106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2300

AN ACT

To allow a State to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement of all its students.
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2300

AN ACT

To allow a State to combine certain funds to improve the

academic achievement of all its students.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Academic Achievement

3 for All Act (Straight A’s Act)’’.

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

5 The purpose of this Act is to create options for States

6 and communities—

7 (1) to improve the academic achievement of all

8 students, and to focus the resources of the Federal

9 Government upon such achievement;

10 (2) to improve teacher quality and subject mat11 ter mastery, especially in math, reading, and science;

12 (3) to empower parents and schools to effec13 tively address the needs of their children and stu14 dents;

15 (4) to give States and communities maximum

16 freedom in determining how to boost academic

17 achievement and implement education reforms;

18 (5) to eliminate Federal barriers to imple19 menting effective State and local education pro20 grams;

21 (6) to hold States and communities accountable

22 for boosting the academic achievement of all stu23 dents, especially disadvantaged children; and

24 (7) to narrow achievement gaps between the

25 lowest and highest performing groups of students so

26 that no child is left behind.
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1 SEC. 3. PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.

2 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—Not more than 10

3 States may, at their option, execute a performance agree4 ment with the Secretary under which the provisions of law

5 described in section 4(a) shall not apply to such State ex6 cept as otherwise provided in this Act.

7 (b) LOCAL INPUT.—States shall provide parents,

8 teachers, and local schools and districts notice and oppor9 tunity to comment on any proposed performance agree10 ment prior to submission to the Secretary as provided

11 under general State law notice and comment provisions.

12 (c) APPROVAL OF PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.—A

13 performance agreement submitted to the Secretary under

14 this section shall be considered as approved by the Sec15 retary within 60 days after receipt of the performance

16 agreement unless the Secretary provides a written deter17 mination to the State that the performance agreement

18 fails to satisfy the requirements of this Act before the ex19 piration of the 60-day period.

20 (d) TERMS OF PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.—Each

21 performance agreement executed pursuant to this Act

22 shall include the following provisions:

23 (1) TERM.—A statement that the term of the

24 performance agreement shall be 5 years.

25 (2) APPLICATION OF PROGRAM REQUIRE26 MENTS.—A statement that no program requirements
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1 of any program included by the State in the per2 formance agreement shall apply, except as otherwise

3 provided in this Act.

4 (3) LIST.—A list provided by the State of the

5 programs that it wishes to include in the perform6 ance agreement.

7 (4) USE OF FUNDS TO IMPROVE STUDENT

8 ACHIEVEMENT.—A 5-year plan describing how the

9 State intends to combine and use the funds from

10 programs included in the performance agreement to

11 advance the education priorities of the State, im12 prove student achievement, and narrow achievement

13 gaps between students.

14 (5) ACCOUNTABILITY REQUIREMENTS.—If a

15 State includes any part of title I of the Elementary

16 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 in its per17 formance agreement, the State shall include a cer18 tification that the State has done the following:

19 (A)(i) developed and implemented the chal20 lenging State content standards, challenging

21 State student performance standards, and

22 aligned assessments described in section

23 1111(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu24 cation Act of 1965; or
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1 (ii) developed and implemented a system to

2 measure the degree of change from one school

3 year to the next in student performance;

4 (B) developed and is implementing a state5 wide accountability system that has been or is

6 reasonably expected to be effective in substan7 tially increasing the numbers and percentages

8 of all students who meet the State’s proficient

9 and advanced levels of performance;

10 (C) established a system under which as11 sessment information may be disaggregated

12 within each State, local educational agency, and

13 school by each major racial and ethnic group,

14 gender, English proficiency status, migrant sta15 tus, and by economically disadvantaged stu16 dents as compared to students who are not eco17 nomically disadvantaged (except that such

18 disaggregation shall not be required in cases in

19 which the number of students in any such

20 group is insufficient to yield statistically reliable

21 information or would reveal the identity of an

22 individual student);

23 (D) established specific, measurable, nu24 merical performance objectives for student

25 achievement, including a definition of perform-
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1 ance considered to be proficient by the State on

2 the academic assessment instruments described

3 under subparagraph (A);

4 (E) developed and implemented a statewide

5 system for holding its local educational agencies

6 and schools accountable for student perform7 ance that includes—

8 (i) a procedure for identifying local

9 educational agencies and schools in need of

10 improvement, using the assessments de11 scribed under subparagraph (A);

12 (ii) assisting and building capacity in

13 local educational agencies and schools iden14 tified as in need of improvement to im15 prove teaching and learning; and

16 (iii) implementing corrective actions

17 after no more than 3 years if the assist18 ance and capacity building under clause

19 (ii) is not effective.

20 (6) PERFORMANCE GOALS.—

21 (A) STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT.—

22 Each State shall establish annual student per23 formance goals for the 5-year term of the per24 formance agreement that, at a minimum—
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1 (i) establish a single high standard of

2 performance for all students;

3 (ii) take into account the progress of

4 students from every local educational agen5 cy and school in the State;

6 (iii) are based primarily on the State’s

7 challenging content and student perform8 ance standards and assessments described

9 under paragraph (5)(A);

10 (iv) include specific annual improve11 ment goals in each subject and grade in12 cluded in the State assessment system,

13 which must include, at a minimum, read14 ing or language arts and math;

15 (v) compares the proportions of stu16 dents at the ‘‘basic’’, ‘‘proficient’’, and

17 ‘‘advanced’’ levels of performance (as de18 fined by the State) with the proportions of

19 students at each of the three levels in the

20 same grade in the previous school year;

21 (vi) includes annual numerical goals

22 for improving the performance of each

23 group specified in paragraph (5)(C) and

24 narrowing gaps in performance between
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1 the highest and lowest performing students

2 in accordance with section 10(b); and

3 (vii) requires all students in the State

4 to make substantial gains in achievement.

5 (B) ADDITIONAL INDICATORS OF PER6 FORMANCE.—A State may identify in the per7 formance agreement any additional indicators

8 of performance such as graduation, dropout, or

9 attendance rates.

10 (C) CONSISTENCY OF PERFORMANCE

11 MEASURES.—A State shall maintain, at a min12 imum, the same level of challenging State stu13 dent performance standards and assessments

14 throughout the term of the performance agree15 ment.

16 (7) FISCAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—An assurance

17 that the State will use fiscal control and fund ac18 counting procedures that will ensure proper dis19 bursement of, and accounting for, Federal funds

20 paid to the State under this Act.

21 (8) CIVIL RIGHTS.—An assurance that the

22 State will meet the requirements of applicable Fed23 eral civil rights laws.

24 (9) PRIVATE SCHOOL PARTICIPATION.—
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1 (A) EQUITABLE PARTICIPATION.—An as2 surance that the State will provide for the equi3 table participation of students and professional

4 staff in private schools.

5 (B) APPLICATION OF BYPASS.—An assur6 ance that sections 14504, 14505, and 14506 of

7 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

8 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8894, 8895, and 8896)

9 shall apply to all services and assistance pro10 vided under this Act in the same manner as

11 they apply to services and assistance provided

12 in accordance with section 14503 of such Act.

13 (10) STATE FINANCIAL PARTICIPATION.—An

14 assurance that the State will not reduce the level of

15 spending of State funds for elementary and sec16 ondary education during the term of the perform17 ance agreement.

18 (11) ANNUAL REPORT.—An assurance that not

19 later than 1 year after the execution of the perform20 ance agreement, and annually thereafter, each State

21 shall disseminate widely to parents and the general

22 public, submit to the Secretary, distribute to print

23 and broadcast media, and post on the Internet, a re24 port that includes—
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1 (A) student academic performance data,

2 disaggregated as provided in paragraph (5)(C);

3 and

4 (B) a detailed description of how the State

5 has used Federal funds to improve student aca6 demic performance and reduce achievement

7 gaps to meet the terms of the performance

8 agreement.

9 (e) SPECIAL RULE.—If a State does not include any

10 part of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education

11 Act of 1965 in its performance agreement, the State

12 shall—

13 (1) certify that it has developed a system to

14 measure the academic performance of all students;

15 and

16 (2) establish challenging academic performance

17 goals for such other programs using academic as18 sessment data described in paragraph (5).

19 (f) AMENDMENT TO PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.—

20 A State may submit an amendment to the performance

21 agreement to the Secretary under the following cir22 cumstances:

23 (1) REDUCE SCOPE OF PERFORMANCE AGREE24 MENT.—Not later than 1 year after the execution of

25 the performance agreement, a State may amend the
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1 performance agreement through a request to with2 draw a program from such agreement. If the Sec3 retary approves the amendment, the requirements of

4 existing law shall apply for any program withdrawn

5 from the performance agreement.

6 (2) EXPAND SCOPE OF PERFORMANCE AGREE7 MENT.—Not later than 1 year after the execution of

8 the performance agreement, a State may amend its

9 performance agreement to include additional pro10 grams and performance indicators for which it will

11 be held accountable.

12 (3) APPROVAL OF AMENDMENT.—An amend13 ment submitted to the Secretary under this sub14 section shall be considered as approved by the Sec15 retary within 60 days after receipt of the amend16 ment unless the Secretary provides a written deter17 mination to the State that the performance agree18 ment if amended by the amendment would fail to

19 satisfy the requirements of this Act, before the expi20 ration of the 60-day period.

21 SEC. 4. ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS.

22 (a) ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS.—The provisions of law re23 ferred to in section 3(a) except as otherwise provided in

24 subsection (b), are as follows:
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1 (1) Part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec2 ondary Education Act of 1965.

3 (2) Part B of title I of the Elementary and Sec4 ondary Education Act of 1965.

5 (3) Part C of title I of the Elementary and Sec6 ondary Education Act of 1965.

7 (4) Part D of title I of the Elementary and Sec8 ondary Education Act of 1965.

9 (5) Part B of title II of the Elementary and

10 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

11 (6) Section 3132 of title III of the Elementary

12 and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

13 (7) Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary

14 Education Act of 1965.

15 (8) Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary

16 Education Act of 1965.

17 (9) Section 307 of the Department of Edu18 cation Appropriation Act of 1999.

19 (10) Comprehensive school reform programs as

20 authorized under section 1502 of the Elementary

21 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and described

22 on pages 96–99 of the Joint Explanatory Statement

23 of the Committee of Conference included in House

24 Report 105–390 (Conference Report on the Depart25 ments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
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1 Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations

2 Act, 1998).

3 (11) Part C of title VII of the Elementary and

4 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

5 (12) Title III of the Goals 2000: Educate

6 America Act.

7 (13) Sections 115 and 116, and parts B and C

8 of title I of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Technical

9 Education Act.

10 (14) Subtitle B of title VII of the Stewart B.

11 McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.

12 (b) ALLOCATIONS TO STATES.—A State may choose

13 to consolidate funds from any or all of the programs de14 scribed in subsection (a) without regard to the program

15 requirements of the provisions referred to in such sub16 section, except that the proportion of funds made available

17 for national programs and allocations to each State for

18 State and local use, under such provisions, shall remain

19 in effect unless otherwise provided.

20 (c) USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available under

21 this Act to a State shall be used for any elementary and

22 secondary educational purposes permitted by State law of

23 the participating State.
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1 SEC. 5. WITHIN-STATE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The distribution of funds from

3 programs included in a performance agreement from a

4 State to a local educational agency within the State shall

5 be determined by the Governor of the State and the State

6 legislature. In a State in which the constitution or State

7 law designates another individual, entity, or agency to be

8 responsible for education, the allocation of funds from pro9 grams included in the performance agreement from a

10 State to a local educational agency within the State shall

11 be determined by that individual, entity, or agency, in con12 sultation with the Governor and State Legislature. Noth13 ing in this section shall be construed to supersede or mod14 ify any provision of a State constitution or State law.

15 (b) LOCAL INPUT.—States shall provide parents,

16 teachers, and local schools and districts notice and oppor17 tunity to comment on the proposed allocation of funds as

18 provided under general State law notice and comment pro19 visions.

20 (c) LOCAL HOLD HARMLESS OF PART A TITLE 1

21 FUNDS.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a State that

23 includes part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec24 ondary Education Act of 1965 in the performance

25 agreement, the agreement shall provide an assurance

26 that each local educational agency shall receive
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1 under the performance agreement an amount equal

2 to or greater than the amount such agency received

3 under part A of title I of such Act in the fiscal year

4 preceding the fiscal year in which the performance

5 agreement is executed.

6 (2) PROPORTIONATE REDUCTION.—If the

7 amount made available to the State from the Sec8 retary for a fiscal year is insufficient to pay to each

9 local educational agency the amount made available

10 under part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec11 ondary Education Act of 1965 to such agency for

12 the preceding fiscal year, the State shall reduce the

13 amount each local educational agency receives by a

14 uniform percentage.

15 SEC. 6. LOCAL PARTICIPATION.

16 (a) NONPARTICIPATING STATE.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a State chooses not to

18 submit a performance agreement under this Act, any

19 local educational agency in such State is eligible, at

20 its option, to submit to the Secretary a performance

21 agreement in accordance with this section.

22 (2) AGREEMENT.—The terms of a performance

23 agreement between an eligible local educational

24 agency and the Secretary shall specify the programs

25 to be included in the performance agreement, as
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1 agreed upon by the State and the agency, from the

2 list under section 4(a).

3 (b) STATE APPROVAL.—When submitting a perform4 ance agreement to the Secretary, an eligible local edu5 cational agency described in subsection (a) shall provide

6 written documentation from the State in which such agen7 cy is located that it has no objection to the agency’s pro8 posal for a performance agreement.

9 (c) APPLICATION.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in this

11 section, and to the extent applicable, the require12 ments of this Act shall apply to an eligible local edu13 cational agency that submits a performance agree14 ment in the same manner as the requirements apply

15 to a State.

16 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—The following provisions

17 shall not apply to an eligible local educational agen18 cy:

19 (A) WITHIN STATE DISTRIBUTION FOR20 MULA NOT APPLICABLE.—The formula for the

21 allocation of funds under section 5 shall not

22 apply.

23 (B) STATE SET ASIDE SHALL NOT

24 APPLY.—The State set aside for administrative

25 funds in section 7 shall not apply.
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1 SEC. 7. LIMITATIONS ON STATE AND LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

2 AGENCY ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURES.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided

4 under subsection (b), a State that includes part A of title

5 I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

6 in the performance agreement may use not more than 1

7 percent of such total amount of funds allocated to such

8 State under the programs included in the performance

9 agreement for administrative purposes.

10 (b) EXCEPTION.—A State that does not include part

11 A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education

12 Act of 1965 in the performance agreement may use not

13 more than 3 percent of the total amount of funds allocated

14 to such State under the programs included in the perform15 ance agreement for administrative purposes.

16 (c) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—A local edu17 cational agency participating in this Act under a perform18 ance agreement under section 6 may not use for adminis19 trative purposes more than 4 percent of the total amount

20 of funds allocated to such agency under the programs in21 cluded in the performance agreement.

22 SEC. 8. PERFORMANCE REVIEW.

23 (a) MID-TERM PERFORMANCE REVIEW.—If, during

24 the 5-year term of the performance agreement, student

25 achievement significantly declines for three consecutive

26 years in the academic performance categories established
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1 in the performance agreement, the Secretary may, after

2 notice and opportunity for a hearing, terminate the agree3 ment

4 (b) FAILURE TO MEET TERMS.—If at the end of the

5 5-year term of the performance agreement a State has not

6 substantially met the performance goals submitted in the

7 performance agreement, the Secretary shall, after notice

8 and an opportunity for a hearing, terminate the perform9 ance agreement and the State shall be required to comply

10 with the program requirements, in effect at the time of

11 termination, for each program included in the perform12 ance agreement.

13 (c) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO IMPROVE STUDENT

14 PERFORMANCE.—If a State has made no progress toward

15 achieving its performance goals by the end of the term

16 of the agreement, the Secretary may reduce funds for

17 State administrative costs for each program included in

18 the performance agreement by up to 50 percent for each

19 year of the 2-year period following the end of the term

20 of the performance agreement.

21 SEC. 9. RENEWAL OF PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.

22 (a) NOTIFICATION.—A State that wishes to renew its

23 performance agreement shall notify the Secretary of its

24 renewal request not less than 6 months prior to the end

25 of the term of the performance agreement.
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1 (b) RENEWAL REQUIREMENTS.—A State that has

2 met or has substantially met its performance goals sub3 mitted in the performance agreement at the end of the

4 5-year term may reapply to the Secretary to renew its per5 formance agreement for an additional 5-year period. Upon

6 the completion of the 5-year term of the performance

7 agreement or as soon thereafter as the State submits data

8 required under the agreement, the Secretary shall renew,

9 for an additional 5-year term, the performance agreement

10 of any State that has met or has substantially met its per11 formance goals.

12 SEC. 10. ACHIEVEMENT GAP REDUCTION REWARDS.

13 (a) CLOSING THE GAP REWARD FUND.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—To reward States that make

15 significant progress in eliminating achievement gaps

16 by raising the achievement levels of the lowest per17 forming students, the Secretary shall set aside suffi18 cient funds from the Fund for the Improvement of

19 Education under part A of title X of the Elementary

20 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to grant a re21 ward to States that meet the conditions set forth in

22 subsection (b) by the end of their 5-year perform23 ance agreement.

24 (2) REWARD AMOUNT.—The amount of the re25 ward referred to in paragraph (1) shall be not less
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1 than 5 percent of funds allocated to the State during

2 the first year of the performance agreement for pro3 grams included in the agreement.

4 (b) CONDITIONS OF PERFORMANCE REWARD.—Sub5 ject to paragraph (3), a State is eligible to receive a re6 ward under this section as follows:

7 (1) A State is eligible for such an award if the

8 State reduces by not less than 25 percent, over the

9 5-year term of the performance agreement, the dif10 ference between the percentage of highest and lowest

11 performing groups of students that meet the State’s

12 definition of ‘‘proficient’’ as referenced in section

13 1111(b)(1)(D)(i)(II) of the Elementary and Sec14 ondary Education Act of 1965.

15 (2) A State is eligible for such an award if a

16 State increases the proportion of two or more groups

17 of students under section 3(d)(5)(C) that meet State

18 proficiency standards by 25 percent.

19 (3) A State shall receive such an award if the

20 following requirements are met:

21 (A) CONTENT AREAS.—The reduction in

22 the achievement gap or approvement in achieve23 ment shall include not less than two content

24 areas, one of which shall be mathematics or

25 reading.
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1 (B) GRADES TESTED.—The reduction in

2 the achievement gap or improvement in achieve3 ment shall occur in at least two grade levels.

4 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Student achievement

5 gaps shall not be considered to have been reduced in cir6 cumstances where the average academic performance of

7 the highest performing quintile of students has decreased.

8 SEC. 11. STRAIGHT A’S PERFORMANCE REPORT.

9 The Secretary shall make the annual State reports

10 described in section 3 available to the House Committee

11 on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Com12 mittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions not

13 later than 60 days after the Secretary receives the report.

14 SEC. 12. APPLICABILITY OF TITLE XIV OF THE ELEMEN15 TARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF

16 1965.

17 To the extent that provisions of title XIV of the Ele18 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 are incon19 sistent with this Act, this Act shall be construed as super20 seding such provisions.

21 SEC. 13. APPLICABILITY OF GENERAL EDUCATION PROVI22 SIONS ACT.

23 To the extent that the provisions of the General Edu24 cation Provisions Act are inconsistent with this Act, this

25 Act shall be construed as superseding such provisions, ex-
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1 cept where relating to civil rights, withholdling of funds

2 and enforcement authority, and family educational and

3 privacy rights.

4 SEC. 14. APPLICABILITY TO HOME SCHOOLS.

5 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect home

6 schools whether or not a home school is treated as a pri7 vate school or home school under State law.

8 SEC. 15. GENERAL PROVISIONS REGARDING NON-RECIPI9 ENT, NON-PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

10 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit,

11 allow, encourage, or authorize any Federal control over

12 any aspect of any private, religious, or home school,

13 whether or not a home school is treated as a private school

14 or home school under State law.

15 SEC. 16. DEFINITIONS.

16 For the purpose of this Act:

17 (1) ALL STUDENTS.—The term ‘‘all students’’

18 means all students attending public schools or char19 ter schools that are participating in the State’s ac20 countability and assessment system.

21 (2) ALL SCHOOLS.—The term ‘‘all schools’’

22 means all schools that are participating in the

23 State’s accountability and assessment system.

24 (3) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

25 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the same meaning
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1 given such term in section 14101 of the Elementary

2 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

3 8801).

4 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

5 the Secretary of Education.

6 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

7 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com8 monwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States

9 Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern

10 Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.

11 SEC. 17. EFFECTIVE DATE.

12 This Act shall take effect with respect to funds appro13 priated for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2000.

Passed the House of Representatives October 21,

1999.

Attest:

Clerk.