jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-02-12 00:00:00

Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act

Requires states that receive funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to:

 require criminal background checks for each school employee that include searches of the criminal registry or repository of the state in which the employee resides, the child abuse and neglect registries and databases of that state, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Sex Offender Registry; prohibit the employment of an individual who refuses to consent to, or who makes a false statement in connection with, a background check or who has been convicted of one of specified felonies or of a violent or sexual crime against a minor; require background checks to be periodically repeated or updated in accordance with state law or the policies of the state's local educational agencies (LEAs); provide school employees who have had a background check with a copy of the background check if they request one and a timely process to appeal the results of the background check if it blocks their service as a school employee; ensure that such policies and procedures are published on state and LEA websites; and allow an LEA to share the results of a recent background check on a school employee with another LEA that is considering that individual for employment. Prohibits states and LEAs from knowingly transferring or facilitating the transfer of any school employee if they know, or have substantive reason to believe, that such employee engaged in sexual misconduct with an elementary or secondary school student.

Allows: (1) the Attorney General and state law enforcement officials to charge reasonable fees for conducting the background checks, and (2) states and LEAs to use ESEA administrative funds to pay such fees.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-02-12 00:00:00

Secure Rural Schools and Payment in Lieu of Taxes Repair Act 

This bill extends the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Program through FY2016 at FY2011 funding levels. This Program provides payments to state jurisdictions to compensate for the cost of providing services in tax-exempt federal lands within such jurisdictions.

The bill also eliminates the fiscal year limitation on funding for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Program. This program compensates local governments for tax revenue lost due to tax-exempt federal lands within their boundaries.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-02-25 00:00:00

Accelerated Learning Act of 2015

Directs the Secretary of Education to allot grants to states, based on their share of low-income elementary and secondary school students, to cover part or all of the Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) examination fee low-income students incur.

Directs the Secretary to award renewable competitive matching grants to states, local educational agencies (LEAs), or partnerships between a nonprofit organization and a state or LEA for activities that increase: (1) the number of qualified teachers at high-need schools who are teaching AP or IB courses, (2) the number of AP or IB courses offered at high-need schools, and (3) the number of students at high-need schools who enroll and succeed in such courses.

 Gives priority, in awarding the competitive grants, to applicants that: (1) have a state-wide or district-wide strategy for increasing the availability of AP or IB courses, and pre-AP or pre-IB courses, in high-need schools; (2) focus on increasing AP or IB courses in the core academic subjects; and (3) target high-need schools.

Defines a "high-need school" as a secondary school that has a demonstrated need for Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses and that: (1) has a high concentration of low-income students; or (2) is designated with a school locale code of 41, 42, or 43.

Directs the Secretary, through the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, to evaluate the implementation and impact of the activities supported by the competitive grant program.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-02-26 00:00:00

Success in the Middle Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of Education (ED) to allot grants to states, based on their proportion of poor children aged 5 to 17, to: (1) implement state middle grades needs analyses and, on the basis of such analyses, improvement plans that describe what students must master to complete successfully the middle grades and succeed in academically rigorous secondary school coursework; and (2) award competitive subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) or partnerships of LEAs and institutions of higher education, educational service agencies, or educational nonprofit organizations to implement a comprehensive middle school improvement plan for each eligible school. Priority is given to LEAs, or partnerships that include LEAs, that serve high proportions of poor children and children attending eligible schools.

"Eligible schools" are those where: (1) a high proportion of middle grade students matriculate to secondary schools with graduation rates below 65%; (2) more than 25% of the students who finish grade six, or the school's earliest middle grade level, exhibit key risk factors for failure; and (3) a majority of middle grade students are not rated proficient on required state assessments in mathematics, reading, or language arts.

States may make subgrants to LEAs and partnerships that did not receive a competitive subgrant to assist them in applying for competitive subgrants and developing comprehensive middle school improvement plans.

Funding is provided to ED to:

 contract for studies that identify promising practices for, and review existing research to identify factors that might lead to, the improvement of middle grades education; create a national clearinghouse in best middle grade educational practices and a national database identifying factors that facilitate or impede middle grade student achievement; require certain educational field research designed to enhance the performance of middle grade schools and students; create a research and development center that addresses topics pertinent to the middle grades; and provide grants to entities that partner with states and LEAs to develop, adapt, or replicate effective models for turning around low-performing schools serving students in the middle grades.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-02-26 00:00:00

Investing in Innovation for Education Act of 2015

Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to local educational agencies (LEAs), educational service agencies, and nonprofit organizations to support the school innovation efforts of public schools and LEAs.

Requires at least 25% of the grant funds to be awarded for projects in rural areas.

Requires each grant applicant to demonstrate that it has partnered with at least one private, nonprofit, community-based, or governmental entity that will provide matching funds. Allows the Secretary to waive the matching funds requirement upon a showing of exceptional circumstances.

Requires each grant to be used to address at least one of the following areas of school innovation:

 improving the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders and promoting their equitable distribution, strengthening the use of data to improve education, providing high-quality instruction that is based on rigorous academic content standards and measuring students' proficiency using high-quality assessments that are aligned to those standards, turning around the lowest-performing schools, and any other area of school innovation the Secretary chooses. Directs the Secretary to establish performance measures for tracking each grantee's progress in: (1) improving the academic performance of public elementary and secondary school students, and specified subgroups of those students; and (2) implementing its project in rural schools, as applicable. Requires grantees to use grant funds to develop or expand strategies to improve high-need students' showing on those performance measures.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-03-04 00:00:00

Keep Kids in School Act

Amends the school improvement program under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require state school improvement plans to contain assurances that the state will work with other education stakeholders to reduce suspensions and expulsions in public preschool programs and public elementary and secondary schools.

Requires the school improvement plans of local educational agencies (LEAs) to include:

 a description of the actions the LEA will take to reduce suspensions and expulsions and how the LEA will measure their success in doing so; an assurance that the LEA will report on the training provided to school staff to reduce suspensions and expulsions and how suspended students will receive ongoing educational services that enable them to resume their previous studies upon returning to school; an assurance that each of the LEA's schools will make publicly available its suspension and expulsion policy or the LEA's policy if the policy operates on the LEA level; and an assurance that each of the LEA's schools will make available, upon request, information about the behavior that resulted in each suspension or expulsion. Requires the annual state and local report cards to include specified information concerning school suspensions and expulsions, including the training and support provided to school staff to reduce those disciplinary actions.

Reserves a portion of the funds under part A (Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities) of title IV of the ESEA for grants to the 50 LEAs with an approved application that have the highest suspension and expulsion rates and the greatest disparity in those rates for specified student subgroups and the student body as a whole. Allows those grants to be used for:

 training on developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate prevention and de-escalation strategies; positive behavioral intervention systems; tiered disciplinary systems; training on conflict resolution and restorative justice; hiring additional school-based mental health services providers; and other evidence-based approaches to reducing school suspensions and expulsions. Authorizes LEAs to use their subgrants under part A (Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund) of title II of the ESEA to provide school personnel with training on ways to reduce the use of suspensions and expulsions, especially when those actions result in disparities between the suspension and expulsion rates for specified student subgroups and the student body as a whole.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-03-10 00:00:00

Next Generation High Schools Act

Directs the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) or charter schools that partner with at least one institution of higher education, at least one community-based partner, and a qualified intermediary to provide high school students with challenging, engaging, and relevant academic and career-related learning opportunities that are aligned with rigorous, challenging academic content that prepares them to transition to postsecondary education and careers.

Sets the grant term at five years, with up to three one-year renewals that are conditioned on the grantee making satisfactory progress toward performance indicators and targets.

Requires grant applicants to make make specified equity assurances, including that their LEAs will allocate school improvement funds to eligible high schools in amounts that are proportionate to those schools' share of low-income students.

Defines "eligible high schools" as those that: (1) serve students at least 65% of whom are from low-income families; (2) have a graduation rate at or below 67%, excepting new high schools; (3) do not receive school improvement funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; and (4) are identified by their state as low-performing.

Requires the grants to be used to:

 develop and implement partnerships to help schools prepare students to apply academic concepts to real world challenges; implement an early warning indicator system in eligible high schools and, where applicable, feeder middle schools to identify struggling students; provide support and credit recovery opportunities for struggling students at the grantee's secondary schools or in other appropriate settings; provide high schools with dropout recovery or reentry programs that enable returning dropouts to graduate college and career ready; provide evidence-based middle school to high school transition programs and supports; and provide high school leaders, staff, students, and families with high-quality, easily accessible, and timely information concerning graduation requirements, postsecondary admission requirements, the availability of financial assistance, labor markets, and other programs and services to improve the prospects of traditionally underserved students. Lists, separately, the required grant activities in eligible high schools and their feeder middle schools.

Requires each grantee, immediately after receiving its grant, to contract with an outside evaluator to evaluate the effects of such grant.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-03-24 00:00:00

Stop Sexual Abuse by School Personnel Act of 2015

Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require each state and local educational agency (LEA) that receives funds under the ESEA to have policies and procedures in effect that require a criminal background check for each school employee in the LEA's public elementary and secondary schools.

Requires the background check to be conducted and administered by the state or the LEA.

Authorizes states or LEAs to use ESEA funds to establish, implement, or improve policies and procedures on background checks for school employees. Lists the policies and procedures to be implemented using that assistance, including training for school employees on how to recognize, respond to, and prevent child abuse.

Requires state and LEA school improvement plans (required for receipt of school improvement funds under part A of title I of the ESEA) to describe the laws, regulations, or policies and procedures in effect in the state that:

 terminate individuals who fail to pass the criminal background check, improve the reporting of those failures, reduce the instances of a school employee being transferred following the employee's failure to pass the background check, provide a school employee with a requested copy of the employee's criminal background check and a timely process for appealing its results, provide the results of the criminal background check to the employer in a statement that indicates whether a school employee is eligible for employment, and make the background check policies and procedures publicly available. Directs the Secretary of Education, in collaboration with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General, to provide technical assistance and support to states, LEAs, and schools that shall include, at a minimum:

 a comprehensive package of materials that outlines the steps that can be taken to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse by school personnel; the most cost-effective way to disseminate federal information so states, LEAs, child welfare agencies, and criminal justice entities are aware of such information and have access to it; and mechanisms to better track and analyze the prevalence of child sexual abuse by school personnel through existing federal data collection systems.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-04-13 00:00:00

Jesse Lewis Empowering Educators Act

Amends title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to include teacher and principal training in practices that address the social and emotional development needs of students among the activities funded under the Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund program.

Allows funded training to include training in classroom instruction and schoolwide initiatives that enable students to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills most conducive to social and emotional competency.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-04-21 00:00:00

Student Testing Improvement and Accountability Act

Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to eliminate the requirement that students be tested against state academic content and achievement standards in mathematics and reading or language arts in each of grades three through eight.

Requires, instead, that those tests be administered at least once during: (1) grades 3 through 5, (2) grades 6 through 9, and (3) grades 10 through 12.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-04-22 00:00:00

Inspiring New STEM Professionals by Investing in Renovation of Education Spaces Act or the INSPIRES Act

 Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to direct the Department of Education (ED) to support local educational agencies (LEAs), community colleges, and other appropriate entities in modernizing, renovating, or repairing facilities used to provide science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or career and technical education to public elementary, secondary school, or community college students.

Requires ED to furnish such support by providing eligible entities with grants or loan guarantees or by making payments of interest on the financial instruments they use to fund the modernization, renovation, or repair of those facilities.

Prohibits the use of that support for new construction or the payment of routine maintenance costs.

Requires ED to direct at least 25% of the funds made available under this Act to: (1) public schools or secondary schools served by high-need LEAs, or (2) community colleges that serve a substantial number of rural students.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-04-23 00:00:00

School Asthma Management Plan Act

Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Department of Education (ED) to award grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to enable public elementary schools and secondary schools to: (1) develop and implement a school asthma management plan; and (2) purchase drugs and devices for emergency use that are approved or cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, including bronchodilators, spacers, and inhalers for students served by the school, as well as devices that measure pulmonary function or asthma education tools.

Authorizes ED to award a grant to a local health or education department to carry out such activities upon determining that in such local area such department is the entity that would routinely carry out such activities.

Requires ED to give priority in awarding grants to: (1) any LEA that will use grant funds to assist a public elementary school or secondary school that has a high burden of asthma, and (2) any department that proposes to carry out the grant activities at such a school.

Requires grantees to: (1) find innovative ways to encourage rapid bidirectional communication between schools and students' physicians and students' adherence to asthma treatment, (2) ensure that they have on staff a nurse or individual who is trained to administer emergency asthma care, (3) ensure that all student asthma action plans include asthma triggers, both allergens and irritants, for the student; and (4) ensure that each school served under the grant reports asthma emergency events involving students to the state health department by school identifier.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-06-04 00:00:00

School Building Fairness Act of 2015

This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to direct the Department of Education to allocate funds to states for competitive matching grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for school repair, renovation, and construction, reserving 1% of the grant funds for assistance to outlying areas and Indian schools.

 In awarding such grants to LEAs, the state must consider: (1) the percentage of poor children each LEA serves; (2) the condition of their public schools or need for additional schools; (3) the extent to which they will comply with certain green building standards; (4) their fiscal capacity to cover repairs, renovations, and construction without such a grant; and (5) the likelihood that they will maintain repaired, renovated, or newly constructed schools in good condition.

With respect to high-need and rural LEAs, a state must award at least the same proportion of this Act's LEA funds for the state that they received of total LEA school improvement funds for the state under part A of Title I of the ESEA.

A portion of a state's allocation must be reserved for a database of public school facility inventory, condition, design, and utilization.

The National Center for Education Statistics shall study the condition of public elementary and secondary schools and analyze trends in spending for their repair, renovation, and construction.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-06-16 00:00:00

Mental Health in Schools Act of 2015

Amends the Public Health Service Act to revise a community children and violence program to assist local communities and schools in applying a public health approach to mental health services, including by: (1) revising eligibility requirements for a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement; and (2) providing for comprehensive school mental health programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate, trauma-informed, and age appropriate. Requires a comprehensive school mental health program funded under this Act to assist children in dealing with trauma and violence. Makes only a partnership between a local educational agency and at least one community program or agency that is involved in mental health eligible for funding.

Requires the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to develop a fiscally appropriate process for evaluating grant program activities, including the development of: (1) guidelines for the submission of program data by recipients; and (2) outcome measures to be applied by recipients in evaluating programs, including student and family measures and local educational measures.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-06-18 00:00:00

Middle School Technical Education Program Act or the Middle School STEP Act 

 Directs the Department of Education to:

 create a pilot program for career and technical education exploration programs, and award grants to eligible partnerships (local educational agencies, area career and technical education schools, educational service agencies, and other organizations) to develop a middle school career and technical education exploration program that transition to career and technical education programs of study.