I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3464
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make payments to Western 
States for education improvement. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 27, 2005
Mr. BISHOP of Utah (for himself, Mr. HERGER, and Mr. CANNON) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources, and 
in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make payments 
to Western States for education improvement.
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 ‘‘Action Plan for Public 
Lands and Education Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Western States, as a group, are falling be-
hind in education funding when measured in growth 
of real per pupil expenditures from 1979 to 1998. 
(2) Eleven of the twelve States with the lowest 
real growth in per pupil expenditures are Western 
States. 
(3) The growth rate of real per pupil expendi-
tures in the 13 Western States is less than half such 
rate in the 37 other States (28 percent versus 57 
percent). 
(4) One effect of less funding for public edu-
cation in the West is higher pupil per teacher ratios. 
(5) Ten of the twelve States with the largest 
pupil per teacher ratios are Western States. 
(6) On average, the 13 Western States have 3 
more students per classroom than the 37 other 
States. 
(7) To make matters worse, over the next 10 
years, enrollment is projected to be much higher in 
Western States than in other States. 
(8) On average, enrollment growth of Western 
States is projected to increase dramatically while the 
other States projected growth rate actually de-
creases.
(9) The State and local taxes of Western States 
as a percentage of personal income are as high or 
higher than other States. 
(10) Despite the fact that Western States tax 
at a comparable rate and allocate as much of their 
budgets to public education as other States, Western 
States have lower real growth in per pupil expendi-
tures and have higher pupil per teacher ratios. 
(11) The problem lies at the feet of the Federal 
Government because of the enormous amount of 
land the Federal Government owns in Western 
States. 
(12) No State east of an imaginary vertical line 
from Montana to New Mexico has more than 14 per-
cent of its land federally-owned. 
SEC. 3. PAYMENTS TO WESTERN STATES FOR EDUCATION 
IMPROVEMENT. 
(a) PAYMENTS.—For the purpose described in sub-
section (b), the Secretary of the Interior shall make an 
annual payment in fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent 
fiscal year to the State educational agency of each eligible 
State in an amount determined under subsection (c). 
(b) PURPOSE OF PAYMENTS.—The Secretary may 
make a payment to a State under this section only if the
State agrees to expend the funds only for the purpose of 
education improvement. 
(c) AMOUNT OF PAYMENTS.—The amount of a pay-
ment to a State educational agency under this Act for a 
fiscal year shall be an amount which bears the same ratio 
to the total amount appropriated for payments under this 
Act for that year as the number of acres of federally 
owned property in the State bears to the total number of 
acres of federally owned property in all of the eligible 
States. 
(d) APPLICATION.—To receive a payment under this 
section, an eligible State shall submit an application at 
such time, in such manner, and containing such informa-
tion as the Secretary may reasonably require. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘eligible State’’ includes Alaska, 
Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Mon-
tana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wash-
ington, and Wyoming. 
(2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of the Interior. 
(3) The term ‘‘State educational agency’’ means 
the agency primarily responsible for the State super-
vision of education.
(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For pay-
ments under this Act, there are authorized to be appro-
priated $4,157,803,825 for fiscal year 2006 and each sub-
sequent fiscal year.
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