[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 342 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 342

  To assist local educational agencies by providing grants for proven 
    measures for increasing the quality of education, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 15, 2001

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To assist local educational agencies by providing grants for proven 
    measures for increasing the quality of education, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Quality Classrooms Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to support local educational agencies by 
awarding grants for--
            (1) the implementation of specific measures, as selected by 
        local educational agencies from a local accountability menu, 
        that have been proven to increase the quality of education; and
            (2) the conduct of other activities that local educational 
        agencies demonstrate will provide enhanced individual 
        instruction for the students served by the agencies.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Local educational agency.--The term ``local educational 
        agency'' has the same meaning given that term under section 
        14101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 8801).
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Education.

SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAMS.

    (a) Local Accountability Menu Grants.--
            (1) Program authorized.--The Secretary shall award grants 
        to local educational agencies to be used for the activities 
        described in paragraph (3).
            (2) Application.--
                    (A) In general.--A local educational agency 
                desiring a grant under this subsection shall submit an 
                application to the Secretary at such time, in such 
                manner, and containing such information as the 
                Secretary may reasonably require.
                    (B) Contents.--Each application submitted under 
                subparagraph (A) shall include--
                            (i) a description of the local educational 
                        agency's plan of activities for which grant 
                        funds under this subsection are sought;
                            (ii) a detailed budget of anticipated grant 
                        fund expenditures;
                            (iii) a detailed description of the 
                        methodology that the local educational agency 
                        will use to evaluate the effectiveness of 
                        grants received by such agency under this 
                        subsection; and
                            (iv) such assurances as the Secretary 
                        determines to be essential to ensure compliance 
                        with the requirements of this Act.
            (3) Authorized activities.--Grant funds awarded under this 
        subsection may be used for one or more of the following 
        measures, collectively established as the local accountability 
        menu:
                    (A) Reduction of student-teacher ratios through the 
                hiring of new classroom teachers.
                    (B) School construction assistance for the purpose 
                of relieving overcrowded classrooms and reducing the 
                use of portable classrooms.
                    (C) Hiring of additional experienced teachers who 
                specialize in teaching core subjects such as reading, 
                math, and science, and who will provide increased 
                individualized instruction to students served by the 
                local educational agency.
                    (D) Alternative programs for the education and 
                discipline of chronically violent and disruptive 
                students.
                    (E) Assistance to facilitate the local educational 
                agency's establishment of a year-round school schedule 
                that will allow the agency to increase pay for veteran 
                teachers and reduce the agency's need to hire 
                additional teachers or construct new facilities.
            (4) Administrative cap.--A local educational agency that 
        receives a grant under this subsection shall not use more than 
        3 percent of the funds received for administrative expenses.
    (b) Innovation Grants.--
            (1) Program authorized.--The Secretary shall reserve 10 
        percent of the amount made available to carry out this Act in 
        each fiscal year to award grants, on a competitive basis, to 
        local educational agencies for the local educational agencies 
        to carry out the activities described in paragraph (3).
            (2) Application.--
                    (A) In general.--A local educational agency 
                desiring a grant under this subsection shall submit an 
                application to the Secretary at such time, in such 
                manner, and containing such information as the 
                Secretary may reasonably require.
                    (B) Contents.--Each application submitted under 
                subparagraph (A) shall include--
                            (i) a description of the local educational 
                        agency's plan of activities for which grant 
                        funds under this subsection are sought;
                            (ii) a detailed budget of anticipated grant 
                        fund expenditures;
                            (iii) a detailed description of the 
                        methodology that the local educational agency 
                        will use to evaluate the effectiveness of 
                        grants received by such agency under this 
                        subsection; and
                            (iv) such assurances as the Secretary 
                        determines to be essential to ensure compliance 
                        with the requirements of this Act.
            (3) Authorized activities.--Each local educational agency 
        receiving a grant under this subsection shall use the amounts 
        received under the grant for one or more activities that the 
        local educational agency sufficiently demonstrates, as 
        determined by the Secretary, will provide enhanced individual 
        instruction for students served by the agency, but that are not 
        part of the local accountability menu described in subsection 
        (a)(3).
            (4) Limitation.--No funds awarded under this subsection 
        shall be used for tuition payments for students at private 
        schools or for public school choice programs.
            (5) Administrative cap.--A local educational agency that 
        receives a grant under this subsection shall not use more than 
        3 percent of the funds received for administrative expenses.

SEC. 5. ALLOCATION.

    (a) Administrative Cap.--The Secretary shall expend not more than 
0.25 percent of the funds made available to carry out this Act on 
administrative costs.
    (b) Funding to Indian Tribes.--From the amount made available to 
carry out this Act for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve 
0.75 percent to awards grants to Indian tribes to carry out the 
purposes of this Act.
    (c) Formula.--From the amount made available to carry out this Act 
for any fiscal year, and remaining after the reservations under 
subsections (a) and (b) and under section 4(b)(1), the Secretary shall 
distribute such remaining amounts among the local education agencies as 
follows:
            (1) 80 percent of such amount shall be allocated among such 
        eligible, local educational agencies in proportion to the 
        number of children, aged 5 to 17, who reside in the school 
        district served by such local educational agency from families 
        with incomes below the poverty line (as defined by the Office 
        of Management and Budget and revised annually in accordance 
        with section 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) applicable to a family of the size involved 
        for the most recent fiscal year for which satisfactory data are 
        available as compared to the number of such children who reside 
        in the school districts served by all eligible, local 
        educational agencies for the fiscal year involved.
            (2) 20 percent of such amount shall be allocated among such 
        eligible local educational agencies in proportion to the 
        relative enrollments of children, aged 5 to 17, in public and 
        private nonprofit elementary and secondary schools within the 
        boundaries of such agencies.
    (d) Limitation on Carryover.--Not more than 20 percent of the funds 
allocated to a local educational agency for any fiscal year under this 
Act may remain available for obligation by such agency for 1 additional 
fiscal year.

SEC. 6. SANCTIONS.

    If the Secretary determines that the local educational agency has 
used funds in violation of the provisions of this Act or the 
regulations promulgated by the Secretary pursuant to section 8, the 
Secretary may impose an appropriate sanction that may include 
reimbursement or ineligibility for additional funds for a period of 
years, depending upon the severity of the misuse of funds.

SEC. 7. REPORT AND DOCUMENTATION.

    (a) Report to the Secretary.--At such time as the Secretary deems 
appropriate, and not less than once each year thereafter, each 
recipient of a grant under this Act shall submit to the Secretary a 
report that includes, for the year to which the report relates--
            (1) a description of how the funds made available under 
        this Act were expended in correlation with the plan and budget 
        submitted under sections 4(a)(2) and 4(b)(2), as applicable; 
        and
            (2) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the grant 
        received under this Act, as required by sections 4(a)(2)(B) and 
        4(b)(2)(B), as applicable.
    (b) Documents and Information.--Each recipient of a grant under 
this Act shall provide the Secretary with all documents and information 
that the Secretary reasonably determines to be necessary to conduct an 
evaluation of the effectiveness of programs funded under this Act.

SEC. 8. REGULATORY AUTHORITY.

    The Secretary shall issue such regulations and guidelines as may be 
necessary to carry out this Act.

SEC. 9. NOTICE.

    Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall provide specific notification concerning the 
availability of grants authorized by this Act to each local educational 
agency.

SEC. 10. ANTIDISCRIMINATION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify or affect any 
Federal or State law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, 
religion, color, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, or 
disability, or to modify or affect any right to enforcement of this Act 
that may exist under other Federal laws, except as expressly provided 
by this Act.

SEC. 11. MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.

    Funds made available under this Act shall be used to supplement, 
not supplant, any other Federal, State, or local funds that would 
otherwise be available to carry out the activities assisted under this 
Act.

SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act, 
$50,000,000,000 for the 10-fiscal year period beginning on October 1, 
2002.
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