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105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4779

To provide block grant options for certain education funding.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 9, 1998

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

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To provide block grant options for certain education funding.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. BLOCK GRANT OPTIONS.

4 (a) STATE OPTIONS.—Notwithstanding any other

5 provision of law, each State shall notify the Secretary re6 garding the State’s election to receive the State’s portion

7 of the applicable funding described in subsection (b) ac8 cording to one of the following options:

9 (1) STATE BLOCK GRANT OPTION.—The State

10 may receive the funding pursuant to a State allot11 ment described in section 2(a)(1).
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1 (2) LOCAL BLOCK GRANT OPTION.—The State

2 may direct the Secretary to send the funding directly

3 to local educational agencies in the State pursuant

4 to a local allotment described in section 2(a)(2).

5 (3) FEDERAL STATUTE OPTION.—The State

6 may receive the funding according to the provisions

7 of law described in subsection (b).

8 (b) APPLICABLE FUNDING.—In this section, the term

9 ‘‘applicable funding’’ means all funds that are appro10 priated for the Department of Education for fiscal year

11 2000 or any succeeding fiscal year to carry out programs

12 or activities under the following provisions of law:

13 (1) The Goals 2000: Educate America Act (20

14 U.S.C. 5801 et seq.), other than titles I and X of

15 such Act (20 U.S.C. 5811 et seq. and 6061 et seq.).

16 (2) The Elementary and Secondary Education

17 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), other than ti18 tles VIII, IX, and XIV of such Act (20 U.S.C. 7701

19 et seq., 7801 et seq., and 8801 et seq.).

20 (3) The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of

21 1994 (20 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.).

22 (4) The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied

23 Technology Education Act (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.).

24 SEC. 2. BLOCK GRANTS.

25 (a) ALLOTMENTS.—
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1 (1) STATES.—From the total applicable funding

2 available for a fiscal year, the Secretary may make

3 allotments to each State selecting the option de4 scribed in section 1(a)(1) in an amount that bears

5 the same relation to such total applicable funding as

6 the number of individuals in the State who are aged

7 5 through 17 bears to the total number of such indi8 viduals in all States.

9 (2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.—From

10 the total applicable funding available for a fiscal

11 year, the Secretary may make allotments to each

12 local educational agency in a State selecting the op13 tion described in section 1(a)(2) in an amount that

14 bears the same relation to such total applicable

15 funding as the number of individuals in the school

16 district served by the local educational agency who

17 are aged 5 through 17 bears to the total number of

18 such individuals in all school districts served by all

19 local educational agencies in all States.

20 (3) ENROLLMENT DETERMINATION.—The Sec21 retary shall determine the number of children de22 scribed in paragraphs (1) and (2)—

23 (A) for the academic year for which the de24 termination is made, after the beginning of the

25 academic year; and
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1 (B) on the basis of the most recent data

2 available to the Secretary.

3 (b) DISTRIBUTION OF ALLOTTED FUNDS.—

4 (1) RESERVATIONS.—

5 (A) STATES.—Each State that receives

6 funds allotted under subsection (a) may reserve

7 not more than 1 percent of the funds for the

8 cost of administration, evaluation, reporting,

9 and other activities related to activities assisted

10 under this Act.

11 (B) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.—

12 Each local educational agency that receives

13 funds allotted under subsection (a) may reserve

14 not more than 2 percent of the funds for the

15 costs of administration, overhead costs, or indi16 rect costs.

17 (2) AWARDS.—In States selecting the State

18 block grant option described in section 1(a)(1), all

19 funds allotted under subsection (a)(1) that are not

20 reserved under paragraph (1)(A) shall be made

21 available, in accordance with paragraph (3), on be22 half of each student who resides in the State and is

23 enrolled in a public elementary school or secondary

24 school, or in a private or home elementary school or

25 secondary school, located in the State. In States se-
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1 lecting the local block grant option described in sec2 tion 1(a)(2), all funds allotted under subsection

3 (a)(2) that are not reserved under paragraph (1)(B)

4 shall be made available, in accordance with para5 graph (3), on behalf of each student who resides in

6 the school district served by a local educational

7 agency and is enrolled in a public elementary school

8 or secondary school, or in a private or home elemen9 tary school or secondary school, in the school dis10 trict. In States selecting the State block grant option

11 or the local block grant option, the amount allotted

12 on behalf of each student shall be adjusted in ac13 cordance with paragraph (5).

14 (3) RECIPIENTS.—Funds awarded under para15 graph (2)—

16 (A) in the case of a public school student,

17 including a charter school student, shall be

18 made available to the public school or charter

19 school, respectively; and

20 (B) in the case of a private school or home

21 school student, shall be made available to the

22 parent or legal guardian of the student.

23 (4) USES.—

24 (A) PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS.—Each

25 public school that receives assistance under this
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1 Act shall use the assistance for any qualified el2 ementary and secondary education expenses.

3 (B) PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS.—Each

4 parent or guardian of a private school student

5 that receives assistance under this Act shall use

6 the assistance to pay the costs of attendance at

7 the private school.

8 (C) HOME SCHOOL STUDENTS.—Each par9 ent or guardian of a home school student that

10 receives assistance under this Act shall use the

11 assistance for any qualified elementary and sec12 ondary education expenses.

13 (5) ADJUSTMENTS.—A State or local edu14 cational agency shall adjust the amount awarded for

15 students under paragraph (2) to account for—

16 (A) high need students, such as students

17 from poor families; or

18 (B) different costs of living in urban and

19 rural areas.

20 SEC. 3. FEDERAL STATUTE OPTION.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—From the applicable funding that

22 remains after making the allotments under paragraphs (1)

23 and (2) of section 2(a) for a fiscal year, the Secretary may

24 make awards according to the provisions of law described
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1 in section 1(b), to State and local recipients, in States se2 lecting the option described in section 1(a)(3).

3 (b) PERCENTAGE REDUCTIONS.—The Secretary,

4 after making the allotments under paragraphs (1) and (2)

5 of section 2(a) for a fiscal year, shall reduce the total

6 amount of applicable funding available to carry out the

7 provisions of law described in section 1(b) for the fiscal

8 year, for any State selecting the option described in sec9 tion 2(a)(3), by an equal percentage for each such provi10 sion.

11 SEC. 4. ACCOUNTABILITY.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each entity receiving assistance

13 under this Act shall—

14 (1) use the funds to supplement and not sup15 plant State and local funds; and

16 (2) involve parents and members of the public

17 in planning for the use of funds provided under this

18 Act, such as through a representative advisory com19 mittee.

20 (b) REPORTS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational agen22 cy receiving an allotment under this Act shall pre23 pare and submit to the State, and each State receiv24 ing an allotment under this Act shall prepare and

25 submit to Congress, a report regarding the distribu-
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1 tion and use of the allotted funds, and how the use

2 of the funds effects student achievement.

3 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Each State and local edu4 cational agency submitting a report under paragraph

5 (1) shall make copies of the report available to par6 ents and other members of the public.

7 (3) SPECIAL RULE.—Each State or local edu8 cational agency receiving an allotment under this

9 Act that has developed or established challenging

10 content or student performance standards shall in11 clude in the report submitted under paragraph (1)

12 information regarding student achievement with re13 spect to the standards.

14 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

15 In this title:

16 (1) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

17 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given

18 the term in section 14101 of the Elementary and

19 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

20 (2) QUALIFIED ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

21 EDUCATION EXPENSES.—

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified el23 ementary and secondary education expenses’’

24 means—
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1 (i) expenses for tuition, fees, academic

2 tutoring, special needs services, books, sup3 plies, computer equipment (including relat4 ed software and services), and other equip5 ment which are incurred in connection with

6 the enrollment or attendance of a student

7 at a school; or

8 (ii) expenses for room and board, uni9 forms, transportation, and supplementary

10 items and services (including extended day

11 programs) which are required or provided

12 by a school in connection with such enroll13 ment or attendance.

14 (B) SPECIAL RULE FOR

15 HOMESCHOOLING.—Such term shall include ex16 penses described in subparagraph (A)(i) in con17 nection with education provided by

18 homeschooling if the requirements of any appli19 cable State or local law are met with respect to

20 such education.

21 (2) SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘school’’ means any

22 school that provides kindergarten education, elemen23 tary education or secondary education, as deter24 mined under State law.
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1 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

2 the Secretary of Education.

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

4 the several States of the United States, the District

5 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,

6 Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the

7 Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin

8 Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the

9 Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of

10 Palau.

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