[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 617 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 617

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve 
    student and teacher performance and access to education in the 
         critically challenged Lower Mississippi Delta region.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 26, 2001

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve 
    student and teacher performance and access to education in the 
         critically challenged Lower Mississippi Delta region.

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

SECTION 1. LOWER MISSISSIPPI DELTA EDUCATION ACCESS AND IMPROVEMENT.

    Title XIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 8601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

   ``Part E--Lower Mississippi Delta Education Access and Improvement

``SEC. 13501. SHORT TITLE.

    ``This part may be cited as the ``Lower Mississippi Delta Education 
Access and Improvement Act''.

``SEC. 13502. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this part:
            ``(1) Eligible institution.--The term `eligible 
        institution' means an institution of higher education--
                    ``(A) that has a school or college of education 
                located in the Lower Mississippi Delta; and
                    ``(B) that has an established, working partnership 
                or consortium with one or more local educational 
                agencies and nonprofit and community organizations, 
                with the purpose of such partnership or consortium 
                being the improvement of education in the Lower 
                Mississippi Delta.
            ``(2) Institution of higher education.--The term 
        `institution of higher education' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 1001).
            ``(3) Lower mississippi delta.--The term `Lower Mississippi 
        Delta' means those counties designated as being part of the 
        Delta Regional Authority jurisdiction in the States of 
        Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee.
            ``(4) Medically underserved population.--The term 
        `medically underserved population' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 330(b)(3) of the Public Health Service Act (42 
        U.S.C. 254b(b)(3)).

``SEC. 13503. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary is authorized to award grants to 
eligible institutions to allow such eligible institutions to carry out 
the activities described in section 13506.
    ``(b) Limitation.--The Secretary may award not fewer than 1 or more 
than 4 grants under this part in each fiscal year.
    ``(c) Period.--Grants under this part may be awarded for periods of 
up to 5 years.

``SEC. 13504. APPLICATION.

    ``(a) In General.--Each eligible institution desiring a grant under 
this part shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 
such manner, and accompanied by such information as the Secretary may 
require.
    ``(b) Contents.--Each application submitted under subsection (a) 
shall contain a description of the activities that the eligible 
institution desires to carry out using funds made available under this 
part, including a description of the specific population to be served 
by such activities.

``SEC. 13505. PRIORITY.

    ``In awarding grants under this part, the Secretary shall give 
priority to applications describing proposed projects in counties--
            ``(1) that possess no single incorporated municipality 
        having a population of more than 75,000 people;
            ``(2) in which the local school districts serve populations 
        of which more than 50 percent of all students are eligible for 
        free or reduced priced lunches; and
            ``(3) in which more than 50 percent of the population is 
        medically underserved.

``SEC. 13506. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.

    ``(a) In General.--Each eligible institution receiving a grant 
under this part shall use amounts received under the grant for 
activities that focus on research, development, and dissemination of 
programs, plans or demonstration projects designed to improve the 
following:
            ``(1) School-wide performance.
            ``(2) Teacher and administrator training.
            ``(3) Teacher retention.
            ``(4) Parent and mentor education.
            ``(5) Assessment.
            ``(6) Cultural based education and regional identity 
        building.
            ``(7) Workforce.
            ``(8) Family literacy.
            ``(9) Preschool learning readiness.
            ``(10) Birth to kindergarten components of early 
        preventative health care, educational intervention, and 
        immunization delivery.
    ``(b) Limitation.--Grants awarded under this part shall be used for 
projects only in the predominately rural and agriculture-centered 
counties and communities of the Lower Mississippi Delta.

``SEC. 13507. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 
$18,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums as may be necessary 
for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.''.
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