I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1337

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

MARCH 15, 1993

Mr. TORRICELLI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and Labor

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

10 consists of approximately 175 to 180 academic days
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1 while the length of the academic year at elementary

2 and secondary schools in a majority of the other in3 dustrialized countries consists of approximately 190

4 to 240 academic days;

5 (3) an international testing organization has

6 found in various studies of 15 developed and less de7 veloped countries that secondary students from the

8 United States scored at or near the bottom in geom9 etry, advanced algebra, and calculus;

10 (4) various studies indicate that extending the

11 length of the academic year at elementary and sec12 ondary schools results in a significant increase in ac13 tual student learning time, even when much of the

14 time in the extended portion of the academic year is

15 used for increased teacher training and increased

16 parent-teacher interaction;

17 (5) extending the length of the academic year

18 at elementary and secondary schools will lessen the

19 need for review at the beginning of an academic year

20 of course material covered in the previous academic

21 year;

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

23 Risk’’ recommended that school districts extend the

24 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 second9 ary schools which receive grants under subsection (a) are

10 equitably distributed among the various regions of the

11 United States and among rural and urban areas within

12 such regions.

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

14 secondary school which receives a grant under subsection

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

16 demonstration grant program, then the Secretary may se17 lect another secondary school which complies with such re18 quirements to replace such school for the remaining num19 ber of years in such grant.

20 (g) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary

21 shall notify each State and local educational agency of a

22 secondary school which receives a grant under subsection

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

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

2 which shall—

3 (1) include a test of the students at each sec4 ondary school which receives a grant under sub5 section (a) by measuring the extent to which the ex6 tended academic year increased the learning reten7 tion of such students;

8 (2) examine the effects of the extended aca9 demic year on the learning process of such students

10 in general, including the extent to which the dem11 onstration grant program has—

12 (A) increased the daily attendance rate

13 and decreased the drop-out rate of such stu14 dents;

15 (B) increased the parental involvement at

16 each such school;

17 (C) increased the number of such students

18 attending post-secondary educational institu19 tions;

20 (D) positively influenced the behavioral

21 and social skills of such students; and

22 (E) reduced alcohol abuse, other drug

23 abuse, and gang-related activities among such

24 students; and
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1 (3) examine the extent to which such students,

2 teachers, parents of such students, and the local

3 educational agency and State educational agency of

4 such secondary school, believe the extended academic

5 year to have been successful with respect to the

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

7 (i) REPORTS.—

8 (1) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—The Secretary

9 shall submit a preliminary report to the President,

10 the Congress, and each State educational agency of

11 a secondary school which receives a grant under sub12 section (a) not later than August 1, 1996, contain13 ing—

14 (A) a compilation of the information re15 sulting from the study conducted pursuant to

16 subsection (h);

17 (B) a description of the extent to which

18 the Secretary believes the demonstration grant

19 program to have been successful; and

20 (C) recommendations for changes and im21 provements in such demonstration grant pro22 gram.

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

24 additional information from the study is received

25 after the submission of the preliminary report pursu-
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1 ant to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit a

2 final report containing such information to each of

3 the authorities described in paragraph (1) not later

4 than January 1, 1997.

5 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

7 for each of the fiscal years 1994, 1995, and 1996, and

8 such sums may remain available until expended.

9 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

10 As used in this Act:

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

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

13 respective meanings given such terms in section

14 1471 of the Elementary and Secondary Education

15 Act of 1965.

16 (2) The term ‘‘secondary school’’ has the mean17 ing given such term in section 1471 of the Elemen18 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, except

19 that such term does not include any education pro20 vided below grade 7.

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

22 of Education.

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