[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6504 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6504

   To authorize grants to local educational agencies to develop and 
                implement coordinated services programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 15, 2008

 Ms. Woolsey introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize grants to local educational agencies to develop and 
                implement coordinated services programs.

    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 ``Coordinate to Educate Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Growing numbers of children live in an environment of 
        social and economic conditions that greatly increase their risk 
        of academic failure when they become students.
            (2) Many academically at-risk students suffer the effects 
        of inadequate nutrition and health care, lack of child care, 
        overcrowded and unsafe living conditions and homelessness, 
        family and gang violence, substance abuse, sexual abuse and 
        child abuse, involuntary migration and limited English 
        proficiency that often create severe barriers to learning the 
        knowledge and skills needed to become literate, independent and 
        productive citizens.
            (3) Almost half of all children and youths live in a single 
        parent family for some period of their lives, while many others 
        live in families with two full-time working parents, greatly 
        reducing parental involvement in their education.
            (4) Services for at-risk students are often fragmented, 
        inconvenient, expensive, overregulated, ineffective and 
        duplicative, and focused on only a single narrow problem 
        without meeting the needs of the child and the family.
            (5) School personnel, parents, and support service 
        providers often lack knowledge of, and access to, available 
        services for at-risk students and their families in the 
        community, are constrained by bureaucratic obstacles from 
        providing the services most needed, and have few resources or 
        incentives to coordinate services and make them accessible.
            (6) Service providers, such as teachers, social workers, 
        health care and child care providers, juvenile justice workers 
        and others, are often trained in separate institutions, 
        practice in separate agencies, and pursue separate professional 
        activities that provide little support for coordination and 
        integration of services.
            (7) Coordination and integration of services for at-risk 
        students emphasizing prevention and early intervention offer a 
        greater opportunity to break the cycle that leads to academic 
        failure, leaving school, low-skill levels, unemployment and low 
        income.
            (8) Coordination of services is cost effective for schools 
        and support agencies because it reduces duplication, improves 
        quality of services, and substitutes prevention for expensive 
        crisis interventions, while ensuring that students are ready to 
        learn when they are in the classroom.
    (b) Purposes.--It is the purpose of this Act to establish a program 
of grants to local education agencies to improve students' educational 
performances by--
            (1) removing barriers to their learning;
            (2) coordinating and enhancing the effectiveness of support 
        services;
            (3) making support services available, affordable, and 
        convenient for those who need them;
            (4) replicating and disseminating successful high quality 
        coordinated service programs;
            (5) increasing parental involvement in education;
            (6) improving the capacity of school and support service 
        personnel to collaborate;
            (7) integrating services, regulations, data bases, 
        eligibility procedures and funding sources whenever possible; 
        and
            (8) focusing school and community resources on prevention 
        and early intervention strategies to address student needs and 
        to ensure that students are ready to learn when they are in the 
        classroom.

SEC. 3. GRANT AUTHORIZATION.

    The Secretary of Education is authorized to make development and 
implementation grants to local education agencies to develop and 
implement coordinated service programs.

SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.

    (a) Eligibility.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this 
section, a local educational agency shall--
            (1) plan to collaborate with health and social service 
        agencies to develop a program of school-linked integrated 
        service for children and families on or near a school site; or
            (2) offer some coordinated services, but be able to 
        demonstrate a need for the expansion of services.
    (b) Duration.--Grants under this section may be for up to 3 years 
duration, subject to providing the Secretary with annual evidence of 
satisfactory progress towards the achievement of a plan for a self-
sufficient coordinated service program.
    (c) Applications.--A local educational agency that wishes to 
receive a grant under this section shall submit an application which 
identifies--
            (1) the need for coordinated services among all or some of 
        the students of a local educational agency;
            (2) the proposed membership of a collaborative which will 
        be formed to achieve broad-based coordinated services, 
        including representatives from the appropriate levels of all 
        sectors and services necessary to achieve broad-based 
        coordinated services, including representatives of children and 
        families;
            (3) the objectives of the collaboration; and
            (4) performance measurements.
    (d) Use of Funds.--Grants awarded under this section shall be used 
to--
            (1) plan and hold regular meetings of the collaborative;
            (2) identify barriers to learning experienced by students 
        in the local educational agency that stem from factors external 
        to the public school system, including poor health, physical 
        and sexual abuse, poor nutrition, inadequate housing, lack of 
        appropriate childcare and lack of appropriate preschool and 
        before and after school care;
            (3) assess the availability of currently existing social 
        service programs which could help to alleviate these barriers;
            (4) assess the availability of local, State and private 
        funds, the redirection of existing funds and the use of in-kind 
        services;
            (5) assess the feasibility of a sliding scale fee for 
        services that will be delivered; and
            (6) develop an interagency service delivery plan that 
        identifies--
                    (A) the priorities of the service providers and the 
                community;
                    (B) the availability and use of adequate staff and 
                physical resources;
                    (C) a plan to coordinate Federal, State and local 
                regulations, eligibility requirements and application 
                procedures;
                    (D) how coordinated services will be delivered, 
                including a case management system; and
                    (E) a plan to become self-sufficient, without using 
                funds authorized under this Act, not later than 2 years 
                after implementation.

SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.

    (a) Eligibility.--A local educational agency that desires to 
receive a grant under this section shall have an interagency service 
delivery plan that has been approved by the Secretary of Education.
    (b) Duration.--Grants under this section may not exceed a 2-year 
period.
    (c) Applications.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this 
section, a local educational agency shall submit an application which--
            (1) identifies barriers to learning experienced by students 
        in the local educational agency that stem from factors external 
        to the public school system, including poor health, evidence of 
        physical or sexual abuse, poor nutrition, inadequate housing, 
        lack of appropriate childcare and lack of appropriate preschool 
        and before and after school care;
            (2) identifies existing social service programs;
            (3) identifies the participants in the delivery of 
        coordinated services, including community and parent 
        involvement;
            (4) includes an interagency service delivery plan which 
        includes the priorities of the service providers and the 
        community;
            (5) includes an interagency agreement signed by key parties 
        within the collaborative, partnership schools and agencies that 
        detail what will be done, by whom and when;
            (6) makes assurances that Federal funds will be used for 
        not more than 50 percent of the costs of this project after the 
        first year, with a commitment of matching funds from other 
        agencies or private sources, including the redirection of 
        existing funds and the use of in-kind services which will fully 
        support the project after the second year;
            (7) identifies how the coordinated service program will be 
        staffed, including the case of a coordinator and including a 
        plan for interagency staff training and development;
            (8) identifies where the coordinated service program will 
        be located;
            (9) identifies how Federal, State, and local regulations, 
        eligibility requirements and application procedures have been 
        coordinated;
            (10) utilizes a case management system; and
            (11) sets sliding scale service fees, if feasible.
    (d) Use of Funds.--Grants awarded under this section may be used--
            (1) to locate and obtain commitments from funding sources 
        other than the Federal Government when this grant ends;
            (2) to improve interagency communications and information-
        sharing, including developing telecommunications networks, 
        software development, data base integration and management, and 
        other applications of technology that improve coordination of 
        service;
            (3) to support colocation of interagency service delivery 
        programs in schools or other sites close to schools, including 
        rental or lease payments, open and lock-up fees or maintenance 
        and security costs necessary for the delivery of services to 
        students;
            (4) for staff development, including in-service and cross-
        agency training, for the interagency service delivery team, 
        including school staff;
            (5) to research and tabulate figures which demonstrate the 
        success of a coordinated services program, including improved 
        outcome for children and families in terms of taxpayers dollars 
        saved; and
            (6) to support dissemination and replication of successful 
        programs to other areas within a local educational agency.

SEC. 6. TARGET POPULATIONS.

    (a) Eligible Schools, Grades, and Areas.--An eligible local 
educational agency may select a school or program area for coordinated 
services if the project design is of adequate size, scope, and quality 
to achieve projected outcomes.
    (b) Eligible Students.--Programs and services shall be made 
available to all children and families in the area to be served and 
shall, when appropriate, be paid on a sliding scale.

SEC. 7. SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.

    In making awards under this Act, the Secretary shall give special 
consideration to--
            (1) the geographic distribution of awards, including urban, 
        suburban, and rural districts;
            (2) districts with concentrated pockets of educationally 
        at-risk students;
            (3) local educational agencies with high proportions of 
        educationally at-risk students; and
            (4) areas with a large number of single parent or two-
        parent, working families.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the provisions 
of this Act for fiscal year 2009, $300,000,000 of which $200,000,000 
shall be allocated for development grants and $100,000,000 shall be 
allocated for implementation grants, and such sums as may be necessary 
for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2015.
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