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OVERSIGHT HEARING ON ELEMENTARY

AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1971

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 2175 of the Rayburn Office Building, Hon. Carl D. Perkins (chairman of the committee) presiding.

Members present: Perkins, Green, Pucinski, Brademas, Hawkins, Hicks, Quie, Bell, Reid, Landgrebe, Hansen, Ruth and Peyser.

Staff members present: H. D. Reed, Jr., general counsel; and Charles W. Radcliffe, minority counsel for education. (Text of H.R. 7796 follows:)

H.R. 7796

A BILL to strengthen education by providing a share of the revenues of the United States to the States and to local educational agencies for the purpose of assisting them in carrying out education programs reflecting areas of national concern

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Education Revenue Sharing Act of 1971".

FINDINGS AND PURPOSE

SEC. 2. (a) The Congress hereby finds that, while public education is primarily the responsibility of the States and local communities of this country, the Federal Government has a responsibility to assist them in meeting the costs of education in areas of special national concern. The Congress finds, however, that prior programs of Federal financial assistance for elementary or secondary education are too narrow in scope to meet the needs of State and local school systems.

(b) It is therefore the purpose of this Act to replace certain current programs of Federal assistance to elementary or secondary education by a system of Federal revenue sharing for education designed to meet such needs, to encourage innovation and development of new educational programs and practices, to provide for educationally disadvantaged children an education comparable to that available to their classmates, to provide the special educational services needed by the physically and mentally handicapped, to encourage greater attention to the vital field of vocational and career education, to assure to children whose parents live or work on Federal property an education comparable to that given to other children, and to provide State and local educational officials with the flexibility and responsibility they need to make meaningful decisions in response to the needs of their students.

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS AND PLANNING PAYMENTS

SEC. 3. (a) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1973, and for each fiscal year thereafter, there are authorized to be appropriated, to be available without fiscal year limitation, such sums as may be necessary for carrying out this Act.

(1)

(b) There are also authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to enable the Secretary to make, during the period beginning January 1, 1972, and ending with the close of June 3, 1972, payments to States to assist them in planning for the transition from the system of categorical grants authorized by the statutes and parts thereof repealed by section 21 to the system of revenue sharing for education authorized by this Act. Such payments shall be made on such terms and conditions as the Secretary specifies for the purpose of carrying out this subsection.

ALLOTMENT AND USE OF SHARED REVENUES

SEC. 4. (a) From the sums appropriated pursuant to section 3(a) for any fiscal year and not reserved pursuant to section 11, the Secretary shall allot to each State an amount equal to 60 per centum of the average per pupil expenditure in the United States multiplied by the number of children in average daily attendance in the public elementary or secondary schools of such State during such year who resided on Federal property, which amount shall be available for any educational purpose.

(b) From the remainder of such sums, the Secretary shall allot to each State an amount which bears the same ratio to such remainder as the sum of the products determined under paragraphs (1) through (3) of this subsection with respect to such State bears to the total of the sums of such products with respect to all States. Such products for any State shall be--

(1) 1.0 multiplied by the number of children aged 5 to 17, inclusive, in such State who are in low-income families;

(2) 0.6 multiplied by the number of children in average daily attendance in the public elementary or secondary schools of such State during such fiscal year who (A) resided on other than Federal property with a parent employed on Federal property, or (B) had a parent on active duty in the uniformed services (as defined in section 101 of title 37, United States Code); and

(3) 0.1 multiplied by the number of children aged five to seventeen, inclusive, in the State.

(c) (1) That portion of each State's allotment derived from application of the provisions of paragraph (1) of subsection (b) shall be available only for programs and projects designed to meet the special educational needs, at the preschool or any other educational level, of educationally disadvantaged children(A) who reside in school attendance areas having high concentrations of low-income families;

(B) who are migratory children of migratory agricultural workers; or (C) who are neglected or delinquent children for whose education the State, rather than a local educational agency, is directly responsible. (2) That portion of each State's allotment derived from application of the provisions of paragraph (2) of subsection (b) shall be available for any educational activity.

(3) Except as provided in section 6

(A) one-sixth of that portion of each State's allotment derived from application of the provisions of paragraph (3) of subsection (b) shall be available only for programs and projects at the preschool or any other educational level designed to meet the special educational needs of handicapped children, including handicapped children for whose education the State, rather than a local educational agency, is directly responsible:

(B) one-third of that portion of each State's allotment derived from application of the provisions of paragraph (3) of subsection (b) shall be available only for vocational education activities; and

(C) one-half of that portion of each State's allotment derived from application of the provisions of paragraph (3) of subsection (b) shall be available only for supporting materials and services.

(d) Programs, projects, or activities assisted under this Act may include construction.

(e) In the event that any State is not eligible to receive funds under this Act for any fiscal year, or notifies the Secretary that it does not desire to receive such funds, the allotment of such State for such fiscal year derived from any provision of subsection (b) shall be available for reallotment from time to time. on such date or dates during such year as the Secretary may fix, to other States in proportion to the original amount of the allotment to such other States which

was derived from any such provision for that year. Any amount for a fiscal year so reallotted to a State under this subsection shall be deemed part of its allotment derived from the same provision of subsection (b) for such year.

(f) The amounts appropriated and allocated pursuant to this Act shall be paid to the States at such intervals and in such installments as the Secretary may determine, taking account of the objective that the time elapsing between the transfer of funds from the United States Treasury and the disbursement thereof by States shall be minimized.

(g) For purposes of this Act, the Secretary shall determine average daily attendance, average per pupil expenditure, and numbers of children, and in doing so he shall use the most recent satisfactory data available to him, referrable with respect to data used for each purpose to the same time period for all jurisdictions. All determinations and computations by the Secretary under this section shall be final and conclusive.

DISTRIBUTION OF SHARED REVENUES WITHIN EACH STATE

SEC. 5. (a) Each State shall pay to each of its local educational agencies for a fiscal year an amount equal to the sum allotted to such State pursuant to section 4(a) for such year on account of the number of children in average daily attendance who resided on Federal property in the school district of such agency. (b) (1) Except for any sums retained, from the amount allotted to it for any fiscal year by application of the provisions of section 4(b) (1), by a State for meeting, in accordance with the provisions of section (4c) (1), the special educational needs of neglected or delinquent children described in section 4 (c) (1) (C), such State shall also pay to each of its local educational agencies for a fiscal year an amount equal to the sum allotted to it pursuant to section 4 (b) for such year on account of the number of children in the school district of such agency who are in low-income families, but only if (A) such amount is at least $10,000, and (B) the services provided in each of the schools of such agency with funds other than funds received under this Act have been determined, by the State agency (designated pursuant to section 8(a)) in accordance with such criteria as the Secretary may prescribe, to be comparable with the services so provided in all of the other schools of such local educational agency.

(2) Any portion of an allotment which is not, but would be except for clause (A) or (B) of paragraph (1), paid to a local educational agency shall be paid by such State, in accordance with its plan developed under section 8(b), to other local educational agencies within such State to which funds are required to be paid under paragraph (1) for use in accordance with the provisions of section 4(c) (1), except that no such other agency shall be paid more for any fiscal year pursuant to this subsection than 200 per centum of the amount required to be paid to it under paragraph (1) for such year.

(3) If no local educational agency within such State which would otherwise be paid funds under this subsection has been so determined, by such State agency, to provide such comparable services, the amount allotted to such State by application of the provisions of section 4(b) (1) shall be reallotted to other States in proportion to the amounts originally alloted to such other States by application of such provision. Any portion of an allotment which is not, but would be except for paragraph (2), paid to local educational agencies within a State, shall be reallotted to other States in proportion to the amounts originally allotted to such other States by application of the provisions of section 4(b) (1). No State shall be reallotted for any fiscal year pursuant to this subsection more than 200 per centum of the amount originally allotted to such State for such year by application of the provisions of section 4 (b). Any amount reallotted to a State pursuant to this subsection for any fiscal year shall be deemed to be part of its allotment for such fiscal year derived from application of the provisions of section 4 (b) (1).

(c) The remainder of each State's allotment shall be available

(1) for use, in accordance with the provisions of sections 4 and 6 and the plan developed pursuant to section 8(b), by the State agency designated pursuant to section 8(a), including use by such agency for meeting the special educational needs of handicapped children for whose education such agency, or any other State agency within such State, rather than a local educational agency, is directly responsible; and

(2) for distribution, for use by them in accordance with the provisions of sections 4 and 6 and such plan, among the local educational agencies of

such State on a basis reflecting the relative needs of each of such agencies for the types of assistance for which appropriations under this Act are available; except that not more than 30 per centum of such allotment derived from application of the provisions of section 4(b) (2), relating to the presence within the State of children with a parent employed on Federal property or with a parent on active duty in the uniformed services, may be paid to local educational agencies not having any of such children in average daily attendance in their schools; and except that in determining the relative needs of each of such agencies for the types of assistance for which appropriations under this Act are available, funds paid to such agencies under subsection (b) of this section shall not be taken into account.

TRANSFERS AMONG PURPOSES

SEC. 6. (a) Thirty per centum of that portion of each State's allotment which is available for the purposes described in clause (A), (B), or (C) of section 4(c) (3) may be made available for any of the other purposes described in section 4 (c).

(b) The 30 per centum limitations in subsection (a) may be exceeded if the State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that such action will achieve more effectively the purposes of this Act.

PARTICIPATION OF NONPUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN

SEC. 7. (a) The State agency designated pursuant to section 8(a) shall provide that

(1) except as provided in subsection (b), children enrolled in nonprofit private elementary or secondary schools will be given an opportunity to participate, on an equitable basis, in activities for which funds are made available under paragraph (1), or clause (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (3), of section 4 (c); and

(2) title to and control of funds received under this Act and other property derived therefrom will remain in one or more public agencies.

(b) If the Secretary determines that provisions of State law prevent any State agency designated pursuant to section 8(a) from complying with subsection (a), the Secretary shall, if he finds that the State is otherwise eligible to participate in the program under this Act, permit such State to participate, but in such case he shall

(1) arrange, by contract or otherwise, for children enrolled in the nonprofit private elementary or secondary schools within such State to receive, on an equitable basis, services similar to those provided from the funds made available under paragraph (1) or clause (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (3) of section 4 (c) to public school children within such State; and (2) pay the cost thereof out of that portion of the allotment to such State for carrying out each such paragraph or clause.

STATE ADMINISTRATION

SEC. 8. (a) The chief executive officer of each State which desires to participate in the program under this Act shall designate a State agency which shall be the single State agency for administration (or supervision of the administration) of such program in such State, except that this requirement may be waived in accordance with the provisions of section 204 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4214).

(b) The State agency designated pursuant to subsection (a) shall, for each fiscal year, develop and publish a plan for the distribution of funds available therefor under paragraph (2) of section 5(b) and under section 5(c), and for the expenditure of funds retained under paragraph (1) of section 5(b) and under section 5(c) (1) for use by such State agency or distributed under section 5(c) (2) for use by local educational agencies. Such plan shall be developed after consultation with the advisory council appointed pursuant to section 9, shall not finally be adopted by such State agency until a reasonable opportunity has been given to interested persons for comment thereon, and shall be made available to the Secretary.

(c) In administering the program under this Act, the State shall comply with the provisions of this Act and with regulations prescribed by the Secretary pursuant thereto.

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