[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 371 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 371

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 15, 2001

   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 public 
   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 2001'.

``SEC. 10995B. PURPOSE.

    ``The purpose of this part is to encourage eligible partnerships to 
establish or expand child opportunity zone family centers in public 
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 part:
            ``(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 public 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, such as a local or State 
                        department of health, mental health, or social 
                        services; and
                            ``(iv) a nonprofit community-based 
                        organization, providing health, mental health, 
                        or social services;
                            ``(v) a local child care resource and 
                        referral agency; and
                            ``(vi) a local organization representing 
                        parents; and
                    ``(B) that may contain--
                            ``(i) an institution of higher education; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) other public or private nonprofit 
                        entities with experience in providing services 
                        to disadvantaged families.

``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 such as education, child care, before- and after-
        school care and enrichment programs, health services, mental 
        health services, family support, nutrition, literacy services, 
        parenting skills, and drop-out prevention;
            ``(2) to provide intensive, high-quality, research-based 
        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); 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 applicable accountability 
                systems, including State and local content standards, 
                performance standards, and assessments, their 
                children's educational performance in comparison to the 
                standards, and the steps the school is taking to 
                address the children's needs and to help the children 
                meet the standards; and
                    ``(B) communicate effectively with personnel 
                responsible for providing educational services to the 
                families' children, and to participate in the 
                development 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 public elementary school or secondary 
        school, and other partnership members;
            ``(3) describe how the partnership will effectively 
        coordinate with the centers under section 1118 and utilize 
        Federal, State, and local sources of funding that provide 
        assistance to families and their children;
            ``(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) coordinate the activities assisted under this 
                part with the education reform efforts of the 
                participating public elementary school or secondary 
                school, and the participating local educational agency;
            ``(5) describe how the partnership will ensure that 
        underserved populations such as 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. FUNDING.

    ``(a) 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).
    ``(b) Limitation on Use of Funds To Offset Other Programs.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds received 
under a grant under this part may be used to pay for expenses related 
to any other Federal program, including treating such funds as an 
offset against such a Federal program.

``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 the results of the partnership's performance assessment 
effectiveness in reaching and meeting the needs of families and 
children served under this part, including performance measures 
demonstrating--
            ``(1) improvements in areas such as student achievement, 
        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
            ``(2) reductions in such areas as violence among youth, 
        truancy, suspension, and dropout rates, resulting from 
        activities assisted under this part.
    ``(b) National Evaluations.--The Secretary shall reserve not more 
than 3 percent of the amount appropriated under this part to carry out 
a national evaluation of the effectiveness 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 2001, and every year thereafter and shall be submitted to 
Congress.
    ``(c) Exemplary Activities.--The Secretary shall broadly 
disseminate information on exemplary activities developed under this 
part.

``SEC. 10995J. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 
$100,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums as may be necessary 
for each of the fiscal years 2003 through 2005.''.
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