I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4565 
To amend the weights used to determine amounts for targeted grants and 
education finance incentive grants for local educational agencies under 
title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 11, 2023 
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. PANETTA) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the weights used to determine amounts for tar-
geted grants and education finance incentive grants for 
local educational agencies under title I of the Elementary 
and Secondary 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 ‘‘All Children are Equal 
Act’’ or the ‘‘ACE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Section 1125AA of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6336) is amended— 
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(1) by amending the heading to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 1125AA. INCREASE GRANTS PER FORMULA STUDENT 
AS THE PERCENTAGE OF ECONOMICALLY 
DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN A LOCAL 
EDUCATIONAL AGENCY INCREASES.’’; 
and 
(2) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
‘‘(1) The current Basic Grant Formula for the 
distribution of funds under this part does not ade-
quately target funds for schools with the highest 
concentrations of economically disadvantaged stu-
dents. 
‘‘(2) The current formulas for distributing Tar-
geted and Education Finance Incentive Grants is in-
tended to allocate more funds per formula student to 
local educational agencies with higher concentrations 
of such students. 
‘‘(3) These formula use two weighting systems, 
one based on the percentage of the aged 5–17 popu-
lation in a local education agency that is eligible to 
receive funds under this title (percentage weighting), 
and another based on the absolute number of such 
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students (number weighting). Whichever of these 
weighting systems results in the highest total 
weighted formula student count for a local edu-
cational agency is the weighting system used for 
that agency in the final allocation of Targeted and 
Education Finance Incentive Grant funds. 
‘‘(4) Since the amount available to be distrib-
uted through these formulas is fixed by congres-
sional appropriation, any gain in allocation share by 
one local educational agency causes a loss to other 
local educational agencies. 
‘‘(5) The number weighting alternative is often 
favorable to very large local educational agencies, 
even if the agency’s formula student percentage is 
low. But because smaller local education agencies 
simply do not have enough students to gain from 
number weighting, they are adversely affected under 
the number weighting alternative. 
‘‘(6) The Congressional Research Service has 
compared the funding allocations of each local edu-
cation agency for school year 2021–2022 under the 
current dual weighting system with the funding allo-
cation it would have that year if all local educational 
agencies had their student count weighted only by 
percentage weighting. 
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‘‘(7) This data shows that the use of number 
weighting in these formulas has shifted funding 
from smaller to larger local educational agencies not-
withstanding the level of poverty in either. This is 
contrary to the intent of Congress, which is to direct 
more funding per formula student to local edu-
cational agencies with high concentrations of pov-
erty, as measured by the number of formula stu-
dents as a percentage of the aged 5–17 population 
of the local educational agency. 
‘‘(8) The National Center for Education Statis-
tics confirmed these findings in a statistical analysis 
report dated May 2019. 
‘‘(9) Congress has a responsibility to correct 
this unintended inequity by reducing the power of 
the number weighting system relative to the percent-
age weighting system so that local educational agen-
cies with high percentages of poverty but low num-
bers of students are not disadvantaged under the 
formulas used for grants under this part.’’. 
SEC. 3. TARGETED GRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL 
AGENCIES. 
Section 1125(c)(2)(A) of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6335(c)(2)(A)) 
is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year 
for which the Secretary uses local educational 
agency data, the weighted child count used to 
determine a local educational agency’s grant 
under this section— 
‘‘(i) for each fiscal year through fiscal 
year 2023, is the larger of the two 
amounts determined under subparagraphs 
(B) and (C); and 
‘‘(ii) for fiscal year 2024 and each 
succeeding fiscal year, is the amount deter-
mined under subparagraph (B).’’. 
SEC. 4. EDUCATION FINANCE INCENTIVE GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) STATES WITH AN EQUITY FACTOR LESS THAN 
0.10.—Section 1125A(d)(1)(B)(i) of the Elementary and 
Secondary 
Education 
Act 
of 
1965 
(20 
U.S.C. 
6337(d)(1)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—For each fiscal 
year for which the Secretary uses local 
educational agency data, the weighted child 
count used to determine a local educational 
agency’s grant under this section— 
‘‘(I) for each fiscal year through 
fiscal year 2023, is the larger of the 
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two 
amounts 
determined 
under 
clauses (ii) and (iii); and 
‘‘(II) for fiscal year 2024 and 
each succeeding fiscal year, is the 
amount 
determined 
under 
clause 
(iii).’’. 
(b) STATES WITH AN EQUITY FACTOR GREATER 
THAN OR EQUAL TO 0.10 AND LESS THAN 0.20.—Section 
1125A(d)(2)(B)(i) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6337(d)(2)(B)(i)) is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—For each fiscal 
year for which the Secretary uses local 
educational agency data, the weighted child 
count used to determine a local educational 
agency’s grant under this section— 
‘‘(I) for each fiscal year through 
fiscal year 2023, is the larger of the 
two 
amounts 
determined 
under 
clauses (ii) and (iii); and 
‘‘(II) for fiscal year 2024 and 
each succeeding fiscal year, is the 
amount 
determined 
under 
clause 
(iii).’’. 
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(c) STATES WITH AN EQUITY FACTOR GREATER 
THAN OR EQUAL TO 0.20.—Section 1125A(d)(3)(B)(i) of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 6337(d)(3)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—For each fiscal 
year for which the Secretary uses local 
educational agency data, the weighted child 
count used to determine a local educational 
agency’s grant under this section— 
‘‘(I) for each fiscal year through 
fiscal year 2023, is the larger of the 
two 
amounts 
determined 
under 
clauses (ii) and (iii); and 
‘‘(II) for fiscal year 2024 and 
each succeeding fiscal year, is the 
amount 
determined 
under 
clause 
(iii).’’. 
Æ 
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