II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1337

To provide for national digital school districts.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 2, 2001

Ms. CANTWELL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To provide for national digital school districts.

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 ‘‘National Digital

5 School Districts Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL DIGITAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

7 (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are—

8 (1) to address the important role that tech9 nology and the Internet can play in enhancing and

10 improving education in the schools of the United

11 States when resources are allocated strategically and

12 effectively;
2

•S 1337 IS

1 (2) to assist State and local school administra2 tors in the United States in effectively devoting re3 sources on proven methods to incorporate the use of

4 high technology and the Internet in educational cur5 ricula;

6 (3) to encourage the development of innovative

7 strategic approaches to the appropriate and effective

8 use of technology in teaching, learning, and man9 aging elementary schools and secondary schools;

10 (4) to evaluate and assess the various strategies

11 described in paragraph (3) and provide models for

12 the innovative use of technology in schools in the

13 United States; and

14 (5) to encourage partnerships between edu15 cational institutions and the private sector relating

16 to the use of technology described in paragraph (3)

17 in schools in the United States.

18 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

19 (1) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL;

20 STATE AND LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.—The

21 terms ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘secondary school’’,

22 State educational agency’’ and ‘‘local educational

23 agency’’ have the meanings given such terms in the

24 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

25 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.).
3

•S 1337 IS

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

2 the Secretary of Education.

3 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means 1 of the

4 several States of the United States and the District

5 of Columbia.

6 (4) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

7 ‘‘State educational agency’’ means the State edu8 cational agency of a State.

9 (c) GRANTS TO STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.—

10 (1) FISCAL YEAR 2002.—For fiscal year 2002,

11 the Secretary shall award 1 grant to each State edu12 cational agency to make subgrants to local edu13 cational agencies to create national digital school

14 districts.

15 (2) FISCAL YEAR 2003.—

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—For fiscal year 2003,

17 the Secretary shall award 1 grant to each State

18 educational agency to pay for the Federal share

19 of the cost of making subgrants to local edu20 cational agencies to create national digital

21 school districts.

22 (B) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share

23 of the cost referred to in subparagraph (A) is

24 50 percent.
4

•S 1337 IS

1 (3) STATE APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to re2 ceive a grant under this section, a State educational

3 agency shall submit an application to the Secretary

4 at such time, in such manner, and containing such

5 information as the Secretary may reasonably re6 quire.

7 (d) SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN8 CIES.—

9 (1) SUBGRANTS.—A State educational agency

10 that receives a grant under subsection (c) shall use

11 not less than 95 percent of the funds made available

12 through the grant to make subgrants, on a competi13 tive basis, to local educational agencies.

14 (2) NOTICE.—The State educational agency

15 shall provide notice to all local educational agencies

16 in the State of the availability of subgrants under

17 this subsection and of the requirements for applying

18 for the subgrants.

19 (3) LOCAL APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to re20 ceive a subgrant under this section, a local edu21 cational agency shall submit an application to the

22 State educational agency at such time, in such man23 ner, and containing such information as the State

24 educational agency may reasonably require.
5

•S 1337 IS

1 (4) USE OF SUBGRANTS.—A local educational

2 agency that receives a subgrant under this sub3 section may use the funds made available through

4 the subgrant to create a national digital school dis5 trict by—

6 (A) acquiring technology;

7 (B) providing teacher mentoring; and

8 (C) carrying out other efforts to achieve

9 the purposes of this section.

10 (e) ACADEMIC RESEARCH.—The Secretary shall

11 award grants, on a competitive basis, for fiscal year 2004

12 to institutions of higher education, to conduct research on

13 the effectiveness of the technology used in national digital

14 school districts.

15 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

16 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be

17 necessary to carry out this section.

18 SEC. 3. NATIONAL EVALUATION OF TECHNOLOGY PLANS.

19 Not later than 36 months after the date of enactment

20 of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with other Fed21 eral departments or agencies, State and local educational

22 practitioners, and policy makers, including teachers, prin23 cipals and superintendents, and experts in technology and

24 the application of technology to education, shall report to

25 Congress on best practices in implementing technology ef-
6

•S 1337 IS

1 fectively. The report shall include recommendations for the

2 purpose of establishing best practices that can be widely

3 implemented by State and local educational agencies.

Æ