I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3742
To provide flexibility to certain local educational agencies that develop vol-
untary public and private parental choice programs under title VI of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 28, 1998
Mr. RIGGS (for himself, Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. TALENT, Mr.
MCINTOSH, Mr. PITTS, Mr. PACKARD, Mr. SOUDER, and Mr. WAMP) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation and the Workforce
A BILL
To provide flexibility to certain local educational agencies
that develop voluntary public and private parental choice
programs under title VI of the Elementary and Second-
ary Education Act of 1965.
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 ‘‘Helping Empower
Low-income Parents (HELP) Scholarships Amendments
of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
Section 6003 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965 is amended—
(1) in the section heading by striking ‘‘DEFINI-
TION’’ and inserting ‘‘DEFINITIONS’’;
(2) by striking ‘‘(1)’’, ‘‘(2)’’, and ‘‘(3)’’;
(3) in the matter proceeding subparagraph (A),
by striking ‘‘title the term’’ and inserting the follow-
ing:
‘‘title—
‘‘(1) the term’’;
(4) by striking the period at the end; and
(5) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(2) the term ‘poverty line’ means the poverty
line (as defined by the Office of Management and
Budget, and revised annually in accordance with sec-
tion 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant
Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) applicable to a family of
the size involved; and
‘‘(3) the term ‘voluntary public and private pa-
rental choice program’ means a program that meets
the requirements of section 6301(b)(9), is authorized
by State law, and includes 1 or more private schools
to allow low-income parents to choose the appro-
priate school for their children.’’.
SEC. 3. ALLOCATION TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.
Section 6102(a) of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(a) DISTRIBUTION RULE.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), from the sums made available each year
to carry out this title, the State educational agency
shall distribute not less than 90 percent to local edu-
cational agencies within such State according to the
relative enrollments in public and private, nonprofit
schools within the school districts of such agencies,
adjusted, in accordance with criteria approved by the
Secretary, to provide higher per pupil allocations to
local educational agencies which have the greatest
numbers or percentages of children whose education
imposes a higher than average cost per child, such
as—
‘‘(A) children living in areas with high con-
centrations of low-income families;
‘‘(B) children from low-income families; and
‘‘(C) children living in sparsely populated areas.
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—A State that has enacted or
will enact a law that establishes a voluntary public
and private parental choice program and that com-
plies with the provisions of section 6301(b)(9) may
reserve an additional 15 percent from the sums