such entities, for the purpose of carrying out a national
telecommunications-based program to improve teaching in
core curriculum areas. The program authorized by this
part shall be designed to assist elementary school and sec-
ondary school teachers in preparing all students for
achieving State content standards.
‘‘SEC. 3403. APPLICATION REQUIRED.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each nonprofit telecommuni-
cations entity, or partnership of such entities, desiring a
grant under this part shall submit an application to the
Secretary. Each such application shall—
‘‘(1) demonstrate that the applicant will use the
public broadcasting infrastructure and school digital
networks, where available, to deliver video and data
in an integrated service to train teachers in the use
of standards-based curricula materials and learning
technologies;
‘‘(2) assure that the project for which assist-
ance is sought will be conducted in cooperation with
appropriate State educational agencies, local edu-
cational agencies, national, State or local nonprofit
public telecommunications entities, and national edu-
cation professional associations that have developed
content standards in the subject areas;
‘‘(3) assure that a significant portion of the
benefits available for elementary schools and sec-
ondary schools from the project for which assistance
is sought will be available to schools of local edu-
cational agencies which have a high percentage of
children counted for the purpose of part A of title
I; and
‘‘(4) contain such additional assurances as the
Secretary may reasonably require.
‘‘(b) APPROVAL
OF APPLICATIONS; NUMBER
OF
SITES.—In approving applications under this section, the
Secretary shall assure that the program authorized by this
part is conducted at elementary school and secondary
school sites in at least 15 States.
‘‘SEC. 3404. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out
this part, $20,000,000 for the fiscal year 2000, and such
sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding
fiscal years.’’.
SEC. 4. ADDITION OF PART F TO TITLE III.
Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following:
‘‘PART F—DIGITAL EDUCATION CONTENT
COLLABORATIVE
‘‘SEC. 3701. FINDINGS.
‘‘Congress makes the following findings:
‘‘(1) Over the past several years, both the Fed-
eral and State governments have made significant
investments in computer technology and tele-
communications in the Nation’s schools. Tremen-
dous progress has been made in wiring classrooms,
equipping the classrooms with multimedia com-
puters, and connecting the classrooms to the Inter-
net.
‘‘(2) There is a great need for aggregating high
quality, curriculum-based digital content for teachers
and students to easily access and use in order to
meet the State standards for student performance.
‘‘(3) Under Federal Communications Commis-
sion policy, public television stations and State net-
works are mandated to convert from analog
broadcasting to digital broadcasting by 2003.
‘‘(4) Most local public television stations and
State networks provide high quality video programs,
and teacher professional development, as a part of
their mission to serve local schools. Programs dis-
tributed by public broadcast stations are used by
more classroom teachers than any other because of
their high quality and relevance to the curriculum.
However analog distribution has limited kinder-
garten through grade 12 services to a few hours per
day of linear video broadcasts on a single channel.
‘‘(5) The new capacity of digital broadcasting,
can dramatically increase and improve the types of
services public broadcasting stations can offer kin-
dergarten through grade 12 schools.
‘‘(6) Digital broadcasting can contribute to the
improvement of schools and student performance as
follows:
‘‘(A) Broadcast of multiple video channels
and data information simultaneously.
‘‘(B) Data can be transmitted along with
the video content enabling students to interact,
access additional information, communicate
with featured experts, and contribute their own
knowledge to the subject.
‘‘(C) Both the video and data can be
stored on servers and made available on de-
mand to teachers and students.
‘‘(7) Teachers depend on public television sta-
tions as a primary source of high quality video mate-
rial. The material has not always been as accessible
or adaptable to the curriculum as teachers would
prefer. Moreover, direct student interaction with the
material was difficult.
‘‘(8) Public television stations and State net-
works will soon have the capability of creating and
distributing interactive digital content that can be
directly matched to State standards and available to
teachers and students on demand to fit their local
curriculum.
‘‘(9) Interactive digital education content will
be an important component of Federal support for
States in setting high standards and increasing stu-
dent performance.
‘‘SEC. 3702. DIGITAL EDUCATION CONTENT COLLABO-
RATIVE.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to
award grants to or enter into contracts or cooperative
agreements with eligible entities described in section
3703(b) to develop, produce, and distribute educational
and instructional video programming that is designed for
use by kindergarten through grade 12 schools and based
on State standards.
‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY.—In making the grants, con-
tracts, or cooperative agreements, the Secretary shall en-
sure that eligible entities enter into multiyear content de-
velopment collaborative arrangements with State edu-
cational agencies, local educational agencies, institutions
of higher education, businesses, or other agencies and or-
ganizations.
‘‘SEC. 3703. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING.
‘‘(a) AWARDS.—The Secretary shall award grants,
contracts, or cooperative agreements under this part to eli-
gible entities to—
‘‘(1) facilitate the development of educational
programming that shall—
‘‘(A) include student assessment tools to
give feedback on student performance;
‘‘(B) include built-in teacher utilization
and support components to ensure that teachers
understand and can easily use the content of
the programming with group instruction or for
individual student use;
‘‘(C) be created for, or adaptable to, State
content standards; and
‘‘(D) be capable of distribution through
digital broadcasting and school digital networks.
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive
a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under sub-
section (a), an entity shall be a local public telecommuni-
cations entity as defined by section 397(12) of the Com-
munications Act of 1934 that is able to demonstrate a ca-
pacity for the development and distribution of educational
and instructional television programming of high quality.
‘‘(c) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—Grants under this part
shall be awarded on a competitive basis as determined by
the Secretary.
‘‘(d) DURATION.—Each grant under this part shall
be awarded for a period of 3 years in order to allow time
for the creation of a substantial body of significant con-
tent.
‘‘SEC. 3704. APPLICATIONS.
‘‘Each eligible entity desiring a grant under this part
shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time,
in such manner, and accompanied by such information as
the Secretary may reasonably require.
‘‘SEC. 3705. MATCHING REQUIREMENT.
‘‘An eligible entity receiving a grant under this part
shall contribute to the activities assisted under this part
non-Federal matching funds equal to not less than 100
percent of the amount of the grant. Matching funds may
include funds provided for the transition to digital broad-
casting, as well as in-kind contributions.
‘‘SEC. 3706. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.
‘‘With respect to the implementation of this part, en-
tities receiving a grant under this part from the Secretary
may use not more than 5 percent of the amounts received
under the grant for the normal and customary expenses
of administering the grant.
‘‘SEC. 3707. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out
this part, $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, and such sums
as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal
years.’’.
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