[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1564 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1564

 To provide for the full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities 
 Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 2, 2003

Mr. Allen (for himself and Mr. Michaud) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and in addition 
  to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities 
 Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 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 ``Local Property Tax Relief Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Local property taxes are rising in many communities 
        across the United States to meet growing education 
        expenditures, caused in part by the need to meet requirements 
        and standards set by Federal education policies.
            (2) States are facing the worst fiscal conditions since 
        World War II as the majority of states face growing budget 
        shortfalls. In order to meet their education budgets, many 
        states are being forced to raise taxes. Property taxes are 
        imposed in all 50 States. It has been estimated that property 
        taxes across the country on average will increase 10 percent, 
        and as high as 20 to 30 percent in some States.
            (3) With the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities 
        Education Act, the Federal Government authorized a commitment 
        to provide states funding to cover 40 percent of the national 
        average per pupil expenditure for each disabled child served.
            (4) The Federal Government has never provided more than 17 
        percent of the average per pupil expenditure under the 
        Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
            (5) With the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 
        2001, the Federal Government promised to provide full funding 
        for programs to help schools meet new requirements to 
        demonstrate their success in terms of each student's 
        achievements.
            (6) Since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 
        2001, the President has failed to request, and Congress has 
        failed to appropriate, full funding levels authorized by the 
        Act.
            (7) Fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities 
        Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 would 
        provide billions of dollars to States and communities for 
        education expenses, and relieve the burden on local property 
        tax payers bearing the brunt of increasing expenditures on 
        schools and students.
            (8) Since the beginning of the 107th Congress, Congress has 
        approved tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy, and will 
        result in the loss of more than $2,000,000,000,000 in Federal 
        revenue over the next decade, a fraction of which could be used 
        to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 
        the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, or both Acts.

SEC. 3. FULL FUNDING FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT.

    There is appropriated an additional $9,500,000,000, for fiscal year 
2003, to fully fund 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditures 
for programs under section 611 of the Individuals with Disabilities 
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1411).

SEC. 4. FULL FUNDING FOR THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT OF 2001.

    There is appropriated an additional $5,165,000,000, for fiscal year 
2003, to fully fund programs authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act 
of 2001 (Public Law 107-110).

SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON OFFSETTING REVENUE TO PROVIDE FUNDING FOR 
              EDUCATION.

    It is the sense of Congress that the reduction scheduled to take 
effect on January 1, 2004, in the highest income tax rate should be 
postponed in order to raise revenues sufficient to offset the 
appropriations made under sections 3 and 4.
                                 <all>