I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4303

To authorize appropriations to reimburse States for costs of educating certain

illegal alien students.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 28, 1996

Ms. HARMAN (for herself and Mr. CAMPBELL) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To authorize appropriations to reimburse States for costs

of educating certain illegal alien 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 ‘‘Equity in Public Edu5 cation Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds as follows:

8 (1) It is the responsibility of the Federal Gov9 ernment to prevent illegal immigration by enforcing

10 existing laws and enacting new laws and policies.
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1 (2) The Federal Government has, to date, failed

2 to carry out this responsibility, resulting in a large

3 and increasing number of illegal immigrants residing

4 within the borders of the United States.

5 (3) Under current law, the States are required

6 to provide certain public benefits to their residents,

7 including education benefits for all children residing

8 within their jurisdictions, regardless of immigration

9 status.

10 (4) The costs of educating illegal aliens are

11 therefore borne primarily by the States.

12 (5) The citizens of States that have a dis13 proportionate number of illegal immigrants therefore

14 have borne a disproportionate share of such edu15 cational costs, which result from the failures of the

16 Federal Government.

17 (6) In the interest of equity, the Federal Gov18 ernment should reimburse the States for such edu19 cational costs.

20 SEC. 3. REIMBURSEMENT OF STATES FOR CERTAIN EDU21 CATIONAL COSTS FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN STU22 DENTS.

23 (a) GRANTS TO STATES.—Subject to the availability

24 of appropriations and the succeeding provisions of this

25 section, from the amount appropriated under subsection
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1 (f), the Secretary of Education shall provide for payment

2 to each eligible State (as defined in subsection (b)) for

3 reimbursable costs (as defined in subsection (c)).

4 (b) ELIGIBLE STATES.—In order for a State to be

5 eligible for payment under this section, the State—

6 (1) shall be a State for which the Secretary of

7 Commerce has made a determination with respect to

8 any fiscal year under subsection (e); and

9 (2) shall provide the Secretary of Education

10 with assurances that—

11 (A) the State will cooperate with the Sec12 retary of Commerce in carrying out such Sec13 retary’s duties under this Act; and

14 (B) such payments shall be used only for

15 the purpose of reimbursing local educational

16 agencies for reimbursable costs.

17 (c) REIMBURSABLE COSTS DEFINED.—For purposes

18 of this Act, the term ‘‘reimbursable costs’’ means, with

19 respect to a State, the incremental increase in costs in20 curred by local educational agencies in the State in provid21 ing a free public education (as mandated by Federal law)

22 to eligible illegal alien students (as defined in subsection

23 (d)(1)), as determined by the Secretary of Commerce

24 under subsection (e).
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1 (d) ELIGIBLE ILLEGAL ALIEN STUDENTS.—For pur2 poses of this Act, the term ‘‘eligible illegal alien student’’

3 means an alien who is not lawfully present in the United

4 States and is enrolled in a public elementary or secondary

5 school of a local educational agency in a State as of the

6 date of a determination made by the Secretary of Com7 merce under subsection (e)(2).

8 (e) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of payment to

10 an eligible State for a fiscal year under this section

11 is the product of—

12 (A) the average number last determined

13 under paragraph (3)(A) for the State; and

14 (B) the average incremental increase in ex15 penditures last determined under paragraph

16 (3)(B) for the State.

17 (2) COMMENCEMENT OF DETERMINATIONS.—

18 (A) FIRST GROUP OF STATES.—Before the

19 beginning of fiscal year 1998, and before the

20 beginning of every third fiscal year thereafter,

21 the Secretary of Commerce shall make a deter22 mination under paragraph (3) for the States of

23 California, Texas, and Florida.

24 (B) SECOND AND THIRD GROUPS OF

25 STATES.—Before the beginning of fiscal year
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1 1999, and before the beginning of every third

2 fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary of Com3 merce shall make a determination under paragraph (3) for at least 1 4 ⁄2 of the States that are

5 not described in subparagraph (A). Before the

6 beginning of fiscal year 2000, and before the

7 beginning of every third fiscal year thereafter,

8 the Secretary of Commerce shall make a deter9 mination under paragraph (3) for each of the

10 remaining States. To the maximum extent pos11 sible, the Secretary shall make an equal number

12 of determinations under this subparagraph be13 fore fiscal year 1999 and before fiscal year

14 2000.

15 (3) DETERMINATIONS.—Pursuant to paragraph

16 (2), the Secretary of Commerce shall determine for

17 a State before the beginning of a fiscal year—

18 (A) the average number of eligible illegal

19 alien students in the State for any school day

20 during the school year ending during the fiscal

21 year; and

22 (B) the average incremental increase in

23 per pupil expenditures for public education ben24 efits in the State for such school year that is

25 determined to be attributable to the enrollment
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1 of eligible illegal alien students in public ele2 mentary and secondary schools, as determined

3 based on statistics of the National Center for

4 Education Statistics relating to expenditure per

5 pupil in average daily attendance in public ele6 mentary and secondary schools.

7 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

8 are authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal year (be9 ginning with fiscal year 1998) such sums as may be nec10 essary to make grants under this section.

11 (g) STATE DEFINED.—In this Act, the term ‘‘State’’

12 has the meaning given such term in section 101(a)(36)

13 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

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