TITLE III-FEDERAL GRANT. ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS ECONOMICALLY UNABLE TO FINANCE OR LEASE URGENTLY NEEDED SCHOOL FACILITIES

PURPOSE AND APPROPRIATION

SEC. 301. For the purpose of enabling local educational agencies to finance or lease urgently needed school facilities in cases where such agencies, because of lack of economic capacity, are unable

(a) to sell their obligations to the Commissioner under title I, in the amounts needed to construct the facilities, or

(b) to rent such facilities from a State school-building agency at rentals which the Commissioner determines to be comparable to those charged by State school-building agencies pursuant to agreements with the Commissioner under title 11,

there are hereby authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1955, and the next two fiscal years, such sums, not to exceed an aggregate of $200,000,000, as the Congress may determine. Sums appropriated under this section for any year shall remain available for obligation until June 30, 1958.

ALLOTMENTS

SEC. 302. (a) (1) From the sums appropriated pursuant to section 301 for a fiscal year, the Commissioner shall allot initially to each State an amount which bears the same ratio to such sums as the school-age population of such State bears to the school-age population of all the States.

(2) At such time or times after December 31 of each fiscal year as the Commissioner determines, after receiving advice from the States with respect thereto, that the amounts (if any) to be paid to any State from its initial allotment for such year under this subsection will total less than such allotment, he shall reallot the portion of such initial allotment which he determines will not be so paid to such State. Such reallotments shall be made by the Commissioner to the States with respect to which he has not made the determination referred to in the preceding sentence for such year, on the same basis as the initial allotments for such year under paragraph (1).

(b) The sums allotted to a State for a fiscal year under subsection (a) shall be available (as provided hereinafter in this title) for paying the Federal share of payments by State educational agencies to assist in financing the cost of construction of school facilities for local educational agencies in the State.

STATE PLANS

SEC. 303. The Commissioner shall approve a State plan for purposes of this title if such plan

(a) provides that the State educational agency shall be the sole agency for administration of the plan;

(b) sets forth standards and procedures, conforming to regulations of the Commissioner (prescribed after consultation with a conference of representatives of State educational agencies), for determining eligibility of local educational agencies for payments under the plan and the amounts thereof, and the need for the facilities to be constructed, which standards and procedures provide reasonable assurance that—

(1) such payments will be made only if, and to the extent, necessary to enable any local educational agency (A) to sell to the Commissioner, pursuant to title I, obligations in the amounts needed by such agency to construct the school facilities with respect to which the payments are made, or (B) if such agency is legally unable to sell such obligations, to rent such facilities from a State school-building agency at rentals which the Commissioner determines to be comparable to those charged by State school-building agencies pursuant to agreements with the Commissioner under title II; and

(2) such payments will be made only with respect to the construction of school facilities needed to relieve or prevent extreme overcrowding, double shifts, or unhealthful or hazardous conditions;

(c) provides such accounting, budgeting, and other fiscal methods and procedures as are necessary for the proper efficient administration of the plan; and

(d) provides for the making of such reports, in such form and containing such information, as the Commissioner may from time to time reasonably require to carry out his functions under this title, and for compliance with such provisions as he may from time to time find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of such reports.

PAYMENTS

SEC. 304. (a) In the case of each project for the construction of school facilities for a local educational agency with respect to which the State educational agency requests any funds under this title, the State educational agency shall include in its request

(1) a description of the school facilities project with respect to which the request is made;

(2) its estimate of the cost of construction of such project and a statement of the amount of the payment proposed to be made by the State educational agency with respect thereto under the plan;

(3) a certification that

(A) it has determined, in accordance with the standards and procedures in the State plan, that the local educational agency is eligible for the payment proposed and that the school facilities project is needed to relieve or prevent extreme overcrowding, double shifts, or unhealthful or hazardous conditions;

(B) such local educational agency has requested the Commissioner to purchase, under title I, the Federal percentage of the obligations needed to finance the project and the Commissioner has denied such request because the agency is financially unable to repay the obligations or, if it is legally unable to sell such obligations, has requested a State school-building agency, which provides school facilities at rentals which the Commissioner determines to be comparable to those charged by State school-building agencies pursuant to agreements under title II, to provide such facilities and has had its request denied because it is financially unable to pay the rental for such facilities;

(C) State funds to cover the State share of such payment will be available.

(b) Each request for funds pursuant to subsection (a) shall be accompanied by a statement of the facts on which the State educational agency based its certification and its estimate of the cost of construction of the project, and such further information as the Commissioner may require for purposes of this title with respect to the school facilities project involved.

(c) (1) The Commissioner, unless he finds that a payment under a State plan with respect to a school facilities project for a local educational agency, for which a State has requested funds as provided in subsections (a) and (b), would not be in accord with the standards and procedures set forth in the State plan approved under section 303, shall reserve for such project a sum equal to the Federal share of such payment to the extent such sum is available in the State's allotment; and such sum shall remain available for payment to the State educational agency (unless the State withdraws its request) under paragraph (2) of this subsection until the end of the fiscal year following that in which such sum is so reserved.

(2) Upon certification by the State educational agency that

(A) State funds equal to the State share of the payment with respect to such school facilities project have been paid to or on behalf of the local educational agency; and

(B) the financing of the remainder of the cost of construction of such facilities has been arranged, the Commissioner shall pay the State educational agency the Federal share of such payment.

(d) The "Federal share" for any State shall be 100 per centum minus the "State share"; and the State share shall be that percentage which bears the same ratio to 50 per centum as the per capita income of such State bears to the per capita income of the continental United States (excluding Alaska), except that the State share shall in no case be more than 60 per centum or less than 40 per centum, and except that the State share for Hawaii and Alaska shall be 50 per centum, and for Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands shall be 40 per centum. Such Federal and State shares shall be promulgated by the Commissioner as

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soon as possible after the date of enactment of this Act on the basis of the average of the per capita incomes of the States and of the continental United States for the three most recent years for which satisfactory data are available from the Department of Commerce, and the percentages so promulgated shall be conclusive for purposes of this title.

ABANDONMENT OF FACILITIES

SEC. 305. If the construction of any school facilities with respect to which funds have been paid to a State under this title is terminated or abandoned or not completed within such reasonable period as may be determined in accordance with regulations of the Commissioner, such State shall be obligated to repay to the United States, for deposit in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts, the amount of such funds or such lesser amount as the Commissioner deems reasonable under the circumstances.

LABOR STANDARDS

SEC. 306. (a) The Commissioner shall not make any payments under this title to assist in financing the construction of any school facilities project, except upon adequate assurance that all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors in the performance of work on such project will be paid wages at rates not less than those prevailing on similar construction in the locality as determined by the Secretary of Labor in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act, as amended (40 U. S. C. 276a-276a-5), and will receive compensation at a rate not less than one and one-half times the basic rate of pay for all hours worked in any workweek in excess of eight hours in any workday or forty hours in the workweek, as the case may be.

(b) The Secretary of Labor shall have, with respect to the labor standards specified in subsection (a) of this section, the authority and functions set forth in Reorganization Plan Numbered 14 of 1950 (15 F. R. 3176; 64 Stat. 1267), and section 2 of the Act of June 13, 1934, as amended (40 U. S. C. 276c).

TITLE IV-FEDERAL GRANT ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR ADMINISTRATION OF STATE PROGRAMS TO INCREASE SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 401. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 each for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1955, the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1956, and the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1957, $3,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1958, and $2,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1959, for grants to States to assist them in meeting their administrative expenses in the development and initiation of State programs designed to increase public-school construction and promote efficiency in such construction.

ALLOTMENTS AND PAYMENTS

SEC. 402. (a) From the sums appropriated for any fiscal year pursuant to section 401, the Commissioner shall allot to each State an amount bearing the same ratio to such sums as the school-age population of such State bears to the school-age population of the United States. The allotment to any State under the preceding sentence for any fiscal year which is less than $25,000 (or, in the case of Guam or the Virgin Islands, which is less than $12,500) shall be increased to that amount, the total of the increases thereby required being derived by proportionately reducing the allotments of each of the remaining States under the preceding sentence, but with such adjustments as may be necessary to prevent the allotment of any of such remaining States from being thereby reduced to less than that amount.

(b) From each State's allotment under this section for any fiscal year, the Commissioner shall pay to such State 50 per centum of the State's administrative expenses in the development of any State program for increasing construction of school facilities or promoting greater efficiency in planning or financing the construction of such facilities, or in the initiation of any such program when authorized by law, including the development and initiation of programs such as those to

(1) extend State technical assistance to the local educational agencies in the planning and financing of construction of school facilities;

(2) extend State financial aid to local educational agencies, through loans, grants, or otherwise, in the construction of school facilities;

(3) adjust or modify unduly restrictive debt or tax limits or other obstacles to adequate and economical financing of construction of school facilities, including the basing of debt or tax limits on the full value of real property; or

(4) achieve a more efficient organization of school districts in the State. (c) No payment may be made under this title with respect to any program unless the State plan approved under section 403 includes such program or has been modified to include it and unless the State educational agency certifies that it is a new program for the State (which, for purposes of this title, includes an addition to an existing program of the State). In the case of any program of the State (or any addition to a program) initiated after December 31, 1954, the continuation thereof shall be considered a new program for purposes of the preceding sentence if submitted under this title by the State prior to July 1, 1956. (d) Payments under this section with respect to any program may be made during a period of not to exceed three years beginning with the commencement of the first fiscal year for which any payment is made with respect to such program from an allotment under this section, but only if such program has been submitted under this tite prior to July 1, 1958.

APPROVAL OF STATE PLANS

SEC. 403. The Commissioner shall approve any State plan for purposes of this title if such plan

(a) provides that the State educational agency shall be the sole agency for carrying out programs under the plan, either directly or through arrangements with other agencies of the State;

(b) provides such accounting, budgeting, and other fiscal methods and procedures as are necessary for the proper and efficient administration of programs under the plan;

(c) provides for the making of such reports, in such form and containing such information, as the Commissioner may from time to time reasonably require to carry out his functions under this title, and for compliance with such provisions as he may from time to time find necessary to assure the the correctness and verification of such reportts; and

(d) sets forth the programs proposed to be carried out under the plan and the general policies to be followed in doing so.

METHOD OF MAKING AND COMPUTING PAYMENTS

SEC. 404. The method of computing and paying amounts pursuant to section 402 shall be as follows:

(a) The Commissioner shall, prior to the beginning of each calendar quarter or other period prescribed by him, estimate the amount to be paid to each State under the provisions of such section for such period, such estimate to be based on such records of the State and information furnished by it, and such other investigation, as the Commissioner may find necessary.

(b) The Commissioner shall pay to the State, from the allotment available therefor, the amount so estimated by him for such period, reduced or increased, as the case may be, by any sum (not previously adjusted under this paragraph) by which he finds that his estimate of the amount to be paid the State for any prior period under such section was greater or less than the amount which should have been paid to the State for such prior period under such section. Such payments shall be made in such installments as the Commissioner may determine. (c) Any funds paid to a State under this title which are not used for the purposes for which paid shall be returned to the Secretary for deposit in the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts.

TITLE V-GENERAL PROVISIONS

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 501. For purposes of this Act

(a) The term "Commissioner" means the (United States) Commissioner of Education.

(b) The term "State" includes Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.

(c) The term "State educational agency" means the State board of education or other agency or officer primarily responsible for the State supervision of public elementary and secondary schools, or, if different, the officer or agency primarily responsible for State construction or supervision of construction of such schools, whichever may be designated by the governor or by State law.

(d) The term "State school-building agency" means the single agency, official, governmental entity, or instrumentality of a State, designated or established by the State for purposes of title II.

(e) The term "local educational agency" means a board of education or other legally constituted local school authority having administrative control and direction of free public education in a city, county, township, school district, or political subdivision in a State. If a separate public authority has responsibility for the provision or maintenance of school facilities for any local educational agency or the financing of the construction thereof, such term includes such other authority.

(f) The term "school-age population” means that part of the population which is between the ages of five and seventeen, both inclusive, and such school-age population for the several States shall be determined on the basis of the latest figures furnished by the Department of Commerce.

(g) The term "debt service" means the aggregate amount required to pay the interest on and principal of each issue of obligations.

(h) The term "annual debt service" means the aggregate amount required to pay the interest on and principal of each issue of obligations becoming due in each successive twelve-month period designated in accordance with the agreement under title II.

(i) The term "school facilities" includes classrooms and related facilities for public elementary and secondary education; initial equipment, machinery, and utilities necessary or appropriate for school purposes; and interests in land (including site, grading, and improvement) on which such facilities are constructed. Such term does not include athletic stadia, or structures, or facilities intended primarily for events, such as athletic exhibitions, contests, or games, for which admission is to be charged to the general public.

(j) The terms "construct", "constructing", and "construction" include the preparation of drawings and specifications for school facilities; erecting, building, acquiring, altering, remodeling, improving, or extending school facilities; and the inspection and supervision of the construction of school facilities.

WITHHOLDING OF FUNDS AND JUDICIAL REVIEW

SEC. 502. (a) Whenever the Commissioner, after reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing to the State educational agency, finds that

(1) the State plan approved under section 303 or 403, as the case may be, has been so changed that it no longer complies with the requirements of such section; or

(2) in the administration of the plan there is a failure to comply substantially with any such requirement;

the Commissioner shall notify such State agency that no further payments will be made to the State from its allotments under section 302 or 402, as the case may be (or, in his discretion, that further payments will not be made to the State for projects or programs under the State plan affected by such failure), until he is satisfied that there will no longer be any such failure. Until he is so satisfied the Commissioner shall make no further payments to such State from its allotments under such section (or shall limit payments to projects or programs under the State plan in which there is no such failure). The foregoing provisions of this subsection shall not apply to payment of any amount reserved under section 304 (c) with respect to any school facilities project not affected by such failure, except that, after notice as provided in this subsection to any State, the Commissioner may suspend the making of further reservations of funds under section 304 (c) for projects in such State pending the making of the findings under this subsection.

(b) (1) If any State is dissatisfied with the Commissioner's action under subsection (a) of this section, such State may appeal to the United States court of appeals for the circuit in which such State is located. The summons and notice of appeal may be served at any place in the United States.

(2) The findings of fact by the Commissioner, unless substantially contrary to the weight of the evidence, shall be conclusive; but the court, for good cause shown, may remand the case to the Commissioner to take further evidence, and