[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 407 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 407

To create a National Commission on School Finance To Meet the National 
                            Education Goals.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             February 18 (legislative day, January 5), 1993

  Mr. Bingaman (for himself and Mr. Cochran) introduced the following 
      bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                          Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To create a National Commission on School Finance To Meet the National 
                            Education Goals.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Commission on School 
Finance To Meet the National Education Goals Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds--
            (1) State governments have for a long time played the 
        principal role in financing America's education system and 
        historically such role has involved heavy reliance upon locally 
        administered property taxes in conjunction with State 
        prescribed per pupil spending minima, while the Federal 
        Government has been a junior partner in such role, contributing 
        approximately 7 or 8 percent of the amount spent on 
        kindergarten through twelfth grade schooling;
            (2) the State and local role described in paragraph (1) has 
        traditionally been decentralized;
            (3) the rapid evolution of an unusually competitive 
        international economy is altering national education needs and 
        the new strategic resource for nations has become the trained 
        intellect of its citizens;
            (4) the United States is attempting to respond to the 
        challenge described in paragraph (3) by debating and 
        implementing education reform alternatives and setting national 
        education goals;
            (5) education reforms may have little chance of sustained 
        success and universal achievement of the national education 
        goals may be jeopardized when such reforms are part of a 
        disparate means by which our Nation finances its schools;
            (6) the means by which United States schools are financed 
        result in--
                    (A) spending inequality from school-to-school, 
                district-to-district and State-to-State;
                    (B) neglected effectiveness such as finance systems 
                paying little heed to outcomes, accountability, or 
                performance, and seldom is an education attainment 
                target posed regarding desired outcomes or performance 
                incentives;
                    (C) organizational rigidity in which school finance 
                systems are rooted in operational units such as small 
                rural schools, as exemplified by school districts 
                having consolidated in mammoth agencies with cumbersome 
                bureaucratic structures sometimes distant 
                geographically and organizationally from the schools 
                such districts purport to direct; and
                    (D) confusion caused by school finance system 
                accretion and as a consequence intolerable complexity;
            (7) the entire context in which United States education now 
        operates has been altered in the last 2 decades and 
        expectations for education are higher, and on crucial 
        dimensions, the capacity of schools to respond is lower; and
            (8) in the absence of alternative school finance mechanisms 
        with adequate and adequately structured resources, the hope of 
        national education goals, national assessments, and a host of 
        other reform alternatives are in jeopardy of foundering on good 
        intentions and rhetoric.

SEC. 3. COMMISSION ESTABLISHED.

    (a) Establishment of the Commission.--There is established as an 
independent agency in the executive branch a commission to be known as 
the National Commission on School Finance To Meet the National 
Education Goals (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 
``Commission'').
    (b) Membership.--
            (1) Composition.--The Commission shall be composed of 12 
        members, of which--
                    (A) 2 shall be appointed by the President;
                    (B) 2 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the 
                House of Representatives;
                    (C) 3 shall be appointed by the Minority Leader of 
                the House of Representatives;
                    (D) 2 shall be appointed by the Majority Leader of 
                the Senate; and
                    (E) 3 shall be appointed by the Minority Leader of 
                the Senate.
            (2) Special rule.--The membership of the Commission shall 
        provide the Commission with expertise and experience in the 
        provision and financing of elementary and secondary education, 
        including expertise in elementary and secondary school 
        administration, teaching, State legislation, education 
        economics research, and development of standards and 
        assessments.

SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

    (a) Study.--The Commission shall study what has been learned from 
the research on innovations in practice that will help further 
understanding of what will be necessary and what the cost implications 
are for achieving the national education goals and shall investigate 
the extent to which--
            (1) Federal laws demonstrate a consistent and coherent 
        Federal policy regarding educational access and equity with 
        respect to resources;
            (2) Federal education laws and regulations promote the 
        stated Federal education policy;
            (3) there are alternatives to current school finance 
        mechanisms; and
            (4) schools and States have the capacity to respond 
        financially to the reform demands implied in the national 
        education goals and the consequent objectives.
    (b) Specific Requirements.--In carrying out its responsibilities 
under this section, the Commission shall synthesize and evaluate 
existing information in the following areas:
            (1) Fiscal capacity.--The fiscal capacity of States and 
        local educational agencies to provide access to high quality 
        education to all students, including synthesizing and 
        evaluating information regarding--
                    (A) the costs of different ways of providing 
                educational services and the factors that impact 
                student achievement;
                    (B) the impact of socioeconomic status and student-
                to-teacher ratios, and the effect of such status and 
                ratios on student achievement;
                    (C) all revenue expended in the United States on 
                elementary and secondary education, including revenue 
                from Federal, State, local and private sources;
                    (D) international comparisons of expenditure 
                levels, and intergovernmental financial 
                responsibilities, for public elementary and secondary 
                education;
                    (E) population sparsity and density factors with 
                respect to educational needs and costs;
                    (F) revenue available to all local educational 
                agencies in the United States with respect to property 
                taxes, sales taxes, personal income taxes and 
                lotteries;
                    (G) differences in the costs of providing 
                elementary and secondary education by State, and by 
                local educational agencies within States;
                    (H) the capacity of State school finance systems to 
                provide the resources necessary to achieve the national 
                education goals; and
                    (I) the role of educational technologies in 
                improving cost-effectiveness, program quality and 
                equity.
            (2) Fiscal effort.--The fiscal effort State and local 
        educational agencies make to provide access to high quality 
        education to all students, including synthesizing and 
        evaluating information regarding--
                    (A) the variables associated with the willingness 
                of communities to tax themselves to raise education 
                revenues;
                    (B) different teaching compensation policies; and
                    (C) school districts with much higher than average 
                per pupil expenditures and school districts with much 
                lower than average per pupil expenditures both before 
                and after the implementation of equalization measures.
            (3) Policy.--The impact of Federal, State, and local 
        programs and policies on equalizing access to educational 
        opportunity, including synthesizing and evaluating information 
        regarding--
                    (A) the relationship between the amount of--
                            (i) Federal education assistance; and
                            (ii) tax expenditures for equalization of 
                        school finance;
                    (B) the costs of Federal or State laws that are not 
                fully funded by the level of government that 
                established such laws;
                    (C) the effect of financial incentives on school 
                performance;
                    (D) the consistency and coherency among--
                            (i) Federal, State, and local educational 
                        equity policies; and
                            (ii) Federal, State, and local laws, 
                        regulations and resources; and
                    (E) the effect of Federal education assistance 
                programs and Federal, State, or local tax expenditures 
                on equalization of school finance resources.
            (4) School finance legislation.--The trends in State school 
        finance legislation and judicial actions.
    (c) Reports and Recommendations.--The Commission shall prepare and 
submit to the Congress an interim report within 12 months of the date 
of enactment of this Act and a final report within 18 months of such 
date. Such reports shall--
            (1) summarize the appropriate findings of the Commission;
            (2) provide to the Congress a comprehensive analysis of the 
        extent to which a consensus exists regarding the appropriate 
        roles of Federal, State and local government in supporting 
        school and State finance reform;
            (3) provide an analysis of the resources that will be 
        needed at the school, district and State level to achieve the 
        national education goals; and
            (4) provide an analysis of the capacity of State school 
        finance systems to provide the resources necessary to meet the 
        national education goals.

SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION OF THE COMMISSION.

    (a) Rate of Pay.--Members of the Commission who are not full-time 
officers or employees of the United States and who are not Members of 
Congress may, while serving on business of the Commission, be 
compensated at a rate not to exceed the rate specified at the time of 
such service for level IV of the Executive Schedule as authorized by 
section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day, or any part 
of a day, they are engaged in actual performance of Commission duties, 
including travel time; and while so serving away from their homes or 
regular places of business, all members of the Commission may be 
allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as 
authorized by section 5703 of title 5, United States Code, for persons 
in government service employed intermittently.
    (b) Temporary Exemption.--Subject to such rules as may be adopted 
by the Commission, the Chairperson, without regard to the provisions of 
title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive 
service and without regard to the provisions of chapter 51 and 
subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title relating to classification 
and General Schedule pay rates, shall have the power to--
            (1) appoint a Director or Executive Director who shall be 
        paid at a rate not to exceed the rate of basic pay payable for 
        level IV of the Executive Schedule; and
            (2) appoint and fix the compensation of such other 
        personnel as the Chairperson considers necessary at a rate not 
        to exceed the rate of basic pay payable for level IV of the 
        Executive Schedule.
    (c) Authority To Contract.--Subject to the Federal Property and 
Administrative Services Act of 1949, the Commission is authorized to 
enter into contracts or interagency agreements with Federal and State 
agencies, private firms, institutions, and individuals for the conduct 
of activities necessary to the discharge of its duties and 
responsibilities.
    (d) Source of Administrative Support.--Financial and administrative 
support services (including those related to budget and accounting, 
financial reporting, payroll, and personnel) shall be provided to the 
Commission by the General Services Administration (or other appropriate 
organization) for which payment shall be made in advance or by 
reimbursement from funds of the Commission, in such amounts as may be 
agreed by the Chairperson of the Commission and the Administrator of 
General Services.
    (e) Authority To Hire Experts and Consultants.--The Commission is 
authorized to procure temporary and intermittent services of experts 
and consultants as are necessary to the extent authorized by section 
3109 of title 5, United States Code, but at rates not to exceed the 
rate specified at the time of such service for level IV of the 
Executive Schedule. Experts and consultants may be employed without 
compensation if they agree to do so in advance.
    (f) Authority for Detail of Employees.--Upon request of the 
Commission, the head of any Federal department or agency is authorized 
to detail on a reimbursable basis, any of the personnel of such 
department or agency to the Commission to assist the Commission in 
carrying out its duties under this section.

SEC. 6. TERMINATION.

    The Commission shall terminate 3 years after the first meeting of 
its members.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purpose of this Act--
            (1) the term ``elementary school'' has the same meaning 
        given to such term by section 1471(8) of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965;
            (2) the term ``local educational agency'' has the same 
        meaning given to such term by section 1471(12) of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
            (3) the term ``national education goals'' means the 
        national education goals established pursuant to the education 
        summit held in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1989;
            (4) the term ``secondary school'' has the same meaning 
        given to such term by section 1471(21) of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965; and
            (5) the term ``State'' has the same meaning given to such 
        term by section 1471(22) of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 1993, 1994, and 1995 to carry out this Act.

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