I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 23
To provide grants to local educational agencies to allow such agencies to
promote certain education initiatives.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 6, 1999
Mr. DREIER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To provide grants to local educational agencies to allow such
agencies to promote certain education initiatives.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Education Bill of
Rights Act’’.
SEC. 2. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
The Secretary of Education (referred to in this Act
as the ‘‘Secretary’’) is authorized to award grants to local
educational agencies to allow such agencies to promote the
education initiatives described in section 3.
SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY.
(a) APPLICATION.—A local educational agency that
desires to receive a grant under this Act shall submit an
application to the Secretary at such time and in such form
as the Secretary may reasonably require.
(b) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—To be eligible to receive
a grant under this Act, a local educational agency shall
demonstrate that such agency has developed each of the
the following initiatives:
(1) CHARTER SCHOOL.—A charter school pro-
gram to allow parents greater choice in selecting the
appropriate educational setting for their child.
(2) PARENTAL CHOICE.—A school choice pro-
gram that allows parents the ability to select a pub-
lic school located within the local educational agency
that best meets the educational needs of their child.
(3) VOCATIONAL
AND
ACADEMIC
OPPORTUNI-
TIES.—A program that allows parents of a second-
ary school student to choose a vocational or college
preparatory program for their child.
(4) EARLY READING PROGRAMS.—An elemen-
tary reading program to ensure that all students can
read by the third grade.
(5) SAFE AND DRUG-FREE ENVIRONMENT.—A
program to provide a safe and drug-free environ-
ment at school.
(6) STANDARDIZED TESTING PROGRAM.—A lo-
cally developed standardized testing program to en-
sure that students are achieving at a high level.
(7) CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
PANELS.—
Curriculum development panels composed of teach-
ers and parents to ensure that students learn the
skills necessary to succeed.
(8) INCREASED TEACHING STANDARDS.—A pro-
gram to improve or increase the standards for teach-
ers to ensure teachers have the skills necessary to
assist students effectively.
(9) MERIT
PAY
SYSTEM
FOR
TEACHERS.—A
merit pay system to reward teachers who meet or
exceed performance criteria.
(10) TEACHING EXCELLENCE.—A program to
ensure that the most qualified teachers are hired, in-
cluding teachers with expertise in the workplace.
SEC. 4. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—
(1) ALLOCATION.—A local educational agency
that meets the eligibility criteria described in section
3 shall receive, subject to the availability of appro-
priations, an amount that equals the total amount
spent by the Federal Government for fiscal year
1999 for elementary and secondary education di-
vided by the total number of public schools in the
country that receive such education funds for such
fiscal year.
(2) RATABLE REDUCTION.—If the sums made
available under this Act for any fiscal year are insuf-
ficient to pay the full amount that each local edu-
cational agency that meets the eligibility criteria de-
scribed in section 3 is eligible to receive under para-
graph (1) for such year, the Secretary shall ratably
reduce such amount for such year.
(b) ADMINISTRATIVE
EXPENSES.—A local edu-
cational agency that receives a grant award under this Act
may use not more than 5 percent of such award for admin-
istrative expenses.
SEC. 5. ACCOUNTABILITY.
Each local educational agency that receives a grant
award under this Act shall submit a report annually to
the Secretary that evaluates the effectiveness of the initia-
tives described under section 3 and any change in parental
involvement as a result of such programs.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums
as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2000
through 2004 to carry out this Act.
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