IIB
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2300
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
OCTOBER 25, 1999
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions
AN ACT
To allow a State to combine certain funds to improve the
academic achievement of all its students.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Academic Achievement
for All Act (Straight A’s Act)’’.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to create options for States
and communities—
(1) to improve the academic achievement of all
students, and to focus the resources of the Federal
Government upon such achievement;
(2) to improve teacher quality and subject mat-
ter mastery, especially in math, reading, and science;
(3) to empower parents and schools to effec-
tively address the needs of their children and stu-
dents;
(4) to give States and communities maximum
freedom in determining how to boost academic
achievement and implement education reforms;
(5) to eliminate Federal barriers to imple-
menting effective State and local education pro-
grams;
(6) to hold States and communities accountable
for boosting the academic achievement of all stu-
dents, especially disadvantaged children; and
(7) to narrow achievement gaps between the
lowest and highest performing groups of students so
that no child is left behind.
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SEC. 3. PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.
(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—Not more than 10
States may, at their option, execute a performance agree-
ment with the Secretary under which the provisions of law
described in section 4(a) shall not apply to such State ex-
cept as otherwise provided in this Act.
(b) LOCAL INPUT.—States shall provide parents,
teachers, and local schools and districts notice and oppor-
tunity to comment on any proposed performance agree-
ment prior to submission to the Secretary as provided
under general State law notice and comment provisions.
(c) APPROVAL OF PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.—A
performance agreement submitted to the Secretary under
this section shall be considered as approved by the Sec-
retary within 60 days after receipt of the performance
agreement unless the Secretary provides a written deter-
mination to the State that the performance agreement
fails to satisfy the requirements of this Act before the ex-
piration of the 60-day period.
(d) TERMS OF PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.—Each
performance agreement executed pursuant to this Act
shall include the following provisions:
(1) TERM.—A statement that the term of the
performance agreement shall be 5 years.
(2) APPLICATION
OF
PROGRAM
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—A statement that no program requirements
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of any program included by the State in the per-
formance agreement shall apply, except as otherwise
provided in this Act.
(3) LIST.—A list provided by the State of the
programs that it wishes to include in the perform-
ance agreement.
(4) USE
OF
FUNDS
TO
IMPROVE
STUDENT
ACHIEVEMENT.—A 5-year plan describing how the
State intends to combine and use the funds from
programs included in the performance agreement to
advance the education priorities of the State, im-
prove student achievement, and narrow achievement
gaps between students.
(5) ACCOUNTABILITY
REQUIREMENTS.—If a
State includes any part of title I of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 in its per-
formance agreement, the State shall include a cer-
tification that the State has done the following:
(A)(i) developed and implemented the chal-
lenging State content standards, challenging
State student performance standards, and
aligned 
assessments 
described 
in 
section
1111(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965; or
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(ii) developed and implemented a system to
measure the degree of change from one school
year to the next in student performance;
(B) developed and is implementing a state-
wide accountability system that has been or is
reasonably expected to be effective in substan-
tially increasing the numbers and percentages
of all students who meet the State’s proficient
and advanced levels of performance;
(C) established a system under which as-
sessment information may be disaggregated
within each State, local educational agency, and
school by each major racial and ethnic group,
gender, English proficiency status, migrant sta-
tus, and by economically disadvantaged stu-
dents as compared to students who are not eco-
nomically disadvantaged (except that such
disaggregation shall not be required in cases in
which the number of students in any such
group is insufficient to yield statistically reliable
information or would reveal the identity of an
individual student);
(D) established specific, measurable, nu-
merical performance objectives for student
achievement, including a definition of perform-
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ance considered to be proficient by the State on
the academic assessment instruments described
under subparagraph (A);
(E) developed and implemented a statewide
system for holding its local educational agencies
and schools accountable for student perform-
ance that includes—
(i) a procedure for identifying local
educational agencies and schools in need of
improvement, using the assessments de-
scribed under subparagraph (A);
(ii) assisting and building capacity in
local educational agencies and schools iden-
tified as in need of improvement to im-
prove teaching and learning; and
(iii) implementing corrective actions
after no more than 3 years if the assist-
ance and capacity building under clause
(ii) is not effective.
(6) PERFORMANCE GOALS.—
(A) STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT.—
Each State shall establish annual student per-
formance goals for the 5-year term of the per-
formance agreement that, at a minimum—
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(i) establish a single high standard of
performance for all students;
(ii) take into account the progress of
students from every local educational agen-
cy and school in the State;
(iii) are based primarily on the State’s
challenging content and student perform-
ance standards and assessments described
under paragraph (5)(A);
(iv) include specific annual improve-
ment goals in each subject and grade in-
cluded in the State assessment system,
which must include, at a minimum, read-
ing or language arts and math;
(v) compares the proportions of stu-
dents at the ‘‘basic’’, ‘‘proficient’’, and
‘‘advanced’’ levels of performance (as de-
fined by the State) with the proportions of
students at each of the three levels in the
same grade in the previous school year;
(vi) includes annual numerical goals
for improving the performance of each
group specified in paragraph (5)(C) and
narrowing gaps in performance between
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the highest and lowest performing students
in accordance with section 10(b); and
(vii) requires all students in the State
to make substantial gains in achievement.
(B) ADDITIONAL
INDICATORS
OF
PER-
FORMANCE.—A State may identify in the per-
formance agreement any additional indicators
of performance such as graduation, dropout, or
attendance rates.
(C) 
CONSISTENCY
OF
PERFORMANCE
MEASURES.—A State shall maintain, at a min-
imum, the same level of challenging State stu-
dent performance standards and assessments
throughout the term of the performance agree-
ment.
(7) FISCAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—An assurance
that the State will use fiscal control and fund ac-
counting procedures that will ensure proper dis-
bursement of, and accounting for, Federal funds
paid to the State under this Act.
(8) CIVIL
RIGHTS.—An assurance that the
State will meet the requirements of applicable Fed-
eral civil rights laws.
(9) PRIVATE SCHOOL PARTICIPATION.—
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(A) EQUITABLE
PARTICIPATION.—An as-
surance that the State will provide for the equi-
table participation of students and professional
staff in private schools.
(B) APPLICATION OF BYPASS.—An assur-
ance that sections 14504, 14505, and 14506 of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8894, 8895, and 8896)
shall apply to all services and assistance pro-
vided under this Act in the same manner as
they apply to services and assistance provided
in accordance with section 14503 of such Act.
(10) STATE
FINANCIAL
PARTICIPATION.—An
assurance that the State will not reduce the level of
spending of State funds for elementary and sec-
ondary education during the term of the perform-
ance agreement.
(11) ANNUAL REPORT.—An assurance that not
later than 1 year after the execution of the perform-
ance agreement, and annually thereafter, each State
shall disseminate widely to parents and the general
public, submit to the Secretary, distribute to print
and broadcast media, and post on the Internet, a re-
port that includes—
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(A) student academic performance data,
disaggregated as provided in paragraph (5)(C);
and
(B) a detailed description of how the State
has used Federal funds to improve student aca-
demic performance and reduce achievement
gaps to meet the terms of the performance
agreement.
(e) SPECIAL RULE.—If a State does not include any
part of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 in its performance agreement, the State
shall—
(1) certify that it has developed a system to
measure the academic performance of all students;
and
(2) establish challenging academic performance
goals for such other programs using academic as-
sessment data described in paragraph (5).
(f) AMENDMENT TO PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT.—
A State may submit an amendment to the performance
agreement to the Secretary under the following cir-
cumstances:
(1) REDUCE SCOPE OF PERFORMANCE AGREE-
MENT.—Not later than 1 year after the execution of
the performance agreement, a State may amend the
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performance agreement through a request to with-
draw a program from such agreement. If the Sec-
retary approves the amendment, the requirements of
existing law shall apply for any program withdrawn
from the performance agreement.
(2) EXPAND SCOPE OF PERFORMANCE AGREE-
MENT.—Not later than 1 year after the execution of
the performance agreement, a State may amend its
performance agreement to include additional pro-
grams and performance indicators for which it will
be held accountable.
(3) APPROVAL OF AMENDMENT.—An amend-
ment submitted to the Secretary under this sub-
section shall be considered as approved by the Sec-
retary within 60 days after receipt of the amend-
ment unless the Secretary provides a written deter-
mination to the State that the performance agree-
ment if amended by the amendment would fail to
satisfy the requirements of this Act, before the expi-
ration of the 60-day period.
SEC. 4. ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS.
(a) ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS.—The provisions of law re-
ferred to in section 3(a) except as otherwise provided in
subsection (b), are as follows:
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(1) Part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965.
(2) Part B of title I of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965.
(3) Part C of title I of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965.
(4) Part D of title I of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965.
(5) Part B of title II of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965.
(6) Section 3132 of title III of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
(7) Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965.
(8) Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965.
(9) Section 307 of the Department of Edu-
cation Appropriation Act of 1999.
(10) Comprehensive school reform programs as
authorized under section 1502 of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and described
on pages 96–99 of the Joint Explanatory Statement
of the Committee of Conference included in House
Report 105–390 (Conference Report on the Depart-
ments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
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Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act, 1998).
(11) Part C of title VII of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965.
(12) Title III of the Goals 2000: Educate
America Act.
(13) Sections 115 and 116, and parts B and C
of title I of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Technical
Education Act.
(14) Subtitle B of title VII of the Stewart B.
McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.
(b) ALLOCATIONS TO STATES.—A State may choose
to consolidate funds from any or all of the programs de-
scribed in subsection (a) without regard to the program
requirements of the provisions referred to in such sub-
section, except that the proportion of funds made available
for national programs and allocations to each State for
State and local use, under such provisions, shall remain
in effect unless otherwise provided.
(c) USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available under
this Act to a State shall be used for any elementary and
secondary educational purposes permitted by State law of
the participating State.
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SEC. 5. WITHIN-STATE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The distribution of funds from
programs included in a performance agreement from a
State to a local educational agency within the State shall
be determined by the Governor of the State and the State
legislature. In a State in which the constitution or State
law designates another individual, entity, or agency to be
responsible for education, the allocation of funds from pro-
grams included in the performance agreement from a
State to a local educational agency within the State shall
be determined by that individual, entity, or agency, in con-
sultation with the Governor and State Legislature. Noth-
ing in this section shall be construed to supersede or mod-
ify any provision of a State constitution or State law.
(b) LOCAL INPUT.—States shall provide parents,
teachers, and local schools and districts notice and oppor-
tunity to comment on the proposed allocation of funds as
provided under general State law notice and comment pro-
visions.
(c) LOCAL HOLD HARMLESS OF PART A TITLE 1
FUNDS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a State that
includes part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 in the performance
agreement, the agreement shall provide an assurance
that each local educational agency shall receive
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under the performance agreement an amount equal
to or greater than the amount such agency received
under part A of title I of such Act in the fiscal year
preceding the fiscal year in which the performance
agreement is executed.
(2) 
PROPORTIONATE
REDUCTION.—If 
the
amount made available to the State from the Sec-
retary for a fiscal year is insufficient to pay to each
local educational agency the amount made available
under part A of title I of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 to such agency for
the preceding fiscal year, the State shall reduce the
amount each local educational agency receives by a
uniform percentage.
SEC. 6. LOCAL PARTICIPATION.
(a) NONPARTICIPATING STATE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—If a State chooses not to
submit a performance agreement under this Act, any
local educational agency in such State is eligible, at
its option, to submit to the Secretary a performance
agreement in accordance with this section.
(2) AGREEMENT.—The terms of a performance
agreement between an eligible local educational
agency and the Secretary shall specify the programs
to be included in the performance agreement, as
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cept where relating to civil rights, withholdling of funds
and enforcement authority, and family educational and
privacy rights.
SEC. 14. APPLICABILITY TO HOME SCHOOLS.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect home
schools whether or not a home school is treated as a pri-
vate school or home school under State law.
SEC. 15. GENERAL PROVISIONS REGARDING NON-RECIPI-
ENT, NON-PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit,
allow, encourage, or authorize any Federal control over
any aspect of any private, religious, or home school,
whether or not a home school is treated as a private school
or home school under State law.
SEC. 16. DEFINITIONS.
For the purpose of this Act:
(1) ALL STUDENTS.—The term ‘‘all students’’
means all students attending public schools or char-
ter schools that are participating in the State’s ac-
countability and assessment system.
(2) ALL
SCHOOLS.—The term ‘‘all schools’’
means all schools that are participating in the
State’s accountability and assessment system.
(3) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term
‘‘local educational agency’’ has the same meaning