Short title

This Act may be cited as the Coordinate to Educate Act.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.