II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2121

To provide for rural education assistance, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 29, 2000

Mr. CRAPO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To provide for rural education assistance, 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. RURAL EDUCATION.

4 Part J of title X of the Elementary and Secondary

5 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8271 et seq.) is amend6 ed to read as follows:

7 ‘‘PART J—RURAL EDUCATION INITIATIVE

8 ‘‘SEC. 10951. SHORT TITLE.

9 ‘‘This part may be cited as the ‘Rural Education Ini10 tiative Act of 1999’.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 10952. FINDINGS.

2 ‘‘Congress finds the following:

3 ‘‘(1) The National Center for Educational Sta4 tistics reports that 46 percent of our Nation’s public

5 schools serve rural areas.

6 ‘‘(2) While there are rural education initiatives

7 identified at the State and local level, no Federal

8 education policy focuses on the specific and unique

9 needs of rural school districts and schools.

10 ‘‘(3) Small school districts often cannot use

11 Federal grant funds distributed by formula because

12 the formula allocation does not provide enough rev13 enue to carry out the program the grant is intended

14 to fund.

15 ‘‘(4) Rural schools often cannot compete for

16 Federal funding distributed by competitive grants

17 because the schools lack the personnel needed to

18 prepare grant applications and the resources to hire

19 specialists in the writing of Federal grant proposals.

20 ‘‘(5) A critical problem for rural school districts

21 involves the hiring and retention of qualified admin22 istrators and certified teachers (especially in read23 ing, science, and mathematics). As a result, teachers

24 in rural schools are almost twice as likely to provide

25 instruction in three or more subject areas than

26 teachers in urban schools. Rural schools also face
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1 other tough challenges, such as shrinking local tax

2 bases, high transportation costs, aging buildings,

3 limited course offerings, and limited resources.

4 ‘‘Subpart 1—Small and Rural School Program

5 ‘‘SEC. 10961. FORMULA GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

6 ‘‘(a) ALTERNATIVE USES.—

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

8 provision of law, an eligible local educational agency

9 may use the applicable funding, that the agency is

10 eligible to receive from the State educational agency

11 for a fiscal year, to support local or statewide edu12 cation reform efforts intended to improve the aca13 demic achievement of elementary school and sec14 ondary school students and the quality of instruction

15 provided for the students.

16 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION.—An eligible local edu17 cational agency shall notify the State educational

18 agency of the local educational agency’s intention to

19 use the applicable funding in accordance with para20 graph (1) not later than a date that is established

21 by the State educational agency for the notification.

22 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—

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

24 shall be eligible to use the applicable funding in ac25 cordance with subsection (a) if—
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1 ‘‘(A)(i) the total number of students in av2 erage daily attendance at all of the schools

3 served by the local educational agency is less

4 than 600; and

5 ‘‘(ii) all of the schools served by the local

6 educational agency are located in a community

7 with a Rural-Urban Continuum Code of 6, 7, 8,

8 or 9, as determined by the Secretary of Agri9 culture; or

10 ‘‘(B) the agency meets the criteria established

11 in subparagraph (A)(i) and the Secretary, in accord12 ance with paragraph (2), grants the local edu13 cational agency’s request to waive the criteria de14 scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii).

15 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall de16 termine whether or not to waive the criteria de17 scribed in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) based on certification

18 provided by the local educational agency, or the

19 State educational agency on behalf of the local edu20 cational agency, that the local educational agency is

21 located in an area defined as rural by a govern22 mental agency of the State.

23 ‘‘(c) APPLICABLE FUNDING.—In this section, the

24 term ‘applicable funding’ means funds provided under
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1 each of titles II, IV, VI, parts A and C of title VII, and

2 part I of title X.

3 ‘‘(d) DISBURSAL.—Each State educational agency

4 that receives applicable funding for a fiscal year shall dis5 burse the applicable funding to local educational agencies

6 for alternative uses under this section for the fiscal year

7 at the same time that the State educational agency dis8 burses the applicable funding to local educational agencies

9 that do not intend to use the applicable funding for such

10 alternative uses for the fiscal year.

11 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds used

12 under this section shall be used to supplement and not

13 supplant any other Federal, State, or local education

14 funds that would otherwise be available for the purpose

15 of this subpart.

16 ‘‘(f) SPECIAL RULE.—References in Federal law to

17 funds for the provisions of law set forth in subsection (c)

18 may be considered to be references to funds for this sec19 tion.

20 ‘‘SEC. 10962. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to

22 award grants to eligible local educational agencies to en23 able the local educational agencies to support local or

24 statewide education reform efforts intended to improve the

25 academic achievement of elementary school and secondary
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1 school students and the quality of instruction provided for

2 the students.

3 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—

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

5 shall be eligible to receive a grant under this section

6 if—

7 ‘‘(A)(i) the total number of students in av8 erage daily attendance at all of the schools

9 served by the local educational agency is less

10 than 600; and

11 ‘‘(ii) all of the schools served by the local

12 educational agency are located in a community

13 with a Rural-Urban Continuum Code of 6, 7, 8,

14 or 9, as determined by the Secretary of Agri15 culture; or

16 ‘‘(B) the agency meets the criteria estab17 lished in subparagraph (A)(i) and the Sec18 retary, in accordance with paragraph (2),

19 grants the local educational agency’s request to

20 waive the criteria described in subparagraph

21 (A)(ii).

22 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall de23 termine whether or not to waive the criteria de24 scribed in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) based on certification

25 provided by the local educational agency, or the
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1 State educational agency on behalf of the local edu2 cational agency, that the local educational agency is

3 located in an area defined as rural by a govern4 mental agency of the State.

5 ‘‘(c) ALLOCATION.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para7 graph (3), the Secretary shall award a grant to an

8 eligible local educational agency for a fiscal year in

9 an amount equal to the initial amount determined

10 under paragraph (2) for the fiscal year minus the

11 total amount received under the provisions of law

12 described under section 10961(c) for the preceding

13 fiscal year.

14 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF THE INITIAL

15 AMOUNT.—The initial amount referred to in para16 graph (1) is equal to $100 multiplied by the total

17 number of students, over 50 students, in average

18 daily attendance in such eligible agency plus

19 $20,000, except that the initial amount may not ex20 ceed $60,000.

21 ‘‘(3) RATABLE ADJUSTMENT.—

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the amount made

23 available for this subpart for any fiscal year is

24 not sufficient to pay in full the amounts that

25 local educational agencies are eligible to receive
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1 under paragraph (1) for such year, the Sec2 retary shall ratably reduce such amounts for

3 such year.

4 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS.—If addi5 tional funds become available for making pay6 ments under paragraph (1) for such fiscal year,

7 payments that were reduced under subpara8 graph (A) shall be increased on the same basis

9 as such payments were reduced.

10 ‘‘(5) CENSUS DETERMINATION.—

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational

12 agency desiring a grant under this section shall

13 conduct a census not later than December 1 of

14 each year to determine the number of kinder15 garten through grade 12 students in average

16 daily attendance at the schools served by the

17 local educational agency.

18 ‘‘(B) SUBMISSION.—Each local educational

19 agency shall submit the number described in

20 subparagraph (A) to the Secretary not later

21 than March 1 of each year.

22 ‘‘(d) DISBURSAL.—The Secretary shall disburse the

23 funds awarded to a local educational agency under this

24 section for a fiscal year not later than July 1 of that year.
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1 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULE.—A local educational agency

2 that is eligible to receive a grant under this subpart for

3 a fiscal year shall be ineligible to receive funds for such

4 fiscal year under subpart 2.

5 ‘‘(f) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made

6 available under this section shall be used to supplement

7 and not supplant any other Federal, State or local edu8 cation funds.

9 ‘‘SEC. 10963. ACCOUNTABILITY.

10 ‘‘(a) ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational

12 agency that uses or receives funds under section

13 10961 or 10962 for a fiscal year shall administer an

14 assessment consistent with section 1111 of title I.

15 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE.—Each local educational

16 agency that uses or receives funds under section

17 10961 or 10962 shall use the same assessment de18 scribed in paragraph (1) for each year of participa19 tion in the program under such section.

20 ‘‘(b) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY DETERMINATION

21 REGARDING CONTINUING PARTICIPATION.—Each State

22 educational agency that receives funding under the provi23 sions of law described in section 10961(c) shall—

24 ‘‘(1) after the second year that a local edu25 cational agency participates in a program under sec-
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1 tion 10961 or 10962 and on the basis of the results

2 of the assessments described in subsection (a), deter3 mine whether the students served by the local edu4 cational agency participating in the program per5 formed in accordance with section 1111 of title I;

6 and

7 ‘‘(2) only permit those local educational agen8 cies that so participated and met the requirements

9 of section 1111(b)(2) of title I to continue to so par10 ticipate.

11 ‘‘Subpart 2—Low-Income And Rural School Program

12 ‘‘SEC. 10971. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

13 ‘‘(a) RESERVATIONS.—From amounts appropriated

14 under section 10982 for this subpart for a fiscal year, the

Secretary shall reserve 1 15 ⁄2 of 1 percent to make awards

16 to elementary or secondary schools operated or supported

17 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to carry out the purpose

18 of this subpart.

19 ‘‘(b) GRANTS TO STATES.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts appro21 priated under section 10982 for this subpart that

22 are not reserved under subsection (a), the Secretary

23 shall award grants for a fiscal year to State edu24 cational agencies that have applications approved

25 under section 10973 to enable the State educational
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1 agencies to award subgrants to eligible local edu2 cational agencies for local authorized activities de3 scribed in subsection (c)(2).

4 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—From amounts appro5 priated for this subpart, the Secretary shall allocate

6 to each State educational agency for a fiscal year an

7 amount that bears the same ratio to the amount of

8 funds appropriated under section 10982 for this

9 subpart that are not reserved under subsection (a)

10 as the number of students in average daily attend11 ance served by eligible local educational agencies in

12 the State bears to the number of all such students

13 served by eligible local educational agencies in all

14 States for that fiscal year.

15 ‘‘(3) DIRECT AWARDS TO SPECIALLY QUALI16 FIED AGENCIES.—

17 ‘‘(A) NONPARTICIPATING STATE.—If a

18 State educational agency elects not to partici19 pate in the program under this subpart or does

20 not have an application approved under section

21 10973 a specially qualified agency in such State

22 desiring a grant under this subpart shall apply

23 directly to the Secretary to receive an award

24 under this subpart.
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1 ‘‘(B) DIRECT AWARDS TO SPECIALLY

2 QUALIFIED AGENCIES.—The Secretary may

3 award, on a competitive basis, the amount the

4 State educational agency is eligible to receive

5 under paragraph (2) directly to specially quali6 fied agencies in the State.

7 ‘‘(c) LOCAL AWARDS.—

8 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBILITY.—A local educational agency

9 shall be eligible to receive funds under this subpart

10 if—

11 ‘‘(A) 20 percent or more of the children

12 aged 5 to 17, inclusive, served by the local edu13 cational agency are from families with incomes

14 below the poverty line; and

15 ‘‘(B) all of the schools served by the agen16 cy are located in a community with a Rural17 Urban Continuum Code of 6, 7, 8, or 9, as de18 termined by the Secretary of Agriculture.

19 ‘‘(2) USES OF FUNDS.—Grant funds awarded

20 to local educational agencies or made available to

21 schools under this subpart 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. 10972. STATE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.

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

6 shall award grants to eligible local educational agencies—

7 ‘‘(1) on a competitive basis; or

8 ‘‘(2) according to a formula based on the num9 ber of students in average daily attendance served

10 by the eligible local educational agencies or schools

11 (as appropriate) in the State, as determined by the

12 State.

13 ‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—A State educational

14 agency receiving a grant under this subpart may not use

15 more than 5 percent of the amount of the grant for State

16 administrative costs.

17 ‘‘SEC. 10973. APPLICATIONS.

18 ‘‘Each State educational agency and specially quali19 fied agency desiring to receive a grant under this subpart

20 shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time,

21 in such manner, and accompanied by such information as

22 the Secretary may require. Such application shall include

23 specific measurable goals and objectives to be achieved

24 which may include specific educational goals and objec25 tives relating to increased student academic achievement,
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1 decreased student drop-out rates, or such other factors

2 that the State educational agency or specially qualified

3 agency may choose to measure.

4 ‘‘SEC. 10974. REPORTS.

5 ‘‘(a) STATE REPORTS.—Each State educational

6 agency that receives a grant under this subpart shall pro7 vide an annual report to the Secretary. The report shall

8 describe—

9 ‘‘(1) the method the State educational agency

10 used to award grants to eligible local educational

11 agencies and to provide assistance to schools under

12 this subpart;

13 ‘‘(2) how local educational agencies and schools

14 used funds provided under this subpart; and

15 ‘‘(3) the degree to which progress has been

16 made toward meeting the goals and objectives de17 scribed in the application submitted under section

18 10973.

19 ‘‘(b) SPECIALLY QUALIFIED AGENCY REPORT.—

20 Each specially qualified agency that receives a grant under

21 this subpart shall provide an annual report to the Sec22 retary. Such report shall describe—

23 ‘‘(1) how such agency uses funds provided

24 under this subpart; and
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1 ‘‘(2) the degree to which progress has been

2 made toward meeting the goals and objectives de3 scribed in the application submitted under section

4 10971(b)(3)(A).

5 ‘‘(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall

6 prepare and submit to the Committee on Education and

7 the Workforce for the House of Representatives and the

8 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for

9 the Senate an annual report. The report shall describe—

10 ‘‘(1) the methods the State educational agency

11 used to award grants to eligible local educational

12 agencies and to provide assistance to schools under

13 this subpart;

14 ‘‘(2) how eligible local educational agencies and

15 schools used funds provided under this subpart; and

16 ‘‘(3) progress made in meeting specific measur17 able educational goals and objectives.

18 ‘‘SEC. 10975. DEFINITIONS.

19 ‘‘For the purposes of this subpart—

20 ‘‘(1) The term ‘poverty line’ means the poverty

21 line (as defined by the Office of Management and

22 Budget, and revised annually in accordance with sec23 tion 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant

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

25 the size involved.
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1 ‘‘(2) The term ‘specially qualified agency’

2 means an eligible local educational agency, located in

3 a State that does not participate in a program under

4 this subpart in a fiscal year, that may apply directly

5 to the Secretary for a grant in such year in accord6 ance with section 10971(b)(3).

7 ‘‘Subpart 3—General Provisions

8 ‘‘SEC. 10981. DEFINITION.

9 ‘‘For the purposes of this part, the term ‘State’

10 means each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia,

11 and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

12 ‘‘SEC. 10982. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

13 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

14 this part $125,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and such sums

15 as may be necessary for each of four succeeding fiscal

16 years to be distributed equally between subparts 1 and

17 2.’’.

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