I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3813
To assist certain urban and rural local educational agencies that have a
high concentration of children from low-income families.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 7, 1998
Mr. CLAY (for himself, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. FORD, Mr. SAWYER, Mr. RUSH,
Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. CONYERS, Mr.
FATTAH, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ANDREWS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr.
KILDEE, Ms. WATERS, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO´, Mr. SCOTT,
Mr. PASTOR, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, and Mr. KUCINICH) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the
Workforce
A BILL
To assist certain urban and rural local educational agencies
that have a high concentration of children from low-
income families.
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 Opportunity
Zones Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
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(1) Students in schools that have high con-
centrations of poor children begin school academi-
cally behind their peers in other schools and are
often unable to close the gap as they progress
through school. In later years, these students are
less likely than other students to attend a college or
university and more likely to experience unemploy-
ment.
(2) Many children who attend these high-pov-
erty schools lack access to the challenging curricula,
well-prepared teachers, and high expectations that
make better achievement possible. More specifically,
they are often educated in overcrowded classrooms
and by teachers who are assigned to teach in subject
areas outside their area of certification.
(3) Data from the National Assessment of Edu-
cational Progress consistently show large gaps be-
tween the achievement of students in high-poverty
schools and those in other schools. High-poverty
schools will face special challenges in preparing their
students to reach high standards of performance on
national and State assessments.
(4) Recent reports have found that students in
urban districts are more likely to attend high-pov-
erty schools; more frequently taught by teachers pos-
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sessing only an emergency or temporary license; and
less likely to score above the basic level on achieve-
ment tests than are nonurban students.
(5) High-poverty rural schools, because of their
isolation, small size, and low levels of resources, also
face particular challenges. For example, teachers in
rural districts are nearly twice as likely as other
teachers to provide instruction in three or more sub-
jects.
(6) Notwithstanding these general trends, some
high-poverty school districts have shown that they
can increase student achievement, if they adopt chal-
lenging standards for all children, focus on improv-
ing curriculum and instruction, expand educational
choice among public schools for parents and stu-
dents, adopt other components of systemic edu-
cational reform, and hold schools, staff, and stu-
dents accountable for results.
(7) Districts that have already established the
policies needed to attain widespread student achieve-
ment gains, and have attained those gains in some
of their schools, can serve as models for other dis-
tricts desiring to improve the academic achievement
of their students. The Federal Government can spur
more districts in this direction by providing targeted
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resources for urban and rural districts willing to
carry out solid plans for improving the educational
achievement of all their children.
SEC. 3. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to assist urban and rural
local educational agencies that:
(1) have high concentrations of children from
low-income families;
(2) have a record of achieving high educational
outcomes, in at least some of their schools;
(3) are implementing standards-based systemic
reform strategies; and
(4) are keeping their schools safe and drug-free,
to pursue further reforms and raise the academic
achievement of all their students.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act, the following terms have the fol-
lowing meanings:
(1) The term ‘‘central city’’ has the meaning
given that term by the Office of Management and
Budget.
(2) The term ‘‘high-poverty local educational
agency’’ means a local educational agency in which
the percentage of children, ages 5 through 17, from
families with incomes below the poverty level is 20
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percent or greater or the number of such children
exceeds 10,000.
(3) The term ‘‘local educational agency’’—
(A) has the meaning given that term in
section 14101(18) (A) and (B) of the Elemen-
tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; and
(B) includes elementary and secondary
schools operated or supported by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
(4) The term ‘‘metropolitan statistical area’’
has the meaning given that term by the Office of
Management and Budget.
(5) The term ‘‘rural locality’’ means a locality
that is not within a metropolitan statistical area and
has a population of less than 25,000.
(6) The term ‘‘urban locality’’ means a locality
that is—
(A) a central city of a metropolitan statis-
tical area; or
(B) any other locality within a metropoli-
tan statistical area, if that area has a popu-
lation of at least 400,000 or a population den-
sity of at least 6,000 persons per square mile.
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SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY.
(a) ELIGIBILITY LEAS.—(1) A local educational
agency is eligible to receive a grant under this Act if it
is—
(A) a high-poverty local educational agency; and
(B) located in, or serves, either an urban local-
ity or a rural locality.
(2) Two or more local educational agencies described
in paragraph (1) may apply for, and receive a grant under
this Act as a consortium.
(b) DETERMINATION
OF ELIGIBILITY.—The Sec-
retary shall determine which local educational agencies
meet the eligibility requirements of subsection (a) on the
basis of the most recent data that are satisfactory to the
Secretary.
SEC. 6. APPLICATIONS.
(a) APPLICATIONS REQUIRED.—In order to receive a
grant under this Act, an eligible local educational agency
shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time,
in such form, and containing such information as the Sec-
retary may require.
(b) CONTENTS.—Each application shall include evi-
dence that the local educational agency meets each of the
following conditions:
(1) It has begun to raise student achievement,
as measured by State assessments under title III of
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the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, title I of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965,
or comparably rigorous State or local assessments;
or it has shown significant progress on other meas-
ures of educational performance, including school at-
tendance, high school completion, and school safety
consistent with section 7(a)(1). Student achievement
evidence shall include data disaggregated to show
the achievement of students separately by race and
by gender, as well as for students with disabilities,
students with limited English proficiency, and stu-
dents who are economically disadvantaged (com-
pared to students who are not economically dis-
advantaged), throughout the district or, at a mini-
mum, in schools that have implemented a com-
prehensive school improvement strategy.
(2) It expects all students to achieve to chal-
lenging State or local content standards, it has
adopted or is developing or adopting assessments
aligned with those standards, and it has imple-
mented or is implementing comprehensive reform
policies designed to assist all children to achieve to
the standards.
(3) It has entered into a partnership that in-
cludes the active involvement of representatives of
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local organizations and agencies and other members
of the community, including parents, and is designed
to guide the implementation of the local educational
agency’s comprehensive reform strategy.
(4) It has put (or is putting) into place effective
educational reform policies, including policies that—
(A) hold schools accountable for helping all
students, 
including 
students 
with 
limited
English proficiency and students with disabil-
ities, reach high academic standards. The appli-
cation shall describe how the agency will reward
schools that succeed and intervene in schools
that fail to make progress;
(B) require all students, including students
with disabilities and students with limited
English proficiency, to meet academic standards
before being promoted to the next grade level at
key transition points in their careers or grad-
uating from high school. The application shall
describe the local educational agency’s strategy
for providing students with a rich curriculum
tied to high standards, and with well-prepared
teachers and class sizes conducive to high stu-
dent achievement;
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(C) identify, during the early stages of
their academic careers, students who have dif-
ficulty in achieving to high standards, and pro-
vide them with more effective educational inter-
ventions or additional learning opportunities
such as after-school programs, so that the stu-
dents are able to meet the standards at key
transition points in their academic careers;
(D) hold teachers, principals, and super-
intendents accountable for quality, including a
description of the local educational agency’s
strategies for ensuring quality through, among
other things—
(i) development of clearly articulated
standards for teachers and school adminis-
trators, and development, in cooperation
with teacher organizations, of procedures
for identifying, working with, and, if nec-
essary, quickly but fairly removing teach-
ers and administrators who fail to perform
at adequate levels, consistent with State
law and locally negotiated agreements;
(ii) implementation of a comprehen-
sive professional development plan for
teachers and instructional leaders, such as
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a plan developed under title II of the Ele-
mentary and Secondary Education Act of
1965; and
(iii) encouraging excellent teaching,
such as by providing incentives for teach-
ers to obtain certification by the National
Board for Professional Teaching Stand-
ards; and
(E) provide students and parents with ex-
panded choice within public education.
(5) It is working effectively to keep its schools
safe, disciplined, and drug-free.
(c) DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED PROGRAM.—The ap-
plication shall also include a description of how the local
educational agency will use the grant made available under
this Act, including descriptions of—
(1) how the district will use all available re-
sources (Federal, State, local, and private) to carry
out its reform strategy;
(2) the specific measures that the applicant
proposes to use to provide evidence of future
progress in improving student achievement, includ-
ing the subject areas and grade levels in which it
will measure that progress, and an assurance that
the applicant will collect such student data in a
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manner that demonstrates the achievement of stu-
dents separately by race and by gender, as well as
for students with disabilities, students with limited
English proficiency, and students who are economi-
cally disadvantaged (compared to students who are
not economically disadvantaged); and
(3) how the applicant will continue the activities
carried out under the grant after the grant has ex-
pired.
SEC. 7. SELECTION OF APPLICATIONS.
CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall, using a peer-review
process, select applicants to receive funding based on—
(1) evidence that—
(A) the applicant has made progress in im-
proving student achievement or the other meas-
ures of educational performance described in
section 6(b)(1), in at least some of its schools
that enroll concentrations of children from low-
income families;
(B) the applicant has put (or is putting)
into place effective reform policies as described
in section 6(b)(4); and
(C) the applicant is working effectively to
keep its schools safe, disciplined, and drug-free;
and
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(2) the quality of the applicant’s plan for carry-
ing out activities under the grant, as set forth in the
application.
(b) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—In approving appli-
cations, the Secretary shall seek to ensure that there is
an equitable distribution of grants among geographic re-
gions of the country, to varying sizes of urban local edu-
cational agencies, and to rural local educational agencies,
including rural local educational agencies servicing con-
centrations of Indian children.
SEC. 8. PRESIDENTIAL DESIGNATION; TECHNICAL ASSIST-
ANCE.
(a) DESIGNATION
AS
EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITY
ZONE.—The President shall designate each local edu-
cational agency selected by the Secretary to receive a
grant under this Act as an ‘‘Education Opportunity
Zone’’.
(b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The President may
instruct Federal agencies to provide grant recipients with
such technical and other assistance as those agencies can
make available to enable the grantees to carry out their
activities under the program.
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SEC. 9. AMOUNT AND DURATION OF GRANTS; CONTINU-
ATION AWARDS.
(a) GRANT AMOUNTS.—In determining the amount
of a grant, the Secretary shall consider such factors as—
(1) the scope of the activities proposed in the
application;
(2) the number of students in the local edu-
cational agency who are from low-income families;
(3) the number of low-performing schools in the
local educational agency; and
(4) the number of children in the local edu-
cational agency who are not reaching State or local
standards.
(b) DURATION OF GRANTS.—(1) Each grant shall be
for three year, but may be continued for up to two addi-
tional year if the Secretary determines that the grantee
is achieving agreed-upon measures of progress by the third
year of the grant.
(2) The Secretary may increase the amount of a
grant in the second year, in order to permit full implemen-
tation of grant activities, except that—
(A) the amount of a second-year award shall be
no more than 140 percent of the award for the first
year;
(B) the amount of a third-year award shall be
no more than 80 percent of the second-year award;
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(C) the amount of a fourth-year award shall be
no more than 70 percent of the second-year award;
and
(D) the amount of a fifth-year award shall be
no more than 50 percent of the second-year award.
(c) EXPECTED ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS
AND CON-
TINUATION AWARDS.—(1) Before receiving its award,
each grantee shall develop and adopt, with the approval
of the Secretary, specific, ambitious levels of achievement
that exceed typical achievement levels for comparable local
educational agencies and that the local educational agency
commits to attaining during the period of the grant.
(2) The agreed-upon levels shall—
(A) reflect progress in the areas of—
(i) student academic achievement;
(ii) dropout rates;
(iii) attendance; and
(iv) such other areas as may be proposed
by the local educational agency or the Sec-
retary; and
(B) provide for the disaggregation of data sepa-
rately by race and by gender, as well as for students
with disabilities, students with limited English pro-
ficiency, and students who are economically dis-
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advantaged students (compared to students who are
not economically disadvantaged).
SEC. 10. USES OF FUNDS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Each grantee shall use its award
only for activities that support the comprehensive reform
efforts described in its application or that are otherwise
consistent with the purpose of this Act.
(b) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Activities that may
be carried out with funds under this Act include—
(1) implementing school-performance-informa-
tion systems to measure the performance of schools
in educating their students to high standards, main-
taining a safe school environment, and achieving the
anticipated school-attendance and graduation rates;
(2) implementing district accountability systems
that reward schools that raise student achievement
and provide assistance to, and ultimately result in
intervention in, schools that fail to do so, including
such intervention strategies as technical assistance
on school management and leadership, intensive pro-
fessional development for school staff, institution of
new instructional programs that are based on reli-
able research, and the reconstitution of the school;
(3) providing students with expanded choice
and increased curriculum options within public edu-
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cation, through such means as open-enrollment poli-
cies, schools within schools, magnet schools, charter
schools, distance-learning programs, and opportuni-
ties for secondary school students to take post-
secondary courses;
(4) 
implementing 
financial 
incentives 
for
schools to make progress against the goals and
benchmarks the district has established for the pro-
gram;
(5) providing additional learning opportunities,
such as after-school, weekend, and summer pro-
grams, to students who are failing, or are at risk of
failing, to achieve to high standards;
(6) providing ongoing professional development
opportunities to teachers, principals, and other
school staff that are tailored to the needs of individ-
ual schools, and aligned with the State or local aca-
demic standards and with the objectives of the pro-
gram carried out under the grant;
(7) implementing programs, designed in co-
operation with teacher organizations, to provide rec-
ognition and rewards to teachers who demonstrate
outstanding capability at educating students to high
standards, including monetary rewards for teachers
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who earn certification from the National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards;
(8) implementing procedures, developed in co-
operation with teacher organizations, for identifying
ineffective teachers and administrators, providing
them with assistance to improve their skills and, if
there is inadequate improvement, quickly but fairly
removing them from the classroom or school, con-
sistent with State law and locally negotiated agree-
ments;
(9) establishing programs to improve the re-
cruitment and retention of well-prepared teachers,
including the use of incentives to encourage well-pre-
pared individuals to teach in areas of the district
with high needs;
(10) designating and implementing procedures
for selecting and retaining principals who have the
ability to provide the school leadership needed to
raise student achievement;
(11) strengthening the management of the local
educational agency so that all components of man-
agement are focused on improving student achieve-
ment;