[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1189 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1189

 To ensure an appropriate balance between resources and accountability 
              under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 5, 2003

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To ensure an appropriate balance between resources and accountability 
              under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

    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 ``Federal Fair Accountability Includes 
Resources Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was based on the 
        belief that all of the Nation's children, regardless of 
        socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, or state of origin, 
        deserve a fair, equal, and high-quality education.
            (2) In passing this bipartisan legislation, there was great 
        hope that the Nation's educational system would be strengthened 
        by implementing high standards, ensuring that every classroom 
        has a highly qualified teacher, and tracking schools' progress 
        through comprehensive assessments and accountability measures.
            (3) Recognizing that schools would not be able to 
        successfully implement new mandates and improve education 
        without appropriate financial resources from the Federal 
        Government, section 1111(b)(3)(D) of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(3)(D)), as 
        amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, allows States 
        to defer the commencement of certain academic assessments 
        without penalty in any year in which the Federal Government 
        fails to provide adequate resources to implement the new 
        program.
            (4) At its heart, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is 
        not merely a system created to track the success or failure of 
        students and schools, but is intended to facilitate the 
        improvement of education in the Nation today.
            (5) Sections 1111(b)(2) and 1119(a) of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2) and 6319(a)), as 
        amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, authorize 
        critical resources to enable schools to make measurable 
        progress on a yearly basis and work towards putting qualified 
        teachers in every classroom.
            (6) The yearly appropriations for these sections dedicated 
        to helping schools make significant changes and improvements 
        have fallen significantly below the levels that the No Child 
        Left Behind Act of 2001 determined were necessary.
            (7) Schools across the Nation are struggling to meet the 
        new accountability and teacher quality standards without the 
        resources that they were promised in the No Child Left Behind 
        Act of 2001 and without State resources necessary to make up 
        any shortfall.
            (8) Having imposed new requirements on States and school 
        systems that necessitate the additional expenditure of 
        resources, it is fair to insist that the requirements be met 
        only in years in which the necessary resources for improving 
        student achievement and attracting and retaining high-quality 
        teachers have been appropriated by the Federal Government.

SEC. 3. DEFERRAL OF FEDERAL MANDATES IF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FAILS TO 
              MAKE MINIMUM APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Deferral of Certain Requirements.--Section 1116 of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6316) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) Deferral.--No school or local educational agency may be 
identified for or subject to the requirements of school improvement, 
corrective action, or restructuring under this section for any year for 
which the amounts appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this 
part are less than 95 percent of the following amounts:
            ``(1) $16,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
            ``(2) $18,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
            ``(3) $20,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
            ``(4) $22,750,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
            ``(5) $25,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.''.
    (b) Deferral of Requirements for Teachers and Paraprofessionals.--
Section 1119 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 6319) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(m) Deferral.--A State educational agency may defer the 
commencement, suspend the implementation, or modify but not cease the 
development, of the requirements of this section (for the State 
educational agency and local educational agencies within the State) for 
1 year for each year for which the amounts appropriated to carry out 
subparts 1 through 4 of part A of title II are less than the following 
amounts:
            ``(1) For fiscal year 2002, the amount of $2,850,000,000.
            ``(2) For each subsequent fiscal year, the amount described 
        in paragraph (1) adjusted for inflation.''.
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