(B) shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act but shall otherwise follow the provisions of the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990 (5 U.S.C. 561 et seq.). (5) EMERGENCY SITUATION.-In an emergency situation in which regulations to carry out this title must be issued with a very limited time to assist State and local educational agencies with the operation of a program under this title, the Secretary may issue proposed regulations without following such process but shall, immediately thereafter and prior to issuing final regulations, conduct regional meetings to review such proposed regulations.

(c) LIMITATION.-Regulations to carry out this part may not require local programs to follow a particular instructional model, such as the provision of services outside the regular classroom or school program.

SEC. 1602. [20 U.S.C. 6512] COORDINATION OF FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL ADMINISTRATION.

(a) PROGRAM ASSISTANCE MANUAL.-The Secretary shall, not later than six months after the publication of final regulations under this title, prepare and distribute to State educational agencies, State agencies operating programs under parts C and D, and local educational agencies, and shall make available to parents and other interested individuals, organizations, and agencies, a manual for this title to

(1) assist such agencies in

(A) enhancing the quality, increasing the depth, or broadening the scope of activities for programs under this title;

(B) applying for program funds under this title; and (C) meeting the program objectives under this title; (2) assist State educational agencies in achieving proper and efficient administration of programs funded under this title;

(3) assist parents to become involved in the planning for, and implementation and evaluation of, programs and projects under this title; and

(4) ensure that officers and employees of the Department, including officers and employees of the Secretary and officers and employees of the Department charged with auditing programs carried on under this title, uniformly interpret, apply, and enforce requirements under this title throughout the United States.

(b) CONTENTS OF POLICY MANUAL.-The policy manual shall, with respect to programs carried out under this title, contain descriptions, statements, procedural and substantive rules, opinions, policy statements and interpretations and indices to and amendments of the foregoing, and in particular, whether or not such descriptions, statements, procedural and substantive rules, opinions, policy statements and interpretations and indices are required under section 552 of title 5, United States Code, to be published or made available. The manual shall include

(1) a statement of the requirements applicable to the programs carried out under this title, including such requirements contained in this title, the General Education Provisions Act,

other applicable statutes, and regulations issued under the authority of such statutes;

(2) an explanation of the purpose of each requirement and its interrelationship with other applicable requirements; and

(3) model forms and instructions developed by the Secretary for use by State and local educational agencies, at the discretion of such agencies, including, application forms, application review checklists, and instruments for monitoring programs under this title.

(c) RESPONSE TO INQUIRIES.-The Secretary shall respond with written guidance not later than 90 days after any written request (return receipt requested) from a State or local educational agency regarding a policy, question, or interpretation under this title is received. In the case of a request from a local educational agency, such agency is required to address its request to the State educational agency first.

SEC. 1603. [20 U.S.C. 6513] STATE ADMINISTRATION.

(a) RULEMAKING.

(1) IN GENERAL.-Each State that receives funds under this title shall

(A) ensure that any State rules, regulations, and policies relating to this title conform to the purposes of this title and provide any such proposed rules, regulations, and policies to the committee of practitioners under subsection (b) for their review and comment;

(B) minimize such rules, regulations, and policies to which their local educational agencies and schools are subject; and

(C) identify any such rule, regulation, or policy as a State-imposed requirement.

(2) SUPPORT AND FACILITATION.-State rules, regulations, and policies under this title shall support and facilitate local educational agency and school-level systemic reform designed to enable all children to meet the challenging State content standards and challenging State student performance standards.

(b) COMMITTEE OF PRACTITIONERS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.-Each State educational agency shall create a State committee of practitioners to advise the State in carrying out its responsibilities under this title.

(2) MEMBERSHIP.-Each such committee shall include

(A) as a majority of its members, representatives from

local educational agencies;

(B) administrators;

(C) teachers, including vocational educators;

(D) parents;

(E) members of local boards of education;

(F) representatives of private school children; and

(G) pupil services personnel.

(3) DUTIES.-The duties of such committee shall include a review, prior to publication, of any proposed or final State rule or regulation pursuant to this title. In an emergency situation where such rule or regulation must be issued within a very

limited time to assist local educational agencies with the operation of the program under this title, the State educational agency may issue a regulation without prior consultation, but shall immediately thereafter convene the State committee of practitioners to review the emergency regulation prior to issuance in final form.

(c) PAYMENT FOR STATE ADMINISTRATION.-Each State may reserve for the proper and efficient performance of its duties under this title the greater of

(1) 1.00 percent of the funds received under subsections (a), (c), and (d) of section 1002; or

(2) $400,000, or $50,000 in the case of the outlying areas.

SEC. 1604. [20 U.S.C. 6514] CONSTRUCTION.

(a) PROHIBITION OF FEDERAL MANDATES, DIRECTION, OR CONTROL.-Nothing in this title shall be construed to authorize an officer or employee of the Federal Government to mandate, direct, or control a State, local educational agency, or school's specific instructional content or pupil performance standards and assessments, curriculum, or program of instruction as a condition of eligibility to receive funds under this title.

(b) EQUALIZED SPENDING.-Nothing in this title shall be construed to mandate equalized spending per pupil for a State, local educational agency, or school.

(c) BUILDING STANDARDS.-Nothing in this title shall be construed to mandate national school building standards for a State, local educational agency, or school.

SEC. 2001. [20 U.S.C. 6601] FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:

(1) Reaching the National Education Goals, particularly the third, fourth, and fifth National Education Goals, requires a comprehensive educational reform strategy that involves parents, schools, government, communities, and other public and private organizations at all levels.

(2) A crucial component of the strategy for achieving such goals is ensuring, through sustained and intensive high-quality professional development, that all teachers will provide challenging learning experiences in the core academic subjects for their students.

(3) Decisionmaking as to what activities a State or local educational agency should undertake to improve teaching and learning are best made by individuals in the schools closest to the classroom and most knowledgeable about the needs of schools and students.

(4) The potential positive impact of high-quality professional development is underscored by recent research findings that

(A) professional development must be focused on teaching and learning in order to improve the opportunities of all students to achieve higher standards;

(B) effective professional development focuses on discipline-based knowledge and effective subject-specific pedagogical skills, involves teams of teachers, and, where appropriate, administrators and pupil services personnel, in a school and, through professional networks of teachers, and, where appropriate, teacher educators, administrators, pupil services personnel, and parents, is interactive and collaborative, motivates by its intrinsic content and relationship to practice, builds on experience and learning-bydoing, and becomes incorporated into the everyday life of the school;

(C) professional development can dramatically improve classroom instruction and learning when teachers, and, where appropriate, administrators, pupil services personnel, and parents, are partners in the development and implementation of such professional development; and

(D) new and innovative strategies for teaching to high standards will require time for teachers, outside of the time spent teaching, for instruction, practice, and collegial collaboration.

(5) Special attention must be given in professional development activities to ensure that education professionals are knowledgeable of, and make use of, strategies for serving populations that historically have lacked access to equal opportunities for advanced learning and career advancement.

(6) Professional development is often a victim of budget reductions in fiscally difficult times.

(7) The Federal Government has a vital role in helping States and local educational agencies to make sustained and intensive high-quality professional development in the core academic subjects become an integral part of the elementary and secondary education system.

(8) Professional development activities must prepare teachers, pupil services personnel, paraprofessionals and other staff in the collaborative skills needed to appropriately teach children with disabilities, in the core academic subjects.

(9) Parental involvement is an important aspect of school reform and improvement. There is a need for special attention to ensure the effective involvement of parents in the education of their children. Professional development should include methods and strategies to better prepare teachers and, where appropriate, administrators, to enable parents to participate fully and effectively in their children's education.

SEC. 2002. [20 U.S.C. 6602] PURPOSES.

The purposes of this title are to provide assistance to State and local educational agencies and to institutions of higher education with teacher education programs so that such agencies and institutions can determine how best to improve the teaching and learning of all students by

(1) helping to ensure that teachers, and, where appropriate, other staff and administrators, have access to sustained and intensive high-quality professional development that is aligned to challenging State content standards and challenging State student performance standards, and to support the development and implementation of sustained and intensive highquality professional development activities in the core academic subjects; and

(2) helping to ensure that teachers, and, where appropriate, administrators, other staff, pupil services personnel, and parents, have access to professional development that

(A) is tied to challenging State content standards and challenging State student performance standards;

(B) reflects recent research on teaching and learning; (C) includes strong academic content and pedagogical components;

(D) incorporates effective strategies, techniques, methods, and practices for meeting the educational needs of diverse student populations, including females, minorities, individuals with disabilities, limited-English-proficient individuals, and economically disadvantaged individuals, in order to ensure that all students have the opportunity to achieve challenging State student performance standards;

(E) is of sufficient intensity and duration to have a positive and lasting impact on the teacher's performance in the classroom; and

(F) is part of the everyday life of the school and creates an orientation toward continuous improvement throughout the school.

SEC. 2003. [20 U.S.C. 6603] AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; ALLOCATION BETWEEN PARTS.

(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.-For the purpose of carrying out this title, there are authorized to be appropriated $800,000,000 for fiscal year 1995 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the four succeeding fiscal years.

(b) ALLOCATION BETWEEN PARTS. Of the amounts appropriated to carry out this title for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall make available

(1) 5 percent of such amounts to carry out subpart 1, of which 5 percent of such 5 percent shall be available to carry out section 2103;

(2) 94 percent of such amounts to carry out part B; and (3) 1 percent of such amounts to carry out part C except that such 1 percent shall not exceed $3,200,000 in any fiscal

year.

PART A-FEDERAL ACTIVITIES

SEC. 2101. [20 U.S.C. 6621] PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

(a) IN GENERAL.-The Secretary is authorized to make grants to, and enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with, local educational agencies, educational service agencies, State educational agencies, State agencies for higher education, institutions