I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1855
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize
a grant program to enhance parental involvement in elementary and
secondary schools.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 15, 2001
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 to authorize a grant program to enhance paren-
tal involvement in elementary and secondary schools.
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 ‘‘Parental Involvement
Enhancement Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Research indicates that, regardless of eco-
nomic, ethnic, or cultural background, parental in-
volvement in a child’s education is a major factor in
determining success in school.
(2) Parental involvement in a child’s education
contributes to such positive outcomes as improved
grades and test scores, higher expectations for stu-
dent achievement, better school attendance, im-
proved rates of homework completion and gradua-
tion from secondary schools, decreased violence and
substance abuse, and higher rates of graduation
from and enrollment in postsecondary schools.
(3) According to the Department of Education
study entitled ‘‘Strong Families, Strong Schools’’, in
elementary schools where parents were actively in-
volved, the average fourth grade reading scores were
17 points above the national average.
(4) According to the National Commission on
Children, more than 70 percent of students ages 10
to 13, and more than 50 percent of students ages
14 to 17, would like to talk to their parents more
about school and schoolwork.
(5) Ninety-five percent of parents strongly
agree that parental involvement is as important a
factor as quality of teachers in ensuring student suc-
cess in school, and 69 percent of parents believe that
in order to improve public schools, more opportuni-
ties for parental involvement are necessary.
(6) Of the 800 parents questioned under the
National Parent Teacher Association’s 1998 survey
of public school parents, more than half stated that
low levels of parental involvement and the inability
of schools to keep parents informed are serious prob-
lems.
(7) Teachers rank strengthening parental roles
in their children’s education as an important issue
that should receive the highest priority in the formu-
lation of public education policy over the next few
years.
SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new
part:
‘‘PART G—PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
‘‘SEC. 1701. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT GRANT PROGRAM.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with this section,
the Secretary may make grants to elementary schools or
secondary schools to promote the involvement of parents
in the education of their children.
‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Each school receiving a grant
under this section may use the proceeds of such grant
only—
‘‘(1) for educational or outreach materials or
resources designed to increase parental involvement
in their children’s education; or
‘‘(2) to pay the salary or benefits of an indi-
vidual who is an eligible parent liaison as described
in subsection (c).
‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE PARENT LIAISONS.—For the pur-
poses of this section, an individual shall be an eligible par-
ent liaison if the individual is employed by the school to
be a parent liaison and meets each of the following cri-
teria:
‘‘(1) The individual holds a degree in social
work, counseling, psychology, human resources, or
any other field that the school considers relevant to
performing the functions described in paragraph (3).
‘‘(2) The individual is bilingual or multilingual,
if appropriate for the needs of the school.
‘‘(3) The individual is responsible for—
‘‘(A) facilitating communication between
the school’s teachers and the parents of the
school’s students, especially parents who have
limited English proficiency;
‘‘(B) if national or State tests or assess-
ments are conducted at the school, explaining to
such parents how such tests or assessments
work and what the results mean; and
‘‘(C) if the school provides report cards,
explaining to such parents what such report
cards mean.
‘‘(4) The individual maintains a flexible sched-
ule that allows the individual to perform the func-
tions described in paragraph (3) while accommo-
dating the needs of working parents.
‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Each school seeking a
grant under this section shall submit to the Sec-
retary an application that includes—
‘‘(A) a description of the school’s student
population, including information on the socio-
economic status and the English-speaking abil-
ity of the students;
‘‘(B) a plan describing how the school
seeks to increase parental involvement at the
school, including information on—
‘‘(i) the number of eligible parent liai-
sons the school plans to employ;
‘‘(ii) the activities the school plans to
conduct to increase parental involvement;
and
‘‘(iii) the materials or resources that
the school plans to acquire to increase pa-
rental involvement; and
‘‘(C) a description of how the school will
evaluate the materials and resources acquired,
and the success of the activities carried out,
with the grant.
‘‘(2) PARENTAL INPUT.—Each application sub-
mitted under this paragraph (including the plan de-
scribed in paragraph (1)(B)) shall be developed with
the input of parents of students at the school sub-
mitting the application.
‘‘(e) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In making grants under
this section, the Secretary shall give preference—
‘‘(1) to schools that have a large percentage of
students whose parents have limited English pro-
ficiency; and
‘‘(2) to schools at which the involvement of par-
ents in the education of their children has tradition-
ally been low.
‘‘(f) PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
IN HIRING DECI-
SIONS.—As a condition of the receipt of funds made avail-
able under this section, the Secretary shall require that
each school receiving such funds involve each of the fol-
lowing when making a hiring decision with respect to an
eligible parent liaison hired with such funds:
‘‘(1) The parents of the students at the school.
‘‘(2) Any local parent organization active in the
affairs of the school.’’.
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section
1002 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 6302) is amended by adding at the end
the following new subsection:
‘‘(h) PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.—There is authorized
to be appropriated to carry out part G $100,000,000 for
fiscal year 2002.’’.
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