I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1868

To provide for a rural education development initiative, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 19, 1999

Mr. JOHN (for himself, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. BOYD, Mr. TURNER, Mr. FROST, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. HILL of Indiana, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr. BERRY, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. GORDON, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr.

BISHOP, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. CRAMER, and Mr. BOUCHER) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the

Workforce

A BILL

To provide for a rural education development initiative, and

for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Rural Education De5 velopment Initiative for the 21st Century Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

2 The purpose of this Act is to provide rural school stu3 dents in the United States with increased learning oppor4 tunities.

5 SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

6 Congress makes the following findings:

7 (1) While there are rural education initiatives

8 identified at the State and local level, no Federal

9 education policy focuses on the specific needs of

10 rural school districts and schools, especially those

11 that serve poor students.

12 (2) Under Federal law, there is no consistent

13 definition for rural schools, rural school districts, or

14 rural local educational agencies.

15 (3) The National Center for Educational Statis16 tics (NCES) reports that 46 percent of our Nation’s

17 public schools serve rural areas.

18 (4) A critical problem for rural school districts

19 involves the hiring and retention of qualified admin20 istrators and certified teachers (especially in science

21 and mathematics). Consequently, teachers in rural

22 schools are almost twice as likely to provide instruc23 tion in 3 or more subjects than teachers in urban

24 schools. Rural schools also face other tough chal25 lenges, such as shrinking local tax bases, high trans-
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1 portation costs, aging buildings, limited course offer2 ings, and limited resources.

3 (5) Data from the National Assessment of Edu4 cational Progress (NAEP) consistently show large

5 gaps between the achievement of students in high6 poverty schools and those in other schools. High-pov7 erty schools will face special challenges in preparing

8 their students to reach high standards of perform9 ance on State and national assessments.

10 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

11 In this Act:

12 (1) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; LOCAL EDU13 CATIONAL AGENCY; SECONDARY SCHOOL; STATE

14 EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The terms ‘‘elementary

15 school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary

16 school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the

17 meanings given the terms in section 14101 of the

18 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

19 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

20 (2) ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—

21 The term ‘‘eligible local educational agency’’ means

22 a local educational agency that serves—

23 (A) a school-age population, 20 percent or

24 more of whom are from families with incomes

25 below the poverty line; and
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1 (B)(i) a school district that is located in a

2 rural locality; or

3 (ii) a school-age population of 800 or

4 fewer.

5 (3) METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA.—The

6 term ‘‘metropolitan statistical area’’ includes the

7 area defined as such by the Secretary of Commerce.

8 (4) POVERTY LINE.—The term ‘‘poverty line’’

9 means the poverty line (as defined by the Office of

10 Management and Budget, and revised annually in

11 accordance with section 673(2) of the Community

12 Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) ap13 plicable to a family of the size involved.

14 (5) RURAL LOCALITY.—The term ‘‘rural local15 ity’’ means a locality that is not within a metropoli16 tan statistical area.

17 (6) SCHOOL-AGE POPULATION.—The term

18 ‘‘school-age population’’ means the number of stu19 dents aged 5 through 17.

20 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

21 the Secretary of Education.

22 (8) SPECIALLY QUALIFIED AGENCY.—The term

23 ‘‘specially qualified agency’’ means an eligible local

24 educational agency, located in a State that does not

25 participate in a program under this Act in a fiscal
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1 year, that may apply directly to the Secretary for a

2 grant in such year in accordance with section

3 5(b)(3).

4 SEC. 5. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

5 (a) RESERVATIONS.—From amounts appropriated

6 under section 9 for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall re7 serve 0.5 percent to make awards to elementary or sec8 ondary schools operated or supported by the Bureau of

9 Indian Affairs to carry out the purpose of this Act.

10 (b) GRANTS TO STATES.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts appropriated

12 under section 9 that are not reserved under sub13 section (a), the Secretary shall award grants to

14 State educational agencies that have applications ap15 proved under section 7 to enable the State edu16 cational agencies to award grants to eligible local

17 educational agencies or schools described in section

18 6(b)(2) for local authorized activities described in

19 subsection (c).

20 (2) FORMULA.—The Secretary shall allot to

21 each State educational agency an amount that bears

22 the same relation to the amount of funds appro23 priated under section 9 that are not reserved under

24 subsection (a) as the number of students served by

25 eligible local educational agencies in the State bears
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1 to the number of all students served by eligible local

2 educational agencies in all States.

3 (3) DIRECT AWARDS TO SPECIALLY QUALIFIED

4 AGENCIES.—

5 (A) NONPARTICIPATING STATE.—If a

6 State educational agency elects not to partici7 pate in the program under this Act or does not

8 have an application approved under section 7, a

9 specially qualified agency in such State desiring

10 a grant under this Act shall apply directly to

11 the Secretary to receive an award under this

12 Act.

13 (B) DIRECT AWARDS TO SPECIALLY

14 QUALIFIED AGENCIES.—The Secretary may

15 award, on a competitive basis, the amount the

16 State educational agency is eligible to receive

17 under paragraph (2) directly to specially quali18 fied agencies in the State.

19 (c) LOCAL ACTIVITIES.—Grant funds awarded to

20 local educational agencies or made available to schools

21 under this Act shall be used for—

22 (1) educational technology, including software

23 and hardware;

24 (2) professional development;

25 (3) technical assistance;
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1 (4) teacher recruitment and retention;

2 (5) parental involvement activities; or

3 (6) academic enrichment programs.

4 SEC. 6. STATE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.

5 (a) AWARD BASIS.—A State educational agency shall

6 award grants to eligible local educational agencies or pro7 vide assistance to schools described in subsection (b)(2)—

8 (1) on a competitive basis; or

9 (2) according to a formula based on the number

10 of students served by the eligible local educational

11 agencies or schools (as appropriate) in the State, as

12 determined by the State.

13 (b) FIRST YEAR.—For the first year that a State

14 educational agency receives a grant under this Act, the

15 State educational agency—

16 (1) shall use not less than 90 percent of the

17 grant funds to award grants to eligible local edu18 cational agencies in the State;

19 (2) shall use not more than 9 percent of the

20 grant funds to provide assistance to schools located

21 in a noneligible local educational agency if the

22 school—

23 (A) is located in a rural community that

24 has a population of 2,500 or less, or a rural
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1 community with a population density of less

2 than 1,000 people per square mile; and

3 (B) serves a school-age population, 20 per4 cent or more of whom are from families with in5 comes below the poverty line; and

6 (3) may use not more than 1 percent for State

7 activities and administrative costs related to the pro8 gram.

9 (c) SUCCEEDING YEARS.—For the second and each

10 succeeding year that a State educational agency receives

11 a grant under this Act, the State educational agency—

12 (1) shall use not less than 90 percent of the

13 grant funds to award grants to eligible local edu14 cational agencies in the State;

15 (2) shall use not more than 9.5 percent of the

16 grant funds to provide assistance to a school de17 scribed in subsection (b)(2); and

18 (3) may use not more than 0.5 percent of the

19 grant funds for State activities and administrative

20 costs related to the program.

21 SEC. 7. APPLICATIONS.

22 Each State educational agency and specially qualified

23 agency desiring a grant under this Act shall submit an

24 application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner,

25 and accompanied by such information as the Secretary
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1 may require. Such application shall include specific meas2 urable goals and objectives to be achieved which may in3 clude specific educational goals and objectives relating to

4 increased student academic achievement, decreased stu5 dent drop-out rates, or such other factors that the State

6 educational agency or specially qualified agency may

7 choose to measure.

8 SEC. 8. REPORTS.

9 (a) STATE REPORTS.—Each State educational agen10 cy that receives a grant under this Act shall provide an

11 annual report to the Secretary. The report shall

12 describe—

13 (1) the method the State educational agency

14 used to award grants to eligible local educational

15 agencies and to provide assistance to schools under

16 this Act;

17 (2) how local educational agencies and schools

18 used funds provided under this Act; and

19 (3) the degree to which progress has been made

20 toward meeting the goals and objectives described in

21 the application submitted under section 7.

22 (b) SPECIALLY QUALIFIED AGENCY REPORT.—Each

23 specially qualified agency that receives a grant under this

24 Act shall provide an annual report to the Secretary. Such

25 report shall describe—
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1 (1) how such agency uses funds provided under

2 this Act; and

3 (2) the degree to which progress has been made

4 toward meeting the goals and objectives described in

5 the application submitted under section 5(b)(3)(A).

6 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall pre7 pare and submit to Congress an annual report. The report

8 shall describe—

9 (1) the methods the State educational agency

10 used to award grants to eligible local educational

11 agencies and to provide assistance to schools under

12 this Act;

13 (2) how eligible local educational agencies and

14 schools used funds provided under this Act; and

15 (3) progress made in meeting specific measur16 able educational goals and objectives.

17 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

18 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

19 this Act $300,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000

20 through 2004.

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