I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1323

To narrow the digital divide.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 29, 2001

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ (for herself, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. OWENS, Ms.

BROWN of Florida, Mr. BALDACCI, and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the

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

Workforce

A BILL

To narrow the digital divide.

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 ‘‘Education Technology

5 Equity Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. EQUITABLE ACCESS OF TECHNOLOGY.

7 Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education

8 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.) is amended by add9 ing at the end the following new part:
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1 ‘‘PART F—EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY EQUITY

2 ‘‘SEC. 3601. FINDINGS.

3 ‘‘The Congress finds the following:

4 ‘‘(1) Having access and being able to effectively

5 use new technologies, such as computers and the

6 Internet, will be critical to the economic and overall

7 success of American businesses, communities, and

8 individuals in the 21st century.

9 ‘‘(2) It is estimated that every 3 out of 5 jobs

10 created during the next 5 years will have relatively

11 high skills requirements.

12 ‘‘(3) The information technology industry indi13 cates that it will be unable to fill more than 800,000

14 this year.

15 ‘‘(4) The E-Rate program has connected 95

16 percent of all public schools to the Internet.

17 ‘‘(5) A digital divide exists and has grown and

18 for the poorest Americans has grown by 29 percent

19 since 1997.

20 ‘‘(6) White families are more than twice as like21 ly to have access to a computer and the Internet

22 than Black and Hispanic families.

23 ‘‘(7) 4 to 5 students per computer is the ratio

24 that many experts consider to represent a reasonable

25 level for the effective use of computers within

26 schools. The national average student to computer
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1 ratio is 6 to 1. In schools with the highest con2 centrations of poverty, the average student to com3 puter ratio is 16 to 1.

4 ‘‘(8) According to a number of experts, a base5 line model for Internet connection that provides stu6 dents and teachers with the ability to fully engage

7 in telecommunications opportunities would cost be8 tween $9,350,000,000 to $22,050,000,000 with an

9 additional annual cost of $1,750,000,000 to

10 $4,600,000,000.

11 ‘‘SEC. 3602. PURPOSE.

12 ‘‘The purpose of this part is to enable every child in

13 America to cross the digital divide by ensuring that all

14 children, especially those who are disadvantaged and from

15 low-income and minority families, have access to the most

16 advanced and effective technology and technology edu17 cation.

18 ‘‘SEC. 3603. RESERVATION AND ALLOTMENTS.

19 ‘‘(a) RESERVATION.—From the amount made avail20 able under section 3607 to carry out this part for each

21 fiscal year, the Secretary—

22 ‘‘(1) shall reserve 0.5 percent of such amount

23 for grants to Guam, American Samoa, the United

24 States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the

25 Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of Palau,
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1 the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of

2 Micronesia; and

3 ‘‘(2) shall reserve 1 percent of such amount for

4 the Secretary of the Interior to carry out programs

5 under this part for Indian children.

6 ‘‘(b) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY ALLOTMENTS.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para8 graph (2), and after making the reservations in sub9 section (a), the Secretary shall, for each fiscal year,

10 allocate among the States the remainder according

11 to the ratio between the amount each State received

12 under part A of title I for the preceding year and

13 the sum of such amounts received by all the States.

14 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM.—For any fiscal year, the Sec15 retary shall not allot to a State an amount under

this subsection that is less than 1 16 ⁄2 of 1 percent of

17 the total amount allotted to all the States under this

18 subsection.

19 ‘‘(3) REALLOTMENT.—Except as provided in

20 paragraph (2), The Secretary may reallot any

21 amount of any allotment to a State if the Secretary

22 determines that the State will be unable to use such

23 amount within 2 years of such allotment. Such re24 allotments shall be made on the same basis as allot25 ments are made under paragraph (1).
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1 ‘‘(c) WITHIN-STATE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.—

2 Each State educational agency having an approved appli3 cation pursuant to section 3604 and receiving an alloca4 tion under subsection (b), shall allocate—

5 ‘‘(1) not less than 95 percent of such allocation

6 to local educational agencies in accordance with the

7 provisions of section 1125; and

8 ‘‘(2) not more than 5 percent for State level ac9 tivities, including technical assistance, and evalua10 tion, of which not more than 40 percent may be

11 used for administration.

12 ‘‘(d) LOCAL DISTRIBUTION.—Each local educational

13 agency that receives a grant under this part shall—

14 ‘‘(1) annually rank such agency’s schools from

15 highest to lowest based on—

16 ‘‘(A) the percentage of children eligible for

17 participation in the school lunch program under

18 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch

19 Act; and

20 ‘‘(B) the need of each school for computers

21 as determined by the agency; and

22 ‘‘(2) serve such schools in rank order.

23 ‘‘SEC. 3604. APPLICATIONS.

24 ‘‘(a) STATE APPLICATION.—Each State educational

25 agency seeking a grant under this part shall submit an
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1 application in such form, and containing such information,

2 as the Secretary may reasonably require. At a minimum,

3 the application shall provide an assurance that the State

4 will provide technical assistance to local educational agen5 cies in developing a comprehensive system for the acquisi6 tion and use of technology and technology-enhanced cur7 ricula, instruction, and administrative support resources.

8 ‘‘(b) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY APPLICATION.—

9 Each local educational agency seeking a grant under this

10 part shall submit an application to the State educational

11 agency that includes, at a minimum—

12 ‘‘(1) the student to computer ratios;

13 ‘‘(2) the Internet connectivity of schools to be

14 served;

15 ‘‘(3) an assurance that the agency will report

16 annually to the State regarding the student to com17 puter ratio and Internet connectivity of schools to be

18 served; and

19 ‘‘(4) a plan for a comprehensive system for the

20 acquisition and use of technology and technology-en21 hanced curricula, instruction, and administrative

22 support services.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 3605. LOCAL USES OF FUNDS.

2 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED USES.—A local educational agency

3 that receives a grant under this part shall use such grant

4 to purchase computers.

5 ‘‘(b) PERMISSIBLE USE.—

6 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL RULE.—A local educational agen7 cy that receives a grant under this part may use

8 such funds for purposes described in paragraph (2)

9 if all schools in the local educational agency have a

10 student to computer ratio equal to or less than 6 to

11 1. Such ratio shall be certified by the State edu12 cational agency prior to any such use of funds.

13 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL USES.—If the condition in

14 paragraph (1) is met, a local educational agency

15 may use funds reserved under this part for—

16 ‘‘(A) teacher training;

17 ‘‘(B) integrating technology into cur18 riculum;

19 ‘‘(C) maintenance and support; and

20 ‘‘(D) computers for home use by students

21 and teachers.

22 ‘‘SEC. 3606. REPORTING.

23 ‘‘(a) STATE REPORTING.—Each State educational

24 agency that receives a grant award under this part shall

25 submit an annual report to the Secretary regarding the
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1 student to computer ratios and Internet connectivity of

2 schools provided assistance under this part.

3 ‘‘(b) LOCAL REPORTING.—Each local educational

4 agency that receives a grant award under this part shall

5 submit an annual report to the State educational agency

6 regarding the student to computer ratios and Internet

7 connectivity of schools provided assistance under this part.

8 ‘‘SEC. 3607. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

9 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated

10 $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2002 and such sums as

11 may be necessary for the 4 succeeding fiscal years to carry

12 out the purposes of this part.’’.

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