II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1590

To improve elementary and secondary education.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 29, 1998

Mr. COVERDELL (for himself, Mr. LOTT, Mr. NICKLES, Mr. MACK, Mr.

CRAIG, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. GREGG, Mr. COATS, Mr. INHOFE, Mr.

MURKOWSKI, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. KYL, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To improve elementary and secondary education.

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 ‘‘Better Opportunities

5 for Our Kids and Schools Act’’.

6 TITLE I—A+ ACCOUNTS FOR

7 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS

8 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

9 This title may be cited as the ‘‘A+ Accounts for Pub10 lic and Private Schools Act’’.
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1 SEC. 102. MODIFICATIONS TO EDUCATION INDIVIDUAL RE2 TIREMENT ACCOUNTS.

3 (a) TAX-FREE EXPENDITURES FOR ELEMENTARY

4 AND SECONDARY SCHOOL EXPENSES.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 530(b)(2) of the In6 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as

7 follows:

8 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED EDUCATION EXPENSES.—

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified

10 education expenses’ means—

11 ‘‘(i) qualified higher education ex12 penses (as defined in section 529(e)(3)),

13 and

14 ‘‘(ii) qualified elementary and second15 ary education expenses (as defined in para16 graph (4)).

17 Such expenses shall be reduced as provided in

18 section 25A(g)(2) but only with respect to

19 amounts in the account which are attributable

20 to contributions for any taxable year ending be21 fore January 1, 2003, and earnings on such

22 contributions.

23 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED STATE TUITION PRO24 GRAMS.—Such term shall include amounts paid

25 or incurred to purchase tuition credits or cer26 tificates, or to make contributions to an ac-
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1 count, under a qualified State tuition program

2 (as defined in section 529(b)) for the benefit of

3 the beneficiary of the account.’’.

4 (2) QUALIFIED ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

5 EDUCATION EXPENSES.—Section 530(b) of such

6 Code is amended by adding at the end the following

7 new paragraph:

8 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

9 EDUCATION EXPENSES.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified el11 ementary and secondary education expenses’

12 means tuition, fees, tutoring, special needs serv13 ices, books, supplies, computer equipment (in14 cluding related software and services) and other

15 equipment, transportation, and supplementary

16 expenses required for the enrollment or attend17 ance of the designated beneficiary of the trust

18 at a public, private, or religious school.

19 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR

20 HOMESCHOOLING.—Such term shall include ex21 penses described in subparagraph (A) required

22 for education provided for homeschooling if the

23 requirements of any applicable State or local

24 law are met with respect to such education.
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1 ‘‘(C) SCHOOL.—The term ‘school’ means

2 any school which provides elementary education

3 or secondary education (through grade 12), as

4 determined under State law.’’.

5 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Subsections

6 (b)(1) and (d)(2) of section 530 of such Code are

7 each amended by striking ‘‘higher’’ each place it ap8 pears in the text and heading thereof.

9 (b) TEMPORARY INCREASE IN MAXIMUM ANNUAL

10 CONTRIBUTIONS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 530(b)(1)(A)(iii) of

12 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by

13 striking ‘‘$500’’ and inserting ‘‘the contribution

14 limit for such taxable year’’.

15 (2) CONTRIBUTION LIMIT.—Section 530(b) of

16 such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol17 lowing new paragraph:

18 ‘‘(4) CONTRIBUTION LIMIT.—The term ‘con19 tribution limit’ means $2,500 ($500 in the case of

20 any taxable year ending after December 31, 2002).’’.

21 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

22 (A) Section 530(d)(4)(C) of such Code is

23 amended by striking ‘‘$500’’ and inserting ‘‘the

24 contribution limit for such taxable year’’.
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1 (B) Section 4973(e)(1)(A) of such Code is

2 amended by striking ‘‘$500’’ and inserting ‘‘the

3 contribution limit (as defined in section

4 530(b)(4)) for such taxable year’’.

5 (c) WAIVER OF AGE LIMITATIONS FOR CHILDREN

6 WITH SPECIAL NEEDS.—Paragraph (1) of section 530(b)

7 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add8 ing at the end the following flush sentence:

9 ‘‘The age limitations in the preceding sentence shall

10 not apply to any designated beneficiary with special

11 needs (as determined under regulations prescribed

12 by the Secretary).’’.

13 (d) CORPORATIONS PERMITTED TO CONTRIBUTE TO

14 ACCOUNTS.—Paragraph (1) of section 530(c) of the Inter15 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘The

16 maximum amount which a contributor’’ and inserting ‘‘In

17 the case of a contributor who is an individual, the maxi18 mum amount the contributor’’.

19 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE; REFERENCES.—

20 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made

21 by this section shall take effect as if included in the

22 amendments made by section 213 of the Taxpayer

23 Relief Act of 1997.

24 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in this sec25 tion to any section of the Internal Revenue Code of
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1 1986 shall be a reference to such section as added

2 by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997.

3 TITLE II—DOLLARS TO THE

4 CLASSROOM

5 SEC. 201. DIRECT AWARDS OF CERTAIN EDUCATION FUND6 ING TO STATES.

7 (a) DIRECT AWARDS OF CERTAIN EDUCATION

8 FUNDING.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

10 provision of law, for each fiscal year the Secretary

11 shall award the total amount of funds described in

12 paragraph (2) directly to States in accordance with

13 this subsection.

14 (2) APPLICABLE FUNDING.—The total amount

15 of funds referred to in paragraph (1) are all funds

16 not used to carry out paragraph (8)(B) for the fiscal

17 year that are appropriated for the Department of

18 Education for the fiscal year to carry out programs

19 or activities under the following provisions of law:

20 (A) Title III of the Goals 2000: Educate

21 America Act (20 U.S.C. 5881 et seq.).

22 (B) Title IV of the Goals 2000: Educate

23 America Act (20 U.S.C. 5911 et seq.).

24 (C) Title VI of the Goals 2000: Educate

25 America Act (20 U.S.C. 5951).
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1 (D) The Educational Research, Develop2 ment, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of

3 1994 (20 U.S.C. 6001 et seq.).

4 (E) Titles II, III, and IV of the School-to5 Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C.

6 6121 et seq., 6171 et seq., and 6191 et seq.).

7 (F) Title II of the Elementary and Second8 ary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et

9 seq.).

10 (G) Sections 3132 and 3136 of the Ele11 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

12 (20 U.S.C. 6842 and 6846).

13 (H) Part B of title III of the Elementary

14 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

15 U.S.C. 6891 et seq.).

16 (I) Part C of title III of the Elementary

17 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

18 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.).

19 (J) Part D of title III of the Elementary

20 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

21 U.S.C. 6951 et seq.).

22 (K) Subpart 1 of part A of title IV of the

23 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

24 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7111 et seq.).
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1 (L) Subpart 2 of part A of title IV of the

2 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

3 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7131 et seq.).

4 (M) Part A of title V of the Elementary

5 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

6 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.).

7 (N) Part B of title V of the Elementary

8 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

9 U.S.C. 7231 et seq.).

10 (O) Title VI of the Elementary and Sec11 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7311

12 et seq.).

13 (P) Part A of title X of the Elementary

14 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

15 U.S.C. 8001 et seq.).

16 (Q) Part B of title X of the Elementary

17 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

18 U.S.C. 8031 et seq.).

19 (R) Part I of title X of the Elementary

20 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

21 U.S.C. 8241 et seq.).

22 (S) Part A of title XIII of the Elementary

23 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

24 U.S.C. 8621 et seq.).
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1 (T) Part C of title XIII of the Elementary

2 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

3 U.S.C. 8671 et seq.).

4 (3) TIMELINES.—

5 (A) CENSUS DETERMINATION.—

6 (i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 21

7 days after the beginning of an academic

8 year, each State shall conduct a census to

9 determine the number of children in kin10 dergarten through grade 12 in the State

11 for the academic year.

12 (ii) SUBMISSION.—Each State shall

13 submit the number described in clause (i)

14 to the Secretary not later than February 1

15 of the academic year.

16 (B) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall

17 publish in the Federal Register not later than

18 March 15 of each fiscal year the amount each

19 State will receive under this subsection for the

20 succeeding fiscal year.

21 (C) DISBURSAL.—The Secretary shall dis22 burse the amount awarded to a State under

23 this subsection for a fiscal year not later than

24 July 1 of the preceding fiscal year.
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1 (4) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT.—The Sec2 retary shall determine the amount awarded to each

3 State under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year as fol4 lows:

5 (A) PER CHILD AMOUNT.—First, the Sec6 retary, using the information provided under

7 paragraph (3), shall determine a per child

8 amount for the fiscal year by dividing the total

9 amount of funds described in paragraph (2) for

10 the fiscal year, by the total number of children

11 in kindergarten through grade 12 in all States

12 for the academic year preceding the fiscal year.

13 (B) BASELINE AMOUNT.—Second, the Sec14 retary, using the information provided under

15 paragraph (3), shall determine the baseline

16 amount for each State for the fiscal year by

17 multiplying the per child amount determined

18 under subparagraph (A) for the fiscal year by

19 the number of children in kindergarten through

20 grade 12 in the State for the academic year

21 preceding the fiscal year.

22 (C) COMPUTATION.—Lastly, the Secretary

23 shall compute the amount awarded to each

24 State for the fiscal year as follows:
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1 (i) Multiply the baseline amount de2 termined under subparagraph (B) for the

3 fiscal year by a factor of 1.10 for States

4 that are in the least wealthy quintile of all

5 States as determined by the Secretary on

6 the basis of the per capita income of indi7 viduals in the States.

8 (ii) Multiply the baseline amount by a

9 factor of 1.05 for States that are in the

10 second least wealthy such quintile.

11 (iii) Multiply the baseline amount by a

12 factor of 1.00 for States that are in the

13 third least wealthy such quintile.

14 (iv) Multiply the baseline amount by a

15 factor of 0.95 for States that are in the

16 fourth least wealthy such quintile.

17 (v) Multiply the baseline amount by a

18 factor of 0.90 for States that are in the

19 wealthiest such quintile.

20 (D) INCOMES FROM CERTAIN AREAS EX21 CLUDED FROM QUINTILE DETERMINATIONS.—

22 For the purpose of determining the quintiles

23 described in subparagraph (C) the Secretary

24 shall exclude the per capita incomes of individ25 uals in Alaska, Hawaii, the District of Colum-
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1 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam,

2 American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the

3 Northern Mariana Islands, and the United

4 States Virgin Islands.

5 (E) SPECIAL RULE FOR ALASKA AND HA6 WAII.—Notwithstanding subparagraph (C), the

7 Secretary shall compute the amount awarded to

8 the States of Alaska and Hawaii under para9 graph (1) by multiplying the baseline amount

10 determined under subparagraph (B) for Alaska

11 and Hawaii, respectively, by a factor of 1.00.

12 (5) RATABLE REDUCTION.—If the total amount

13 of funds described in paragraph (2) that are made

14 available to carry out paragraph (1) for a fiscal year

15 is insufficient to pay in full all amounts awarded

16 under this subsection for the fiscal year, then the

17 Secretary shall ratably reduce each such amount.

18 (6) RATABLE INCREASE.—If the total amount

19 of funds described in paragraph (2) that are made

20 available to carry out paragraph (1) for a fiscal year

21 exceeds the funding required to pay in full all

22 amounts awarded under this subsection for the fiscal

23 year, then the Secretary shall ratably increase each

24 such amount.
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1 (7) PENALTY.—If the Secretary determines

2 that a State has knowingly submitted false informa3 tion under paragraph (3) for the purpose of gaining

4 additional funds under paragraph (1), then the

5 State shall be fined an amount equal to twice the

6 difference between the amount the State received

7 under this subsection, and the correct amount the

8 State would have received if the State had submitted

9 accurate information under paragraph (3).

10 (8) HOLD HARMLESS.—

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—No State shall receive

12 an award under this subsection for a fiscal year

13 in an amount that is less than the amount the

14 State would have received to carry out pro15 grams or activities under the provisions of law

16 described in subparagraphs (A), (E), (F), (G),

17 (K), and (O) of paragraph (2) for the fiscal

18 year.

19 (B) MULTIYEAR AWARDS.—The Secretary

20 shall use funds appropriated to carry out the

21 programs or activities under the provisions of

22 law described in paragraph (2) (other than sub23 paragraphs (A), (E), (F), (G), (K), and (O) of

24 paragraph (2)) to make payments to eligible re25 cipients under such provisions pursuant to any
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1 multiyear award made under such provisions

2 prior to the date of enactment of this Act.

3 (b) PAYMENTS AND AVAILABILITY.—

4 (1) PAYMENTS.—Funds awarded to a State

5 under this subsection shall be paid to the Governor

6 of the State.

7 (2) AVAILABILITY.—The Governor of the State

8 shall make the funds provided under this subsection

9 available to the individual or entity in the State that

10 is responsible for the State administration of Fed11 eral education funds pursuant to State law.

12 (c) USE OF STATE AWARDS.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amount made

14 available to a State under subsection (a) for a fiscal

15 year, the State—

16 (A) shall use not more than 5 percent of

17 the amount to support programs or activities,

18 for children in kindergarten through grade 12,

19 that the State determines appropriate, of which

20 the State shall distribute 1 percent of the 5

21 percent to local educational agencies in the

22 State to pay the administrative expenses of the

23 local educational agencies that are associated

24 with the activities and services assisted under

25 this section; and
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1 (B) shall distribute not less than 95 per2 cent of the amount to local educational agencies

3 in the State for the fiscal year to enable the

4 local educational agencies to pay the costs of

5 activities or services, for children in kinder6 garten through grade 12 (including such public

7 and private school children), that—

8 (i) the local educational agencies de9 termine appropriate; and

10 (ii) are provided in the classroom.

11 (2) CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AND SERVICES.—

12 For the purpose of paragraph (1)(B), the costs of

13 activities and services provided in the classroom—

14 (A) exclude the administrative expenses as15 sociated with the activities and services; and

16 (B) notwithstanding paragraph (1)(B)(i),

17 include nonadministrative expenses associated

18 with statewide or districtwide initiatives directly

19 affecting classroom learning.

20 (d) REGULATIONS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), no

22 head of a Federal department or agency other than

23 the Secretary may promulgate regulations under this

24 section.
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1 (2) SPECIAL RULE.—The Secretary shall not

2 promulgate regulations under this section regarding

3 the types of activities and services that may be as4 sisted under this section.

5 SEC. 202. TITLE I FUNDING.

6 Section 1603 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu7 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6513) is amended by add8 ing at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(d) DOLLARS TO THE CLASSROOM.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

11 provision of law, from the funds made available to

12 a local educational agency under this part for a fis13 cal year, not less than 95 percent of the funds shall

14 be used for the costs of activities and services pro15 vided in the classroom for the fiscal year.

16 ‘‘(2) CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AND SERVICES.—

17 For the purpose of paragraph (1), the costs of ac18 tivities and services provided in the classroom—

19 ‘‘(A) exclude the administrative expenses

20 associated with the activities and services; and

21 ‘‘(B) include nonadministrative expenses

22 associated with statewide or districtwide initia23 tives directly affecting classroom learning.
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1 ‘‘(3) PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after the

2 date of enactment of the Better Opportunities for

3 Our Kids and Schools Act, the Secretary shall—

4 ‘‘(A) develop and implement a plan for

5 streamlining regulations and eliminating bu6 reaucracy so that 95 percent of the funds made

7 available to local educational agencies under

8 this part are used for the costs of activities and

9 services provided in the classroom; and

10 ‘‘(B) prepare and submit to Congress rec11 ommended legislation containing changes to

12 Federal law that are needed for 95 percent of

13 the funds to be so used.’’.

14 SEC. 203. PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN ENROLLED IN PRI15 VATE SCHOOLS.

16 Each local educational agency that receives funds

17 under section 201 shall provide for the participation of

18 children in private schools in the activities and services

19 assisted under section 201 in the same manner as the chil20 dren participate in activities and services under the Ele21 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

22 6301 et seq.) pursuant to sections 14503, 14504, 14505,

23 and 14506 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 8893, 8894, 8895, and

24 8896).
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1 SEC. 204. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this title—

3 (1) the term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the

4 meaning given the term in section 14101 of the Ele5 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

6 U.S.C. 8801);

7 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

8 of Education; and

9 (3) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several

10 States of the United States, the District of Colum11 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam,

12 American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the North13 ern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin

14 Islands.

15 TITLE III—EDUCATIONAL OP16 PORTUNITY AND SAFETY FOR

17 LOW-INCOME CHILDREN

18 SEC. 301. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

19 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows:

20 (1) Violence, crime, and illegal drug activity

21 have increased significantly in our Nation’s public

22 schools.

23 (2) It is estimated that 3,000,000 violent acts

24 or thefts occur in or near schools, and that one in

25 five public high school students carries a weapon.
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1 (3) The incidence of violence, and criminal and

2 illegal drug activity within public elementary and

3 secondary schools threatens the school environment

4 and interferes with the learning process.

5 (4) 2,000,000 more children are using drugs in

6 1997 than were doing so in 1993. For the first time

7 in the 1990s, over half of our Nation’s graduating

8 high school seniors have experimented with drugs

9 and approximately 1 out of every 4 of the students

10 have used drugs in the past month.

11 (5) After 11 years of declining marijuana use

12 among children aged 12 to 17, such use doubled be13 tween 1992 and 1995. The number of 8th graders

14 who have used marijuana in the past month has

15 more than tripled since 1991.

16 (6) More of our Nation’s school children are be17 coming involved with hard core drugs at earlier ages,

18 as use of heroin and cocaine by 8th graders has

19 more than doubled since 1991.

20 (7) Students have a right to be safe and secure

21 in their persons while attending school.

22 (8) Low-income families whose children attend

23 high poverty public schools generally lack the finan24 cial ability to enroll their children in private schools

25 or the opportunity to choose to enroll their children
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1 in public schools less affected by poverty, illegal

2 drugs, or violence, while such alternatives are typi3 cally available to more affluent families.

4 (9) Numerous research studies, including the

5 1993 National Assessment of the Chapter 1 Pro6 gram, have concluded that students attending high

7 poverty public schools have much lower levels of aca8 demic achievement than other students, regardless of

9 the income level of the family of such students.

10 (10) Federally supported efforts to meet the

11 educational needs of disadvantaged children attend12 ing high poverty schools have had little, if any, suc13 cess in improving student achievement, especially in

14 the highest poverty schools and school districts.

15 (11) Evidence obtained from systematic evalua16 tions of school choice demonstration projects that in17 volve public and private, including religious, schools

18 will make an important contribution toward resolv19 ing debates over the most effective means of improv20 ing the academic achievement of disadvantaged chil21 dren.

22 (12) It is increasingly important that children

23 from families of all income levels meet high stand24 ards of academic achievement, in order to exercise
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1 the responsibilities of citizenship and to compete in

2 globally competitive markets.

3 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this title—

4 (1) to provide children from low-income families

5 who attend unsafe schools with the option of attend6 ing safer schools;

7 (2) to improve schools and academic programs

8 by providing certain low-income parents with in9 creased consumer power and dollars to choose safer

10 and drug-free schools and programs that such par11 ents determine best fit the needs of their children;

12 (3) to engage more fully certain low-income

13 parents in their children’s schooling;

14 (4) through families, to provide at the school

15 site new dollars that teachers and principals may use

16 to help certain children achieve high educational

17 standards; and

18 (5) to demonstrate, through a discretionary

19 demonstration grant program, the effects of projects

20 that provide certain low-income families with more

21 of the same choices regarding all schools, including

22 public, private, or religious schools, that wealthier

23 families have.

24 SEC. 302. DEFINITIONS.

25 In this title—
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1 (1) the term ‘‘choice school’’ means any public

2 or private school, including a private religious school

3 or a public charter school, that—

4 (A) is involved in a demonstration project

5 assisted under this title; and

6 (B) is not an unsafe school;

7 (2) the term ‘‘eligible child’’ means a child in

8 any of the grades 1 through 12—

9 (A) whose family income does not exceed

10 185 percent of the poverty line; and

11 (B) who would normally be assigned to at12 tend an unsafe school in the absence of—

13 (i) a demonstration project under this

14 title; or

15 (ii) participation, prior to the date of

16 enactment of this Act, in a school choice

17 program;

18 (3) the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a public

19 agency, institution, or organization, such as a State,

20 a State educational agency, a local educational agen21 cy, a consortium of public agencies, or a consortium

22 of public and private nonprofit organizations, that

23 can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Sec24 retary, its ability to—
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1 (A) receive, disburse, and account for Fed2 eral funds; and

3 (B) carry out the activities described in its

4 application under this title;

5 (4) the term ‘‘evaluating agency’’ means any

6 academic institution, consortium of professionals, or

7 private or nonprofit organization, with demonstrated

8 experience in conducting evaluations, that is not an

9 agency or instrumentality of the Federal Govern10 ment;

11 (5) the term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the

12 same meaning given such term in section 14101 of

13 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

14 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801);

15 (6) the term ‘‘parent’’ includes a legal guardian

16 or other individual acting in loco parentis;

17 (7) the term ‘‘poverty line’’ means the poverty

18 line (as defined by the Office of Management and

19 Budget, and revised annually in accordance with sec20 tion 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant

21 Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) applicable to a family of

22 the size involved;

23 (8) the term ‘‘school’’ means a school that pro24 vides elementary education or secondary education

25 (through grade 12), as determined under State law;
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1 (9) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

2 of Education;

3 (10) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the 50

4 States of the United States, the District of Colum5 bia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and

6 (11) the term ‘‘unsafe school’’ means a school

7 that has serious crime, violence, illegal drug, and

8 discipline problems, as indicated by conditions that

9 may include high rates of—

10 (A) expulsions and suspensions of students

11 from school;

12 (B) referrals of students to alternative

13 schools for disciplinary reasons, to special pro14 grams or schools for delinquent youth, or to ju15 venile court;

16 (C) victimization of students or teachers by

17 criminal acts, including robbery, assault and

18 homicide;

19 (D) enrolled students who are under court

20 supervision for past criminal behavior;

21 (E) possession, use, sale or distribution of

22 illegal drugs;

23 (F) enrolled students who are attending

24 school while under the influence of illegal drugs;
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1 (G) possession or use of guns or other

2 weapons;

3 (H) participation in youth gangs; or

4 (I) crimes against property, such as theft

5 or vandalism.

6 SEC. 303. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 There are authorized to be appropriated $75,000,000

8 for the fiscal year 1999, and such sums as may be nec9 essary for each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2003, to

10 carry out this title.

11 SEC. 304. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

12 (a) RESERVATION.—From the amount appropriated

13 pursuant to the authority of section 303 in any fiscal year,

14 the Secretary shall reserve and make available to the

15 Comptroller General of the United States 2 percent for

16 evaluation of programs assisted under this title in accord17 ance with section 313.

18 (b) GRANTS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amount appro20 priated pursuant to the authority of section 303 and

21 not reserved under subsection (a) for any fiscal year,

22 the Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities

23 to enable such entities to carry out at least 20, but

24 not more than 30, demonstration projects under

25 which low-income parents receive education certifi-
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1 cates for the costs of enrolling their eligible children

2 in a choice school.

3 (2) AMOUNT.—The Secretary shall award

4 grants under paragraph (1) for fiscal year 1999 so

5 that—

6 (A) not more than 2 grants are awarded in

7 amounts of $5,000,000 or less; and

8 (B) grants not described in subparagraph

9 (A) are awarded in amounts of $3,000,000 or

10 less.

11 (3) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY.—The Secretary

12 shall continue a demonstration project under this

13 title by awarding a grant under paragraph (1) to an

14 eligible entity that received such a grant for a fiscal

15 year preceding the fiscal year for which the deter16 mination is made, if the Secretary determines that

17 such eligible entity was in compliance with this title

18 for such preceding fiscal year.

19 (4) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give prior20 ity to awarding a grant under paragraph (1) to an

21 eligible entity that—

22 (A) is conducting a school choice program,

23 involving public or private schools, on the date

24 of enactment of this Act; and
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1 (B) operates a school choice program, in2 volving public and private schools, that is au3 thorized by Federal law.

4 (c) USE OF GRANTS.—Grants awarded under sub5 section (b) shall be used to pay the costs of—

6 (1) providing education certificates to low-in7 come parents to enable such parents to pay the tui8 tion, the fees, the allowable costs of transportation,

9 if any, and the costs of complying with section

10 311(a), if any, for their eligible children to attend a

11 choice school; and

12 (2) administration of the demonstration project,

13 which shall not exceed 15 percent of the amount re14 ceived in the first fiscal year for which the eligible

15 entity provides education certificates under this title

16 or 10 percent in any subsequent year, including—

17 (A) seeking the involvement of choice

18 schools in the demonstration project;

19 (B) providing information about the dem20 onstration project, and the schools involved in

21 the demonstration project, to parents of eligible

22 children;

23 (C) making determinations of eligibility for

24 participation in the demonstration project for

25 eligible children;
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1 (D) selecting students to participate in the

2 demonstration project;

3 (E) determining the amount of, and

4 issuing, education certificates;

5 (F) compiling and maintaining such finan6 cial and programmatic records as the Secretary

7 may prescribe; and

8 (G) collecting such information about the

9 effects of the demonstration project as the eval10 uating agency may need to conduct the evalua11 tion described in section 313.

12 (d) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Each eligible en13 tity receiving funds under this title shall use such funds

14 to supplement and not supplant the amount of funds that

15 would, in the absence of such Federal funds, be made

16 available from other sources to carry out the activities as17 sisted under this title.

18 (e) SUPPLEMENTATION OF FUNDING.—Each eligible

19 entity receiving funds under this section is encouraged to

20 supplement the funding received under this title with

21 funding received from State, local, or private sources.

22 (f) EDUCATION CERTIFICATES.—

23 (1) NOT SCHOOL AID.—An education certificate

24 provided under this title shall be considered assist-
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1 ance to the student and shall not be considered as2 sistance to a choice school.

3 (2) TAXES AND DETERMINATIONS OF ELIGI4 BILITY FOR OTHER FEDERAL PROGRAMS.—Edu5 cation certificates provided under this title shall not

6 be considered as income to an eligible child or the

7 parent of such eligible child for Federal, State, or

8 local tax purposes or for determining eligibility for

9 any other Federal program.

10 SEC. 305. AUTHORIZED PROJECTS; PRIORITY.

11 (a) AUTHORIZED PROJECTS.—The Secretary may

12 award a grant under this title only for a demonstration

13 project that—

14 (1) involves at least one local educational agen15 cy that—

16 (A) receives funds under section 1124A of

17 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

18 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6334); and

19 (B) is among the 20 percent of local edu20 cational agencies receiving funds under section

21 1124A of such Act (20 U.S.C. 6334) in the

22 State and having the highest number or great23 est percentage of children described in section

24 1124(c) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 6333(c)); and
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1 (2) includes the involvement of a sufficient

2 number of public and private choice schools, includ3 ing religious schools, to allow for a valid demonstra4 tion project.

5 (b) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this title,

6 the Secretary shall give priority to demonstration

7 projects—

8 (1) in which choice schools offer an enrollment

9 opportunity to the broadest range of eligible chil10 dren;

11 (2) that involve diverse types of choice schools;

12 and

13 (3) that will contribute to the geographic diver14 sity of demonstration projects assisted under this

15 title, including awarding grants for demonstration

16 projects in States that are primarily rural and

17 awarding grants for demonstration projects in States

18 that are primarily urban.

19 SEC. 306. CIVIL RIGHTS.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—A choice school shall not discrimi21 nate on the basis of race, color, national origin, or sex

22 in carrying out the provisions of this title.

23 (b) APPLICABILITY AND CONSTRUCTION WITH RE24 SPECT TO DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX.—
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1 (1) APPLICABILITY.—With respect to discrimi2 nation on the basis of sex, subsection (a) shall not

3 apply to a choice school that is controlled by a reli4 gious organization if the application of subsection

5 (a) is inconsistent with the religious tenets of the

6 choice school.

7 (2) CONSTRUCTION.—With respect to discrimi8 nation on the basis of sex, nothing in subsection (a)

9 shall be construed to require any person, or public

10 or private entity to provide or pay, or to prohibit any

11 such person or entity from providing or paying, for

12 any benefit or service, including the use of facilities,

13 related to an abortion. Nothing in the preceding sen14 tence shall be construed to permit a penalty to be

15 imposed on any person or individual because such

16 person or individual is seeking or has received any

17 benefit or service related to a legal abortion.

18 (3) SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS, CLASSES, OR ACTIVI19 TIES.—With respect to discrimination on the basis

20 of sex, nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed

21 to prevent a parent from choosing, or a choice school

22 from offering, a single-sex school, class, or activity.

23 SEC. 307. CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES.

24 Nothing in this title shall affect the rights of stu25 dents, or the obligations of public schools, under the Indi-
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1 viduals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400

2 et seq.).

3 SEC. 308. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this title shall be con5 strued to prevent any choice school which is operated by,

6 supervised by, controlled by, or connected to, a religious

7 organization from employing, admitting, or giving pref8 erence to, persons of the same religion to the extent deter9 mined by the choice school to promote the religious pur10 pose for which the choice school is established or main11 tained.

12 (b) SECTARIAN PURPOSES.—Nothing in this title

13 shall be construed to prohibit the use of funds made avail14 able under this title for sectarian educational purposes,

15 or to require a choice school to remove religious art, icons,

16 scripture, or other symbols.

17 SEC. 309. APPLICATIONS.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any eligible entity that wishes to

19 receive a grant under this title shall submit an application

20 to the Secretary at such time and in such manner as the

21 Secretary may prescribe.

22 (b) CONTENTS.—Each application described in sub23 section (a) shall contain—
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1 (1) information demonstrating the eligibility for

2 participation in the demonstration program of the

3 eligible entity;

4 (2) a description of how the eligible entity will

5 determine a school to be a unsafe school in accord6 ance with section 302(11);

7 (3) with respect to choice schools—

8 (A) a description of the types of potential

9 choice schools that will be involved in the dem10 onstration project;

11 (B)(i) a description of the procedures used

12 to encourage public and private schools to be

13 involved in the demonstration project; and

14 (ii) a description of how the eligible entity

15 will annually determine the number of spaces

16 available for eligible children in each choice

17 school;

18 (C) an assurance that each choice school

19 will not impose higher standards for admission

20 or participation in its programs and activities

21 for eligible children provided education certifi22 cates under this title than the choice school

23 does for other children;

24 (D) an assurance that the eligible entity

25 will terminate the involvement of any choice
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1 school that fails to comply with the conditions

2 of its involvement in the demonstration project;

3 and

4 (E) a description of the extent to which

5 choice schools will accept education certificates

6 under this title as full or partial payment for

7 tuition and fees;

8 (4) with respect to the participation in the dem9 onstration project of eligible children—

10 (A) a description of the procedures to be

11 used to make a determination of eligibility for

12 participation in the demonstration project for

13 an eligible child;

14 (B) a description of the procedures to be

15 used to ensure that, in selecting eligible chil16 dren to participate in the demonstration

17 project, the eligible entity will—

18 (i) apply the same criteria to both

19 public and private school eligible children;

20 and

21 (ii) give priority to eligible children

22 from the lowest income families;

23 (C) a description of the procedures to be

24 used to ensure maximum choice of schools for

25 participating eligible children; and
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1 (D) a description of the procedures to be

2 used to ensure compliance with section 311(a),

3 which may include—

4 (i) the direct provision of services by

5 a local educational agency; and

6 (ii) arrangements made by a local

7 educational agency with other service pro8 viders;

9 (5) with respect to the operation of the dem10 onstration project—

11 (A) a description of the procedures to be

12 used for the issuance and redemption of edu13 cation certificates under this title;

14 (B) a description of the procedures by

15 which a choice school will make a pro rata re16 fund of the education certificate under this title

17 for any participating eligible child who with18 draws from the school for any reason, before

19 completing 75 percent of the school attendance

20 period for which the education certificate was

21 issued;

22 (C) a description of the procedures to be

23 used to provide the parental notification de24 scribed in section 312;
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1 (D) an assurance that the eligible entity

2 will place all funds received under this title into

3 a separate account, and that no other funds will

4 be placed in such account;

5 (E) an assurance that the eligible entity

6 will cooperate with the Comptroller General of

7 the United States and the evaluating agency in

8 carrying out the evaluations described in section

9 313; and

10 (F) an assurance that the eligible entity

11 will—

12 (i) maintain such records as the Sec13 retary may require; and

14 (ii) comply with reasonable requests

15 from the Secretary for information; and

16 (6) such other assurances and information as

17 the Secretary may require.

18 SEC. 310. EDUCATION CERTIFICATES.

19 (a) EDUCATION CERTIFICATES.—

20 (1) AMOUNT.—The amount of an eligible

21 child’s education certificate under this title shall be

22 determined by the eligible entity, but shall be an

23 amount that provides to the recipient of the edu24 cation certificate the maximum degree of choice in
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1 selecting the choice school the eligible child will at2 tend.

3 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to such regula5 tions as the Secretary shall prescribe, in deter6 mining the amount of an education certificate

7 under this title an eligible entity shall con8 sider—

9 (i) the additional reasonable costs of

10 transportation directly attributable to the

11 eligible child’s participation in the dem12 onstration project; and

13 (ii) the cost of complying with section

14 311(a).

15 (B) SCHOOLS CHARGING TUITION.—If an

16 eligible child participating in a demonstration

17 project under this title was attending a public

18 or private school that charged tuition for the

19 year preceding the first year of such participa20 tion, then in determining the amount of an edu21 cation certificate for such eligible child under

22 this title the eligible entity shall consider—

23 (i) the tuition charged by such school

24 for such eligible child in such preceding

25 year; and
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1 (ii) the amount of the education cer2 tificates under this title that are provided

3 to other eligible children.

4 (3) SPECIAL RULE.—An eligible entity may pro5 vide an education certificate under this title to the

6 parent of an eligible child who chooses to attend a

7 school that does not charge tuition or fees, to pay

8 the additional reasonable costs of transportation di9 rectly attributable to the eligible child’s participation

10 in the demonstration project or the cost of comply11 ing with section 311(a).

12 (b) ADJUSTMENT.—The amount of the education cer13 tificate for a fiscal year may be adjusted in the second

14 and third years of an eligible child’s participation in a

15 demonstration project under this title to reflect any in16 crease or decrease in the tuition, fees, or transportation

17 costs directly attributable to that eligible child’s continued

18 attendance at a choice school, but shall not be increased

19 for this purpose by more than 10 percent of the amount

20 of the education certificate for the fiscal year preceding

21 the fiscal year for which the determination is made. The

22 amount of the education certificate may also be adjusted

23 in any fiscal year to comply with section 311(a).

24 (c) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—Notwithstanding any other

25 provision of this section, the amount of an eligible child’s
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1 education certificate shall not exceed the per pupil expend2 iture for elementary or secondary education, as appro3 priate, by the local educational agency in which the public

4 school to which the eligible child would normally be as5 signed is located for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal

6 year for which the determination is made.

7 SEC. 311. EFFECT ON OTHER PROGRAMS.

8 (a) EFFECT ON OTHER PROGRAMS.—An eligible

9 child participating in a demonstration project under this

10 title, who, in the absence of such a demonstration project,

11 would have received services under part A of title I of the

12 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

13 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) shall be provided such services.

14 (b) COUNTING OF ELIGIBLE CHILDREN.—Notwith15 standing any other provision of law, any local educational

16 agency participating in a demonstration project under this

17 title may count eligible children who, in the absence of

18 such a demonstration project, would attend the schools of

19 such agency, for purposes of receiving funds under any

20 program administered by the Secretary.

21 SEC. 312. PARENTAL NOTIFICATION.

22 Each eligible entity receiving a grant under this title

23 shall provide timely notice of the demonstration project

24 to parents of eligible children residing in the area to be
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1 served by the demonstration project. At a minimum, such

2 notice shall—

3 (1) describe the demonstration project;

4 (2) describe the eligibility requirements for par5 ticipation in the demonstration project;

6 (3) describe the information needed to make a

7 determination of eligibility for participation in the

8 demonstration project for an eligible child;

9 (4) describe the selection procedures to be used

10 if the number of eligible children seeking to partici11 pate in the demonstration project exceeds the num12 ber that can be accommodated in the demonstration

13 project;

14 (5) provide information about each choice

15 school, including information about any admission

16 requirements or criteria for each choice school par17 ticipating in the demonstration project; and

18 (6) include the schedule for parents to apply for

19 their eligible children to participate in the dem20 onstration project.

21 SEC. 313. EVALUATION.

22 (a) ANNUAL EVALUATION.—

23 (1) CONTRACT.—The Comptroller General of

24 the United States shall enter into a contract, with

25 an evaluating agency that has demonstrated experi-
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1 ence in conducting evaluations, for the conduct of an

2 ongoing rigorous evaluation of the demonstration

3 program under this title.

4 (2) ANNUAL EVALUATION REQUIREMENT.—The

5 contract described in paragraph (1) shall require the

6 evaluating agency entering into such contract to an7 nually evaluate each demonstration project under

8 this title in accordance with the evaluation criteria

9 described in subsection (b).

10 (3) TRANSMISSION.—The contract described in

11 paragraph (1) shall require the evaluating agency

12 entering into such contract to transmit to the Comp13 troller General of the United States—

14 (A) the findings of each annual evaluation

15 under paragraph (1); and

16 (B) a copy of each report received pursu17 ant to section 314(a) for the applicable year.

18 (b) EVALUATION CRITERIA.—The Comptroller Gen19 eral of the United States, in consultation with the Sec20 retary, shall establish minimum criteria for evaluating the

21 demonstration program under this title. Such criteria shall

22 provide for—

23 (1) a description of the implementation of each

24 demonstration project under this title and the dem25 onstration project’s effects on all participants,
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1 schools, and communities in the demonstration

2 project area, with particular attention given to the

3 effect of parent participation in the life of the school

4 and the level of parental satisfaction with the dem5 onstration program; and

6 (2) a comparison of the educational achieve7 ment of, and the incidences of violence and drug ac8 tivity related to, all students in the demonstration

9 project area, including a comparison of similar—

10 (A) students receiving education certifi11 cates under this title; and

12 (B) students not receiving education cer13 tificates under this title.

14 SEC. 314. REPORTS.

15 (a) REPORT BY GRANT RECIPIENT.—Each eligible

16 entity receiving a grant under this title shall submit to

17 the evaluating agency entering into the contract under sec18 tion 313(a)(1) an annual report regarding the demonstra19 tion project under this title. Each such report shall be sub20 mitted at such time, in such manner, and accompanied

21 by such information, as such evaluating agency may re22 quire.

23 (b) REPORTS BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—

24 (1) ANNUAL REPORTS.—The Comptroller Gen25 eral of the United States shall report annually to the
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1 Congress on the findings of the annual evaluation

2 under section 313(a)(2) of each demonstration

3 project under this title. Each such report shall con4 tain a copy of—

5 (A) the annual evaluation under section

6 313(a)(2) of each demonstration project under

7 this title; and

8 (B) each report received under subsection

9 (a) for the applicable year.

10 (2) FINAL REPORT.—The Comptroller General

11 shall submit a final report to the Congress within 6

12 months after the conclusion of the demonstration

13 program under this title that summarizes the find14 ings of the annual evaluations conducted pursuant to

15 section 313(a)(2).

16 TITLE IV—TESTING AND MERIT

17 PAY FOR TEACHERS

18 SEC. 401. FINDINGS.

19 Congress makes the following findings:

20 (1) Students have a right to be taught by com21 petent, caring, and qualified teachers.

22 (2) Students are better able to achieve high

23 standards when taught by teachers who are prepared

24 to teach in new ways and who are supported by
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1 schools that are prepared to reward high-quality

2 teaching.

3 (3) Studies show that the best teachers are

4 teachers who know their subject matter, understand

5 how children learn, and have mastered a wide range

6 of teaching methods.

7 (4) Few States require periodic assessment of

8 teacher performance. Yet States require continuing

9 education, and in some cases reassessment, for a

10 number of other professions. Continuing professional

11 certification or licensing should be granted to teach12 ers only upon the positive completion of performance

13 assessments.

14 (5) States should develop a performance assess15 ment model for their teachers and other instruc16 tional staff, and should administer the assessment at

17 least every 3 to 5 years.

18 (6) Teaching is one of the most important and

19 challenging tasks one can undertake in adult life.

20 However, salaries for teachers lag behind other pro21 fessions for which a college degree is expected or re22 quired.

23 (7) Existing career tracks and compensation in

24 teaching create a career path that places classroom

25 teaching at the bottom, provides teachers with little
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1 influence in making key decisions, and requires a

2 teacher to leave the classroom if the teacher wants

3 greater responsibility and higher pay.

4 (8) Evaluating and rewarding teachers with a

5 compensation system that supports teachers who be6 come increasingly expert in a subject area, are pro7 ficient in meeting the needs of students and schools,

8 and demonstrate high levels of performance meas9 ured against professional teaching standards—

10 (A) will encourage teachers to continue to

11 learn needed skills, and broaden the teachers’

12 expertise; and

13 (B) will enhance education for students.

14 SEC. 402. TEACHER TESTING; MERIT PAY; HIRING OF

15 TEACHERS.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi17 sion of law, a State may use Federal education funds—

18 (1) to carry out an assessment of the perform19 ance of each elementary school or secondary school

20 teacher in the State;

21 (2) to establish a merit pay program for the

22 teachers; or

23 (3) to hire elementary school or secondary

24 school teachers who are certified or licensed to teach

25 in the State.
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1 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this title, the terms ‘‘elemen2 tary school’’ and ‘‘secondary school’’ have the meanings

3 given the terms in section 14101 of the Elementary and

4 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

5 TITLE V—READING EXCELLENCE

6 SEC. 501. SHORT TITLE.

7 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Reading Excellence

8 Act’’.

9 Subtitle A—Reading Grants

10 SEC. 511. AMENDMENT TO ESEA FOR READING GRANTS.

11 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

12 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by adding at

13 the end the following:

14 ‘‘TITLE XV—READING GRANTS

15 ‘‘SEC. 15101. PURPOSE.

16 ‘‘The purposes of this title are as follows:

17 ‘‘(1) To teach every child to read in their early

18 childhood years—

19 ‘‘(A) as soon as they are ready to read; or

20 ‘‘(B) as soon as possible once they enter

21 school, but not later than 3d grade.

22 ‘‘(2) To improve the reading skills of students,

23 and the in-service instructional practices for teachers

24 who teach reading, through the use of findings from
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1 reliable, replicable research on reading, including

2 phonics.

3 ‘‘(3) To expand the number of high-quality

4 family literacy programs.

5 ‘‘(4) To reduce the number of children who are

6 inappropriately referred to special education due to

7 reading difficulties.

8 ‘‘SEC. 15102. DEFINITIONS.

9 ‘‘For purposes of this title:

10 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

11 PROVIDER.—The term ‘eligible professional develop12 ment provider’ means a provider of professional de13 velopment in reading instruction to teachers that is

14 based on reliable, replicable research on reading.

15 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE RESEARCH INSTITUTION.—The

16 term ‘eligible research institution’ means an institu17 tion of higher education at which reliable, replicable

18 research on reading has been conducted.

19 ‘‘(3) FAMILY LITERACY SERVICES.—The term

20 ‘family literacy services’ means services provided to

21 participants on a voluntary basis that are of suffi22 cient intensity in terms of hours, and of sufficient

23 duration, to make sustainable changes in a family

24 (such as eliminating or reducing welfare depend-
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1 ency) and that integrate all of the following activi2 ties:

3 ‘‘(A) Interactive literacy activities between

4 parents and their children.

5 ‘‘(B) Equipping parents to partner with

6 their children in learning.

7 ‘‘(C) Parent literacy training, including

8 training that contributes to economic self-suffi9 ciency.

10 ‘‘(D) Appropriate instruction for children

11 of parents receiving parent literacy services.

12 ‘‘(4) READING.—The term ‘reading’ means the

13 process of comprehending the meaning of written

14 text by depending on—

15 ‘‘(A) the ability to use phonics skills, that

16 is, knowledge of letters and sounds, to decode

17 printed words quickly and effortlessly, both si18 lently and aloud;

19 ‘‘(B) the ability to use previously learned

20 strategies for reading comprehension; and

21 ‘‘(C) the ability to think critically about

22 the meaning, message, and aesthetic value of

23 the text.

24 ‘‘(5) READING READINESS.—The term ‘reading

25 readiness’ means activities that—
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1 ‘‘(A) provide experience and opportunity

2 for language development;

3 ‘‘(B) create appreciation of the written

4 word;

5 ‘‘(C) develop an awareness of printed lan6 guage, the alphabet, and phonemic awareness;

7 and

8 ‘‘(D) develop an understanding that spo9 ken and written language is made up of pho10 nemes, syllables, and words.

11 ‘‘(6) RELIABLE, REPLICABLE RESEARCH.—The

12 term ‘reliable, replicable research’ means objective,

13 valid, scientific studies that—

14 ‘‘(A) include rigorously defined samples of

15 subjects that are sufficiently large and rep16 resentative to support the general conclusions

17 drawn;

18 ‘‘(B) rely on measurements that meet es19 tablished standards of reliability and validity;

20 ‘‘(C) test competing theories, where mul21 tiple theories exist;

22 ‘‘(D) are subjected to peer review before

23 their results are published; and

24 ‘‘(E) discover effective strategies for im25 proving reading skills.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 15103. GRANTS TO READING AND LITERACY PART2 NERSHIPS.

3 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may

4 make grants on a competitive basis to reading and literacy

5 partnerships for the purpose of permitting such partner6 ships to make subgrants under sections 15104 and 15105.

7 ‘‘(b) READING AND LITERACY PARTNERSHIPS.—

8 ‘‘(1) COMPOSITION.—

9 ‘‘(A) REQUIRED PARTICIPANTS.—In order

10 to receive a grant under this section, a State

11 shall establish a reading and literacy partner12 ship consisting of at least the following partici13 pants:

14 ‘‘(i) The Governor of the State.

15 ‘‘(ii) The chief State school officer.

16 ‘‘(iii) The chairman and the ranking

17 member of each committee of the State

18 legislature that is responsible for education

19 policy.

20 ‘‘(iv) A representative, selected jointly

21 by the Governor and the chief State school

22 officer, of at least 1 local educational agen23 cy that has at least 1 school that is identi24 fied for school improvement under section

25 1116(c) in the geographic area served by

26 the agency.
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1 ‘‘(v) A representative, selected jointly

2 by the Governor and the chief State school

3 officer, of a community-based organization

4 working with children to improve their

5 reading skills, particularly a community6 based organization using volunteers.

7 ‘‘(B) OPTIONAL PARTICIPANTS.—A read8 ing and literacy partnership may include addi9 tional participants, who shall be selected jointly

10 by the Governor and the chief State school offi11 cer, which may include—

12 ‘‘(i) State directors of appropriate

13 Federal or State programs with a strong

14 reading component;

15 ‘‘(ii) a parent of a public or private

16 school student or a parent who educates

17 their child or children in their home;

18 ‘‘(iii) a teacher who teaches reading;

19 or

20 ‘‘(iv) a representative of (I) an insti21 tution of higher education operating a pro22 gram of teacher preparation in the State;

23 (II) a local educational agency; (III) an eli24 gible research institution; (IV) a private

25 nonprofit or for-profit eligible professional
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1 development provider providing instruction

2 based on reliable, replicable research on

3 reading; (V) a family literacy service pro4 vider; (VI) an adult education provider;

5 (VII) a volunteer organization that is in6 volved in reading programs; or (VIII) a

7 school or a public library that offers read8 ing or literacy programs for children or

9 families.

10 ‘‘(2) AGREEMENT.—The contractual agreement

11 that establishes a reading and literacy partnership—

12 ‘‘(A) shall specify—

13 ‘‘(i) the nature and extent of the asso14 ciation among the participants referred to

15 in paragraph (1); and

16 ‘‘(ii) the roles and duties of each such

17 participant; and

18 ‘‘(B) shall remain in effect during the en19 tire grant period proposed in the partnership’s

20 grant application under subsection (e).

21 ‘‘(3) FUNCTIONS.—Each reading and literacy

22 partnership for a State shall prepare and submit an

23 application under subsection (e) and, if the partner24 ship receives a grant under this section—
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1 ‘‘(A) shall solicit applications for, and

2 award, subgrants under sections 15104 and

3 15105;

4 ‘‘(B) shall oversee the performance of the

5 subgrants and submit performance reports in

6 accordance with subsection (h);

7 ‘‘(C) if sufficient grant funds are available

8 under this title—

9 ‘‘(i) work to enhance the capacity of

10 agencies in the State to disseminate reli11 able, replicable research on reading to

12 schools, classrooms, and providers of early

13 education and child care;

14 ‘‘(ii) facilitate the provision of tech15 nical assistance to subgrantees under sec16 tions 15104 and 15105 by providing the

17 subgrantees information about technical

18 assistance providers; and

19 ‘‘(iii) build on, and promote coordina20 tion among, literacy programs in the State,

21 in order to increase their effectiveness and

22 to avoid duplication of their efforts; and

23 ‘‘(D) shall ensure that each local edu24 cational agency to which the partnership makes

25 a subgrant under section 15104 makes avail-
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1 able, upon request and in an understandable

2 and uniform format, to any parent of a student

3 attending any school selected under section

4 15104(a)(2) in the geographic area served by

5 the agency, information regarding the qualifica6 tions of the student’s classroom teacher to pro7 vide instruction in reading.

8 ‘‘(4) FISCAL AGENT.—The State educational

9 agency shall act as the fiscal agent for the reading

10 and literacy partnership for the purposes of receipt

11 of funds from the Secretary, disbursement of funds

12 to subgrantees under sections 15104 and 15105,

13 and accounting for such funds.

14 ‘‘(c) PREEXISTING PARTNERSHIP.—If, before the

15 date of the enactment of the Reading Excellence Act, a

16 State established a consortium, partnership, or any other

17 similar body, that includes the Governor and the chief

18 State school officer and has, as a central part of its mis19 sion, the promotion of literacy for children in their early

20 childhood years through the 3d grade, but that does not

21 satisfy the requirements of subsection (b)(1), the State

22 may elect to treat that consortium, partnership, or body

23 as the reading and literacy partnership for the State not24 withstanding such subsection, and the consortium, part25 nership, or body shall be considered a reading and literacy
55

•S 1590 IS

1 partnership for purposes of the other provisions of this

2 title.

3 ‘‘(d) MULTI-STATE PARTNERSHIP ARRANGE4 MENTS.—A reading and literacy partnership that satisfies

5 the requirements of subsection (b) may join with other

6 such partnerships in other States to develop a single appli7 cation that satisfies the requirements of subsection (e) and

8 identifies which State educational agency, from among the

9 States joining, shall act as the fiscal agent for the multi10 State arrangement. For purposes of the other provisions

11 of this title, any such multi-State arrangement shall be

12 considered to be a reading and literacy partnership.

13 ‘‘(e) APPLICATIONS.—A reading and literacy partner14 ship that desires to receive a grant under this section shall

15 submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in

16 such manner, and including such information as the Sec17 retary may require. The application—

18 ‘‘(1) shall describe how the partnership will en19 sure that 95 percent of the grant funds are used to

20 make subgrants under sections 15104 and 15105;

21 ‘‘(2) shall be integrated, to the maximum extent

22 possible, with State plans and programs under this

23 Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

24 (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), and, to the extent appro-
56

•S 1590 IS

1 priate, the Adult Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1201 et

2 seq.);

3 ‘‘(3) shall describe how the partnership will en4 sure that professional development funds available at

5 the State and local levels are used effectively to im6 prove instructional practices for reading and are

7 based on reliable, replicable research on reading;

8 ‘‘(4) shall describe—

9 ‘‘(A) the contractual agreement that estab10 lishes the partnership, including at least the ele11 ments of the agreement referred to in sub12 section (b)(2);

13 ‘‘(B) how the partnership will assess, on a

14 regular basis, the extent to which the activities

15 undertaken by the partnership and the partner16 ship’s subgrantees under this title have been ef17 fective in achieving the purposes of this title;

18 ‘‘(C) what evaluation instruments the part19 nership will use to determine the success of

20 local educational agencies to whom subgrants

21 under sections 15104 and 15105 are made in

22 achieving the purposes of this title;

23 ‘‘(D) how subgrants made by the partner24 ship under such sections will meet the require25 ments of this title, including how the partner-
57

•S 1590 IS

1 ship will ensure that subgrantees will use prac2 tices based on reliable, replicable research on

3 reading; and

4 ‘‘(E) how the partnership will, to the ex5 tent practicable, make grants to subgrantees in

6 both rural and urban areas;

7 ‘‘(5) shall include an assurance that each local

8 educational agency to whom the partnership makes

9 a subgrant under section 15104—

10 ‘‘(A) will carry out family literacy pro11 grams based on the Even Start family literacy

12 model authorized under part B of title I to en13 able parents to be their child’s first and most

14 important teacher, and will make payments for

15 the receipt of technical assistance for the devel16 opment of such programs;

17 ‘‘(B) will carry out programs to assist

18 those kindergarten students who are not ready

19 for the transition to 1st grade, particularly stu20 dents experiencing difficulty with reading skills;

21 ‘‘(C) will use supervised individuals (in22 cluding tutors), who have been appropriately

23 trained using reliable, replicable research on

24 reading, to provide additional support, before

25 school, after school, on weekends, during non-
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•S 1590 IS

1 instructional periods of the school day, or dur2 ing the summer, for students in grades 1

3 through 3 who are experiencing difficulty read4 ing; and

5 ‘‘(D) will carry out professional develop6 ment for the classroom teacher and other ap7 propriate teaching staff on the teaching of read8 ing based on reliable, replicable research on

9 reading; and

10 ‘‘(6) shall describe how the partnership—

11 ‘‘(A) will ensure that a portion of the

12 grant funds that the partnership receives in

13 each fiscal year will be used to make subgrants

14 under section 15105; and

15 ‘‘(B) will make local educational agencies

16 described in section 15105(a)(1) aware of the

17 availability of such subgrants.

18 ‘‘(f) PEER REVIEW PANEL.—

19 ‘‘(1) COMPOSITION OF PEER REVIEW PANEL.—

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The National Insti21 tute for Literacy, in consultation with the Na22 tional Research Council of the National Acad23 emy of Sciences, the National Institute of Child

24 Health and Human Development, and the Sec25 retary, shall convene a panel to evaluate appli-
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•S 1590 IS

1 cations under this section. At a minimum the

2 panel shall include representatives of the Na3 tional Institute for Literacy, the National Re4 search Council of the National Academy of

5 Sciences, the National Institute of Child Health

6 and Human Development, and the Secretary.

7 ‘‘(B) EXPERTS.—The panel shall include

8 experts who are competent, by virtue of their

9 training, expertise, or experience, to evaluate

10 applications under this section, and experts who

11 provide professional development to teachers of

12 reading to children and adults, based on reli13 able, replicable research on reading.

‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—Not more than 1 14 ⁄3 of

15 the panel may be composed of individuals who

16 are employees of the Federal Government.

17 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT OF FEES AND EXPENSES OF

18 CERTAIN MEMBERS.—The Secretary shall use funds

19 reserved under section 15110(b)(2) to pay the ex20 penses and fees of panel members who are not em21 ployees of the Federal Government.

22 ‘‘(3) DUTIES OF PANEL.—

23 ‘‘(A) MODEL APPLICATION FORMS.—The

24 peer review panel shall develop a model applica25 tion form for reading and literacy partnerships
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•S 1590 IS

1 desiring to apply for a grant under this section.

2 The peer review panel shall submit the model

3 application form to the Secretary for final ap4 proval.

5 ‘‘(B) SELECTION OF APPLICATIONS.—

6 ‘‘(i) RECOMMENDATIONS OF PANEL.—

7 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The Sec8 retary shall receive grant applications

9 from reading and literacy partnerships

10 under this section and shall provide

11 the applications to the peer review

12 panel for evaluation. With respect to

13 each application, the peer review panel

14 shall initially recommend the applica15 tion for funding or for disapproval.

16 ‘‘(II) PRIORITY.—In recommend17 ing applications to the Secretary, the

18 panel shall give priority to applica19 tions from States that have modified,

20 are modifying, or provide an assur21 ance that not later than 1 year after

22 receiving a grant under this section

23 the State will modify, State teacher

24 certification in the area of reading to

25 reflect reliable, replicable research, ex-
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•S 1590 IS

1 cept that nothing in this title shall be

2 construed to establish a national sys3 tem of teacher certification.

4 ‘‘(III) RANKING OF APPLICA5 TIONS.—With respect to each applica6 tion recommended for funding, the

7 panel shall assign the application a

8 rank, relative to other recommended

9 applications, based on the priority de10 scribed in subclause (II), the extent to

11 which the application furthers the

12 purposes of this title, and the overall

13 quality of the application.

14 ‘‘(IV) RECOMMENDATION OF

15 AMOUNT.—With respect to each appli16 cation recommended for funding, the

17 panel shall make a recommendation to

18 the Secretary with respect to the

19 amount of the grant that should be

20 made.

21 ‘‘(ii) SECRETARIAL SELECTION.—

22 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Subject to

23 clause (iii), the Secretary shall deter24 mine, based on the peer review panel’s

25 recommendations, which applications
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1 from reading and literacy partnerships

2 shall receive funding and the amounts

3 of such grants. In determining grant

4 amounts, the Secretary shall take into

5 account the total amount of funds

6 available for all grants under this sec7 tion and the types of activities pro8 posed to be carried out by the part9 nership.

10 ‘‘(II) EFFECT OF RANKING BY

11 PANEL.—In making grants under this

12 section, the Secretary shall select ap13 plications according to the ranking of

14 the applications by the peer review

15 panel, except in cases where the Sec16 retary determines, for good cause,

17 that a variation from that order is ap18 propriate.

19 ‘‘(iii) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNTS.—

20 Each reading and literacy partnership se21 lected to receive a grant under this section

22 shall receive an amount for each fiscal year

23 that is not less than $100,000.

24 ‘‘(g) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—

25 A reading and literacy partnership that receives a grant
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•S 1590 IS

1 under this section may use not more than 3 percent of

2 the grant funds for administrative costs.

3 ‘‘(h) REPORTING.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A reading and literacy

5 partnership that receives a grant under this section

6 shall submit performance reports to the Secretary

7 pursuant to a schedule to be determined by the Sec8 retary, but not more frequently than annually. Such

9 reports shall include—

10 ‘‘(A) the results of use of the evaluation in11 struments referred to in subsection (e)(4)(C);

12 ‘‘(B) the process used to select sub13 grantees;

14 ‘‘(C) a description of the subgrantees re15 ceiving funds under this title; and

16 ‘‘(D) with respect to subgrants under sec17 tion 15104, the model or models of reading in18 struction, based on reliable, replicable research

19 on reading, selected by subgrantees.

20 ‘‘(2) PROVISION TO PEER REVIEW PANEL.—The

21 Secretary shall provide the reports submitted under

22 paragraph (1) to the peer review panel convened

23 under subsection (f). The panel shall use such re24 ports in recommending applications for funding

25 under this section.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 15104. LOCAL READING IMPROVEMENT SUBGRANTS.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—

3 ‘‘(1) SUBGRANTS.—A reading and literacy part4 nership that receives a grant under section 15103

5 shall make subgrants, on a competitive basis, to

6 local educational agencies that have at least 1 school

7 that is identified for school improvement under sec8 tion 1116(c) in the geographic area served by the

9 agency.

10 ‘‘(2) ROLE OF LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN11 CIES.—A local educational agency that receives a

12 subgrant under this section shall use the subgrant in

13 a manner consistent with this section to advance re14 form of reading instruction in any school selected by

15 the agency that—

16 ‘‘(A) is identified for school improvement

17 under section 1116(c) at the time the agency

18 receives the subgrant; and

19 ‘‘(B) has a contractual association with 1

20 or more community-based organizations that

21 have established a record of effectiveness with

22 respect to reading readiness, reading instruction

23 for children in kindergarten through 3d grade,

24 and early childhood literacy.

25 ‘‘(b) GRANT PERIOD.—A subgrant under this section

26 shall be for a period of 3 years and may not be revoked
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1 or terminated on the ground that a school ceases, during

2 the grant period, to be identified for school improvement

3 under section 1116(c).

4 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—A local educational agency that

5 desires to receive a subgrant under this section shall sub6 mit an application to the reading and literacy partnership

7 at such time, in such manner, and including such informa8 tion as the partnership may require. The application—

9 ‘‘(1) shall describe how the local educational

10 agency will work with schools selected by the agency

11 under subsection (a)(2) to select 1 or more models

12 of reading instruction, developed using reliable,

13 replicable research on reading, as a model for imple14 menting and improving reading instruction by all

15 teachers and for all children in each of the schools

16 selected by the agency under such subsection and,

17 where appropriate, their parents;

18 ‘‘(2) shall select 1 or more models described in

19 paragraph (1), for the purpose described in such

20 paragraph, and shall describe each such selected

21 model;

22 ‘‘(3) shall demonstrate that a person respon23 sible for the development of each such model, or a

24 person with experience or expertise about such

25 model and its implementation, has agreed to work
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•S 1590 IS

1 with the applicant in connection with such imple2 mentation and improvement efforts;

3 ‘‘(4) shall describe—

4 ‘‘(A) how the applicant will ensure that

5 funds available under this title, and funds avail6 able for reading for grades kindergarten

7 through grade 6 from other appropriate

8 sources, are effectively coordinated and, where

9 appropriate, integrated, with funds under this

10 Act in order to improve existing activities in the

11 areas of reading instruction, professional devel12 opment, program improvement, parental in13 volvement, technical assistance, and other ac14 tivities that can help meet the purposes of this

15 title; and

16 ‘‘(B) the amount of funds available for

17 reading for grades kindergarten through grade

18 6 from appropriate sources other than this title,

19 including title I (except that such description

20 shall not be required to include funds made

21 available under part B of title I unless the ap22 plicant has established a contractual association

23 in accordance with subsection (d)(2) with an el24 igible entity under such part B), the Individuals

25 with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.
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•S 1590 IS

1 1400 et seq.), and any other law providing Fed2 eral financial assistance for professional devel3 opment for teachers of such grades who teach

4 reading, which will be used to help achieve the

5 purposes of this title;

6 ‘‘(5) shall describe the amount and nature of

7 funds from any other public or private sources, in8 cluding funds received under this Act and the Indi9 viduals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

10 1400 et seq.), that will be combined with funds re11 ceived under the subgrant;

12 ‘‘(6) shall include an assurance that the appli13 cant—

14 ‘‘(A) will carry out family literacy pro15 grams based on the Even Start family literacy

16 model authorized under part B of title I to en17 able parents to be their child’s first and most

18 important teacher, will make payments for the

19 receipt of technical assistance for the develop20 ment of such programs;

21 ‘‘(B) will carry out programs to assist

22 those kindergarten students who are not ready

23 for the transition to 1st grade, particularly stu24 dents experiencing difficulty with reading skills;
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•S 1590 IS

1 ‘‘(C) will use supervised individuals (in2 cluding tutors), who have been appropriately

3 trained using reliable, replicable research on

4 reading, to provide additional support, before

5 school, after school, on weekends, during non6 instructional periods of the school day, or dur7 ing the summer, for students in grades 1

8 through 3 who are experiencing difficulty read9 ing; and

10 ‘‘(D) will carry out professional develop11 ment for the classroom teacher and other teach12 ing staff on the teaching of reading based on

13 reliable, replicable research on reading;

14 ‘‘(7) shall describe how the local educational

15 agency provides instruction in reading to children

16 who have not been determined to be a child with a

17 disability (as defined in section 602 of the Individ18 uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

19 1401)), pursuant to section 614(b)(5) of such Act

20 (20 U.S.C. 1414(a)(5)), because of a lack of instruc21 tion in reading; and

22 ‘‘(8) shall indicate the amount of the subgrant

23 funds (if any) that the applicant will use to carry

24 out the duties described in section 15105(b)(2).
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•S 1590 IS

1 ‘‘(d) PRIORITY.—In approving applications under

2 this section, a reading and literacy partnership shall give

3 priority to an application submitted by an applicant who

4 demonstrates that the applicant has established—

5 ‘‘(1) a contractual association with 1 or more

6 Head Start programs under the Head Start Act (42

7 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.) under which—

8 ‘‘(A) the Head Start program agrees to se9 lect the same model or models of reading in10 struction, as a model for implementing and im11 proving the reading readiness of children par12 ticipating in the program, as was selected by

13 the applicant; and

14 ‘‘(B) the applicant agrees—

15 ‘‘(i) to share with the Head Start pro16 gram an appropriate amount of the appli17 cant’s information resources with respect

18 to the model, such as curricula materials;

19 and

20 ‘‘(ii) to train personnel from the Head

21 Start program;

22 ‘‘(2) a contractual association with 1 or more

23 State- or federally-funded preschool programs, or

24 family literacy programs, under which—
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•S 1590 IS

1 ‘‘(A) the program agrees to select the same

2 model or models of reading instruction, as a

3 model for implementing and improving reading

4 instruction in the program’s activities, as was

5 selected by the applicant; and

6 ‘‘(B) the applicant agrees to train person7 nel from the program who work with children

8 and parents in schools selected under subsection

9 (a)(2); or

10 ‘‘(3) a contractual association with 1 or more

11 public libraries providing reading or literacy services

12 to preschool children, or preschool children and their

13 families, under which—

14 ‘‘(A) the library agrees to select the same

15 model or models of reading instruction, as a

16 model for implementing and improving reading

17 instruction in the library’s reading or literacy

18 programs, as was selected by the applicant; and

19 ‘‘(B) the applicant agrees to train person20 nel, including volunteers, from such programs

21 who work with preschool children, or preschool

22 children and their families, in schools selected

23 under subsection (a)(2).

24 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

2 an applicant who receives a subgrant under this sec3 tion may use the subgrant funds to carry out activi4 ties that are authorized by this title and described

5 in the subgrant application, including the following:

6 ‘‘(A) Making reasonable payments for

7 technical and other assistance to a person re8 sponsible for the development of a model of

9 reading instruction, or a person with experience

10 or expertise about such model and its imple11 mentation, who has agreed to work with the re12 cipient in connection with the implementation of

13 the model.

14 ‘‘(B) Carrying out a contractual agreement

15 described in subsection (d).

16 ‘‘(C) Professional development (including

17 training of volunteers), purchase of curricular

18 and other supporting materials, and technical

19 assistance.

20 ‘‘(D) Providing, on a voluntary basis,

21 training to parents of children enrolled in a

22 school selected under subsection (a)(2) on how

23 to help their children with school work, particu24 larly in the development of reading skills. Such

25 training may be provided directly by the
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•S 1590 IS

1 subgrant recipient, or through a grant or con2 tract with another person. Such training shall

3 be consistent with reading reforms taking place

4 in the school setting.

5 ‘‘(E) Carrying out family literacy programs

6 based on the Even Start family literacy model

7 authorized under part B of title I to enable par8 ents to be their child’s first and most important

9 teacher, and making payments for the receipt of

10 technical assistance for the development of such

11 programs.

12 ‘‘(F) Providing instruction for parents of

13 children enrolled in a school selected under sub14 section (a)(2), and others who volunteer to be

15 reading tutors for such children, in the instruc16 tional practices based on reliable, replicable re17 search on reading used by the applicant.

18 ‘‘(G) Programs to assist those kinder19 garten students enrolled in a school selected

20 under subsection (a)(2) who are not ready for

21 the transition to 1st grade, particularly stu22 dents experiencing difficulty with reading skills.

23 ‘‘(H) Providing, for students who are en24 rolled in grades 1 through 3 in a school selected

25 under subsection (a)(2) and are experiencing
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•S 1590 IS

1 difficulty reading, additional support before

2 school, after school, on weekends, during non3 instructional periods of the school day, or dur4 ing the summer, using supervised individuals

5 (including tutors) who have been appropriately

6 trained using reliable, replicable research on

7 reading.

8 ‘‘(I) Carrying out the duties described in

9 section 15105(b)(2) for children enrolled in a

10 school selected under subsection (a)(2).

11 ‘‘(J) Providing reading assistance to chil12 dren who have not been determined to be a

13 child with a disability (as defined in section 602

14 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education

15 Act (20 U.S.C. 1401)), pursuant to section

16 614(b)(5) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1414(b)(5)),

17 because of a lack of instruction in reading.

18 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EX19 PENSES.—A recipient of a subgrant under this sec20 tion may use not more than 3 percent of the

21 subgrant funds for administrative costs.

22 ‘‘(f) TRAINING NONRECIPIENTS.—A recipient of a

23 subgrant under this section may train, on a fee-for-service

24 basis, personnel who are from schools, or local educational

25 agencies, that are not receiving such a subgrant in the
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•S 1590 IS

1 instructional practices based on reliable, replicable re2 search on reading used by the recipient. Such a non-recipi3 ent school may use funds received under title I, and other

4 appropriate Federal funds used for reading instruction, to

5 pay for such training, to the extent consistent with the

6 law under which such funds were received.

7 ‘‘SEC. 15105. TUTORIAL ASSISTANCE SUBGRANTS.

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—

9 ‘‘(1) SUBGRANTS.—A reading and literacy part10 nership that receives a grant under section 15103

11 shall make subgrants on a competitive basis to—

12 ‘‘(A) local educational agencies that have

13 at least 1 school in the geographic area served

14 by the agency that—

15 ‘‘(i) is located in an area designated

16 as an empowerment zone under part I of

17 subchapter U of chapter 1 of the Internal

18 Revenue Code of 1986; or

19 ‘‘(ii) is located in an area designated

20 as an enterprise community under part I

21 of subchapter U of chapter 1 of the Inter22 nal Revenue Code of 1986; or

23 ‘‘(B) in the case of local educational agen24 cies that do not have any such empowerment

25 zone or enterprise community in the State in
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•S 1590 IS

1 which the agency is located, local educational

2 agencies that have at least 1 school that is iden3 tified for school improvement under section

4 1116(c) in the geographic area served by the

5 agency.

6 ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS.—A local educational agen7 cy that desires to receive a subgrant under this sec8 tion shall submit an application to the reading and

9 literacy partnership at such time, in such manner,

10 and including such information as the partnership

11 may require. The application shall include an assur12 ance that the agency will use the subgrant funds to

13 carry out the duties described in subsection (b) for

14 children enrolled in 1 or more schools selected by the

15 agency and described in paragraph (1).

16 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A local educational agency

18 that receives a subgrant under this section shall

19 carry out, using the funds provided under the

20 subgrant, each of the duties described in paragraph

21 (2).

22 ‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The duties described in this

23 paragraph are the provision of tutorial assistance in

24 reading to children who have difficulty reading,
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•S 1590 IS

1 using instructional practices based on the principles

2 of reliable, replicable research, through the following:

3 ‘‘(A) The promulgation of a set of objective

4 criteria, pertaining to the ability of a tutorial

5 assistance provider successfully to provide tuto6 rial assistance in reading, that will be used to

7 determine in a uniform manner, at the begin8 ning of each school year, the eligibility of tuto9 rial assistance providers, subject to the succeed10 ing subparagraphs of this paragraph, to be in11 cluded on the list described in subparagraph

12 (B) (and thereby be eligible to enter into a con13 tract pursuant to subparagraph (F)).

14 ‘‘(B) The promulgation, maintenance, and

15 approval of a list of tutorial assistance provid16 ers eligible to enter into a contract pursuant to

17 subparagraph (F) who—

18 ‘‘(i) have established a record of effec19 tiveness with respect to reading readiness,

20 reading instruction for children in kinder21 garten through 3d grade, and early child22 hood literacy;

23 ‘‘(ii) are located in a geographic area

24 convenient to the school or schools at25 tended by the children who will be receiv-
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•S 1590 IS

1 ing tutorial assistance from the providers;

2 and

3 ‘‘(iii) are capable of providing tutoring

4 in reading to children who have difficulty

5 reading, using instructional practices based

6 on the principles of reliable, replicable re7 search and consistent with the instruc8 tional methods used by the school the child

9 attends.

10 ‘‘(C) The development of procedures (i) for

11 the receipt of applications for tutorial assist12 ance, from parents who are seeking such assist13 ance for their child or children, that select a tu14 torial assistance provider from the list described

15 in subparagraph (B) with whom the child or

16 children will enroll, for tutoring in reading; and

17 (ii) for considering children for tutorial assist18 ance who are identified under subparagraph

19 (D) and for whom no application has been sub20 mitted, provided that such procedures are in ac21 cordance with this paragraph and give such

22 parents the right to select a tutorial assistance

23 provider from the list referred to in subpara24 graph (B), and shall permit a local educational

25 agency to recommend a tutorial assistance pro-
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•S 1590 IS

1 vider from the list under subparagraph (B) in

2 a case where a parent asks for assistance in the

3 making of such selection.

4 ‘‘(D) The development of a selection proc5 ess for providing tutorial assistance in accord6 ance with this paragraph that limits the provi7 sion of assistance to children identified, by the

8 school the child attends, as having difficulty

9 reading, including difficulty mastering essential

10 phonic, decoding, or vocabulary skills. In the

11 case of a child included in the selection process

12 for whom no application has been submitted by

13 a parent of the child, the child’s eligibility for

14 receipt of tutorial assistance shall be deter15 mined under the same procedures, timeframe,

16 and criteria for consideration as is used to de17 termine the eligibility of a child whose parent

18 has submitted such an application. Such local

19 educational agency shall apply the provisions of

20 subparagraphs (F) and (G) to a tutorial assist21 ance provider selected for a child whose parent

22 has not submitted an application pursuant to

23 subparagraph (C)(i) in the same manner as the

24 provisions are applied to a provider selected in
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•S 1590 IS

1 an application submitted pursuant to subpara2 graph (C)(i).

3 ‘‘(E) The development of procedures for

4 selecting children to receive tutorial assistance,

5 to be used in cases where insufficient funds are

6 available to provide assistance with respect to

7 all children identified by a school under sub8 paragraph (D) that—

9 ‘‘(i) gives priority to children who are

10 determined, through State or local reading

11 assessments, to be most in need of tutorial

12 assistance; and

13 ‘‘(ii) gives priority, in cases where

14 children are determined, through State or

15 local reading assessments, to be equally in

16 need of tutorial assistance, based on a ran17 dom selection principle.

18 ‘‘(F) The development of a methodology by

19 which payments are made directly to tutorial

20 assistance providers who are identified and se21 lected pursuant to subparagraphs (C), (D), and

22 (E). Such methodology shall include the making

23 of a contract, consistent with State and local

24 law, between the tutorial assistance provider
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•S 1590 IS

1 and the local educational agency carrying out

2 this paragraph. Such contract—

3 ‘‘(i) shall contain specific goals and

4 timetables with respect to the performance

5 of the tutorial assistance provider;

6 ‘‘(ii) shall require the tutorial assist7 ance provider to report to the parent and

8 the local educational agency on the provid9 er’s performance in meeting such goals and

10 timetables; and

11 ‘‘(iii) shall contain provisions with re12 spect to the making of payments to the tu13 torial assistance provider by the local edu14 cational agency.

15 ‘‘(G) The development of procedures under

16 which the local educational agency carrying out

17 this paragraph—

18 ‘‘(i) will ensure oversight of the qual19 ity and effectiveness of the tutorial assist20 ance provided by each tutorial assistance

21 provider that is selected for funding;

22 ‘‘(ii) will remove from the list under

23 subparagraph (B) ineffective and unsuc24 cessful providers (as determined by the

25 local educational agency based upon the
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•S 1590 IS

1 performance of the provider with respect to

2 the goals and timetables contained in the

3 contract between the agency and the pro4 vider under subparagraph (F));

5 ‘‘(iii) will provide to each parent of a

6 child identified under subparagraph (D)

7 who requests such information for the pur8 pose of selecting a tutorial assistance pro9 vider for the child, in a comprehensible for10 mat, information with respect to the qual11 ity and effectiveness of the tutorial assist12 ance referred to in clause (i); and

13 ‘‘(iv) will ensure that each school

14 identifying a child under subparagraph (D)

15 will provide upon request, to a parent of

16 the child, assistance in selecting, from

17 among the tutorial assistance providers

18 who are included on the list described in

19 subparagraph (B), the provider who is best

20 able to meet the needs of the child.

21 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For the purpose of this section

22 the term ‘parent’ includes a legal guardian.

23 ‘‘SEC. 15106. PROGRAM EVALUATION.

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—From funds reserved under sec25 tion 15110(b)(1), the Secretary shall conduct a national
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1 assessment of the programs under this title. In developing

2 the criteria for the assessment, the Secretary shall receive

3 recommendations from the peer review panel convened

4 under section 15103(f).

5 ‘‘(b) SUBMISSION TO PEER REVIEW PANEL.—The

6 Secretary shall submit the findings from the assessment

7 under subsection (a) to the peer review panel convened

8 under section 15103(f).

9 ‘‘SEC. 15107. INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—From funds reserved under sec11 tion 15110(b)(2), the National Institute for Literacy shall

12 disseminate information on reliable, replicable research on

13 reading and information on subgrantee projects under sec14 tion 15104 or 15105 that have proven effective. At a mini15 mum, the institute shall disseminate such information to

16 all recipients of Federal financial assistance under titles

17 I and VII, the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.),

18 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

19 1400 et seq.), and the Adult Education Act (20 U.S.C.

20 1201 et seq.).

21 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section,

22 the National Institute for Literacy—

23 ‘‘(1) shall use, to the extent practicable, infor24 mation networks developed and maintained through

25 other public and private persons, including the Sec-
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1 retary, the National Center for Family Literacy, and

2 the Readline Program;

3 ‘‘(2) shall work in conjunction with any panel

4 convened by the National Institute of Child Health

5 and Human Development and the Secretary, and

6 any panel convened by the Office of Educational Re7 search and Improvement to assess the current status

8 of research-based knowledge on reading develop9 ment, including the effectiveness of various ap10 proaches to teaching children to read, with respect

11 to determining the criteria by which the National In12 stitute for Literacy judges reliable, replicable re13 search and the design of strategies to disseminate

14 such information; and

15 ‘‘(3) shall assist any reading and literacy part16 nership selected to receive a grant under section

17 15103, and that requests such assistance—

18 ‘‘(A) in determining whether applications

19 for subgrants submitted to the partnership

20 meet the requirements of this title relating to

21 reliable, replicable research on reading; and

22 ‘‘(B) in the development of subgrant appli23 cation forms.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 15108. STATE EVALUATIONS.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each reading and literacy part3 nership that receives a grant under this title shall reserve

4 not more than 2 percent of such grant funds for the pur5 pose of evaluating the success of the partnership’s sub6 grantees in meeting the purposes of this title. At a mini7 mum, the evaluation shall measure the extent to which

8 students who are the intended beneficiaries of the sub9 grants made by the partnership have improved their read10 ing.

11 ‘‘(b) CONTRACT.—A reading and literacy partnership

12 shall carry out the evaluation under this section by enter13 ing into a contract with an eligible research institution

14 under which the institution will perform the evaluation.

15 ‘‘(c) SUBMISSION.—A reading and literacy partner16 ship shall submit the findings from the evaluation under

17 this section to the Secretary and the peer review panel

18 convened under section 15103(f). The Secretary and the

19 peer review panel shall submit a summary of the findings

20 from the evaluations under this subsection to the appro21 priate committees of the Congress, including the Edu22 cation and the Workforce Committee of the House of Rep23 resentatives.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 15109. PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN ENROLLED IN

2 PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

3 ‘‘Each reading and literacy partnership that receives

4 funds under this title shall provide for, or ensure that sub5 grantees provide for, the participation of children in pri6 vate schools in the activities and services assisted under

7 this title in the same manner as the children participate

8 in activities and services pursuant to sections 14503,

9 14504, 14505, and 14506.

10 ‘‘SEC. 15110. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; RES11 ERVATIONS FROM APPROPRIATIONS; SUN12 SET.

13 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to be

14 appropriated to carry out this title $260,000,000 for fiscal

15 years 1999, 2000, and 2001.

16 ‘‘(b) RESERVATIONS.—From the amount appro17 priated under subsection (a) for each fiscal year, the Sec18 retary—

19 ‘‘(1) shall reserve 1.5 percent to carry out sec20 tion 15106(a);

21 ‘‘(2) shall reserve $5,075,000 to carry out sec22 tions 15103(f)(2) and 15107, of which $5,000,000

23 shall be reserved for section 15107; and

24 ‘‘(3) shall reserve $10,000,000 to carry out sec25 tion 1202(c).
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1 ‘‘(c) SUNSET.—Notwithstanding section 422(a) of

2 the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C.

3 1226a(a)), this title is repealed, effective September 30,

4 2001, and is not subject to extension under such section.’’.

5 Subtitle B—Amendments to Even

6 Start Family Literacy Programs

7 SEC. 521. RESERVATION FOR GRANTS.

8 Section 1202(c) of the Elementary and Secondary

9 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6362(c)) is amended

10 to read as follows:

11 ‘‘(c) RESERVATION FOR GRANTS.—

12 ‘‘(1) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From funds re13 served under section 15109(b)(3), the Secretary

14 shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to States

15 to enable such States to plan and implement, state16 wide family literacy initiatives to coordinate and in17 tegrate existing Federal, State, and local literacy re18 sources consistent with the purposes of this part.

19 Such coordination and integration shall include co20 ordination and integration of funds available under

21 the Adult Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.),

22 Head Start (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.), this part, part

23 A of this title, and part A of title IV of the Social

24 Security Act.

25 ‘‘(2) CONSORTIA.—
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1 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—To receive a

2 grant under this subsection, a State shall estab3 lish a consortium of State-level programs under

4 the following laws:

5 ‘‘(i) This title.

6 ‘‘(ii) The Head Start Act.

7 ‘‘(iii) The Adult Education Act.

8 ‘‘(iv) All other State-funded preschool

9 programs and programs providing literacy

10 services to adults.

11 ‘‘(B) PLAN.—To receive a grant under this

12 subsection, the consortium established by a

13 State shall create a plan to use a portion of the

14 State’s resources, derived from the programs

15 referred to in subparagraph (A), to strengthen

16 and expand family literacy services in such

17 State.

18 ‘‘(C) COORDINATION WITH TITLE XV.—

19 The consortium shall coordinate its activities

20 with the activities of the reading and literacy

21 partnership for the State established under sec22 tion 15103, if the State receives a grant under

23 such section.

24 ‘‘(3) READING INSTRUCTION.—Statewide family

25 literacy initiatives implemented under this subsection
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1 shall base reading instruction on reliable, replicable

2 research on reading (as such terms are defined in

3 section 15102).

4 ‘‘(4) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary

5 shall provide, directly or through a grant or contract

6 with an organization with experience in the develop7 ment and operation of successful family literacy

8 services, technical assistance to States receiving a

9 grant under this subsection.

10 ‘‘(5) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Sec11 retary shall not make a grant to a State under this

12 subsection unless the State agrees that, with respect

13 to the costs to be incurred by the eligible consortium

14 in carrying out the activities for which the grant was

15 awarded, the State will make available non-Federal

16 contributions in an amount equal to not less than

17 the Federal funds provided under the grant.’’.

18 SEC. 522. DEFINITIONS.

19 Section 1202(e) of the Elementary and Secondary

20 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6362(e)) is amended—

21 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as

22 paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; and

23 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the follow24 ing:
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1 ‘‘(3) the term ‘family literacy services’ means

2 services provided to participants on a voluntary basis

3 that are of sufficient intensity in terms of hours,

4 and of sufficient duration, to make sustainable

5 changes in a family (such as eliminating or reducing

6 welfare dependency) and that integrate all of the fol7 lowing activities:

8 ‘‘(A) Interactive literacy activities between

9 parents and their children.

10 ‘‘(B) Equipping parents to partner with

11 their children in learning.

12 ‘‘(C) Parent literacy training, including

13 training that contributes to economic self-suffi14 ciency.

15 ‘‘(D) Appropriate instruction for children

16 of parents receiving parent literacy services.’’.

17 SEC. 523. EVALUATION.

18 Section 1209 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu19 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6369) is amended—

20 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

21 end;

22 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at

23 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

24 (3) by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(3) to provide States and eligible entities re2 ceiving a subgrant under this part, directly or

3 through a grant or contract with an organization

4 with experience in the development and operation of

5 successful family literacy services, technical assist6 ance to ensure local evaluations undertaken under

7 section 1205(10) provide accurate information on

8 the effectiveness of programs assisted under this

9 part.’’.

10 SEC. 524. INDICATORS OF PROGRAM QUALITY.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Elementary and Secondary

12 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amend13 ed—

14 (1) by redesignating section 1210 as section

15 1212; and

16 (2) by inserting after section 1209 the follow17 ing:

18 ‘‘SEC. 1210. INDICATORS OF PROGRAM QUALITY.

19 ‘‘Each State receiving funds under this part shall de20 velop, based on the best available research and evaluation

21 data, indicators of program quality for programs assisted

22 under this part. Such indicators shall be used to monitor,

23 evaluate, and improve such programs within the State.

24 Such indicators shall include the following:
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1 ‘‘(1) With respect to eligible participants in a

2 program who are adults—

3 ‘‘(A) achievement in the areas of reading,

4 writing, English language acquisition, problem

5 solving, and numeracy;

6 ‘‘(B) receipt of a secondary school diploma

7 or its recognized equivalent;

8 ‘‘(C) entry into a postsecondary school, a

9 job retraining program, or employment or ca10 reer advancement, including the military; and

11 ‘‘(D) such other indicators as the State

12 may develop.

13 ‘‘(2) With respect to eligible participants in a

14 program who are children—

15 ‘‘(A) improvement in ability to read on

16 grade level or reading readiness;

17 ‘‘(B) school attendance;

18 ‘‘(C) grade retention and promotion; and

19 ‘‘(D) such other indicators as the State

20 may develop.’’.

21 (b) STATE LEVEL ACTIVITIES.—Section 1203(a) of

22 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

23 U.S.C. 6363(a)) is amended—

24 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

25 end;
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1 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at

2 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

3 (3) by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(3) carrying out section 1210.’’.

5 (c) AWARD OF SUBGRANTS.—Paragraphs (3) and (4)

6 of section 1208(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu7 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6368) are amended to read

8 as follows:

9 ‘‘(3) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY.—In awarding

10 subgrant funds to continue a program under this

11 part for the second, third, or fourth year, the State

12 educational agency shall evaluate the program based

13 on the indicators of program quality developed by

14 the State under section 1210. Such evaluation shall

15 take place after the conclusion of the startup period,

16 if any.

17 ‘‘(4) INSUFFICIENT PROGRESS.—The State

18 educational agency may refuse to award subgrant

19 funds if such agency finds that the eligible entity

20 has not sufficiently improved the performance of the

21 program, as evaluated based on the indicators of

22 program quality developed by the State under sec23 tion 1210, after—

24 ‘‘(A) providing technical assistance to the

25 eligible entity; and
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1 ‘‘(B) affording the eligible entity notice

2 and an opportunity for a hearing.’’.

3 SEC. 525. RESEARCH.

4 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

5 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), as amended by section 524

6 of this Act, is further amended by inserting after section

7 1210 the following:

8 ‘‘SEC. 1211. RESEARCH.

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out,

10 through grant or contract, research into the components

11 of successful family literacy services. The purpose of the

12 research shall be—

13 ‘‘(1) to improve the quality of existing pro14 grams assisted under this part or other family lit15 eracy programs carried out under this Act or the

16 Adult Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.); and

17 ‘‘(2) to develop models for new programs to be

18 carried out under this Act or the Adult Education

19 Act.

20 ‘‘(b) DISSEMINATION.—The National Institute for

21 Literacy shall disseminate, pursuant to section 15107, the

22 results of the research described in subsection (a) to

23 States and recipients of subgrants under this part.’’.
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1 TITLE VI—TEACHER AND

2 STUDENT SAFETY

3 SEC. 601. FINDINGS.

4 Congress finds that—

5 (1) the continued presence in schools of violent

6 students who are a threat to both teachers and other

7 students is incompatible with a safe learning envi8 ronment;

9 (2) unsafe school environments place students

10 who are already at risk of school failure for other

11 reasons in further jeopardy;

12 (3) recently, over one-fourth of high school stu13 dents surveyed reported being threatened at school;

14 (4) 2,000,000 more children are using drugs in

15 1997 than were doing so a few short years prior to

16 1997;

17 (5) nearly 1 out of every 20 students in 6th

18 through 12th grade uses drugs on school grounds;

19 (6) more of our children are becoming involved

20 with hard drugs at earlier ages, as use of heroin and

21 cocaine by 8th graders has more than doubled since

22 1991; and

23 (7) greater cooperation between schools, par24 ents, law enforcement, the courts, and the commu-
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1 nity is essential to making our schools safe from

2 drugs and violence.

3 SEC. 602. PURPOSE.

4 It is the purpose of this title—

5 (1) to urge States, State educational agencies,

6 and local educational agencies to provide comprehen7 sive services to victims of and witnesses to school vi8 olence;

9 (2) to urge States, State educational agencies,

10 and local educational agencies to remove violent and

11 drug selling student offenders from school premises;

12 (3) to urge States, State educational agencies,

13 and local educational agencies to report violent

14 crimes and drug dealing on school grounds to appro15 priate law enforcement authorities;

16 (4) to provide incentive grants for States, State

17 educational agencies, and local educational agencies

18 to involve parents and community volunteers in ef19 forts to improve school safety; and

20 (5) to provide incentive grants to States, State

21 educational agencies, and local educational agencies

22 to develop innovative programs to improve the safety

23 of our Nation’s schools and to better serve at-risk

24 students.
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1 Subtitle A—Student Safety and

2 Family Choice

3 SEC. 611. STUDENT SAFETY AND FAMILY SCHOOL CHOICE.

4 Subpart 1 of part A of title I of the Elementary and

5 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et

6 seq.) is amended by inserting after section 1115A of such

7 Act (20 U.S.C. 6316) the following:

8 ‘‘SEC. 1115B. STUDENT SAFETY AND FAMILY SCHOOL

9 CHOICE.

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro11 vision of law, if a student is eligible to be served under

12 section 1115(b), or attends a school eligible for a

13 schoolwide program under section 1114, and becomes a

14 victim of a violent criminal offense while in or on the

15 grounds of a public elementary school or secondary school

16 that the student attends and that receives assistance

17 under this part, then the local educational agency may use

18 funds provided under this part or under any other Federal

19 education program to pay the supplementary costs for

20 such student to attend another school. The agency may

21 use the funds to pay for the supplementary costs of such

22 student to attend any other public or private elementary

23 school or secondary school, including a religious school,

24 in the same State as the school where the criminal offense

25 occurred, that is selected by the student’s parent. The
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1 State educational agency shall determine what actions

2 constitute a violent criminal offense for purposes of this

3 section.

4 ‘‘(b) SUPPLEMENTARY COSTS.—The supplementary

5 costs referred to in subsection (a) shall not exceed—

6 ‘‘(1) in the case of a student for whom funds

7 under this section are used to enable the student to

8 attend a public elementary school or secondary

9 school served by a local educational agency that also

10 serves the school where the violent criminal offense

11 occurred, the costs of supplementary educational

12 services and activities described in section 1114(b)

13 or 1115(c) that are provided to the student;

14 ‘‘(2) in the case of a student for whom funds

15 under this section are used to enable the student to

16 attend a public elementary school or secondary

17 school served by a local educational agency that does

18 not serve the school where the violent criminal of19 fense occurred but is located in the same State—

20 ‘‘(A) the costs of supplementary edu21 cational services and activities described in sec22 tion 1114(b) or 1115(c) that are provided to

23 the student; and
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1 ‘‘(B) the reasonable costs of transportation

2 for the student to attend the school selected by

3 the student’s parent; and

4 ‘‘(3) in the case of a student for whom funds

5 under this section are used to enable the student to

6 attend a private elementary school or secondary

7 school, including a religious school, the costs of tui8 tion, required fees, and the reasonable costs of such

9 transportation.

10 ‘‘(c) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act or any

11 other Federal law shall be construed to prevent a parent

12 assisted under this section from selecting the public or pri13 vate, including religious, elementary school or secondary

14 school that a child of the parent will attend within the

15 State.

16 ‘‘(d) CONSIDERATION OF ASSISTANCE.—Subject to

17 subsection (h), assistance made available under this sec18 tion that is used to pay the costs for a student to attend

19 a private or religious school shall not be considered to be

20 Federal aid to the school, and the Federal Government

21 shall have no authority to influence or regulate the oper22 ations of a private or religious school as a result of assist23 ance received under this section.

24 ‘‘(e) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY.—A student assisted

25 under this section shall remain eligible to continue receiv-
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1 ing assistance under this section for at least 3 academic

2 years without regard to whether the student is eligible for

3 assistance under section 1114 or 1115(b).

4 ‘‘(f) TUITION CHARGES.—Assistance under this sec5 tion may not be used to pay tuition or required fees at

6 a private elementary school or secondary school in an

7 amount that is greater than the tuition and required fees

8 paid by students not assisted under this section at such

9 school.

10 ‘‘(g) SPECIAL RULE.—Any school receiving assist11 ance provided under this section shall comply with title

12 VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et

13 seq.) and not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or

14 national origin.

15 ‘‘(h) ASSISTANCE; TAXES AND OTHER FEDERAL

16 PROGRAMS.—

17 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE TO FAMILIES, NOT

18 SCHOOLS.—Assistance provided under this section

19 shall be considered to be aid to families, not schools.

20 Use of such assistance at a school shall not be con21 strued to be Federal financial aid or assistance to

22 that school.

23 ‘‘(2) TAXES AND DETERMINATIONS OF ELIGI24 BILITY FOR OTHER FEDERAL PROGRAMS.—Assist25 ance provided under this section to a student shall
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1 not be considered to be income of the student or

2 the parent of such student for Federal, State, or

3 local tax purposes or for determining eligibility for

4 any other Federal program.

5 ‘‘(i) PART B OF THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABIL6 ITIES EDUCATION ACT.—Nothing in this section shall be

7 construed to affect the requirements of part B of the Indi8 viduals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1411

9 et seq.).

10 ‘‘(j) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—Notwithstanding any

11 other provision of this section, the amount of assistance

12 provided under this part for a student shall not exceed

13 the per pupil expenditure for elementary or secondary edu14 cation, as appropriate, by the local educational agency

15 that serves the school where the criminal offense occurred

16 for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the

17 determination is made.’’.

18 SEC. 612. TRANSFER OF REVENUES.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi20 sion of Federal law, a State, a State educational agency,

21 or a local educational agency may transfer any non-Fed22 eral public funds associated with the education of a stu23 dent who is a victim of a violent criminal offense while

24 in or on the grounds of a public elementary school or sec25 ondary school served by a local educational agency to an-
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1 other local educational agency or to a private elementary

2 school or secondary school, including a religious school.

3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purpose of subsection

4 (a), the terms ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘secondary school’’,

5 ‘‘local educational agency’’, and ‘‘State educational agen6 cy’’ have the meanings given such terms in section 14101

7 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

8 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

9 Subtitle B—Victim and Witness As10 sistance Programs for Teachers

11 and Students

12 SEC. 621. AMENDMENTS TO VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT OF

13 1984.

14 (a) VICTIM COMPENSATION.—Section 1403 of the

15 Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10602) is

16 amended by adding at the end the following:

17 ‘‘(f) VICTIMS OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE.—Notwithstand18 ing any other provision of law, an eligible crime victim

19 compensation program may expend funds granted under

20 this section to offer compensation to elementary and sec21 ondary school students or teachers who are victims of ele22 mentary and secondary school violence (as school violence

23 is defined under applicable State law).’’.
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1 (b) VICTIM AND WITNESS ASSISTANCE.—Section

2 1404(c) of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C.

3 10603(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(5) ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS OF AND WIT5 NESSES TO SCHOOL VIOLENCE.—Notwithstanding

6 any other provision of law, the Director may make

7 a grant under this section for a demonstration

8 project or for training and technical assistance serv9 ices to a program that—

10 ‘‘(A) assists State educational agencies and

11 local educational agencies (as the terms are de12 fined in section 14101 of the Elementary and

13 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

14 8801)) in developing, establishing, and operat15 ing programs that are designed to protect vic16 tims of and witnesses to incidents of elementary

17 and secondary school violence (as school vio18 lence is defined under applicable State law), in19 cluding programs designed to protect witnesses

20 testifying in school disciplinary proceedings; or

21 ‘‘(B) supports a student safety toll-free

22 hotline that provides students and teachers in

23 elementary and secondary schools with con24 fidential assistance relating to the issues of
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1 school crime, violence, drug dealing, and threats

2 to personal safety.’’.

3 Subtitle C—Innovative Programs

4 To Protect Teachers and Students

5 SEC. 631. DEFINITIONS.

6 In this subtitle:

7 (1) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, LOCAL EDU8 CATIONAL AGENCY, SECONDARY SCHOOL, AND STATE

9 EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The terms ‘‘elementary

10 school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary

11 school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the

12 meanings given the terms in section 14101 of the

13 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

14 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

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

16 the Secretary of Education.

17 SEC. 632. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

18 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as

19 may be necessary to carry out this subtitle.

20 SEC. 633. AUTHORIZATION FOR REPORT CARDS ON

21 SCHOOLS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to

23 award grants to States, State educational agencies, and

24 local educational agencies to develop, establish, or conduct
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1 innovative programs to improve unsafe elementary schools

2 or secondary schools.

3 (b) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give priority to

4 awarding grants under subsection (a) to—

5 (1) programs that provide parent and teacher

6 notification about incidents of physical violence,

7 weapon possession, or drug activity on school

8 grounds as soon after the incident as practicable;

9 (2) programs that provide to parents and teach10 ers an annual report regarding—

11 (A) the total number of incidents of phys12 ical violence, weapon possession, and drug activ13 ity on school grounds;

14 (B) the percentage of students missing 10

15 or fewer days of school; and

16 (C) a comparison, if available, to previous

17 annual reports under this paragraph, which

18 comparison shall not involve a comparison of

19 more than 5 such previous annual reports; and

20 (3) programs to enhance school security meas21 ures that may include—

22 (A) equipping schools with fences, closed

23 circuit cameras, and other physical security

24 measures;
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1 (B) providing increased police patrols in

2 and around elementary schools and secondary

3 schools, including canine patrols; and

4 (C) mailings to parents at the beginning of

5 the school year stating that the possession of a

6 gun or other weapon, or the sale of drugs in

7 school, will not be tolerated by school authori8 ties.

9 SEC. 634. APPLICATION.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State, State educational

11 agency, or local educational agency desiring a grant under

12 this subtitle shall submit an application to the Secretary

13 at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such

14 information as the Secretary may require.

15 (b) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted under

16 subsection (a) shall contain an assurance that the State

17 or agency has implemented or will implement policies

18 that—

19 (1) provide protections for victims and wit20 nesses to school crime, including protections for at21 tendance at school disciplinary proceedings;

22 (2) expel students who, on school grounds, sell

23 drugs, or who commit a violent offense that causes

24 serious bodily injury of another student or teacher;

25 and
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1 (3) require referral to law enforcement authori2 ties or juvenile authorities of any student who on

3 school grounds—

4 (A) commits a violent offense resulting in

5 serious bodily injury; or

6 (B) sells drugs.

7 (c) SPECIAL RULE.—For purposes of paragraphs (2)

8 and (3) of subsection (b), State law shall determine what

9 constitutes a violent offense or serious bodily injury.

10 TITLE VII—CHARTER SCHOOL

11 EXPANSION

12 SEC. 701. SHORT TITLE.

13 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Charter Schools Ex14 pansion Act of 1998’’.

15 SEC. 702. CHARTER SCHOOLS.

16 Part C of title X of the Elementary and Secondary

17 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8061 et seq.) is amend18 ed to read as follows:

19 ‘‘PART C—PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS

20 ‘‘SEC. 10301. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

21 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

22 ‘‘(1) enhancement of parent and student choices

23 among public schools can assist in promoting com24 prehensive educational reform and give more stu25 dents the opportunity to learn to challenging State
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1 content standards and challenging State student

2 performance standards, if sufficiently diverse and

3 high-quality choices, and genuine opportunities to

4 take advantage of such choices, are available to all

5 students;

6 ‘‘(2) useful examples of such choices can come

7 from States and communities that experiment with

8 methods of offering teachers and other educators,

9 parents, and other members of the public the oppor10 tunity to design and implement new public schools

11 and to transform existing public schools;

12 ‘‘(3) charter schools are a mechanism for test13 ing a variety of educational approaches and should,

14 therefore, be exempted from restrictive rules and

15 regulations if the leadership of such schools commits

16 to attaining specific and ambitious educational re17 sults for educationally disadvantaged students con18 sistent with challenging State content standards and

19 challenging State student performance standards for

20 all students;

21 ‘‘(4) charter schools, as such schools have been

22 implemented in a few States, can embody the nec23 essary mixture of enhanced choice, exemption from

24 restrictive regulations, and a focus on learning

25 gains;
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1 ‘‘(5) charter schools, including charter schools

2 that are schools-within-schools, can help reduce

3 school size, which can have a significant effect on

4 student achievement;

5 ‘‘(6) the Federal Government should test, evalu6 ate, and disseminate information on a variety of

7 charter school models in order to help demonstrate

8 the benefits of this promising educational reform;

9 and

10 ‘‘(7) there is a strong documented need for

11 cash-flow assistance to charter schools that are

12 starting up, because State and local operating reve13 nue streams are not immediately available.

14 ‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this part are—

15 ‘‘(1) to provide financial assistance for the plan16 ning, design, and initial implementation of charter

17 schools;

18 ‘‘(2) to facilitate the ability of States and local19 ities to increase the number of charter schools in the

20 Nation to not less than 3,000 by the year 2000; and

21 ‘‘(3) to evaluate the effects of charter schools,

22 including the effects on students, student achieve23 ment, staff, and parents.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 10302. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants

3 to State educational agencies having applications approved

4 pursuant to section 10303 to enable such agencies to con5 duct a charter school grant program in accordance with

6 this part.

7 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL RULE.—If a State educational agency

8 elects not to participate in the program authorized by this

9 part or does not have an application approved under sec10 tion 10303, the Secretary may award a grant to an eligible

11 applicant that serves such State and has an application

12 approved pursuant to section 10303.

13 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM PERIODS.—

14 ‘‘(1) GRANTS TO STATES.—Grants awarded to

15 State educational agencies under this part for plan16 ning, design, or initial implementation of charter

17 schools, shall be awarded for a period of not more

18 than 5 years.

19 ‘‘(2) GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—

20 Grants awarded by the Secretary to eligible appli21 cants or subgrants awarded by State educational

22 agencies to eligible applicants under this part shall

23 be awarded for planning, design, or initial implemen24 tation of charter schools, for a period not to exceed

25 more than 5 years, of which the eligible applicant

26 may use—
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1 ‘‘(A) not more than 30 months for plan2 ning and program design; and

3 ‘‘(B) not more than 4 years for the initial

4 implementation of a charter school.

5 ‘‘(3) TRANSITION RULES.—

6 ‘‘(A) EXISTING GRANTS.—The Secretary

7 may use funds appropriated under this part—

8 ‘‘(i) to continue to make payments to

9 a State educational agency or an eligible

10 applicant pursuant to a multiyear award

11 made under this part prior to the date of

12 enactment of the Charter Schools Expan13 sion Act of 1998 in accordance with this

14 part (as in effect on the day prior to such

15 date); and

16 ‘‘(ii) subject to subparagraph (B), to

17 make payments to the agency or applicant

18 under this part (as in effect on the day

19 after such date).

20 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM PERIOD.—The total period

21 for which a State educational agency or an eli22 gible applicant may receive a payment described

23 in clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (A) shall

24 not exceed 5 years.
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1 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION.—Except as otherwise provided

2 under subsection (c), the Secretary shall not award more

3 than 1 grant, and State educational agencies shall not

4 award more than 1 subgrant, under this part to support

5 a particular charter school.

6 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY AND REQUIREMENTS.—

7 ‘‘(1) PRIORITY.—

8 ‘‘(A) FISCAL YEARS 1998, 1999, AND 2000.—

9 In awarding grants under this part for any of

10 the fiscal years 1998, 1999, and 2000 from

11 funds appropriated under section 10310 that

12 are in excess of $51,000,000 for the fiscal year,

13 the Secretary shall give priority to State edu14 cational agencies in accordance with subpara15 graph (C).

16 ‘‘(B) SUCCEEDING FISCAL YEARS.—In

17 awarding grants under this part for fiscal year

18 2001 or any succeeding fiscal year from any

19 funds appropriated under section 10310, the

20 Secretary shall consider the number of charter

21 schools in each State and shall give priority to

22 State educational agencies in accordance with

23 subparagraph (C).

24 ‘‘(C) PRIORITY ORDER.—In awarding

25 grants under subparagraphs (A) and (B), the
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1 Secretary, in the order listed, shall give priority

2 to a State that—

3 ‘‘(i) meets all requirements of para4 graph (2);

5 ‘‘(ii) meets 2 requirements of para6 graph (2); and

7 ‘‘(iii) meets 1 requirement of para8 graph (2).

9 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements re10 ferred to in paragraph (1)(C) are as follows:

11 ‘‘(A) The State law regarding charter

12 schools ensures that each charter school has a

13 high degree of autonomy over its budgets and

14 expenditures.

15 ‘‘(B) The State law regarding charter

16 schools provides that not less than 1 authorized

17 public chartering agency in the State allows for

18 an increase in the number of charter schools

19 from 1 year to the next year.

20 ‘‘(C) The State law regarding charter

21 schools provides for periodic review and evalua22 tion by the authorized public chartering agency

23 of each charter school to determine whether the

24 school is meeting or exceeding the academic

25 performance requirements and goals for charter
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1 schools as set forth under State law or the

2 school’s charter.

3 ‘‘SEC. 10303. APPLICATIONS.

4 ‘‘(a) APPLICATIONS FROM STATE AGENCIES.—Each

5 State educational agency desiring a grant from the Sec6 retary under this part shall submit to the Secretary an

7 application at such time, in such manner, and containing

8 or accompanied by such information as the Secretary may

9 require.

10 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF A STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY

11 APPLICATION.—Each application submitted pursuant to

12 subsection (a) shall—

13 ‘‘(1) describe the objectives of the State edu14 cational agency’s charter school grant program and

15 a description of how such objectives will be fulfilled,

16 including steps taken by the State educational agen17 cy to inform teachers, parents, and communities of

18 the State educational agency’s charter school grant

19 program;

20 ‘‘(2) describe how the State educational agency

21 will inform each charter school of available Federal

22 programs and funds that each such school is eligible

23 to receive and ensure that each such school receives

24 the school’s appropriate share of Federal education

25 funds allocated by formula; and
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1 ‘‘(3) contain assurances that the State edu2 cational agency will require each eligible applicant

3 desiring to receive a subgrant to submit an applica4 tion to the State educational agency containing—

5 ‘‘(A) a description of the educational pro6 gram to be implemented by the proposed char7 ter school, including—

8 ‘‘(i) how the program will enable all

9 students to meet challenging State student

10 performance standards;

11 ‘‘(ii) the grade levels or ages of chil12 dren to be served; and

13 ‘‘(iii) the curriculum and instructional

14 practices to be used;

15 ‘‘(B) a description of how the charter

16 school will be managed;

17 ‘‘(C) a description of—

18 ‘‘(i) the objectives of the charter

19 school; and

20 ‘‘(ii) the methods by which the charter

21 school will determine the school’s progress

22 toward achieving those objectives;

23 ‘‘(D) a description of the administrative re24 lationship between the charter school and the

25 authorized public chartering agency;
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1 ‘‘(E) a description of how parents and

2 other members of the community will be in3 volved in the design and implementation of the

4 charter school;

5 ‘‘(F) a description of how the authorized

6 public chartering agency will provide for contin7 ued operation of the school once the Federal

8 grant has expired, if such agency determines

9 that the school has met the objectives described

10 in subparagraph (C)(i);

11 ‘‘(G) a request and justification for waivers

12 of any Federal statutory or regulatory provi13 sions that the applicant believes are necessary

14 for the successful operation of the charter

15 school, and a description of any State or local

16 rules, generally applicable to public schools,

17 that will be waived for, or otherwise not apply

18 to, the school;

19 ‘‘(H) a description of how the subgrant

20 funds or grant funds, as appropriate, will be

21 used, including a description of how such funds

22 will be used in conjunction with other Federal

23 programs administered by the Secretary;

24 ‘‘(I) a description of how students in the

25 community will be—
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1 ‘‘(i) informed about the charter

2 school; and

3 ‘‘(ii) given an equal opportunity to at4 tend the charter school;

5 ‘‘(J) an assurance that the eligible appli6 cant will annually provide the Secretary and the

7 State educational agency such information as

8 may be required to determine if the charter

9 school is making satisfactory progress toward

10 achieving the objectives described in subpara11 graph (C)(i);

12 ‘‘(K) an assurance that the applicant will

13 cooperate with the Secretary and the State edu14 cational agency in evaluating the program as15 sisted under this part;

16 ‘‘(L) such other information and assur17 ances as the Secretary and the State edu18 cational agency may require; and

19 ‘‘(4) describe how the State educational agency

20 will disseminate best or promising practices of char21 ter schools in such State to each local educational

22 agency in the State.

23 ‘‘(c) CONTENTS OF ELIGIBLE APPLICANT APPLICA24 TION.—Each eligible applicant desiring a grant pursuant

25 to section 10302 shall submit an application to the State
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1 educational agency or Secretary, respectively, at such

2 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such informa3 tion as the State educational agency or Secretary, respec4 tively, may reasonably require.

5 ‘‘(d) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each application

6 submitted pursuant to subsection (c) shall contain—

7 ‘‘(1) the information and assurances described

8 in subparagraphs (A) through (L) of subsection

9 (b)(3), except that for purposes of this subsection

10 subparagraphs (J), (K), and (L) of such subsection

11 shall be applied by striking ‘and the State edu12 cational agency’ each place such term appears; and

13 ‘‘(2) assurances that the State educational

14 agency—

15 ‘‘(A) will grant, or will obtain, waivers of

16 State statutory or regulatory requirements; and

17 ‘‘(B) will assist each subgrantee in the

18 State in receiving a waiver under section

19 10304(e).

20 ‘‘SEC. 10304. ADMINISTRATION.

21 ‘‘(a) SELECTION CRITERIA FOR STATE EDU22 CATIONAL AGENCIES.—The Secretary shall award grants

23 to State educational agencies under this part on the basis

24 of the quality of the applications submitted under section
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1 10303(b), after taking into consideration such factors

2 as—

3 ‘‘(1) the contribution that the charter schools

4 grant program will make to assisting educationally

5 disadvantaged and other students to achieving State

6 content standards and State student performance

7 standards and, in general, a State’s education im8 provement plan;

9 ‘‘(2) the degree of flexibility afforded by the

10 State educational agency to charter schools under

11 the State’s charter schools law;

12 ‘‘(3) the ambitiousness of the objectives for the

13 State charter school grant program;

14 ‘‘(4) the quality of the strategy for assessing

15 achievement of those objectives;

16 ‘‘(5) the likelihood that the charter school grant

17 program will meet those objectives and improve edu18 cational results for students; and

19 ‘‘(6) the number of charter schools created

20 under this part in the State.

21 ‘‘(b) SELECTION CRITERIA FOR ELIGIBLE APPLI22 CANTS.—The Secretary shall award grants to eligible ap23 plicants under this part on the basis of the quality of the

24 applications submitted under section 10303(c), after tak25 ing into consideration such factors as—
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1 ‘‘(1) the quality of the proposed curriculum and

2 instructional practices;

3 ‘‘(2) the degree of flexibility afforded by the

4 State educational agency and, if applicable, the local

5 educational agency to the charter school;

6 ‘‘(3) the extent of community support for the

7 application;

8 ‘‘(4) the ambitiousness of the objectives for the

9 charter school;

10 ‘‘(5) the quality of the strategy for assessing

11 achievement of those objectives; and

12 ‘‘(6) the likelihood that the charter school will

13 meet those objectives and improve educational re14 sults for students.

15 ‘‘(c) PEER REVIEW.—The Secretary, and each State

16 educational agency receiving a grant under this part, shall

17 use a peer review process to review applications for assist18 ance under this part.

19 ‘‘(d) DIVERSITY OF PROJECTS.—The Secretary and

20 each State educational agency receiving a grant under this

21 part, shall award subgrants under this part in a manner

22 that, to the extent possible, ensures that such grants and

23 subgrants—
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1 ‘‘(1) are distributed throughout different areas

2 of the Nation and each State, including urban and

3 rural areas; and

4 ‘‘(2) will assist charter schools representing a

5 variety of educational approaches, such as ap6 proaches designed to reduce school size.

7 ‘‘(e) WAIVERS.—The Secretary may waive any statu8 tory or regulatory requirement over which the Secretary

9 exercises administrative authority except any such require10 ment relating to the elements of a charter school described

11 in section 10309(1), if—

12 ‘‘(1) the waiver is requested in an approved ap13 plication under this part; and

14 ‘‘(2) the Secretary determines that granting

15 such a waiver will promote the purpose of this part.

16 ‘‘(f) USE OF FUNDS.—

17 ‘‘(1) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.—Each

18 State educational agency receiving a grant under

19 this part shall use such grant funds to award sub20 grants to 1 or more eligible applicants in the State

21 to enable such applicant to plan, design or initially

22 implement a charter school in accordance with this

23 part.

24 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—Each eligible ap25 plicant receiving funds from the Secretary or a State
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1 educational agency shall use such funds to plan, de2 sign or initially implement a charter school in ac3 cordance with this part.

4 ‘‘(3) ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES FOR GRANTS.—

5 An eligible applicant receiving a grant or subgrant

6 under section 10302(c) may use the grant or

7 subgrant funds only for—

8 ‘‘(A) post-award planning or design of the

9 educational program, which may include—

10 ‘‘(i) refinement of the desired edu11 cational results and of the methods for

12 measuring progress toward achieving those

13 results; and

14 ‘‘(ii) professional development of

15 teachers and other staff who will work in

16 the charter school; and

17 ‘‘(B) initial implementation of the charter

18 school, which may include—

19 ‘‘(i) informing the community about

20 the school;

21 ‘‘(ii) acquiring necessary equipment

22 and educational materials and supplies;

23 ‘‘(iii) acquiring or developing curricu24 lum materials; and
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1 ‘‘(iv) other initial operational costs

2 that cannot be met from State or local

3 sources.

4 ‘‘(4) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Each State

5 educational agency receiving a grant pursuant to

6 this part may reserve not more than 5 percent of

7 such grant funds for administrative expenses associ8 ated with the charter school grant program assisted

9 under this part.

10 ‘‘SEC. 10305. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

11 ‘‘(a) RESERVATION FOR NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—

12 The Secretary shall reserve for each fiscal year the lesser

13 of 5 percent of the amount appropriated to carry out this

14 part for the fiscal year or $5,000,000, to carry out the

15 national activities described in subsection (c).

16 ‘‘(b) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give the highest

17 priority to carrying out the national activity described in

18 subsection (c)(2).

19 ‘‘(c) NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—The national activities

20 referred to in subsection (a) are as follows:

21 ‘‘(1) To provide charter schools, either directly

22 or through the State educational agency, with infor23 mation regarding available education funds that

24 such school is eligible to receive, and assistance in

25 applying for Federal education funds which are allo-
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1 cated by formula, including filing deadlines and sub2 mission of applications.

3 ‘‘(2) To provide, through 1 or more contracts

4 using a competitive bidding process—

5 ‘‘(A) charter schools with assistance in ac6 cessing private capital;

7 ‘‘(B) pilot projects in a variety of States to

8 better understand and improve access to private

9 capital by charter schools; and

10 ‘‘(C) collection on a nationwide basis, of

11 information regarding successful programs that

12 access private capital for charter schools and

13 disseminate any such relevant information and

14 model descriptions to all charter schools.

15 ‘‘(3) To provide for the completion of the 4-year

16 national study (which began in 1995) of charter

17 schools and any related evaluations or studies.

18 ‘‘(4) To provide—

19 ‘‘(A) information to applicants for assist20 ance under this part;

21 ‘‘(B) assistance, to applicants for assist22 ance under this part, with the preparation of

23 applications under section 10303;

24 ‘‘(C) assistance in the planning and start25 up of charter schools;
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1 ‘‘(D) ongoing training and technical assist2 ance to existing charter schools; and

3 ‘‘(E) for the dissemination of best prac4 tices in charter schools to other public schools.

5 ‘‘SEC. 10306. PART A, TITLE I ALLOCATION DURING FIRST

6 YEAR AND FOR SUCCESSIVE ENROLLMENT

7 EXPANSIONS.

8 ‘‘For purposes of the allocation to schools by the

9 States or their agencies of funds under part A of title I,

10 or of any other Federal educational assistance funds, the

11 Secretary and each State educational agency shall take

12 such measures not later than 6 months after the date of

13 the enactment of the Charter Schools Amendments of

14 1998 as are necessary to ensure that every charter school

15 receives the Federal funding for which the charter school

16 is eligible in the calendar year in which the charter school

17 first opens, notwithstanding the fact that the identity and

18 characteristics of the students enrolling in that school are

19 not fully and completely determined until that school actu20 ally opens. These measures shall similarly ensure that

21 every charter school expanding the charter school’s enroll22 ment in any subsequent year of operation receives the

23 Federal funding for which the charter school is eligible

24 during the calendar year of such expansion.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 10307. RECORDS TRANSFER.

2 ‘‘State and local educational agencies, to the extent

3 practicable, shall ensure that a student’s records and if

4 applicable a student’s individualized education program as

5 defined in section 602(11) of the Individuals with Disabil6 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(11)), are transferred

7 to the charter school upon transfer of a student to a char8 ter school in accordance with applicable State law.

9 ‘‘SEC. 10308. PAPERWORK REDUCTION.

10 ‘‘To the extent practicable, the Secretary and each

11 authorized public chartering agency, shall ensure that im12 plementation of this part results in a minimum of paper13 work for any eligible applicant or charter school.

14 ‘‘SEC. 10309. DEFINITIONS.

15 ‘‘In this part:

16 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZED PUBLIC CHARTERING AGEN17 CY.—The term ‘authorized public chartering agency’

18 means a State educational agency, local educational

19 agency, or other public entity that has the authority

20 pursuant to State law and approved by the Sec21 retary to authorize or approve a charter school.

22 ‘‘(2) CHARTER SCHOOL.—The term ‘charter

23 school’ means a public school that—

24 ‘‘(A) in accordance with a specific State

25 charter school statute, is exempted from signifi26 cant State or local rules that inhibit the flexible
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1 operation and management of public schools,

2 but not from any rules relating to the other re3 quirements of this paragraph;

4 ‘‘(B) is created by a developer as a public

5 school, or is adapted by a developer from an ex6 isting public school, and is operated under pub7 lic supervision and direction;

8 ‘‘(C) operates in pursuit of a specific set of

9 educational objectives determined by the

10 school’s developer and agreed to by the author11 ized public chartering agency;

12 ‘‘(D) provides a program of elementary or

13 secondary education, or both;

14 ‘‘(E) is nonsectarian in its programs, ad15 missions policies, employment practices, and all

16 other operations, and is not affiliated with a

17 sectarian school or religious institution;

18 ‘‘(F) does not charge tuition;

19 ‘‘(G) complies with the Age Discrimination

20 Act of 1975, title VI of the Civil Rights Act of

21 1964, title IX of the Education Amendments of

22 1972, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of

23 1973, and part B of the Individuals with Dis24 abilities Education Act;
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1 ‘‘(H) is a school to which parents choose to

2 send their children, and that admits students

3 on the basis of a lottery, if more students apply

4 for admission than can be accommodated;

5 ‘‘(I) agrees to comply with the same Fed6 eral and State audit requirements as do other

7 elementary and secondary schools in the State,

8 unless such requirements are specifically waived

9 for the purpose of this program;

10 ‘‘(J) meets all applicable Federal, State,

11 and local health and safety requirements;

12 ‘‘(K) operates in accordance with State

13 law; and

14 ‘‘(L) has a written performance contract

15 with the authorized public chartering agency in

16 the State.

17 ‘‘(3) DEVELOPER.—The term ‘developer’ means

18 an individual or group of individuals (including a

19 public or private nonprofit organization), which may

20 include teachers, administrators and other school

21 staff, parents, or other members of the local commu22 nity in which a charter school project will be carried

23 out.

24 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE APPLICANT.—The term ‘eligible

25 applicant’ means an authorized public chartering
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1 agency participating in a partnership with a devel2 oper to establish a charter school in accordance with

3 this part.

4 ‘‘SEC. 10310. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 ‘‘For the purpose of carrying out this part, there are

6 authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for fiscal year

7 1998 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the

8 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’.

9 TITLE VIII—FULL FUNDING FOR

10 PART B OF THE INDIVIDUALS

11 WITH DISABILITIES EDU12 CATION ACT

13 SEC. 801. FULL FUNDING FOR PART B OF THE INDIVIDUALS

14 WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT.

15 Section 611(j) of the Individuals with Disabilities

16 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1411(j)) is amended by striking

17 ‘‘such sums as may be necessary’’ and inserting ‘‘not less

18 than $5,301,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, not less than

19 $6,801,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, not less than

20 $8,301,000,000 for fiscal year 2001, not less than

21 $9,801,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, not less than

22 $11,301,000,000 for fiscal year 2003, not less than

23 $13,101,000,000 for fiscal year 2004, and such sums as

24 may be necessary for each succeeding fiscal year’’.

Æ