ment may improve the programs and activities of the
Federal Government which serve rural school stu-
dents;
(4) review regulations across various depart-
ments or agencies of the Federal Government for
duplication or contradiction;
(5) issue an annual report to Congress and the
President on the progress rural schools are making
in meeting the National Education Goals, and on
how Congress might change Federal programs to
improve the effectiveness of such programs in rural
schools;
(6) review and make recommendations regard-
ing ways to improve or streamline various Federal
data collection activities in rural schools; and
(7) conduct such research as may be helpful to
rural school practitioners at the elementary, second-
ary and postsecondary level in improving the per-
formance of students attending rural schools.
SEC. 402. WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON RURAL EDU-
CATION.
(a) AUTHORIZATION TO CALL CONFERENCE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized
to call and conduct a White House Conference on
Rural Education (hereafter in this section referred
to as the ‘‘Conference’’).
(2) SPECIAL RULE.—For the purpose of this
section the term ‘‘Conference’’ means the Conference
on Rural Education.
(3) DATE.—The Conference described in para-
graph (2) shall be held not earlier than November
1, 1994, and not later than October 30, 1996.
(4) PURPOSE.—The purposes of the Conference
shall be to—
(A) develop recommendations and strate-
gies for the improvement of rural education;
(B) marshal the forces of the private sec-
tor, governmental agencies at all levels, parents,
teachers, communities, and education officials
to assist rural schools in achieving National
Education Goals, and make recommendations
on the roles rural public schools can play to as-
sist with local rural community economic revi-
talization; and
(C) conduct the initial planning for a per-
manent national commission on rural education.
(b) COMPOSITION OF CONFERENCE.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Conference shall be
composed of—
(A) representatives of eligible public school
systems, including board of education members,
school superintendents and classroom teachers;
(B) representatives of the Congress, the
Department of Education and other Federal
agencies;
(C) State elected officials and representa-
tives from State educational agencies;
(D) individuals with special knowledge of
and expertise in rural education, including indi-
viduals involved with rural postsecondary edu-
cation; and
(E) individuals with special knowledge of
and expertise in rural business.
(2) SELECTION.—The President shall select
one-third of the participants of the Conference, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives shall select
one-third of such participants, and the majority
leader of the Senate shall select the remaining one-
third of such participants.
(3) REPRESENTATION.—In selecting the par-
ticipants of the Conference the President, the Speak-
er of the House of Representatives, and the majority
leader of the Senate shall ensure that the partici-
pants are as representative of the ethnic, racial, and
language diversity of rural areas as is practicable.
(c) REPORTS.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The final reports of the
Conference, containing such findings and rec-
ommendations as may be made by the Conference,
shall be submitted to the President not later than
120 days following the termination of the Con-
ference. The final reports shall be made public and,
within 90 days after receipt by the President, trans-
mitted to the Congress together with a statement of
the President containing recommendations for imple-
menting the reports.
(2) PUBLICATION
AND
DISTRIBUTION.—The
Conference is authorized to publish and distribute
the reports described in this section. Copies of the
reports shall be provided to the Federal depository
libraries and made available to local rural school
leaders and teachers.
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be
appropriated for fiscal years 1994, 1995, and 1996
such sums as may be necessary to carry out the pro-
visions of this section.
(2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available
pursuant to the authority of paragraph (1) shall re-
main available until expended.
SEC. 403. FEDERAL FUNDS TO SUPPLEMENT NOT SUP-
PLANT NON-FEDERAL FUNDS.
An eligible local educational agency may use funds
received under this Act only to supplement and, to the
extent practicable, increase the level of funds that would,
in the absence of such Federal funds, be made available
from non-Federal sources for the education of students
participating in activities assisted under this Act and in
no such case may such funds be used to supplant funds
from non-Federal sources.
SEC. 404. DEFINITIONS.
Except as otherwise provided, for the purposes of this
Act—
(1) the term ‘‘community-based organization’’
means a private nonprofit organization which is rep-
resentative of a community or significant segments
of a community and which has a proven record of
providing effective educational or related services to
individuals in the community;
(2) the term ‘‘Community as School Concept’’
means the mutual sharing of the local public school’s
and the local community’s human, financial, tech-
nical, and environmental resources to help meet each
others needs;
(3) the term ‘‘local educational agency’’ in-
cludes a rural eligible local educational agency;
(4) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’
has the meaning given to such term in section
1201(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965;
(5) the term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the
meaning given to such term in section 1471(12) of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965;
(6) the term ‘‘poverty level’’ means the criteria
of poverty used by the Bureau of Census in compil-
ing the most recent decennial census for a family of
4 in such form as those criteria have been updated
by increases in the Consumer Price Index for All
Rural Consumers;
(7) the term ‘‘rural eligible local educational
agency’’ means a local educational agency—
(A) that is located in a county—
(i) in which at least 15 percent of the
children enrolled in the schools of such
county are eligible to be counted under sec-
tion 1005 of the Elementary and Second-
ary Education Act of 1965; and
(ii) which is not in a metropolitan sta-
tistical area;
(B) in which at least 15 percent of the
children enrolled in the schools of such local
educational agency live at or below the poverty
level; or
(C) in which the total enrollment in the
schools of such local educational agency is less
than 2,500 students and that does not serve
schools located in a metropolitan statistical
area;
(8) the term ‘‘rural school consortia’’ means
two or more local rural public school districts co-
operating together for the purpose of increasing
their ability to provide educational services;
(9) the term ‘‘Secretary’’, except as otherwise
specified, means the Secretary of Education;
(10) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the sev-
eral States, but does not include the District of Co-
lumbia, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated
States of Micronesia, and Palau; and
(11) the term ‘‘State educational agency’’ has
the meaning given to such term in section 1471(23)
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965.
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