I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2725
To provide for a rural education initiative, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 5, 1999
Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska (for himself, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. PETRI, Mr.
BALDACCI, Mr. THUNE, and Mr. MINGE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To provide for a rural education initiative, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. RURAL EDUCATION.
Part J of title X of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8271 et seq.) is amend-
ed to read as follows:
PART J—RURAL EDUCATION INTIATIVE
‘‘SEC. 10971. SHORT TITLE.
‘‘This part may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Education Ini-
tiative Act’’.
‘‘SEC. 10972. FINDINGS.
‘‘Congress makes the following findings:
‘‘(1) Under Federal law there is no consistent
definition of rural schools.
‘‘(2) Rural school districts do not benefit as
much as the school districts could from Federal edu-
cation funding because the unique needs of rural
school districts do not necessarily fit the categorical
Federal formula programs.
‘‘(3) Rural schools often cannot compete for
Federal funding distributed by competitive grants
because the schools lack the personnel needed to
prepare grant applications and the resources to hire
specialists in the writing of Federal grant proposals.
‘‘(4) Small school districts with fewer than 600
students often cannot use Federal grant funds dis-
tributed by formula because the formula allocation
does not provide enough revenue to carry out the
program the grant is intended to fund.
‘‘SEC. 10973. FORMULA GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
‘‘(a) ALTERNATIVE USES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, an eligible local educational agency
may use the applicable funding, that the agency is
eligible to receive from the State educational agency
for a fiscal year, to support local or statewide edu-
cation reform efforts intended to improve the
achievement of elementary school and secondary
school students and the quality of instruction pro-
vided for the students.
‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION.—An eligible local edu-
cational agency shall notify the State educational
agency of the local educational agency’s intention to
use the applicable funding in accordance with para-
graph (1) not later than a date that is established
by the State educational agency for the notification.
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A local educational agency shall
be eligible to use the applicable funding in accordance with
subsection (a) if—
‘‘(1) the total number of students in average
daily attendance at all of the schools served by the
local educational agency is less than 600; and
‘‘(2) all of the schools served by the local edu-
cational agency are located in a community with a
Rural-Urban Continuum Code of 6, 7, 8, or 9, as
determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.
‘‘(c) APPLICABLE FUNDING.—In this section, the
term ‘‘applicable funding’’ means funds provided under
each of the following provisions of law:
‘‘(1) Section 307 of the Department of Edu-
cation Appropriations Act, 1999.
‘‘(2) Titles II, IV, and VI.
‘‘(d) DISBURSAL.—Each State educational agency
that receives applicable funding for a fiscal year shall dis-
burse the applicable funding to local educational agencies
for alternative uses under this section for the fiscal year
at the same time that the State educational agency dis-
burses the applicable funding to local educational agencies
that do not intend to use the applicable funding for such
alternative uses for the fiscal year.
‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made
available under this section shall be used to supplement
and not supplant any other Federal, State or local edu-
cation funds.
‘‘(f) SPECIAL RULE.—References in Federal law to
funds for the provisions of law set forth in subsection (c)
may be considered to be references to funds for this sec-
tion.
‘‘SEC. 10974. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to
award grants to eligible local educational agencies to en-
able the local educational agencies to support local or
statewide education reform efforts intended to improve the
achievement of elementary school and secondary school
students and the quality of instruction provided for the
students.
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A local educational agency shall
be eligible to receive a grant under this section if—
‘‘(1)(A) the total number of students in average
daily attendance at all of the schools served by the
local educational agency is less than 600; and
‘‘(B) all of the schools served by the local edu-
cational agency are located in a community with a
Rural-Urban Continuum Code of 6, 7, 8, or 9, as
determined by the Secretary of Agriculture; or
‘‘(2) the Secretary grants the local educational
agency’s request to waive the criteria described in
paragraph (1).
‘‘(c) AMOUNT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award
a grant to a local educational agency under this sec-
tion for a fiscal year in an amount equal to the
amount determined under paragraph (2) for the fis-
cal year minus the total amount received under the
provisions of law described under section 10973(c)
for the fiscal year.
‘‘(2) DETERMINATION.—The amount referred
to in paragraph (1) is as follows:
‘‘(A) If the number of children in average
daily attendance at the schools served by such
agency is greater than 0 and less than 50, then
the amount is $20,000.
‘‘(B) If the number of such children is
greater than or equal to 50 and less than 150,
then the amount is $30,000.
‘‘(C) If the number of such children is
greater than or equal to 150 and less than 300,
then the amount is $40,000.
‘‘(D) If the number of such children is
greater than or equal to 300 and less than 450,
then the amount is $50,000.
‘‘(E) If the number of such children is
greater than or equal to 450 and less than 600,
then the amount is $60,000.
‘‘(3) CENSUS DETERMINATION.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational
agency desiring a grant under this section shall
conduct a census not later than December 1 of
each year to determine the number of kinder-
garten through grade 12 students in average
daily attendance at the schools served by the
local educational agency.
‘‘(B) SUBMISSION.—Each local educational
agency shall submit the number described in
‘‘SEC. 10975. ACCOUNTABILITY.
‘‘(a) ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Each local educational
agency that uses or receives funds under section
10973 or 10974 for a fiscal year shall—
‘‘(A) administer a test, that is used State-
wide, to assess the academic achievement of
students in the schools served by the local edu-
cational agency; or
‘‘(B) in the case of a local educational
agency for which there is no Statewide test de-
scribed in subparagraph (A), administer a test,
that is selected by the local educational agency,
to assess the academic achievement of students
in the schools served by the local educational
agency.
‘‘(2) SPECIAL
RULE.—Each local educational
agency that uses or receives funds under section
10973 or 10974 shall use the same test described in
paragraph (1) for each year of participation in the
program under such section.
‘‘(b) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY DETERMINATION
REGARDING CONTINUING PARTICIPATION.—Each State
educational agency that receives funding under the provi-
sions of law described in section 10973(c) shall—
‘‘(1) after the 5th year that a local educational
agency participates in a program under section
10973 or 10974 and on the basis of the results of
the tests described in subsection (a), determine
whether the students served by the local educational
agency participating in the program performed bet-
ter on the tests after the 5th year of the participa-
tion compared to the results on the tests after the
1st year of the participation;
‘‘(2) only permit those local educational agen-
cies that so participated and performed better on the
tests to continue to so participate for an additional
period of 5 years; and
‘‘(3) prohibit those local educational agencies
that so participated and did not perform better on
the tests from such participation for a period of 5
years from the date of the determination.’’.
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