1.This Act may be cited as the
Full-Service Community Schools Act of
2007
.
2.Full-Service
Community SchoolsTitle IV of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
DFull-Service
Community Schools
4401.The purposes of this part are the
following:
(1)Providing support
for the planning, implementation, and operation of full-service community
schools.
(2)Improving the
coordination, availability, and effectiveness of services for children and
families.
(3)Enabling
principals and teachers to complement and enrich efforts to help all children
reach proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2014.
(4)Ensuring that
children come to school ready to learn every day.
(5)Enabling families
to participate in the education of their children.
(6)Enabling more
efficient use of Federal, State, local, and private sector resources that serve
children and families.
(7)Facilitating the
coordination of programs operated by community-based organizations, nonprofit
organizations, and State, local, and tribal governments.
(8)Engaging students as
resources to their communities.
(9)Engaging the business community and other
community organizations as partners in the development of full-service
community schools.
4402.Full-service
community schoolFor purposes
of this part, the term full-service community school means a
public elementary or secondary school that—
(1)participates in a
community-based effort to coordinate educational, developmental, family,
health, and other comprehensive services through community-based organizations
and public and private partnerships; and
(2)provides access to
such services to students, families, and the community.
4403.
(a)The
Secretary may award grants to eligible entities to assist public elementary or
secondary schools to function as full-service community schools.
(b)Grants awarded under this section shall be used to
coordinate or provide not less than 3 qualified services at 1 or more public
elementary or secondary schools.
(c)To
seek a grant under this section, an eligible entity shall submit an application
to the Secretary at such time and in such manner as the Secretary may require.
The Secretary shall require that each such application include the
following:
(1)A description of
the eligible entity.
(2)A list of partner
entities that will assist the eligible entity to coordinate or provide
qualified services.
(3)A memorandum of
understanding between the eligible entity and all partner entities describing
the role the partner entities will assume.
(4)A description of
the capacity of the eligible entity to provide and coordinate qualified
services at a full-service community school.
(5)A comprehensive
plan that includes descriptions of the following:
(A)The student,
family, and school community to be served, including information about the
demographic characteristics and needs of students, families, and community
residents, the number of individuals to be served, and the frequency of
services.
(B)Qualified services to be provided or
coordinated by the eligible entity and its partner entities and how these
services will meet the needs of students and their families.
(C)Planning,
coordination, management, and oversight of qualified services at each school to
be served, including the role of the school principal, the full-service
community school coordinator, partner entities, parents, and members of the
community.
(D)Funding sources
for qualified services at each school to be served, whether such funding is
derived from grants under this section or from other Federal, State, local, or
private sources.
(E)Plans for
professional development for personnel managing, or coordinating or delivering
qualified services at, the schools to be served.
(F)Plans for joint
utilization and maintenance of school facilities by the eligible entity and its
partner entities.
(G)How the eligible entity and its partners
will focus services on schools eligible for a schoolwide program under section
1114.
(6)Identification of
principles of effectiveness that are based on—
(A)an assessment of
objective data regarding the need for the establishment of a full-service
community school and qualified services at each school to be served and in the
community involved;
(B)an established set
of performance measures aimed at ensuring the availability and effectiveness of
high-quality services; and
(C)if appropriate,
scientifically based research that provides evidence that the qualified
services involved will help students meet State and local student academic
achievement standards.
(7)A strategy for
developing a plan for sustainability.
(d)In
awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to
eligible entities that—
(1)will serve 2 or
more full-service community schools eligible for a schoolwide program under
section 1114;
(2)demonstrate a
record of effectiveness in coordinating multiple qualified services; and
(3)will serve more
than 1 full-service community school as part of a community- or district-wide
strategy.
(e)Each grant awarded under this section shall be for a
period of 5 years.
(f)The Secretary may not award a grant to an eligible entity
under this section in an amount that is less than $75,000 for each year of the
5-year grant period.
(g)In
this section:
(1)The term
eligible entity means a consortium of a local educational agency
and 1 or more community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, or other
public or private entities.
(2)The term
qualified services means any of the following:
(A)Early childhood
education.
(B)Remedial education
activities and academic enrichment activities.
(C)Programs under the
Head Start Act, including Early Head
Start programs.
(D)Programs that
promote parental involvement and family literacy, including the Reading First,
Early Reading First, and William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy
programs authorized in part B of title I.
(E)Mentoring and
other youth development programs.
(F)Parent leadership
development activities.
(G)Parenting
education activities.
(H)Child care
services.
(I)Community service
and service learning opportunities.
(J)Programs that
provide assistance to students who have been truant, suspended, or
expelled.
(K)Job training,
career counseling, and internship opportunities.
(L)Nutrition
services.
(M)Primary health and
dental care.
(N)Mental health
counseling services.
(O)Adult education,
including instruction in English as a second language.
(P)Other services
consistent with this part.
4404.
(a)The
Secretary may award grants to State collaboratives to support the development
of full-service community school programs in accordance with this
section.
(b)Grants awarded under this section shall be used only for
the following:
(1)Planning, coordinating, and expanding the
development of full-service community schools in the State, particularly
schools in high-poverty local educational agencies.
(2)Providing
technical assistance and training for full-service community schools, including
professional development for personnel and creation of data collection and
evaluation systems.
(3)Collecting,
evaluating, and reporting data about the progress of full-service community
schools.
(4)Evaluating the
impact of State policies and guidelines in the integration of Federal and State
programs at full-service community schools.
(c)To
seek a grant under this section, a State collaborative shall submit an
application to the Secretary at such time and in such manner as the Secretary
may require. The Secretary shall require that each such application include the
following:
(1)A list of all
governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations that will participate as
members of the State collaborative.
(2)A description of
the expertise of each member of the State collaborative—
(A)in coordinating
Federal and State programs across multiple agencies;
(B)in working with
and developing the capacity of full-service community schools; and
(C)in working with
high-poverty schools and local educational agencies.
(3)A comprehensive
plan describing how the grant will be used to plan, coordinate, and expand the
delivery of services at full-service community schools.
(4)An explanation of
how the State collaborative will provide technical assistance and training,
including professional development, for full-service community schools.
(5)An explanation of
how the State will collect and evaluate information on full-service community
schools.
(d)Each grant awarded under this section shall be for a
period of 5 years.
(e)The Secretary may not award a grant to a State
collaborative under this section in an amount that is less than $500,000 for
each year of the 5-year grant period.
(f)For
purposes of this section:
(1)The term
State includes the several States, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
American Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and any other territory
or possession of the United States.
(2)The term
State collaborative means a collaborative of a State educational
agency and not less than 2 other governmental agencies or nonprofit
organizations that provide services to children and families.
4405.
(a)There
is hereby established an advisory committee to be known as the
Full-Service Community Schools Advisory Committee
(in this
section referred to as the Advisory Committee
).
(b)Subject
to subsection (c), the Advisory Committee shall—
(1)consult with the
Secretary on the development and implementation of programs under this
part;
(2)identify
strategies to improve the coordination of Federal programs in support of
full-service community schools; and
(3)issue an annual
report to the Congress on efforts under this part, including a description
of—
(A)the results of
local and national evaluation of such efforts; and
(B)the scope of
services being coordinated under this part.
(c)In
carrying out its duties under this section, the Advisory Committee shall
consult annually with eligible entities awarded grants under section 4403,
State collaboratives awarded grants under section 4404, and other entities with
expertise in operating full-service community schools.
(d)The
Advisory Committee shall consist of 4 members as follows:
(1)The Attorney
General of the United States (or the Attorney General’s delegate).
(2)The Secretary of
Agriculture (or the Secretary’s delegate).
(3)The Secretary of
Health and Human Services (or the Secretary’s delegate).
(4)The Secretary of
Labor (or the Secretary’s delegate).
4406.
(a)The Secretary, directly or through grants, shall
provide such technical assistance as may be appropriate to accomplish the
purposes of this part.
(b)The Secretary shall conduct evaluations on the
effectiveness of grants under sections 4403 and 4404 in achieving the purposes
of this part.
(c)The Secretary shall require each recipient of a grant
under this section—
(1)to conduct
periodic evaluations of the grant's progress toward achieving the purposes of
this part;
(2)to use such
evaluations to refine and improve activities conducted with the grant and the
performance measures for such activities; and
(3)to make the
results of such evaluations publicly available, including by providing public
notice of such availability.
(d)Funds made available to a grantee under this part may be
used only to supplement, and not supplant, any other Federal, State, or local
funds that would otherwise be available to carry out the activities assisted
under this part.
(e)
(1)The Secretary shall require each recipient of a grant
under this part to provide matching funds from non-Federal sources in an amount
determined under paragraph (2).
(2)Determination of
amount of match
(A)Subject to subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall determine
the amount of matching funds to be required of a grantee under this subsection
based on a sliding fee scale that takes into account—
(i)the relative
poverty of the population to be targeted by the grantee; and
(ii)the ability of
the grantee to obtain such matching funds.
(B)The Secretary may not require any grantee under this
section to provide matching funds in an amount that exceeds the amount of the
grant award.
(3)The Secretary shall permit grantees under this
section to match funds in whole or in part with in-kind contributions.
(4)Notwithstanding
this subsection, the Secretary shall not consider an applicant’s ability to
match funds when determining which applicants will receive grants under this
part.
4407.Authorization
of appropriations
(a)There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this
part $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as may be necessary for
each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2013.
(b)Of
the amounts appropriated to carry out this part for each fiscal year—
(1)75 percent shall
be for section 4403;
(2)20 percent shall
be for section 4404; and
(3)of the remaining 5
percent, not less than $500,000 shall be for technical assistance under section
4406(a).
.