jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-02-25 00:00:00

Student Bill of Rights

Directs the Secretary of Education to make annual determinations as to whether each state's public school system provides all its students with the educational resources to succeed academically and in life. Requires such education to enable students to: (1) acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for responsible citizenship, (2) meet challenging academic achievement standards, and (3) compete and succeed in a global economy.

Requires each system to do so by: (1) satisfying certain opportunity to learn indicators for all its schools, including highly effective teachers and equitable instructional resources; (2) providing educational services in local educational agencies (LEAs) that receive funds for disadvantaged students that are, taken as a whole, at least comparable to educational services provided in LEAs not receiving such funds; and (3) complying with any final federal or state court order in any matter concerning the adequacy or equitableness of the system. Requires withholding of specified portions of its federal funding for administrative expenses if a system: (1) fails to meet a yearly interim goal; (2) does not remedy, after two school years, a failure to provide comparable educational services to schools that receive funds for disadvantaged children; or (3) does not comply with a court order. Allows students or parents aggrieved by violations of this Act to bring civil actions for enforcement in federal district courts. Directs the Commissioner of Education Statistics to study the effects of educational disparities on economic growth and on national defense.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-02-25 00:00:00

Counseling for Career Choice Act

Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to award competitive establishment grants to states to develop and implement comprehensive school career counseling programs that provide students with effective postsecondary education planning and career guidance services.

Requires each program to be aligned with a statewide counseling framework that: (1) encompasses grades 6 through 12 and postsecondary education; and (2) is developed in consultation with, or exists with the support of, at least five stakeholders that include at least one business or industry and at least one local educational agency (LEA) or secondary school.

Requires establishment grant funds to be used to:

 train and hire school counselors; identify regional workforce trends and postsecondary options available in the state; establish, improve, or coordinate postsecondary opportunities; recommend curricular improvements to better align curricula with workforce trends and available postsecondary opportunities; establish partnerships with American Job Centers; and leverage the resources and emerging technologies being developed by stakeholders to support the counseling framework. Allows states to carry out program activities directly or through competitive subgrants to LEAs, or consortia consisting of an LEA, and one or more LEAs, educational service agencies, tribal organizations, postsecondary institutions, or nonprofit organizations with expertise in counseling or career and technical education.

Directs the Secretary to reserve at least 10%, but no more than 20%, of the amount appropriated for this Act's counseling program to award competitive capacity-building grants to states that do not receive an establishment grant.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-03-02 00:00:00

Family Engagement in Education Act of 2015

Amends title I (Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to authorize states to reserve school improvement funds to:

 award a grant to a statewide nonprofit organization to establish a Statewide Family Engagement Center that provides comprehensive training, technical assistance, and capacity building to local educational agencies (LEAs), organizations that support family-school partnerships, and other organizations that carry out parent education and family engagement in education programs; award grants to nonprofit organizations or Indian tribes or organizations that partner with LEAs or schools to establish and operate Local Family Engagement Centers that assist families in becoming engaged in their childrens' education; and develop and implement a statewide family engagement in education plan. Requires each state school improvement plan to include a plan for strengthening family engagement in education.

Requires each LEA and school receiving school improvement funds to develop policies and practices for family engagement in education that meet specified principles and standards.

Increases the percentage of school improvement funds that LEAs must reserve for family engagement activities. Requires at least 75% of those reserved funds to be distributed to schools served under the school improvement program.

Requires states and correctional facilities to work with family members and aftercare providers in developing educational services and transition plans for youth following their stay in state and local institutions for neglected or delinquent youth.

Requires the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences to develop recommended metrics on family engagement in education for states and LEAs and to make recommendations on the integration of those metrics into state accountability and longitudinal data systems.

Directs the Secretary of Education to conduct research on effective family engagement in education.

Requires states to use part of their grant under part A (Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund) of title II of the ESEA to train teachers and principals to effectively engage families in their children's education.

Repeals programs authorizing the Secretary to award grants to: (1) nonprofit organizations and consortia of those organizations and LEAs to establish parental information and resource centers, and (2) local nonprofit parent organizations to support local family information centers.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-03-04 00:00:00

ZZZ's to A's Act

Directs the Secretary of Education to conduct a study examining the relationship between school start times and adolescent health, well-being, and performance that:

 comprehensively reviews the scientific evidence relating to that relationship; compares adolescent health, well-being, and performance among local educational agencies with different school start times; and evaluates factors that contribute to or affect school start times. Requires the Secretary to report the study's findings to Congress, including any recommendations the Secretary has that are based on those findings.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-03-04 00:00:00

Local Taxpayer Relief Act

Amends the Impact Aid Improvement Act of 2012 to make permanent amendments that Act made to the Impact Aid program (which compensates local educational agencies [LEAs] for the financial burden of federal activities affecting their school districts) that:

 require the valuation of the federal property located within the boundaries of an LEA by calculating the valuation, for property tax purposes, of all property within the LEA's boundaries and then multiplying that value by the proportion of that property that is federal property; alter the formula for determining the foundation payments due LEAs for federal ownership of property when appropriations for a fiscal year are insufficient to provide them with full compensation; alter the formula for determining the payments due LEAs for eligible federally-connected children who are displaced from federal property or Indian lands due to housing renovation or rebuilding; and direct the Secretary of Education to complete Impact Aid payments to eligible LEAs within three fiscal years of their appropriation. Amends the Impact Aid program of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to alter the formula for determining the payments due LEAs for eligible federally-connected children. Includes not only children in average daily attendance but also those enrolled pursuant to a state open enrollment policy.

Continues an LEA's eligibility for such payments while activities associated with military base closures and realignments or force structure changes or relocations are ongoing.

Allows the calculation of such payments using current student counts instead of prior fiscal year data when LEAs experience a specified influx of new federally-connected students due to federal activities or the closure of an LEA that was receiving Impact Aid due to federally-connected children.

Requires the Secretary to allow LEAs to count their federally-connected children using the date they register their students for the fiscal year for which their application is filed.

Alters the formula for determining the construction payments due LEAs that are eligible for other Impact Aid payments. Divides 80% of the construction funds evenly between LEAs impacted by military dependent children and LEAs impacted by children residing on Indian lands, with the remainder reserved for emergency repair and modernization grants to LEAs serving Indian lands or experiencing a specified influx of new students due to federal activities.

Alters the formula for determining whether a state's plan for equalizing assistance to its LEAs will except it from the prohibition on state aid to LEAs being affected by Impact Aid payments.

Requires new LEAs applying for Impact Aid to have boundaries established by state law and the authority to tax or receive an imputed local tax.

Reauthorizes appropriations for the Impact Aid program.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-03-19 00:00:00

Educational Opportunities Act

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individual taxpayers a tax credit for charitable contributions to a scholarship granting organization. Allows a maximum credit amount of $4,500 ($2,250 for a married individual filing a separate return). Defines "scholarship granting organization" as a tax-exempt entity whose exclusive purpose is to provide scholarships for the tuition and other expenses of elementary and secondary school students from low income households (i.e., household income not exceeding 250% of federal poverty guidelines).

Allows corporate taxpayers a tax credit, up to $100,000, for contributions to a scholarship granting organization.

Imposes a penalty on scholarship granting organizations that fail to distribute at least 90% of their total receipts for elementary and secondary school expenses in a taxable year.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-03-25 00:00:00

Charter School Transparency, Accountability, and Quality Act

Amends part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require a state's school improvement plan to include assurances that its authorized public chartering agencies:

 meet nationally recognized professional standards; annually file and disclose independently audited financial statements for the charter schools they authorize, adopt and enforce employee compensation and conflict of interest guidelines for such schools, and enter into a legally binding charter or performance contract with each such school that bases charter renewal and revocation decisions on the state's school improvement accountability system. Requires each state that seeks a grant under part B (Public Charter Schools) of title V of the ESEA to:

 ensure that each charter school in the state makes available to the public information on student support services and annual performance and enrollment data for specified student subgroups and the student body as a whole; ensure that each charter school board in the state has the right to fiscally oversee the education management organization it contracts with; work with charter schools to help them recruit, enroll, and retain traditionally underserved students; ensure that each charter school that receives funds under the state's charter school grant program meets its students' educational needs; and share best and promising practices between charter schools and other public schools. Allows state grantees to use a weighted lottery to give slightly better chances for admission to educationally disadvantaged students.

Expands the eligibility criteria for each charter school to receive part B funds from its state for the purpose of assisting other schools in adapting the charter school's program, or of disseminating information about the charter school, to include:

 community involvement in the school's development and operation; three successful consecutive annual audits without any indication of fiscal difficulties, as defined by typical accounting standards; and maintenance of a student population that is demographically similar to the local educational agency (LEA) that encompasses the school or is geographically closest to it. Requires national studies on the impact of charter schools on the LEAs that encompass them or that are geographically closest to them.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-04-15 00:00:00

Promoting Financial Literacy and Economic Opportunity Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow up to 20 for-profit organizations in any taxable year a business-related tax credit for 50% of the amount paid or incurred to carry out activities to improve the quality of student understanding of personal finance and economics. The Department of the Treasury shall determine which for-profit organizations are eligible for the credit, ensuring that a majority of credit recipients are: (1) either a socially and economically disadvantaged small business concern, a small business concern owned and controlled by women, or a small business concern that is at least 51% owned by veterans, or (2) do not have more than $60 billion in assets. In determining the eligibility of a for-profit organization, Treasury shall give priority to organizations that have programs serving either urban or rural underserved areas.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-04-16 00:00:00

Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries Act or the SKILLs Act

Amends title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize appropriations for FY2016-FY2021 for the Improving Literacy through School Libraries grant program.

Requires local educational agencies (LEAs) that receive school improvement funds to ensure, to the extent feasible, that each of their schools receiving such funds employs at least one state certified school library media specialist.

Directs states and LEAs that receive school improvement funds to ensure that by the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year there is at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in every school that receives such funds.

Requires Improving Literacy through School Libraries funds to be: (1) proportionally distributed to serve students in elementary, middle, and high schools; (2) used for media resources appropriate for all grades; and (3) used for professional development in information literacy instruction that is appropriate for all grades.

Expands the program of grants to states and subgrants to LEAs for the recruitment, retention, and professional development of teachers to require that highly qualified school library media specialists be included in the focus of such efforts.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-04-23 00:00:00

Put School Counselors Where They're Needed Act

This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Department of Education to implement a demonstration project providing competitive, 4-year grants to at least 10 secondary schools that have a 4-year adjusted cohort graduation rate of 60% or lower, for the provision of additional school counselors and counselor resources.

The bill expresses the sense of Congress that grantees should provide one additional counselor for every 250 students at risk.

The additional school counselors must serve primarily students identified as being at risk of not graduating in four years.

Grantees that demonstrate progress in improving their graduation rates are eligible for subsequent grants.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-04-28 00:00:00

Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act of 2015

This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to condition each state's receipt of ESEA funds, beginning in FY2017, on the state having in effect and enforcing a law or regulation that meets the minimum requirements for the prevention and treatment of concussions set forth in this Act.

Each local educational agency must develop and implement a standard plan for concussion safety and management for its public schools that includes: (1) the education of students, parents, and school personnel about concussions through specified activities; (2) specified supports for each student recovering from a concussion; and (3) specified best practices designed to ensure the uniformity of safety standards, treatment, and management.

Each public school must post on school grounds and make publicly available on the school website specified information on concussions.

If any public school personnel suspects that a student has sustained a concussion during a school-sponsored activity: (1) the student is to be immediately removed from participation in that activity and prohibited from participating in school-sponsored athletic activities until the student submits a written release from a health care professional; and (2) that individual is to report all available information regarding the injury to a concussion management team that will confirm and report to the student's parents the date, time, and type of the injury suffered and any actions taken to treat the student.

The school's concussion management team shall consult with and make recommendations to relevant school personnel and the student to ensure that the student is receiving the appropriate academic supports, including: (1) periods of cognitive rest over the course of the school day, (2) modified academic assignments, (3) gradual reintroduction to cognitive demands, and (4) other appropriate academic accommodations or adjustments.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-04-29 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: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Equal Access to Quality Education Act of 2015

This bill requires the Department of Education to award competitive matching grants to partnerships between high-need local educational agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) to establish or support: (1) teacher preparation programs, and (2) teacher induction and retention programs.

Teacher preparation programs must: (1) require participants to complete at least one year of residency followed by at least three years of teaching at the LEA's high-need schools, and (2) award participants a teaching credential or degree that meets state requirements for a teaching license or certification upon completion of the program.

Teacher induction and retention programs must use high-quality mentoring, teacher collaboration, and research-based instructional practices to: (1) support and advance the retention of beginning teachers and principals, and (2) promote effective teaching and leadership skills. Grants may be used for certain other activities designed to improve the quality of education in high-need areas.

Grant priority is given to partnerships that: (1) use a valid and reliable teacher performance assessment and have a plan to recruit teachers from among minority and local candidates and the disabled; or (2) use that assessment and include an IHE that is eligible to participate in the TEACH Grant program, a Tribal College or University, an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution, a Hispanic-serving institution, or a historically Black college and university.