Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that appropriates $850 million in funding for states to implement education improvement plans designed to meet national education goals by the year 2000 in the areas of school readiness, school completion, student achievement, mathematics and science, family literacy and lifelong learning, and drug-free students.

Highlights:

- Establishes the goal of having all students begin school ready to learn by 2000, and directs the Federal Government to undertake the following measures to achieve this goal (Sec. 102):

- Provide Head Start services to every eligible child who needs such services; - Provide sufficient funding to ensure that all potentially eligible women, infants, and children have access to the special supplemental food program; - Assure that all women have access to affordable, high quality prenatal care; - Assure that all infants and children have access to affordable, high quality comprehensive and preventative care; - Expand funding for Even Start and the Follow Through Act; - Provide sufficient funding to allow States to provide free public education to preschool children with disabilities and early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families; and - Ensure that every child participating in early childhood education is taught by a well-qualified teacher.

- Establishes the goal of increasing the high school graduation rate to at least 90 percent by 2000, and directs the Federal Government to expanding funding for secondary school dropout prevention and reentry programs and basic skills programs to achieve this goal (Sec. 103). - Establishes the goal of ensuring that all students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, history, and geography, and directs the Federal Government to undertake the following measures to achieve this goal (Sec. 104):

- Provide appropriate educational assistance to all disadvantaged children by increasing the participation eligible children in disability programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; - Fulfill the commitment made by the U.S. in 1975 to provide 40 percent of the costs of educating children with disabilities; - Reward successful programs in schools with a concentration on disadvantaged children; - Promote efforts to encourage students to be involved in activities that promote good citizenship, community service, and personal responsibility; and - Encourage qualified individuals to become and remain teachers.

-Establishes the goal of ensuring that the U.S. will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement by 2000, and directs the Federal Government to undertake the following measures to achieve this goal (Sec. 105):

- Expand funding to increase the number of individuals, particularly women and minorities, in graduate and undergraduate programs in mathematics, science, and engineering; - Expand funding to allow all elementary and secondary teachers of mathematics and science to improve their skills in their respective fields; - Award scholarships to high-achieving students to pursue the study of mathematics, science, and related subjects; and - Encourage qualified individuals to become and remain mathematics and science teachers.

- Establishes the goal of ensuring that every American will be literate by 2000, and directs the Federal Government to increase funding for services provided by the Adult Education Act, literacy programs provided by States and local governments, and the rehabilitation and training of young persons with disabilities in order to achieve this goal (Sec. 106). - Establishes the goal of ensuring that every school in America will be free of drugs and violence, and directs the Federal Government to take steps in ensuring that all students receive drug abuse prevention education and counseling services (Sec. 107). - Appropriates funds to States to establish a Neighborhood Schools Improvement Advisory Council, composed of seven members appointed by the State Educational Agency (SEA) and seven members appointed by the Governor, who must develop an educational improvement plan within one year that (Secs. 203-205):

- Affirms the commitment of the State to the National Education Goals; - Describes the measures to be taken to achieve the National Education Goals; - Describes the manner in which resources will be appropriated; - Describes the manner in which progress will be measured; - Describes plans to improve the professional development of teachers and school leaders; - Provides for an evaluation of the measures undertaken by the Plan; - Describes the manner in which the SEA will direct public schools to improve student achievement; and - Describes measures to assure widespread public support for the plan.

- Requires SEAs receiving funds provided by this Act to reserve at least 75 percent of such funds to award grants on a competitive basis to schools designated as high need schools. The remaining funds may be used to award grants on a competitive basis to any school that needs to improve student achievement, with priority being given to schools with the lowest levels of academic achievement [Sec. 209 (a)]. - Defines “high need school,” with respect to this Act, as any public school that meets at least two of the following criteria, as determined by the SEA [Sec. 207 (a) (2)]:

- Eligibility to participate in a school-wide project funded by section 1050 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; - Located in a school district experiencing extreme financial distress; - Among the 25 percent of all elementary or secondary schools in the State with the greatest number or concentration of children eligible to be counted under section 1005(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; - Among the 25 percent of all elementary or secondary schools in the State with the lowest levels of student achievement; and - Participation in a school improvement program pursuant to section 1021(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

- Requires the Secretary of Education to issue waivers to no more than six States that have comprehensive regulatory reform plans, and no more than 50 local educational agencies within each SEA of such States, which allow them to increase their flexibility in the use of resources provided by this Act, while holding them accountable for achieving educational gains [Sec. 302 (421B) (a) (1)].

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text