I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5071 

To amend section 1120A(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

Act of 1965 to assure comparability of opportunity for educationally 

disadvantaged students. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 20, 2010 

Mr. FATTAH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend section 1120A(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to assure comparability 

of opportunity for educationally disadvantaged students. 

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 ‘‘ESEA Fiscal Fairness 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 


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1 (1) To remedy the inequitable distribution of 

2 State and local funds within the areas served by 

3 local educational agencies. 

4 (2) To reinforce the supplementary intent of 

5 funds made available under title I of the Elementary 

6 and Secondary Education Act of 1965, ensuring that 

7 these funds serve their original purpose of sub8 sidizing the increased costs associated with edu9 cating students in concentrated poverty. 

10 (3) To address the statutory, regulatory, and 

11 enforcement weaknesses that have undermined the 

12 role of the comparability requirement in ensuring 

13 comparability within school districts. 

14 (4) To require the inclusion of real teacher sal15 aries in calculations of per-pupil expenditures. 

16 (5) To provide sufficient transparency, account17 ability, and disclosure to allow parents, communities, 

18 educators, and local agency officials to ensure stu19 dents have access to the resources they need to 

20 achieve at high levels. 

21 SEC. 3. COMPARABILITY OF EXPENDITURES. 

22 Section 1120A(c) of the Elementary and Secondary 

23 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6321(c)) is amended 

24 to read as follows: 

25 ‘‘(c) COMPARABILITY OF EXPENDITURES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

2 ‘‘(A) COMPARABLE FUNDING IN GEN3 ERAL.—Except as provided in paragraphs (4) 

4 and (5), a local educational agency may receive 

5 funds under this part only if the average ex6 penditure per pupil of State and local funds in 

7 each school served under this part is at least 97 

8 percent of the average expenditure per pupil of 

9 State and local funds across all schools that are 

10 not receiving funds under this part. 

11 ‘‘(B) COMPARABLE FUNDING AMONG

12 SCHOOLS.—If the local educational agency is 

13 serving all of such agency’s schools under this 

14 part, such agency may receive funds under this 

15 part only if the average expenditure per pupil of 

16 State and local funds in each higher poverty 

17 school is at least 97 percent of the average ex18 penditure per pupil of State and local funds 

19 across all lower poverty schools. 

20 ‘‘(2) EQUIVALENCE.—A local educational agen21 cy shall be considered to have met the requirements 

22 of paragraph (1), and to be eligible to receive funds 

23 under this part, if— 

24 ‘‘(A) such agency has filed with the State 

25 educational agency an up-to-date school-byVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:23 Apr 21, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5071.IH H5071

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1 school listing of per-pupil expenditures of State 

2 and local funds for each school served by the 

3 agency; and 

4 ‘‘(B) the listing identified in clause (i) 

5 demonstrates comparability across schools as 

6 required by subparagraph (A) or (B) of para7 graph (1). 

8 ‘‘(3) BASIS.—A local educational agency may 

9 meet the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and 

10 (B) of paragraph (1) across all schools or among 

11 schools serving a particular grade span, if the local 

12 educational agency compares schools within no more 

13 than three grade spans. 

14 ‘‘(4) MONITORING.— 

15 ‘‘(A) REGULATIONS BY SECRETARY.—Not 

16 later than 4 months after the date of the enact17 ment of the ESEA Fiscal Fairness Act, the 

18 Secretary shall issue regulations concerning 

19 State educational agencies’ and local edu20 cational agencies’ responsibilities for meeting 

21 the requirements of this subsection. 

22 ‘‘(B) REGULATIONS BY STATES.—Not 

23 later than 6 months after the date on which the 

24 regulations required by subparagraph (A) are 

25 issued, each State educational agency shall creVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:23 Apr 21, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5071.IH H5071

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1 ate and distribute to local educational agencies, 

2 and make available to the public, regulations on 

3 the responsibilities of local educational agencies 

4 for meeting the requirements of this subsection. 

5 ‘‘(C) PLAN BY LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN6 CIES.—Not later than 14 months after the date 

7 on which regulations required by subparagraph 

8 (B) are distributed, each local educational agen9 cy shall develop and submit to the State edu10 cational agency a plan, including a time line 

11 and annual benchmarks, that will ensure com12 parability as described in subparagraphs (A) 

13 and (B) of paragraph (1) not later than 3 years 

14 after the date on which the regulations required 

15 by subparagraph (B) are distributed. The plan 

16 shall be made available to the public. 

17 ‘‘(D) AUDIT.—In each of the fourth and 

18 fifth years after the date of the enactment of 

19 this Act, the Inspector General of the Depart20 ment shall audit 5 States and 10 local edu21 cational agencies to determine progress in meet22 ing the requirements of this section. 

23 ‘‘(5) INAPPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall 

24 not apply to a local educational agency that does not 

25 have more than one building for each grade span. 


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1 ‘‘(6) COMPLIANCE.—For the purpose of deter2 mining compliance with paragraph (1), a local edu3 cational agency — 

4 ‘‘(A) shall exclude State and local funds 

5 expended for the excess costs of providing 

6 English language instruction for Limited 

7 English Proficient students as determined by 

8 the local educational agency; 

9 ‘‘(B) shall exclude State and local funds 

10 expended for the excess costs of providing serv11 ices to children with disabilities as determined 

12 by the local educational agency; and 

13 ‘‘(C) may exclude supplemental State or 

14 local funds in any school attendance area or 

15 school for programs that meet the intent and 

16 purpose of this part. 

17 ‘‘(7) FORCED TRANSFERS.—Nothing in this 

18 subsection shall be construed to require the forced or 

19 involuntary transfer of any school personnel to com20 ply with subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1). 

21 ‘‘(8) COMPARABILITY AS MINIMUM STAND22 ARD.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this sub24 section shall be construed to limit or discourage 

25 the allocation of State or local funds to schools 


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1 served under this part in excess of 100 percent 

2 of the average per-pupil expenditure for schools 

3 not served under this part. 

4 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—If the local educational 

5 agency is serving all schools under this part, 

6 nothing shall be construed to discourage the al7 location of State and local funds to any higher 

8 poverty schools in excess of 100 percent of the 

9 average per-pupil expenditure in lower poverty 

10 schools. 

11 ‘‘(9) PUBLIC REPORTING.— 

12 ‘‘(A) SCHOOL REPORT CARDS.—Beginning 

13 with the first academic year that begins after 

14 the date of the enactment of the ESEA Fiscal 

15 Fairness Act, and for each academic year there16 after, each local educational agency shall in17 clude on the school report cards required under 

18 section 1111(h)(2) the following: 

19 ‘‘(i) The average per-pupil expendi20 tures of State and local funds for the 

21 school. 

22 ‘‘(ii) The average per-pupil expendi23 tures of State and local funds for schools 

24 in the local educational agency not served 

25 under this part or for lower poverty schools 


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1 when all schools in the local educational 

2 agency are served under this part. 

3 ‘‘(iii) The mean of average per-pupil 

4 expenditures of State and local funds for 

5 all schools in the State. 

6 ‘‘(B) UP-TO-DATE SCHOOL-BY-SCHOOL

7 LISTING.—Beginning with the first academic 

8 year that begins after the date of the enactment 

9 of the ESEA Fiscal Fairness Act and for each 

10 academic year thereafter, the State educational 

11 agency shall make publicly available the up-to12 date school-by-school listings of per-pupil ex13 penditures of State and local funds submitted 

14 by each local educational agency, as required by 

15 paragraph (2)(A)(i). 

16 ‘‘(10) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub17 section: 

18 ‘‘(A) EXPENDITURES.— 

19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘expend20 itures’ means— 

21 ‘‘(I) salary expenditures for class22 room teachers, including not only base 

23 salaries but also incentive pay, bo24 nuses, and supplemental stipends for 

25 mentoring or other additional roles; 


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1 ‘‘(II) salary expenditures for in2 structional and instructional support 

3 staff who are not classroom teachers 

4 (such as principals, librarians, para5 professionals, academic coaches, and 

6 curriculum specialists), including not 

7 only base salaries but also incentive 

8 pay, bonuses, and supplemental sti9 pends for mentoring or other addi10 tional roles; 

11 ‘‘(III) salary expenditures for 

12 noninstructional staff, including stu13 dent support staff; and 

14 ‘‘(IV) nonpersonnel expenditures 

15 such as— 

16 ‘‘(aa) professional develop17 ment for teachers and other 

18 staff; 

19 ‘‘(bb) instructional materials 

20 and supplies; 

21 ‘‘(cc) computers, software, 

22 and other technology; 

23 ‘‘(dd) contracted services 

24 such as distance learning, art, 

25 athletics, and technology services; 


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1 ‘‘(ee) library books and 

2 media center materials; and 

3 ‘‘(ff) such other expendi4 tures as the Secretary of Edu5 cation may require. 

6 ‘‘(ii) DETERMINATIONS.—For pur7 poses of subclauses (I) and (II) of clause 

8 (i), in the determination of salary expendi9 tures, salary differentials for years of em10 ployment shall be included. 

11 ‘‘(B) HIGHER POVERTY SCHOOL.—The 

12 term ‘higher poverty school’ means a school 

13 that is in the highest four quartiles of the per14 centage of pupils from low-income families in a 

15 local educational agency. 

16 ‘‘(C) LOWER POVERTY SCHOOL.—The 

17 term ‘lower poverty school’ means a school that 

18 is in the lowest quartile of the percentage of pu19 pils from low-income families in a local edu20 cational agency.’’. 

Æ 


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