II

Calendar No. 11

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 271

To provide for education flexibility partnerships.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 21, 1999

Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. ALLARD, Mr.

ASHCROFT, Mr. BAYH, Mr. BENNETT, Mr. BROWNBACK, Ms. COLLINS,

Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. DEWINE, Mr. GORTON, Mr. GREGG, Mr. HATCH,

Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. KERREY, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. MURKOWSKI, Mr. SMITH of Oregon, Mr. THOMPSON, Mr.

VOINOVICH, Mr. NICKLES, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. THOMAS, Mrs. LINCOLN, and Mr. BREAUX) introduced the following bill; which

was read the first time

JANUARY 22, 1999

Read the second time and placed on the calendar

A BILL

To provide for education flexibility partnerships.

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 ‘‘Education Flexibility

5 Partnership Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress makes the following findings:

3 (1) States differ substantially in demographics,

4 in school governance, and in school finance and

5 funding. The administrative and funding mecha6 nisms that help schools in 1 State improve may not

7 prove successful in other States.

8 (2) Although the Elementary and Secondary

9 Education Act of 1965 and other Federal education

10 statutes afford flexibility to State and local edu11 cational agencies in implementing Federal programs,

12 certain requirements of Federal education statutes

13 or regulations may impede local efforts to reform

14 and improve education.

15 (3) By granting waivers of certain statutory

16 and regulatory requirements, the Federal Govern17 ment can remove impediments for local educational

18 agencies in implementing educational reforms and

19 raising the achievement levels of all children.

20 (4) State educational agencies are closer to

21 local school systems, implement statewide edu22 cational reforms with both Federal and State funds,

23 and are responsible for maintaining accountability

24 for local activities consistent with State standards

25 and assessment systems. Therefore, State edu26 cational agencies are often in the best position to
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1 align waivers of Federal and State requirements

2 with State and local initiatives.

3 (5) The Education Flexibility Partnership Dem4 onstration Act allows State educational agencies the

5 flexibility to waive certain Federal requirements,

6 along with related State requirements, but allows

7 only 12 States to qualify for such waivers.

8 (6) Expansion of waiver authority will allow for

9 the waiver of statutory and regulatory requirements

10 that impede implementation of State and local edu11 cational improvement plans, or that unnecessarily

12 burden program administration, while maintaining

13 the intent and purposes of affected programs, and

14 maintaining such fundamental requirements as those

15 relating to civil rights, educational equity, and ac16 countability.

17 (7) To achieve the State goals for the education

18 of children in the State, the focus must be on results

19 in raising the achievement of all students, not proc20 ess.

21 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

22 In this Act:

23 (1) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY; STATE EDU24 CATIONAL AGENCY.—The terms ‘‘local educational

25 agency’’ and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the
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1 meaning given such terms in section 14101 of the

2 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

3 (2) OUTLYING AREAS.—The term ‘‘outlying

4 areas’’ means Guam, American Samoa, the United

5 States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the

6 Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of Palau,

7 the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Fed8 erated States of Micronesia.

9 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

10 the Secretary of Education.

11 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

12 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com13 monwealth of Puerto Rico, and each of the outlying

14 areas.

15 SEC. 4. EDUCATION FLEXIBILITY PARTNERSHIP.

16 (a) EDUCATION FLEXIBILITY PROGRAM.—

17 (1) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may

19 carry out an education flexibility program under

20 which the Secretary authorizes a State edu21 cational agency that serves an eligible State to

22 waive statutory or regulatory requirements ap23 plicable to 1 or more programs or Acts de24 scribed in subsection (b), other than require25 ments described in subsection (c), for the State
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1 educational agency or any local educational

2 agency or school within the State.

3 (B) DESIGNATION.—Each eligible State

4 participating in the program described in sub5 paragraph (A) shall be known as an ‘‘Ed-Flex

6 Partnership State’’.

7 (2) ELIGIBLE STATE.—For the purpose of this

8 subsection the term ‘‘eligible State’’ means a State

9 that—

10 (A)(i) has—

11 (I) developed and implemented the

12 challenging State content standards, chal13 lenging State student performance stand14 ards, and aligned assessments described in

15 section 1111(b) of the Elementary and

16 Secondary Education Act of 1965, includ17 ing the requirements of that section relat18 ing to disaggregation of data, and for

19 which local educational agencies in the

20 State are producing the individual school

21 performance profiles required by section

22 1116(a) of such Act; or

23 (II) made substantial progress, as de24 termined by the Secretary, toward develop25 ing and implementing the standards and
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1 assessments, and toward having local edu2 cational agencies in the State produce the

3 profiles, described in subclause (I); and

4 (ii) holds local educational agencies and

5 schools accountable for meeting the educational

6 goals described in the local applications submit7 ted under paragraph (4), and for taking correc8 tive actions, consistent with section 1116 of the

9 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

10 1965, for the local educational agencies that do

11 not meet the goals; and

12 (B) waives State statutory or regulatory

13 requirements relating to education while holding

14 local educational agencies or schools within the

15 State that are affected by such waivers account16 able for the performance of the students who

17 are affected by such waivers.

18 (3) STATE APPLICATION.—

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational

20 agency desiring to participate in the education

21 flexibility program under this section shall sub22 mit an application to the Secretary at such

23 time, in such manner, and containing such in24 formation as the Secretary may reasonably re25 quire. Each such application shall demonstrate
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1 that the eligible State has adopted an edu2 cational flexibility plan for the State that

3 includes—

4 (i) a description of the process the

5 State educational agency will use to evalu6 ate applications from local educational

7 agencies or schools requesting waivers of—

8 (I) Federal statutory or regu9 latory requirements as described in

10 paragraph (1)(A); and

11 (II) State statutory or regulatory

12 requirements relating to education;

13 and

14 (ii) a detailed description of the State

15 statutory and regulatory requirements re16 lating to education that the State edu17 cational agency will waive.

18 (B) APPROVAL AND CONSIDERATIONS.—

19 The Secretary may approve an application de20 scribed in subparagraph (A) only if the Sec21 retary determines that such application dem22 onstrates substantial promise of assisting the

23 State educational agency and affected local edu24 cational agencies and schools within such State
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1 in carrying out comprehensive educational re2 form, after considering—

3 (i) the comprehensiveness and quality

4 of the educational flexibility plan described

5 in subparagraph (A);

6 (ii) the ability of such plan to ensure

7 accountability for the activities and goals

8 described in such plan;

9 (iii) the significance of the State stat10 utory or regulatory requirements relating

11 to education that will be waived; and

12 (iv) the quality of the State edu13 cational agency’s process for approving ap14 plications for waivers of Federal statutory

15 or regulatory requirements as described in

16 paragraph (1)(A) and for monitoring and

17 evaluating the results of such waivers.

18 (4) LOCAL APPLICATION.—

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational

20 agency or school requesting a waiver of a Fed21 eral statutory or regulatory requirement as de22 scribed in paragraph (1)(A) and any relevant

23 State statutory or regulatory requirement from

24 a State educational agency shall submit an ap25 plication to the State educational agency at
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1 such time, in such manner, and containing such

2 information as the State educational agency

3 may reasonably require. Each such application

4 shall—

5 (i) indicate each Federal program af6 fected and the statutory or regulatory re7 quirement that will be waived;

8 (ii) describe the purposes and overall

9 expected results of waiving each such re10 quirement;

11 (iii) describe for each school year spe12 cific, measurable, educational goals for

13 each local educational agency or school af14 fected by the proposed waiver; and

15 (iv) explain why the waiver will assist

16 the local educational agency or school in

17 reaching such goals.

18 (B) EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.—A

19 State educational agency shall evaluate an ap20 plication submitted under subparagraph (A) in

21 accordance with the State’s educational flexibil22 ity plan described in paragraph (3)(A).

23 (C) APPROVAL.—A State educational

24 agency shall not approve an application for a

25 waiver under this paragraph unless—
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1 (i) the local educational agency or

2 school requesting such waiver has devel3 oped a local reform plan that is applicable

4 to such agency or school, respectively; and

5 (ii) the waiver of Federal statutory or

6 regulatory requirements as described in

7 paragraph (1)(A) will assist the local edu8 cational agency or school in reaching its

9 educational goals.

10 (5) MONITORING.—Each State educational

11 agency participating in the program under this sec12 tion shall annually monitor the activities of local

13 educational agencies and schools receiving waivers

14 under this section and shall submit an annual report

15 regarding such monitoring to the Secretary.

16 (6) DURATION OF FEDERAL WAIVERS.—

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not

18 approve the application of a State educational

19 agency under paragraph (3) for a period ex20 ceeding 5 years, except that the Secretary may

21 extend such period if the Secretary determines

22 that such agency’s authority to grant waivers

23 has been effective in enabling such State or af24 fected local educational agencies or schools to

25 carry out their local reform plans.
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1 (B) PERFORMANCE REVIEW.—The Sec2 retary shall periodically review the performance

3 of any State educational agency granting waiv4 ers of Federal statutory or regulatory require5 ments as described in paragraph (1)(A) and

6 shall terminate such agency’s authority to grant

7 such waivers if the Secretary determines, after

8 notice and opportunity for hearing, that such

9 agency’s performance has been inadequate to

10 justify continuation of such authority.

11 (7) AUTHORITY TO ISSUE WAIVERS.—Notwith12 standing any other provision of law, the Secretary is

13 authorized to carry out the education flexibility pro14 gram under this subsection for each of the fiscal

15 years 2000 through 2004.

16 (b) INCLUDED PROGRAMS.—The statutory or regu17 latory requirements referred to in subsection (a)(1)(A) are

18 any such requirements under the following programs or

19 Acts:

20 (1) Title I of the Elementary and Secondary

21 Education Act of 1965.

22 (2) Part A of title II of the Elementary and

23 Secondary Education Act of 1965.
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1 (3) Subpart 2 of part A of title III of the Ele2 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

3 (other than section 3136 of such Act).

4 (4) Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary

5 Education Act of 1965.

6 (5) Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary

7 Education Act of 1965.

8 (6) Part C of title VII of the Elementary and

9 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

10 (7) The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Tech11 nical Education Act of 1998.

12 (c) WAIVERS NOT AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary

13 may not waive any statutory or regulatory requirement of

14 the programs or Acts authorized to be waived under sub15 section (a)(1)(A)—

16 (1) relating to—

17 (A) maintenance of effort;

18 (B) comparability of services;

19 (C) the equitable participation of students

20 and professional staff in private schools;

21 (D) parental participation and involve22 ment;

23 (E) the distribution of funds to States or

24 to local educational agencies;
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1 (F) use of Federal funds to supplement,

2 not supplant, non-Federal funds; and

3 (G) applicable civil rights requirements;

4 and

5 (2) unless the underlying purposes of the statu6 tory requirements of each program or Act for which

7 a waiver is granted continue to be met to the satis8 faction of the Secretary.

9 (d) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be

10 construed to affect the authority of a State educational

11 agency that has been granted waiver authority under the

12 following provisions of law:

13 (1) Section 311(e) of the Goals 2000: Educate

14 America Act.

15 (2) The proviso referring to such section 311(e)

16 under the heading ‘‘EDUCATION REFORM’’ in the

17 Department of Education Appropriations Act, 1996

18 (Public Law 104–134; 110 Stat. 1321–229).

19 (e) ACCOUNTABILITY.—In deciding whether to ex20 tend a request for a State educational agency’s authority

21 to issue waivers under this section, the Secretary shall re22 view the progress of the State education agency, local edu23 cational agency, or school affected by such waiver or au24 thority to determine if such agency or school has made

25 progress toward achieving the desired results described in
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1 the application submitted pursuant to subsection

2 (e)(4)(A)(ii).

3 (f) PUBLICATION.—A notice of the Secretary’s deci4 sion to authorize State educational agencies to issue waiv5 ers under this section shall be published in the Federal

6 Register and the Secretary shall provide for the dissemina7 tion of such notice to State educational agencies, inter8 ested parties, including educators, parents, students, advo9 cacy and civil rights organizations, other interested par10 ties, and the public.

Calendar No. 11

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 271

A BILL

To provide for education flexibility partnerships.

JANUARY 22, 1999

Read the second time and placed on the calendar