[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1386 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1386

  To support the local decision-making functions of local educational 
  agencies by limiting the authority of the Secretary of Education to 
issue regulations, rules, grant conditions, and guidance materials, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 21, 2013

 Mr. Schock (for himself, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Rodney Davis of 
   Illinois, and Mr. Kind) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To support the local decision-making functions of local educational 
  agencies by limiting the authority of the Secretary of Education to 
issue regulations, rules, grant conditions, and guidance materials, 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 School Board Governance and 
Flexibility Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the responsibility for education resides with the 
        States, which have delegated to local school boards the power 
        and authority to adopt policies, establish priorities, and 
        provide accountability to direct the operation of neighborhood 
        schools;
            (2) local school boards are held accountable by local 
        voters to represent the interests of students, parents, local 
        businesses, civic organizations, taxpayers, and the community 
        at large in determining, subject to State laws and policies, 
        the direction, values, climate, and financial support of the 
        schools in their community;
            (3) the vital national interest in local self-governance of 
        local educational agencies has been weakened through Department 
        of Education requirements that are either unnecessary to 
        achieve the specific direction of legislation enacted by the 
        Congress, or that impose unnecessary limits on the flexibility 
        needed by local educational agencies in order to meet local, 
        State, and Federal goals in education; and
            (4) to support the local decisionmaking function of local 
        educational agencies, the Secretary of Education should engage 
        only in issuing regulations, rules, grant conditions, guidance 
        materials, and other requirements under the jurisdiction of the 
        Department that are--
                    (A) specifically required to implement Federal 
                legislation, and
                    (B) demonstrated to be educationally, 
                operationally, and financially within the capacity of 
                local educational agencies to implement.

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY.

    Unless specifically authorized by Federal law, the Secretary may 
not issue a Federal regulation, rule, grant condition, guidance 
material, or other requirement pertaining to a State educational agency 
or a local educational agency that--
            (1) conflicts with the power and authority of the local 
        educational agency delegated by the State regarding the 
        operation of the schools (including the school system's mission 
        and goals, organization, local budget and budget priorities, 
        education program, curriculum, or extra-curricular activities), 
        student health services and safety, transportation and school 
        boundaries, procurement policies, staffing and personnel 
        policies, capital construction, authority to levy taxes, issue 
        bonds, acquire land, and other functions essential to the daily 
        operation of the schools within the jurisdiction of the local 
        educational agency;
            (2) results in additional costs to the local education 
        agency for reporting, grant administration, and general 
        operations unless fully funded from Federal funds;
            (3) conflicts with the power and authority of the local 
        educational agency to determine how to engage or act upon 
        community participation and advice;
            (4) imposes requirements on a local educational agency that 
        would limit or adversely affect its authority to function as a 
        legislative, executive or quasi-judicial agency;
            (5) conflicts with the authority of a State to determine 
        the appropriate governance structure of its local educational 
        agencies, or the authority of a local educational agency to 
        determine the appropriate governance and management of its 
        schools;
            (6) establishes reporting requirements for local 
        educational agencies that duplicate existing Federal 
        requirements or that are issued without first conducting a 
        fiscal impact statement related to the costs to local 
        educational agencies, including requests for data and 
        recommendations from local educational agencies and national 
        education organizations consistent with the provisions of 
        section 4(a); or
            (7) places conditions or requirements on a grant to a State 
        or local educational agency that are not directly related to or 
        support the intent of the specific purpose of the grant or the 
        legislation authorizing such grant.

SEC. 4. OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMENT REGARDING LOCAL IMPACT.

    (a) In General.--During each fiscal year (beginning with the fiscal 
year following the fiscal year in which this Act is enacted), the 
Secretary of Education shall provide local educational agencies and the 
major national education organizations, including those representing 
local school boards, local school superintendents, principals, and 
teachers, a minimum of 60 days in order to provide written comments 
regarding the local impact of implementing Federal regulations, rules, 
grant conditions, guidance materials, or other requirements for any 
applicable program or activity of the Secretary.
    (b) Report.--The Secretary of Education shall prepare and publish a 
report based on the comments received pursuant to subsection (a), which 
shall be forwarded to the chairs and ranking members of the Education 
and Workforce Committee of the House of Representatives and the Health, 
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the Senate not later than 
July 1 of each year and shall be simultaneously posted on the 
Department of Education's website.

SEC. 5. EFFICIENCY IN IMPLEMENTING FEDERAL PROGRAMS.

    (a) Eliminating Reporting Duplications.--Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education 
shall conduct a review of existing reporting requirements applicable to 
local educational agencies resulting from programs and activities under 
the jurisdiction of the Department of Education to determine 
duplications and make modifications as necessary to eliminate such 
reporting duplications.
    (b) Prohibition.--The Secretary may not promulgate any regulation, 
rule, guidance material, grant condition, or other requirement 
pertaining to a State educational agency or a local educational agency, 
without first taking the following actions:
            (1) Requesting data and recommendations from local 
        educational agencies and the major national education 
        organizations representing local school boards, local school 
        superintendents, principals, and teachers regarding the 
        educational, financial, and operational costs involved for 
        implementation, and publishing the data and recommendations 
        provided upon issuance of such regulation, rule, guidance 
        material, grant condition, or other requirement and posting 
        that information on the Department of Education's website.
            (2) Verifying, based on the data set forth in paragraph 
        (1), that local educational agencies will have the financial 
        resources and the technical assistance they may need to 
        successfully implement the regulation, rule, guidance material, 
        grant condition, or other requirement including any Federal 
        requirement that would extend beyond the time that Federal 
        assistance is available for that purpose.
            (3) Providing local educational agencies and the national 
        education organizations identified in paragraph (1) with not 
        less than 60 days notice following the Secretary's publication 
        of a notice of intent to issue any regulation, rule, guidance 
        material, grant condition, or other requirement to respond, 
        unless a shorter time period is needed to meet an emergency 
        such as a declared natural disaster.
            (4) Ensuring that maximum flexibility is provided to local 
        educational agencies in implementing any regulation, rule, 
        guidance material, grant condition, or other requirement.
    (c) Review and Response.--If a local educational agency or an 
organization identified in subsection (b) provides the Secretary of 
Education with a written statement demonstrating that a regulation, 
rule, guidance material, grant condition, or other requirement does not 
meet the substantive or procedural requirements of this Act, the 
Secretary, or the Secretary's designee, shall review the merits of that 
statement, provide a written response within 60 days, and post that 
response on the Department of Education's website, including what 
action, if any, the Secretary will take to correct any deficiency that 
the Secretary determines exists.
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