GOP Chairman Candidate
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Member No.: 166
Joined: 21-August 04
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| QUOTE | Mr. Milam, for himself, Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Laverone, Mr. Garwood, Mr. Cienciolo, and Mr. Heortman submits the following legislation to be forwarded to the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
A BILL
To provide educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, 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 `Excellence through Choice to Elevate Learning Act'.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to assist States to--
(A) give children from low-income families the same choices among all elementary and secondary schools and other academic programs as children from wealthier families already have;
( improve schools and other academic programs by giving parents in low-income families increased consumer power to choose the schools and programs that the parents determine best fit the needs of their children; and
� more fully engage parents in their children's schooling; and
(2) to demonstrate, through a 3-year national grant program, the effects of a voucher program that gives parents in low-income families--
(A) choice among public, private, and religious schools for their children; and
( access to the same academic options as parents in wealthy families have for their children.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL- There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act (other than section 11) $1,800,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2007.
( EVALUATION- There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 11 $17,000,000 for fiscal years 2005 through 2008.
SEC. 4. PROGRAM AUTHORITY.
(a) IN GENERAL- The Secretary shall make grants to States, from allotments made under section 5 to enable the States to carry out educational choice programs that provide scholarships, in accordance with this Act.
( LIMIT ON FEDERAL ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURES- The Secretary may reserve not more than $1,000,000 of the amounts appropriated under section 3(a) for a fiscal year to pay for the costs of administering this Act.
SEC. 5. ALLOTMENTS TO STATES.
(a) ALLOTMENTS- The Secretary shall make the allotments to States in accordance with a formula specified in regulations issued in accordance with subsection (. The formula shall provide that the Secretary shall allot to each State an amount that bears the same relationship to the amounts appropriated under section 3(a) for a fiscal year (other than funds reserved under section 4() as the number of covered children in the State bears to the number of covered children in all such States.
( FORMULA- Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations specifying the formula referred to in subsection (a).
� LIMIT ON STATE ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURES- The State may reserve not more than 1 percent of the funds made available through the State allotment to pay for the costs of administering this Act.
(d) DEFINITION- In this section, the term `covered child' means a child who is enrolled in a public school (including a charter school ) that is an elementary school or secondary school .
SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE SCHOOLS.
(a) ELIGIBILITY-
(1) IN GENERAL- Schools identified by a State under paragraph (2) shall be considered to be eligible schools under this Act.
(2) DETERMINATION- Not later than 180 days after the date the Secretary issues regulations under section 5(, each State shall identify the public elementary schools and secondary schools in the State that are at or below the 25th percentile for academic performance of schools in the State.
( PERFORMANCE- The State shall determine the academic performance of a school under this section based on such criteria as the State may consider to be appropriate.
SEC. 7. SCHOLARSHIPS.
(a) IN GENERAL-
(1) SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS- With funds awarded under this Act, each State awarded a grant under this Act shall provide scholarships to the parents of eligible children, in accordance with subsections ( and �. The State shall ensure that the scholarships may be redeemed for elementary or secondary education for the children at any of a broad variety of public and private schools, including religious schools, in the State.
(2) SCHOLARSHIP AMOUNT- The amount of each scholarship shall be $2000 per year.
(3) TAX EXEMPTION- Scholarships awarded under this Act shall not be considered income of the parents for Federal income tax purposes or for determining eligibility for any other Federal program.
( ELIGIBLE CHILDREN- To be eligible to receive a scholarship under this Act, a child shall be--
(1) a child who is enrolled in a public elementary school or secondary school that is an eligible school ; and
(2) a member of a family with a family income that is not more than 200 percent of the poverty line.
� AWARD RULES-
(1) PRIORITY- In providing scholarships under this Act, the State shall provide scholarships for eligible children through a lottery system administered
for all eligible schools in the State by the State educational agency.
(2) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY- Each State receiving a grant under this Act to carry out an educational choice program shall provide a scholarship in each year of the program to each child who received a scholarship during the previous year of the program, unless--
(A) the child no longer resides in the area served by an eligible school ;
( the child no longer attends school ;
� the child's family income exceeds, by 20 percent or more, 200 percent of the poverty line; or
(D) the child is expelled or convicted of a felony, including felonious drug possession, possession of a weapon on school grounds, or a violent act against an other student or a member of the school's faculty.
SEC. 8. USES OF FUNDS.
Any scholarship awarded under this Act for a year shall be used--
(1) first, for--
(A) the payment of tuition and fees at the school selected by the parents of the child for whom the scholarship was provided; and
( the reasonable costs of the child's transportation to the school , if the school is not the school to which the child would be assigned in the absence of a program under this Act;
(2) second, if the parents so choose, to obtain supplementary academic services for the child, at a cost of not more than $500, from any provider chosen by the parents, that the State determines is capable of providing such services and has an appropriate refund policy; and
(3) finally, for educational programs that help the eligible child achieve high levels of academic excellence in the school attended by the eligible child, if the eligible child chooses to attend a public school .
SEC. 9. STATE REQUIREMENT.
A State that receives a grant under this Act shall allow lawfully operating public and private elementary schools and secondary schools, including religious schools, if any, serving the area involved to participate in the program.
SEC. 10. EFFECT OF PROGRAMS.
(a) TITLE I- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a local educational agency in the State would, in the absence of an educational choice program that is funded under this Act, provide services to a participating
eligible child under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.), the State shall ensure the provision of such services to such child.
( INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect the requirements of part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1411 et seq.).
� AID-
(1) IN GENERAL- Scholarships under this Act shall be considered to aid families, not institutions. For purposes of determining Federal assistance under Federal law, a parent's expenditure of scholarship funds under this Act at a school or for supplementary academic services shall not constitute Federal financial aid or assistance to that school or to the provider of supplementary academic services.
(2) SUPPLEMENTARY ACADEMIC SERVICES-
(A) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a school or provider of supplementary academic services that receives scholarship funds under this Act shall, as a condition of participation under this Act, comply with the provisions of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794).
( REGULATIONS- The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of subparagraph (A), taking into account the purposes of this Act and the nature, variety, and missions of schools and providers that may participate in providing services to children under this Act.
(d) OTHER FEDERAL FUNDS- No Federal, State, or local agency may, in any year, take into account Federal funds provided to a State or to the parents of any child under this Act in determining whether to provide any other funds from Federal, State, or local resources, or in determining the amount of such assistance, to such State or to a school attended by such child.
(e) NO DISCRETION- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the Secretary to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution or school participating in a program under this Act.
SEC. 11. EVALUATION.
The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct an evaluation of the program authorized by this Act. Such evaluation shall, at a minimum--
(1) assess the implementation of educational choice programs assisted under this Act and their effect on participants, schools, and communities in the school districts served, including parental involvement in, and satisfaction with, the program and their children's education;
(2) compare the educational achievement of participating eligible children with the educational achievement of similar non-participating children before, during, and after the program; and
(3) compare--
(A) the educational achievement of eligible children who use scholarships to attend schools other than the schools the children would attend in the absence of the program; with
( the educational achievement of children who attend the schools the children would attend in the absence of the program.
SEC. 12. ENFORCEMENT.
(a) REGULATIONS- The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to enforce the provisions of this Act.
( PRIVATE CAUSE- No provision or requirement of this Act shall be enforced through a private cause of action.
SEC. 13. FUNDING.
The Committee on Finance and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives shall identify wasteful spending (including loopholes to revenue raising tax provisions) by the Federal Government as a means of providing funding for this Act. Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the committees referred to in the preceding sentence shall jointly prepare and submit to the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, a report concerning the spending (and loopholes) identified under such sentence.
SEC. 14. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) CHARTER SCHOOL - The term `charter school' has the meaning given the term in section 5210 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7221i).
(2) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ; LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY; PARENT; SECONDARY SCHOOL ; STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY- The terms `elementary school' , `local educational agency', `parent', `secondary school' , and `State educational agency' have the meanings given the terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(3) POVERTY LINE- The term `poverty line' means the poverty line (as defined by the Office of Management and Budget, and revised annually in accordance with section 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) applicable to a family of the size involved.
(4) SECRETARY- The term `Secretary' means the Secretary of Education.
(5) STATE- The term `State' means each of the 50 States. |
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HR 1.389 Exc. Through Choice to Elevate Learning
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