[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 490 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 490

 To give gifted and talented students the opportunity to develop their 
                             capabilities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 7, 2001

 Mr. Gallegly (for himself, Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Whitfield, Mrs. Mink of 
Hawaii, Mrs. Bono, Mr. Baldacci, Mr. English, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Burr of 
North Carolina, Mr. Allen, Mr. Lewis of Kentucky, Mr. Davis of Florida, 
   Mrs. Morella, Mr. Boucher, Mr. Filner, Mr. Stark, and Mr. Moore) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
              the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To give gifted and talented students the opportunity to develop their 
                             capabilities.

    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 ``Gifted and Talented Students 
Education Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Gifted and talented students give evidence of high 
        performance capability in specific academic fields, or in areas 
        such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership 
        capacity, and require services and activities not ordinarily 
        provided by a school in order to fully develop such 
        capabilities. These children are from all cultural, racial, and 
        ethnic backgrounds, and socioeconomic groups; some have 
        disabilities and for some, English is not their first language. 
        Many of these students have been historically underrepresented 
        in gifted education programs.
            (2) Because gifted and talented students generally are more 
        advanced academically, are able to learn more quickly and study 
        in more depth and complexity than others their age, their 
        special educational needs require opportunities and experiences 
        that are different from those generally available in regular 
        education programs.
            (3) There currently is no Federal requirement to identify 
        or serve the Nation's approximately 3,000,000 gifted and 
        talented students.
            (4) While some States and school districts allocate 
        resources to educate gifted and talented students, others do 
        not. Additionally, State laws and State and local funding, 
        identification, and accountability mechanisms vary widely, 
        resulting in a vast disparity of services for this special-
        needs population.
            (5) If the United States is to compete successfully in the 
        global economy, it is important that more students achieve to 
        higher levels, and that highly capable students receive an 
        education that prepares them to perform the highly innovative 
        and challenging work performed in today's workplace.
            (6) The performance of 12th-grade advanced students in the 
        United States on the Third International Mathematics and 
        Science Study (TIMSS) was among the lowest in the world. In 
        each of 5 physics content areas and in each of 3 math content 
        areas, the performance of physics and advanced mathematics 
        students in the United States was among the lowest of 
        participating countries.
            (7) Typical elementary school students with academic gifts 
        and talents have already mastered 35 to 50 percent of the 
        school year's content in several subject areas before the year 
        begins.
            (8) In 1990, fewer than 2 cents out of every $100 spent on 
        elementary and secondary education in the United States was 
        devoted to providing challenging programming for the Nation's 
        gifted and talented students.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide grants to 
States to support programs, classes, and other services designed to 
meet the needs of the Nation's gifted and talented students in 
elementary and secondary schools.

SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION AND ACTIVITIES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary is authorized to provide grants to 
State educational agencies to assist local educational agencies to 
develop or expand gifted and talented education programs through one or 
more of the following activities:
            (1) Professional development programs.--A State educational 
        agency may expend funds to develop and implement programs to 
        address State and local needs for inservice training programs 
        for general educators, specialists in gifted and talented 
        education, administrators, school counselors, or other 
        personnel at the elementary and secondary levels.
            (2) Technical assistance.--A State educational agency may 
        make materials and services available through State regional 
        education service centers, universities, colleges, or other 
        entities.
            (3) Innovative programs and services.--States may support 
        innovative approaches and curricula used by school districts, 
        individual schools, or consortia of schools or school 
        districts.
            (4) Emerging technologies.--States may provide funds for 
        challenging, high-level course work, disseminated through new 
        and emerging technologies (including distance learning), for 
        individual students or groups of students in schools and local 
        educational agencies that do not have the resources otherwise 
        to provide such course work.
    (b) Limitations on Use of Funds.--Activities under subsection 
(a)(4) may include development of curriculum packages, compensation of 
distance learning educators, or other relevant activities, but funds 
provided under this Act may not be used for the purchase or upgrading 
of technological hardware.

SEC. 4. APPLICATION.

    (a) In General.--To be eligible to receive a grant award under this 
Act, a State educational agency shall submit an application to the 
Secretary at such time and in such form and manner as the Secretary may 
reasonably require.
    (b) Contents.--The application shall include assurances--
            (1) that the State educational agency is designated as the 
        agency responsible for the administration and supervision of 
        programs assisted under this Act;
            (2) of the State educational agency's ability to provide 
        matching funds for the activities to be assisted under this Act 
        in an amount equal to not less than 20 percent of the grant 
        funds to be received, provided in cash or in kind;
            (3) that funds received under this Act shall be used to 
        support gifted and talented students in public schools, 
        including students from all economic, ethnic, and racial 
        backgrounds, students of limited English proficiency, gifted 
        students with disabilities, and highly gifted students;
            (4) that not less than 90 percent of the funds provided 
        under the grant shall be used for the purpose of making 
        subgrants, on a competitive basis, to local educational 
        agencies;
            (5) that funds received under this Act shall be used only 
        to supplement, but not supplant, the amount of State and local 
        funds expended for the specialized education and related 
        services provided for the education of gifted and talented 
        students; and
            (6) that the State educational agency shall develop and 
        implement program assessment models to evaluate educational 
        effectiveness and ensure program accountability.
    (c) Approval.--To the extent funds are made available for this Act, 
the Secretary shall approve an application of a State educational 
agency if such application meets the requirements of this section.

SEC. 5. STATE USE OF FUNDS.

    A State educational agency shall not use more than 10 percent of 
the funds made available under this Act for--
            (1) establishment and implementation of a peer review 
        process to review applications for subgrants made under section 
        4(b)(4);
            (2) supervision of the awarding of funds to local 
        educational agencies or consortia thereof to support gifted and 
        talented students in the State;
            (3) planning, supervision, and processing of funds made 
        available under this section;
            (4) monitoring and evaluation of programs and activities 
        assisted under this Act, including the submission of the annual 
        report to the Secretary required in section 8;
            (5) dissemination of general program information;
            (6) providing technical assistance under this Act; and
            (7) supplementing, but not supplanting, the amount of State 
        and local funds expended for the education of, and related 
        services provided for, the education of gifted and talented 
        students; and
            (8) providing support for parental education.

SEC. 6. ALLOTMENT TO STATES.

    (a) In General.--Except as otherwise provided in this section, of 
the total amount made available for this Act, the Secretary shall award 
to each State educational agency an amount that bears the same relation 
to the total amount as the number of children ages 5 through 18 in the 
State for the preceding academic year bears to the total number of all 
such children in all States for such year.
    (b) Reservation of Funds.--From the amount made available to carry 
out this Act for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve \1/2\ of 
1 percent for the Secretary of the Interior for programs under this Act 
for teachers, other staff, and administrators in schools operated or 
funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
    (c) Minimum Award.--No State receiving an allotment under 
subsection (a) may receive less than \1/2\ of 1 percent of the total 
amount allotted under such subsection.
    (d) Reallotment.--If any State does not apply for an allotment 
under this section for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall reallot 
such amount to the remaining States in accordance with this section.

SEC. 7. COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO STATES.

    (a) In General.--Under section 10(b), the Secretary shall use the 
funds under this Act for competitive grants to State educational 
agencies to begin implementing activities described in section 3 
through competitive subgrants to local educational agencies.
    (b) Application.--The Secretary shall use the application described 
in section 4 for grants awarded under this section.

SEC. 8. REPORTING.

    Any State educational agency receiving funds under this Act shall 
submit a report to the Secretary beginning one year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act and each subsequent year that describes the 
number of students served and the activities supported with funds 
provided under this Act. The report shall include a description of the 
measures taken to comply with the accountability requirements of 
section 4(b).

SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``gifted and talented'' has the meaning such 
        term has under State law or as such term is defined by the 
        State or local educational agency, or in the case of a State 
        that does not have a law that defines the term and the State or 
        local educational agency has not defined the term, the term has 
        the meaning given such term under section 14101(16) of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. 8801(16)).
            (2) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Education.
            (3) The term ``State'' means each of the 50 States, the 
        District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
            (4) The term ``State educational agency'' has the same 
        meaning given such term in section 14101(28) of the Elementary 
        and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. 8801(28)).
            (5) The term ``local educational agency'' has the same 
        meaning given such term in section 14101(18) of the Elementary 
        and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. 8801(18)).

SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
$160,000,000 to carry out this Act for each of fiscal years 2002, 2003, 
2004, 2005, and 2006.
    (b) Trigger.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, if 
the amount appropriated under subsection (a) for a fiscal year is less 
than $50,000,000, the Secretary shall implement the grant program 
described in section 7.
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