

20 ‘‘(I) release time for teacher

21 training;

22 ‘‘(II) efforts to coordinate activi23 ties for feeder schools; and
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1 ‘‘(III) encouraging other schools

2 served by the local educational agency

3 to participate in the plan;

4 ‘‘(B) demonstrate that the faculty and ad5 ministration of the school have agreed to apply

6 for assistance under this chapter, and provide

7 evidence of the school’s willingness and ability

8 to use the funds under this chapter, including

9 providing an assurance of the support of 80

10 percent or more of the professional staff at the

11 school;

12 ‘‘(C) describe the instructional strategies

13 to be implemented, how the strategies will serve

14 all students, and the effectiveness of the strate15 gies;

16 ‘‘(D) describe a budget and timeline for

17 implementing the strategies;

18 ‘‘(E) contain evidence of coordination with

19 existing resources;

20 ‘‘(F) provide an assurance that funds pro21 vided under this chapter will supplement and

22 not supplant other Federal, State, and local

23 funds;

24 ‘‘(G) describe how the activities to be as25 sisted conform with research-based knowledge
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1 about school dropout prevention and reentry;

2 and

3 ‘‘(H) demonstrate that the school and local

4 educational agency have agreed to conduct a

5 schoolwide program under section 1114.

6 ‘‘(b) STATE AGENCY REVIEW AND AWARD.—The

7 State educational agency shall review applications and

8 award grants to schools under subsection (a) according to

9 a review by a panel of experts on school dropout preven10 tion.

11 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.—A school is eligible to receive a

12 grant under this chapter if the school is—

13 ‘‘(1) a public school (including a public alter14 native school)—

15 ‘‘(A) that is eligible to receive assistance

16 under part A of title I, including a comprehen17 sive secondary school, a vocational or technical

18 secondary school, or a charter school; and

19 ‘‘(B)(i) that serves students 50 percent or

20 more of whom are low-income individuals; or

21 ‘‘(ii) with respect to which the feeder

22 schools that provide the majority of the incom23 ing students to the school serve students 50

24 percent or more of whom are low-income indi25 viduals; or
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1 ‘‘(2) participating in a schoolwide program

2 under section 1114 during the grant period.

3 ‘‘(d) COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS.—A school

4 that receives a grant under this chapter may use the grant

5 funds to secure necessary services from a community6 based organization, including private sector entities, if—

7 ‘‘(1) the school approves the use;

8 ‘‘(2) the funds are used to provide school drop9 out prevention and reentry activities related to

10 schoolwide efforts; and

11 ‘‘(3) the community-based organization has

12 demonstrated the organization’s ability to provide ef13 fective services as described in section 122 of the

14 Workforce Investment Act of 1998.

15 ‘‘(e) COORDINATION.—Each school that receives a

16 grant under this chapter shall coordinate the activities as17 sisted under this chapter with other Federal programs,

18 such as programs assisted under chapter 1 of subpart 2

19 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965

20 and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994.

21 ‘‘SEC. 1464. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES.

22 ‘‘Each school that receives a grant under this chapter

23 shall provide information and technical assistance to other

24 schools within the school district, including presentations,

25 document-sharing, and joint staff development.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 1465. PROGRESS INCENTIVES.

2 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each

3 local educational agency that receives funds under title I

4 shall use such funding to provide assistance to schools

5 served by the agency that have not made progress toward

6 lowering school dropout rates after receiving assistance

7 under this chapter for 2 fiscal years.

8 ‘‘SEC. 1466. SCHOOL DROPOUT RATE CALCULATION.

9 ‘‘For purposes of calculating a school dropout rate

10 under this chapter, a school shall use—

11 ‘‘(1) the annual event school dropout rate for

12 students leaving a school in a single year determined

13 in accordance with the National Center for Edu14 cation Statistics’ Common Core of Data, if available;

15 or

16 ‘‘(2) in other cases, a standard method for cal17 culating the school dropout rate as determined by

18 the State educational agency.

19 ‘‘SEC. 1467. REPORTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY.

20 ‘‘(a) REPORTING.—In order to receive funding under

21 this chapter for a fiscal year after the first fiscal year a

22 school receives funding under this chapter, the school shall

23 provide, on an annual basis, to the Secretary and the State

24 educational agency a report regarding the status of the

25 implementation of activities funded under this chapter, the

26 outcome data for students at schools assisted under this
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1 chapter disaggregated in the same manner as information

2 under section 1451(a) (such as dropout rates), and certifi3 cation of progress from the eligible entity whose strategies

4 the school is implementing.

5 ‘‘(b) ACCOUNTABILITY.—On the basis of the reports

6 submitted under subsection (a), the Secretary shall evalu7 ate the effect of the activities assisted under this chapter

8 on school dropout prevention compared to a control group.

9 ‘‘SEC. 1468. STATE RESPONSIBILITIES.

10 ‘‘(a) UNIFORM DATA COLLECTION.—Within 1 year

11 after the date of enactment of the Dropout Prevention

12 Act, a State educational agency that receives funds under

13 this chapter shall report to the Secretary and statewide,

14 all school district and school data regarding school drop15 out rates in the State disaggregated in the same manner

16 as information under section 1451(a), according to proce17 dures that conform with the National Center for Edu18 cation Statistics’ Common Core of Data.

19 ‘‘(b) ATTENDANCE-NEUTRAL FUNDING POLICIES.—

20 Within 2 years after the date of enactment of the Dropout

21 Prevention Act, a State educational agency that receives

22 funds under this chapter shall develop and implement edu23 cation funding formula policies for public schools that pro24 vide appropriate incentives to retain students in school

25 throughout the school year, such as—
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1 ‘‘(1) a student count methodology that does not

2 determine annual budgets based on attendance on a

3 single day early in the academic year; and

4 ‘‘(2) specific incentives for retaining enrolled

5 students throughout each year.

6 ‘‘(c) SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION POLICIES.—With7 in 2 years after the date of enactment of the Dropout Pre8 vention Act, a State educational agency that receives

9 funds under this chapter shall develop uniform, long-term

10 suspension and expulsion policies (that in the case of a

11 child with a disability are consistent with the suspension

12 and expulsion policies under the Individuals with Disabil13 ities Education Act) for serious infractions resulting in

14 more than 10 days of exclusion from school per academic

15 year so that similar violations result in similar penalties.

16 ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall promul17 gate regulations implementing subsections (a) through (c).

18 ‘‘Chapter 3—Definitions; Authorization of

19 Appropriations

20 ‘‘SEC. 1471. DEFINITIONS.

21 ‘‘In this subpart:

22 ‘‘(1) LOW-INCOME.—The term ‘low-income’,

23 used with respect to an individual, means an indi24 vidual determined to be low-income in accordance

25 with measures described in section 1113(a)(5).
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1 ‘‘(2) SCHOOL DROPOUT.—The term ‘school

2 dropout’ has the meaning given the term in section

3 4(17) of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of

4 1994.

5 ‘‘SEC. 1472. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

7 this subpart, $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and such

8 sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding

9 fiscal years, of which—

10 ‘‘(1) 10 percent shall be available to carry out

11 chapter 1; and

12 ‘‘(2) 90 percent shall be available to carry out

13 chapter 2.’’.

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