[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1785 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1785

    To provide for local family information centers, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 26, 1999

  Mr. Wellstone (for himself and Mr. Kerry) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for local family information centers, 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. LOCAL FAMILY INFORMATION CENTERS.

    (a) Centers Established.--Part E of title I of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6491 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 1503. LOCAL FAMILY INFORMATION CENTERS.

    ``(a) Centers Authorized.--The Secretary may make grants to, and 
enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with, local nonprofit 
parent organizations to enable the organizations to support local 
family information centers that help ensure that parents of students in 
schools assisted under part A have the training, information, and 
support the parents need to enable the parents to participate 
effectively in helping their children to meet challenging State 
standards.
    ``(b) Definition of Local Nonprofit Parent Organization.--In this 
section, the term `local nonprofit parent organization' means a private 
nonprofit organization (other than an institution of higher education) 
that--
            ``(1) has a demonstrated record of working with low-income 
        individuals and parents;
            ``(2)(A) has a board of directors--
                    ``(i) the majority of whom are parents of students 
                in schools that are assisted under part A and located 
                in the geographic area to be served by the center; and
                    ``(ii) that includes individuals who work in 
                schools that are assisted under part A and located in 
                the geographic area to be served by the center; or
            ``(B) has--
                    ``(i) as a part of the organization's mission, 
                serving the interests of low-income families in public 
                schools located in the geographic area to be served by 
                the center; and
                    ``(ii)(I) a special governing committee to direct 
                and implement the center, a majority of the members of 
                whom are parents of students in schools assisted under 
                part A, which committee shall include 1 or more 
                individuals working in the schools assisted under part 
                A in the geographic area to be served by the center; 
                and
                    ``(II) entered into a memorandum of understanding 
                between the special governing committee and the board 
                of directors that clearly outlines the decisionmaking 
                responsibilities and authority of the special governing 
                committee; and
            ``(3) is located in a community with schools that receive 
        funds under part A, and is accessible to the families of 
        students in those schools.
    ``(c) Required Center Activities.--Each center assisted under this 
section shall--
            ``(1) provide training, information, and support that meets 
        the needs of parents of children in schools assisted under part 
        A who are served through the grant, contract, or cooperative 
        agreement, particularly underserved parents, low-income 
        parents, parents of students with limited English proficiency, 
        parents of students with disabilities, and parents of students 
        in schools identified for school improvement or corrective 
        action under section 1116(c);
            ``(2) help families of students enrolled in a school 
        assisted under part A--
                    ``(A) to understand and effectively carry out their 
                responsibilities under the parent involvement 
                provisions of this Act, including participation in 
                parent compacts, parent involvement policies, and joint 
                decisionmaking;
                    ``(B) to learn how to participate effectively with 
                the school to create a needs assessment or school 
                improvement plan in accordance with part A; and
                    ``(C) to understand all of the provisions of this 
                Act designed to improve the achievement of students in 
                the school;
            ``(3) provide information in a language and form that 
        parents understand, including taking steps to ensure that 
        underserved parents, low-income parents, parents with limited 
        English proficiency, parents of students with disabilities, or 
        parents of students in schools identified for school 
        improvement or corrective action, are effectively informed and 
assisted;
            ``(4) assist parents to--
                    ``(A) understand State content and student 
                performance standards, State and local assessments, and 
                how schools assisted under part A are required to help 
                students meet the State standards;
                    ``(B) understand the accountability system in place 
                in the State, and support activities that are likely to 
                improve student achievement in schools assisted under 
                part A;
                    ``(C) communicate effectively with personnel 
                responsible for providing educational services to their 
                child, and for planning and implementing policies and 
                programs under part A, in the school and the school 
                district;
                    ``(D) understand and analyze the meaning of data 
                that schools, local educational agencies, and States 
                provide under the reporting requirements of this Act 
                and other statutes, including State reporting 
                requirements;
                    ``(E) locate and understand appropriate information 
                about research on ways in which high poverty schools 
                have made real progress in having all students meet 
                State standards;
                    ``(F) understand what their child's school is doing 
                to enable students at the school to meet the standards, 
                including understanding the curriculum and 
                instructional methods the school is using to help the 
                students meet the standards;
                    ``(G) better understand their child's educational 
                needs, where their child stands with respect to State 
                standards, and how the school is addressing the child's 
                education needs;
                    ``(H) participate in--
                            ``(i) the decisionmaking processes at the 
                        school, school district, and State levels;
                            ``(ii) the development, review, and 
                        amendment of school-parent compacts, the school 
                        and school district parent involvement 
                        policies, and the school plan; and
                            ``(iii) the review of the needs assessment 
                        of the school;
                    ``(I) understand the requirements of sections 1114, 
                1115, and 1116, regarding improved student achievement, 
                school planning and improvement, and corrective action;
                    ``(J) understand the provisions of other Federal 
                education programs that provide--
                            ``(i) resources and opportunities for 
                        school improvement; or
                            ``(ii) educational resources to individual 
                        students, including programs under chapters 1 
                        and 2 of subpart 2 of part A of title IV of the 
                        Higher Education Act of 1965 (Gear Up and 
                        Federal TRIO programs) and other programs;
                    ``(K) participate in other school reform 
                activities; and
                    ``(L) understand public school choice options 
                available in the local community, including magnet 
                schools, charter schools, and alternative schools;
            ``(5) provide appropriate training and information to 
        students in schools assisted under part A, to enable the 
        students to participate in school compacts and in school reform 
        activities;
            ``(6) provide information on local parent involvement needs 
        and successes, where appropriate, to teachers and 
        administrators in schools assisted under part A, and facilitate 
        greater understanding of good parent involvement strategies;
            ``(7) establish cooperative partnerships with parent 
        training and information centers and community parent resource 
        centers assisted under sections 682 and 683, respectively, of 
        the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and with 
        parental information and resource centers assisted under 
        section 1118(g);
            ``(8) be designed to meet the specific needs of families 
        who experience significant isolation from available sources of 
        information and support;
            ``(9) network with appropriate clearinghouses; and
            ``(10) report annually to the Secretary regarding--
                    ``(A) the number of parents to whom the center 
                provided information and support in the preceding 
                fiscal year;
                    ``(B) the number of parents who participate in 
                training sessions and the average number of parents at 
                training sessions;
                    ``(C) the prior year's training that was held at 
                times and places designed to allow the attendance of 
                the largest number of parents of students in schools 
                assisted under part A who are most likely to have been 
                isolated from other sources of information and 
                training;
                    ``(D) the effectiveness of strategies used to reach 
                and serve parents, including underserved parents, low-
                income parents, parents with limited English 
                proficiency, parents of students with disabilities, and 
                parents of students in schools identified for school 
                improvement or corrective action;
                    ``(E) how the center ensured that parents had the 
                skills necessary to participate in their children's 
                education, as described in paragraph (4);
                    ``(F) the information provided to parents by local 
                educational agencies in the geographic area served by 
                the center; and
                    ``(G) other measures, as determined appropriate by 
                the Secretary.
    ``(c) Application Requirements.--Each local nonprofit parent 
organization desiring assistance under this section shall submit to the 
Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and accompanied 
by such information as the Secretary may require. Each such application 
shall--
            ``(1) describe how the organization will use the assistance 
        to help families under this section;
            ``(2) describe what steps the organization has taken to 
        meet with school district or school personnel in the geographic 
        area to be served by the center in order to inform the 
        personnel of the plan and application for the assistance; and
            ``(3) identify with specificity the special efforts that 
        the organization will take--
                    ``(A) to ensure that the needs for training, 
                information, and support for parents of students in 
                schools assisted under part A, particularly underserved 
                parents, low-income parents, parents with limited 
                English proficiency, parents of students with 
                disabilities, and parents of students in schools 
                identified for school improvement or corrective action, 
                are effectively met; and
                    ``(B) to work with community-based organizations.
    ``(d) Distribution of Funds.--
            ``(1) Allocation of funds.--The Secretary shall make at 
        least 2 awards of assistance under this section to a local 
        nonprofit parent organization in each State, unless the 
        Secretary does not receive at least 2 applications from such 
        organizations in a State of sufficient quality to warrant 
        providing the assistance in the State.
            ``(2) Selection requirement for local family information 
        centers.--
                    ``(A) Eligibility.--In order to be eligible to 
                receive assistance under this part, a center shall 
                serve a geographic area (which may include 1 or more 
                school districts), having between 15,000 and 25,000 
                students, 50 percent of whom are eligible for a free 
                and reduced price lunch under the National School Lunch 
                Act. The number of students served under the preceding 
                sentence may increase, at the discretion of the 
                Secretary, if the geographic area to be served contains 
                only 1 school district and the center has the capacity 
                to serve effectively the entire school district.
                    ``(B) Selection.--The Secretary shall select local 
                nonprofit parent organizations in a State to receive 
                assistance under this section in a manner that ensures 
                the provision of the most effective assistance to low-
                income parents of students in schools assisted under 
                part A that are located in high poverty rural and urban 
                areas in the State, with particular emphasis on rural 
                and urban geographic areas with high school dropout 
                rates, high percentages of limited English proficient 
                students, or geographic areas with schools identified 
                for school improvement or corrective action under 
                section 1116(c).
    ``(e) Quarterly Review.--
            ``(1) Requirements.--
                    ``(A) Meetings.--The board of directors or special 
                governing committee of each organization that receives 
                assistance under this section shall meet at least once 
                in each calendar quarter to review the activities for 
                which the assistance was provided.
                    ``(B) Continuation requirement.--For each year that 
                an organization submits an application for assistance 
                under this section after the first year the 
                organization receives assistance under this section, 
                the board of directors or special governing committee 
                of the organization shall submit to the Secretary a 
                written review of the activities of the center carried 
                out by the organization during the preceding year.
    ``(f) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall conduct an evaluation of the 
centers assisted under this section, and shall report the findings of 
such evaluation to Congress not later than 3 years after the date of 
enactment of this section.''.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 1002(g)(2) of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6302(g)(2)) 
is amended to read as follows:
            ``(2) Sections 1502 and 1503.--For the purposes of carrying 
        out sections 1502 and 1503, there are authorized to be 
        appropriated $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and such sums as 
        may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years, of 
        which $50,000,000 shall be available for each fiscal year to 
        carry out section 1503.''.
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