[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4565 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4565

To amend the weights used to determine amounts for targeted grants and 
education finance incentive grants for local educational agencies under 
     title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 11, 2023

 Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. Panetta) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education 
                           and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the weights used to determine amounts for targeted grants and 
education finance incentive grants for local educational agencies under 
     title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

    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 ``All Children are Equal Act'' or the 
``ACE Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Section 1125AA of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 6336) is amended--
            (1) by amending the heading to read as follows:

``SEC. 1125AA. INCREASE GRANTS PER FORMULA STUDENT AS THE PERCENTAGE OF 
              ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN A LOCAL 
              EDUCATIONAL AGENCY INCREASES.'';

        and
            (2) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
    ``(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            ``(1) The current Basic Grant Formula for the distribution 
        of funds under this part does not adequately target funds for 
        schools with the highest concentrations of economically 
        disadvantaged students.
            ``(2) The current formulas for distributing Targeted and 
        Education Finance Incentive Grants is intended to allocate more 
        funds per formula student to local educational agencies with 
        higher concentrations of such students.
            ``(3) These formula use two weighting systems, one based on 
        the percentage of the aged 5-17 population in a local education 
        agency that is eligible to receive funds under this title 
        (percentage weighting), and another based on the absolute 
        number of such students (number weighting). Whichever of these 
        weighting systems results in the highest total weighted formula 
        student count for a local educational agency is the weighting 
        system used for that agency in the final allocation of Targeted 
        and Education Finance Incentive Grant funds.
            ``(4) Since the amount available to be distributed through 
        these formulas is fixed by congressional appropriation, any 
        gain in allocation share by one local educational agency causes 
        a loss to other local educational agencies.
            ``(5) The number weighting alternative is often favorable 
        to very large local educational agencies, even if the agency's 
        formula student percentage is low. But because smaller local 
        education agencies simply do not have enough students to gain 
        from number weighting, they are adversely affected under the 
        number weighting alternative.
            ``(6) The Congressional Research Service has compared the 
        funding allocations of each local education agency for school 
        year 2021-2022 under the current dual weighting system with the 
        funding allocation it would have that year if all local 
        educational agencies had their student count weighted only by 
        percentage weighting.
            ``(7) This data shows that the use of number weighting in 
        these formulas has shifted funding from smaller to larger local 
        educational agencies notwithstanding the level of poverty in 
        either. This is contrary to the intent of Congress, which is to 
        direct more funding per formula student to local educational 
        agencies with high concentrations of poverty, as measured by 
        the number of formula students as a percentage of the aged 5-17 
        population of the local educational agency.
            ``(8) The National Center for Education Statistics 
        confirmed these findings in a statistical analysis report dated 
        May 2019.
            ``(9) Congress has a responsibility to correct this 
        unintended inequity by reducing the power of the number 
        weighting system relative to the percentage weighting system so 
        that local educational agencies with high percentages of 
        poverty but low numbers of students are not disadvantaged under 
        the formulas used for grants under this part.''.

SEC. 3. TARGETED GRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.

    Section 1125(c)(2)(A) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6335(c)(2)(A)) is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(A) In general.--For each fiscal year for which 
                the Secretary uses local educational agency data, the 
                weighted child count used to determine a local 
                educational agency's grant under this section--
                            ``(i) for each fiscal year through fiscal 
                        year 2023, is the larger of the two amounts 
                        determined under subparagraphs (B) and (C); and
                            ``(ii) for fiscal year 2024 and each 
                        succeeding fiscal year, is the amount 
                        determined under subparagraph (B).''.

SEC. 4. EDUCATION FINANCE INCENTIVE GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) States With an Equity Factor Less Than 0.10.--Section 
1125A(d)(1)(B)(i) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 6337(d)(1)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows:
                            ``(i) In general.--For each fiscal year for 
                        which the Secretary uses local educational 
                        agency data, the weighted child count used to 
                        determine a local educational agency's grant 
                        under this section--
                                    ``(I) for each fiscal year through 
                                fiscal year 2023, is the larger of the 
                                two amounts determined under clauses 
                                (ii) and (iii); and
                                    ``(II) for fiscal year 2024 and 
                                each succeeding fiscal year, is the 
                                amount determined under clause 
                                (iii).''.
    (b) States With an Equity Factor Greater Than or Equal to 0.10 and 
Less Than 0.20.--Section 1125A(d)(2)(B)(i) of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6337(d)(2)(B)(i)) is amended 
to read as follows:
                            ``(i) In general.--For each fiscal year for 
                        which the Secretary uses local educational 
                        agency data, the weighted child count used to 
                        determine a local educational agency's grant 
                        under this section--
                                    ``(I) for each fiscal year through 
                                fiscal year 2023, is the larger of the 
                                two amounts determined under clauses 
                                (ii) and (iii); and
                                    ``(II) for fiscal year 2024 and 
                                each succeeding fiscal year, is the 
                                amount determined under clause 
                                (iii).''.
    (c) States With an Equity Factor Greater Than or Equal to 0.20.--
Section 1125A(d)(3)(B)(i) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6337(d)(3)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows:
                            ``(i) In general.--For each fiscal year for 
                        which the Secretary uses local educational 
                        agency data, the weighted child count used to 
                        determine a local educational agency's grant 
                        under this section--
                                    ``(I) for each fiscal year through 
                                fiscal year 2023, is the larger of the 
                                two amounts determined under clauses 
                                (ii) and (iii); and
                                    ``(II) for fiscal year 2024 and 
                                each succeeding fiscal year, is the 
                                amount determined under clause 
                                (iii).''.
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