I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2300

To allow a State to combine certain funds to improve the academic

achievement of all its students.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 22, 1999

Mr. GOODLING (for himself, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. DELAY, Mr.

WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr.

MCKEON, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr.

HILLEARY, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. FLETCHER, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr.

DEMINT, Mr. TALENT, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. SALMON, Mr. PETRI, Mr.

MCINTOSH, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mrs.

NORTHUP, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. MILLER of Florida,

Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey, Ms. DUNN, Mrs. MYRICK,

Mr. BAKER, Mr. METCALF, Mr. HILL of Montana, Mr. PITTS, Mr.

SUNUNU, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr.

BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. GARY MILLER of California, Mr. MCINNIS, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. STUMP,

Mr. FORBES, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. PETERSON of

Pennsylvania, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. HAYES,

Mr. CANNON, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr.

PACKARD, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. EWING, Mr. COOK, Mr.

POMBO, Mr. TERRY, Mr. CHAMBLISS, and Mr. HOSTETTLER) introduced

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

the Workforce

A BILL

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 give States and communities maximum

11 freedom in determining how to boost academic

12 achievement and implement education reforms;

13 (3) to hold States and communities accountable

14 for boosting the academic achievement of all stu15 dents, especially disadvantaged children; and

16 (4) to narrow achievement gaps between the

17 lowest and highest performing groups of students so

18 that no child is left behind.

19 SEC. 3. PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.

20 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—A State may, at its op21 tion, execute a performance agreement with the Secretary

22 under which the provisions of law described in section 4(a)

23 shall not apply to such State except as otherwise provided

24 in this Act.

25 (b) APPROVAL OF PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.—A

26 performance agreement submitted to the Secretary under
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1 this section shall be approved by the Secretary unless the

2 Secretary makes a written determination, within 60 days

3 after receiving the performance agreement, that the per4 formance agreement is in violation of the provisions of this

5 Act.

6 (c) TERMS OF PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.—Each

7 performance agreement executed pursuant to this Act

8 shall include the following provisions:

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

10 performance agreement shall be 5 years.

11 (2) APPLICATION OF PROGRAM REQUIRE12 MENTS.—A statement that no program requirements

13 of any program included by the State in the per14 formance agreement shall apply, except as otherwise

15 provided in this Act.

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

17 programs that it wishes to include in the perform18 ance agreement.

19 (4) USE OF FUNDS TO IMPROVE STUDENT

20 ACHIEVEMENT.—Include a 5-year plan describing

21 how the State intends to combine and use the funds

22 from programs included in the performance agree23 ment to advance the education priorities of the

24 State, improve student achievement, and narrow

25 achievement gaps between students.
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1 (5) ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM REQUIRE2 MENTS.—If a State includes part A of title I of the

3 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

4 in its performance agreement, the State shall include

5 a certification that the State has done the following:

6 (A)(i) developed and implemented the chal7 lenging State content standards, challenging

8 State student performance standards, and

9 aligned assessments described in section

10 1111(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu11 cation Act of 1965, and for which local edu12 cational agencies in the State are producing the

13 individual school performance profiles required

14 by section 1116(a)(3) of such Act; or

15 (ii) developed and implemented a system to

16 measure the degree of change from 1 school

17 year to the next in student performance on such

18 assessments;

19 (B) established a system under which as20 sessment information is disaggregated by race,

21 ethnicity, sex, English proficiency status, and

22 socioeconomic status for the State, each local

23 educational agency, and each school, except

24 that such disaggregation shall not be required

25 in cases in which the number of students in any
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1 such group is insufficient to yield statistically

2 reliable information or would reveal the identity

3 of an individual student;

4 (C) established specific, measurable, nu5 merical performance objectives for student

6 achievement, including—

7 (i) a definition of performance consid8 ered to be satisfactory by the State on the

9 assessment instruments described under

10 subparagraphs (A) and (B) with perform11 ance objectives established for all students

12 and for specific student groups, including

13 groups for which data is disaggregated

14 under subparagraph (B); and

15 (ii) the objective of improving the per16 formance of all groups and narrowing gaps

17 in performance between those groups; and

18 (D) developed and implemented a state19 wide system for holding its local educational

20 agencies and schools accountable for student

21 performance that includes—

22 (i) a procedure for identifying local

23 educational agencies and schools in need of

24 improvement;
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1 (ii) assisting and building capacity in

2 local educational agencies and schools iden3 tified as in need of improvement to im4 prove teaching and learning; and

5 (iii) implementing corrective actions if

6 the assistance and capacity building under

7 clause (ii) is not effective.

8 (6) PERFORMANCE GOALS.—

9 (A) STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT DATA.—Each

10 State shall establish student performance goals

11 for the 5-year term of the performance agree12 ment that, at a minimum—

13 (i) establish a single high standard of

14 performance for all students;

15 (ii) take into account the progress of

16 students from every local educational agen17 cy and school in the State;

18 (iii) measure changes in the percent19 ages of students at selected grade levels

20 meeting specified proficiency levels of

21 achievement (established by the State) in

22 the final year of the performance agree23 ment, compared to such percentages in the

24 baseline year (as described in subpara25 graph (C));
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1 (iv) set numerical goals to attain by

2 the end of the term of the performance

3 agreement to—

4 (I) improve the performance of

5 the groups specified in paragraph

6 (5)(B); and

7 (II) reduce achievement gaps be8 tween the highest and lowest per9 forming groups of students by raising

10 the achievement levels of the lowest

11 performing students in mathematics

12 and reading, at a minimum; and

13 (v) require all students in the State to

14 make substantial gains in achievement.

15 (B) ADDITIONAL INDICATORS OF PER16 FORMANCE.—A State may identify in the per17 formance agreement any additional indicators

18 of performance such as graduation, dropout, or

19 attendance rates.

20 (C) BASELINE PERFORMANCE DATA.—To

21 determine student achievement levels for the

22 baseline year, the State shall use its most re23 cent achievement data when executing the per24 formance agreement.
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1 (D) CONSISTENCY OF PERFORMANCE

2 MEASURES.—A State shall maintain, at a min3 imum, the same challenging State student per4 formance standards and assessments through5 out the term of the performance agreement.

6 (7) FISCAL RESPONSIBILITIES.— An assurance

7 that the State will use fiscal control and fund ac8 counting procedures that will ensure proper dis9 bursement of, and accounting for, Federal funds

10 paid to the State under this Act.

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

12 State will meet the requirements of applicable Fed13 eral civil rights laws.

14 (9) PRIVATE SCHOOL PARTICIPATION.—An as15 surance that the State will provide for the equitable

16 participation of students and professional staff in

17 private schools in accordance with section 14503 of

18 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

19 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8893).

20 (10) STATE FINANCIAL PARTICIPATION.—An

21 assurance that the State will not reduce the level of

22 spending of State funds for education during the

23 term of the performance agreement.

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

25 later than 1 year after the execution of the perform-
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1 ance agreement, and annually thereafter, each State

2 shall disseminate widely to the general public, sub3 mit to the Secretary, distribute to print and broad4 cast media, and post on the Internet, a report that

5 includes—

6 (A) student performance data,

7 disaggregated as provided in paragraph

8 (5)(A)(ii); and

9 (B) a detailed description of how the State

10 has used Federal funds to improve student per11 formance and reduce achievement gaps to meet

12 the terms of the performance agreement.

13 (d) SPECIAL RULE.—If a State does not include part

14 A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education

15 Act of 1965 in its performance agreement, the State

16 shall—

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

18 measure the academic performance of all students;

19 and

20 (2) establish performance goals in accordance

21 with subsection (c)(6) for such other programs.

22 (e) AMENDMENT TO PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.—

23 A State may submit an amendment to the performance

24 agreement to the Secretary under the following cir25 cumstances:
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1 (1) REDUCE SCOPE OF PERFORMANCE AGREE2 MENT.—Not later than 1 year after the execution of

3 the performance agreement, a State may amend the

4 performance agreement through a request to with5 draw a program from such agreement. If the Sec6 retary approves the amendment, the requirements of

7 existing law shall apply for any program withdrawn

8 from the performance agreement.

9 (2) EXPAND SCOPE OF PERFORMANCE AGREE10 MENT.—Not later than 1 year after the execution of

11 the performance agreement, a State may amend its

12 performance agreement to include additional pro13 grams and performance indicators for which it will

14 be held accountable.

15 SEC. 4. ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS.

16 (a) ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS.—The provisions of law re17 ferred to in section 3(a) except as otherwise provided in

18 subsection (b), are as follows:

19 (1) Part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec20 ondary Education Act of 1965.

21 (2) Part B of title I of the Elementary and Sec22 ondary Education Act of 1965.

23 (3) Part C of title I of the Elementary and Sec24 ondary Education Act of 1965.
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1 (4) Part D of title I of the Elementary and Sec2 ondary Education Act of 1965.

3 (5) Section 1502, part E of title I of the Ele4 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

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

6 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

7 (7) Section 3132 of title III of the Elementary

8 and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

9 (8) Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary

10 Education Act of 1965.

11 (9) Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary

12 Education Act of 1965.

13 (10) Section 307 of the Department of Edu14 cation Appropriation Act of 1999.

15 (11) Comprehensive school reform programs as

16 authorized under section 1502 of the Elementary

17 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and described

18 on pages 96–99 of the Joint Explanatory Statement

19 of the Committee of Conference included in House

20 Report 105–390 (Conference Report on the Depart21 ments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and

22 Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations

23 Act, 1998)’’.

24 (12) Part C of title VII of the Elementary and

25 Secondary Education Act of 1965.
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1 (13) Title III of the Goals 2000: Educate

2 America Act.

3 (14) Sections 115 and 116, and parts B and C

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

5 Education Act.

6 (15) Subtitle B of title VII of the Stewart B.

7 McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.

8 (b) ALLOCATION AMOUNTS.—A State may choose to

9 combine funds from any or all of the programs described

10 in subsection (a) without regard to the program require11 ments of such provisions, except as otherwise provided in

12 this Act and except that allocation ratios provided under

13 the provisions referred to in subsection (a) shall remain

14 in effect unless otherwise provided.

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

16 this Act to a State shall be used for any educational pur17 pose permitted by State law of the participating State.

18 SEC. 5. WITHIN-STATE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.

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

20 programs included in the performance agreement from a

21 State to a local educational agency within the State shall

22 be determined by the State legislature and the Governor

23 of the State. In a State in which the constitution or State

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

25 responsible for education, such other individual, entity, or
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1 agency shall work in consultation with the Governor and

2 State legislature to determine the local distribution of

3 funds.

4 (b) LOCAL HOLD HARMLESS OF PART A TITLE 1

5 FUNDS.—

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

7 includes part A of title I in the performance agree8 ment, the agreement shall provide an assurance that

9 each local educational agency shall receive an

10 amount equal to or greater than the amount such

11 agency received under part A of title I of the Ele12 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 in

13 the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in which the

14 performance agreement is executed.

15 (2) PROPORTIONATE REDUCTION.—If the

16 amount made available to the State from the Sec17 retary for a fiscal year is insufficient to pay to each

18 local educational agency the amount made available

19 to such agency for the preceding fiscal year, the

20 State shall reduce the amount each local educational

21 agency receives by a uniform percentage.

22 SEC. 6. LOCAL PARTICIPATION.

23 (a) NONPARTICIPATING STATE.—

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

25 submit a performance agreement under this Act, any
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1 local educational agency in such State is eligible, at

2 its option, to submit to the Secretary a performance

3 agreement in accordance with this section.

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

5 agreement between an eligible local educational agency

6 and the Secretary shall specify the programs to be in7 cluded in the performance agreement, as agreed upon by

8 the State and the agency, from the list under section 4(a).

9 (b) STATE APPROVAL.—When submitting a perform10 ance agreement to the Secretary, an eligible local edu11 cational agency described in subsection (a) shall provide

12 written documentation from the State in which such agen13 cy is located that it has no objection to the agency’s pro14 posal for a performance agreement.

15 (c) APPLICATION.—

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

17 section, and to the extent applicable, the require18 ments of this Act shall apply to an eligible local edu19 cational agency that submits a performance agree20 ment in the same manner as the requirements apply

21 to a State.

22 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—The following provisions

23 shall not apply to an eligible local educational agen24 cy:
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1 (A) WITHIN STATE DISTRIBUTION FOR2 MULA NOT APPLICABLE.—The formula for the

3 allocation of funds under section 5 shall not

4 apply.

5 (B) STATE SET ASIDE SHALL NOT

6 APPLY.—The State set aside for administrative

7 funds in section 7 shall not apply.

8 SEC. 7. SET-ASIDE FOR STATE ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDI9 TURES.

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

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

12 I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

13 in the performance agreement may use not more than 1

14 percent of such total amount of funds allocated to such

15 State under the programs included in the performance

16 agreement for administrative purposes.

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

18 A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education

19 Act of 1965 in the performance agreement may use not

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

21 to such State under the programs included in the perform22 ance agreement for administrative purposes.

23 SEC. 8. PERFORMANCE REVIEW.

24 (a) FAILURE TO MEET TERMS.—If at the end of the

25 5-year term of the performance agreement a State has
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1 failed to meet at least 80 percent of the performance goals

2 submitted in the performance agreement, the Secretary

3 shall terminate the performance agreement and the State

4 shall be required to comply with the program requirement,

5 in effect at the time of termination, of each program in6 cluded in the performance agreement.

7 (b) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO IMPROVE STUDENT

8 PERFORMANCE.—If a State has made little or no progress

9 toward achieving its performance goals by the end of the

10 term of the agreement, the Secretary shall reduce funds

11 for State administrative costs for each program included

12 in the performance agreement by 50 percent for the 2-

13 year period following the end of the term of the perform14 ance agreement.

15 SEC. 9. RENEWAL OF PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.

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

17 performance agreement shall notify the Secretary of its

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

19 of the term of the performance agreement.

20 (b) RENEWAL REQUIREMENTS.—A State that has

21 met at least 80 percent of its performance goals submitted

22 in the performance agreement at the end of the 5-year

23 term may reapply to the Secretary to renew its perform24 ance agreement for an additional 5-year period. Upon the

25 completion of the 5-year term of the performance agree-
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1 ment or as soon thereafter as the State submits data re2 quired under the agreement, the Secretary shall renew, for

3 an additional 5-year term, the performance agreement of

4 any State that has met at least 80 percent of its perform5 ance goals.

6 SEC. 10. ACHIEVEMENT GAP REDUCTION REWARDS.

7 (a) CLOSING THE GAP REWARD FUND.—

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

9 significant progress in eliminating achievement gaps

10 by raising the achievement levels of the lowest per11 forming students, the Secretary shall annually set

12 aside sufficient funds from the Fund for the Im13 provement of Education under part A of title X of

14 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

15 1965 to grant a reward to States that meet the con16 ditions set forth in subsection (b) by the end of their

17 5-year performance agreement.

18 (2) REWARD AMOUNT.—The amount of the re19 ward referred to in paragraph (1) shall be not less

20 than 5 percent of funds allocated to the State during

21 the first year of the performance agreement for pro22 grams included in the agreement.

23 (b) CONDITIONS OF PERFORMANCE REWARD.—A

24 State is eligible to receive a reward under this section if

25 the State reduces by not less than 25 percent, over the
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1 5-year term of the performance agreement, the difference

2 between the percentage of highest and lowest performing

3 groups of students that meet the State’s definition of

4 ‘‘proficient’’ as referenced in section 1111(b)(1)(D)(i)(II)

5 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965,

6 for the following:

7 (A) CONTENT AREAS.—The reduction in

8 the achievement gap shall include not less than

9 2 content areas, one of which shall be mathe10 matics or reading.

11 (B) GRADES TESTED.—The reduction shall

12 occur in at least 1 grade level.

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

14 The Secretary shall make the annual State reports

15 described in section 3 available to the House Committee

16 on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Com17 mittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions not

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

19 SEC. 12. CONSTRUCTION.

20 To the extent that provisions of title XIV of the Ele21 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 are incon22 sistent with this Act, this Act shall be construed as super23 seding such provisions.

24 SEC. 13. DEFINITIONS.

25 For the purpose of this Act:
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1 (1) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

2 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the same meaning

3 given such term in section 14101 of the Elementary

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

5 8801).

6 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

7 the Secretary of Education.

8 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

9 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com10 monwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States

11 Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern

12 Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.

13 SEC. 14. EFFECT ON STATE LAW.

14 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to supersede

15 or modify any provision of a State constitution or State

16 law that prohibits the expenditure of public funds in or

17 by sectarian institutions.

Æ