[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1745 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1745

   To establish and expand child opportunity zone family centers in 
   elementary schools and secondary schools, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 18, 1999

   Mr. Reed introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish and expand child opportunity zone family centers in 
   elementary schools and secondary schools, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. CHILD OPPORTUNITY ZONE FAMILY CENTERS.

    Title X of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 8001 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

            ``PART L--CHILD OPPORTUNITY ZONE FAMILY CENTERS

``SEC. 10995A. SHORT TITLE.

    ``This part may be cited as the `Child Opportunity Zone Family 
Center Act of 1999'.

``SEC. 10995B. PURPOSE.

    ``The purpose of this part is to encourage eligible partnerships to 
establish or expand child opportunity zone family centers in elementary 
schools and secondary schools in order to provide comprehensive support 
services for children and their families, and to improve the children's 
educational, health, mental health, and social outcomes.

``SEC. 10995C. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this title:
            ``(1) Child opportunity zone family center.--The term 
        `child opportunity zone family center' means a school-based or 
        school-linked community service center that provides and links 
        children and their families with comprehensive information, 
        support, services, and activities to improve the education, 
        health, mental health, safety, and economic well-being of the 
        children and their families.
            ``(2) Eligible partnership.--The term `eligible 
        partnership' means a partnership--
                    ``(A) that contains--
                            ``(i) at least 1 elementary school or 
                        secondary school that--
                                    ``(I) receives assistance under 
                                title I and for which a measure of 
                                poverty determination is made under 
                                section 1113(a)(5) with respect to a 
                                minimum of 40 percent of the children 
                                in the school; and
                                    ``(II) demonstrates parent 
                                involvement and parent support for the 
                                partnership's activities;
                            ``(ii) a local educational agency;
                            ``(iii) a public agency, other than a local 
                        educational agency, including a local or State 
                        department of health and social services; and
                            ``(iv) a nonprofit community-based 
                        organization, including a community mental 
                        health services organization or a family health 
                        center that provides mental health services; 
                        and
                    ``(B) that may contain--
                            ``(i) an institution of higher education; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) other public or private nonprofit 
                        entities.

``SEC. 10995D. GRANTS AUTHORIZED.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary may award, on a competitive basis, 
grants to eligible partnerships to pay for the Federal share of the 
cost of establishing and expanding child opportunity zone family 
centers.
    ``(b) Duration.--The Secretary shall award grants under this 
section for periods of 5 years.

``SEC. 10995E. REQUIRED ACTIVITIES.

    ``Each eligible partnership receiving a grant under this part shall 
use the grant funds--
            ``(1) in accordance with the needs assessment described in 
        section 10995F(b)(1), to provide or link children and their 
        families with information, support, activities, or services in 
        core areas consisting of--
                    ``(A) education, such as child care and education 
                programs for children below the age of compulsory 
                school attendance, before- and after-school care, and 
                school age enrichment and education support programs;
                    ``(B) health, such as primary care (including 
                prenatal care, well child care, and mental health 
                care), preventative health and safety programs, 
                outreach and referral, screening and health promotion, 
                and enrollment in health insurance programs; and
                    ``(C) family support, such as adult education and 
                literacy programs, welfare-to-work-programs, job 
                training, parenting skills programs, assistance that 
                supports healthy child development, and access to basic 
                needs, including food and housing;
            ``(2) to provide intensive, high-quality, research-based 
        instructional programs that--
                    ``(A) provide violence prevention education for 
                families and developmentally appropriate instructional 
                services to children (including children below the age 
                of compulsory school attendance), such as education and 
                services on nonviolent conflict resolution, pro social 
                skills and behaviors, and other skills necessary for 
                effectively relating to others without violence; and
                    ``(B) provide effective strategies for nurturing 
                and supporting the emotional, social, and cognitive 
                growth of children; and
            ``(3) to provide training, information, and support to 
        families to enable the families to participate effectively in 
their children's education, and to help their children meet challenging 
standards, including assisting families to--
                    ``(A) understand the accountability systems, 
                including content standards, performance standards, and 
                local assessments, in place for the State involved, the 
                participating local educational agency, and the 
                participating elementary school or secondary school;
                    ``(B) understand their children's educational 
                needs, their children's educational performance in 
                comparison to State and local standards, and the steps 
                the school is taking to address the children's needs 
                and to help the children meet the standards; and
                    ``(C) communicate effectively with personnel 
                responsible for providing educational services to the 
                families' children, and to participate in the 
                development, amendment, review, and implementation of 
                school-parent compacts, parent involvement policies, 
                and school plans.

``SEC. 10995F. APPLICATIONS.

    ``(a) In General.--Each eligible partnership desiring a grant under 
this part shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 
such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 
require.
    ``(b) Contents.--Each application submitted pursuant to subsection 
(a) shall--
            ``(1) include a needs assessment, including a description 
        of how the partnership will ensure that the activities to be 
        assisted under this part will be tailored to meet the specific 
        needs of the children and families to be served;
            ``(2) describe arrangements that have been formalized 
        between the participating elementary school or secondary 
        school, and other partnership members;
            ``(3) describe how the partnership will effectively 
        coordinate and utilize Federal, State, and local educational 
        agency sources of funding, including funding provided under 
        part I of title X and under the Safe Schools/Healthy Students 
        Initiative (jointly funded by the Departments of Education, 
        Justice, and Health and Human Services), that provide 
        assistance to families and their children in the areas of job 
        training, housing, justice, health, mental health, child care, 
        and social and human services;
            ``(4) describe the partnership's plan to--
                    ``(A) develop and carry out the activities assisted 
                under this part with extensive participation of 
                parents, administrators, teachers, pupil services 
                personnel, social and human service agencies, and 
                community organizations and leaders; and
                    ``(B) connect and integrate the activities assisted 
                under this part with the education reform efforts of 
                the participating elementary school or secondary 
                school, and the participating local educational agency;
            ``(5) describe the partnership's strategy for providing 
        information and assistance in a language and form that families 
        can understand, including how the partnership will ensure that 
        families of students with limited English proficiency, or 
        families of students with disabilities, are effectively 
        involved, informed, and assisted;
            ``(6) describe how the partnership will collect and analyze 
        data, and will utilize specific performance measures and 
        indicators to--
                    ``(A) determine the impact of activities assisted 
                under this part as described in section 10995I(a); and
                    ``(B) improve the activities assisted under this 
                part; and
            ``(7) describe how the partnership will protect the privacy 
        of families and their children participating in the activities 
        assisted under this part.

``SEC. 10995G. FEDERAL SHARE.

    ``The Federal share of the cost of establishing and expanding child 
opportunity zone family centers--
            ``(1) for the first year for which an eligible partnership 
        receives assistance under this part shall not exceed 90 
        percent;
            ``(2) for the second such year, shall not exceed 80 
        percent;
            ``(3) for the third such year, shall not exceed 70 percent;
            ``(4) for the fourth such year, shall not exceed 60 
        percent; and
            ``(5) for the fifth such year, shall not exceed 50 percent.

``SEC. 10995H. CONTINUATION OF FUNDING.

    ``Each eligible partnership that receives a grant under this part 
shall, after the third year for which the partnership receives funds 
through the grant, be eligible to continue to receive the funds if the 
Secretary determines that the partnership has made significant progress 
in meeting the performance measures used for the partnership's local 
evaluation under section 10995I(a)(4).

``SEC. 10995I. EVALUATIONS AND REPORTS.

    ``(a) Local Evaluations.--Each partnership receiving funds under 
this part shall conduct annual evaluations and submit to the Secretary 
reports containing the results of the evaluations. The reports shall 
include--
            ``(1) information on the partnership's activities that are 
        assisted under this part;
            ``(2) information on the number of families and children 
        served by the partnership's activities that are assisted under 
        this part;
            ``(3) information on the partnership's effectiveness in 
        reaching and meeting the needs of families and children served 
        under this part, including underserved families, families of 
        students with limited English proficiency, and families of 
        students with disabilities; and
            ``(4) the results of a partnership's performance assessment 
        of the partnership, including performance measures 
        demonstrating--
                    ``(A) improvements in student achievement, school 
                readiness, family participation in schools, and access 
                to health care, mental health care, child care, and 
                family support services, resulting from activities 
                assisted under this part; and
                    ``(B) reductions in violence-related problems and 
                risk taking behavior among youth, and reductions in 
                truancy, suspension, and dropout rates, resulting from 
                activities assisted under this part.
    ``(b) National Evaluations.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall reserve not more 
        than 3 percent of the amount appropriated under this part to 
        carry out a national evaluation of the activities assisted 
        under this part. Such evaluation shall be completed not later 
        than 3 years after the date of enactment of the Child 
        Opportunity Zone Family Center Act of 1999, and every year 
        thereafter.
            ``(2) Scope of evaluation.--In conducting the national 
        evaluation, the Secretary shall evaluate the effectiveness and 
        impact of the activities, and identify model activities, 
        assisted under this part.
            ``(3) Annual reports.--The Secretary shall submit an annual 
        report to Congress, regarding each national evaluation 
        conducted under paragraph (1), that contains the information 
        described in the national evaluation.
    ``(c) Model Activities.--The Secretary shall broadly disseminate 
information on model activities developed under this part.

``SEC. 10995J. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 
$50,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, and such sums as may be necessary for 
each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2004.''.
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