[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4565 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4565
To amend the weights used to determine amounts for targeted grants and
education finance incentive grants for local educational agencies under
title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 11, 2023
Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. Panetta) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education
and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the weights used to determine amounts for targeted grants and
education finance incentive grants for local educational agencies under
title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
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 ``All Children are Equal Act'' or the
``ACE Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Section 1125AA of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 6336) is amended--
(1) by amending the heading to read as follows:
``SEC. 1125AA. INCREASE GRANTS PER FORMULA STUDENT AS THE PERCENTAGE OF
ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN A LOCAL
EDUCATIONAL AGENCY INCREASES.'';
and
(2) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
``(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
``(1) The current Basic Grant Formula for the distribution
of funds under this part does not adequately target funds for
schools with the highest concentrations of economically
disadvantaged students.
``(2) The current formulas for distributing Targeted and
Education Finance Incentive Grants is intended to allocate more
funds per formula student to local educational agencies with
higher concentrations of such students.
``(3) These formula use two weighting systems, one based on
the percentage of the aged 5-17 population in a local education
agency that is eligible to receive funds under this title
(percentage weighting), and another based on the absolute
number of such students (number weighting). Whichever of these
weighting systems results in the highest total weighted formula
student count for a local educational agency is the weighting
system used for that agency in the final allocation of Targeted
and Education Finance Incentive Grant funds.
``(4) Since the amount available to be distributed through
these formulas is fixed by congressional appropriation, any
gain in allocation share by one local educational agency causes
a loss to other local educational agencies.
``(5) The number weighting alternative is often favorable
to very large local educational agencies, even if the agency's
formula student percentage is low. But because smaller local
education agencies simply do not have enough students to gain
from number weighting, they are adversely affected under the
number weighting alternative.
``(6) The Congressional Research Service has compared the
funding allocations of each local education agency for school
year 2021-2022 under the current dual weighting system with the
funding allocation it would have that year if all local
educational agencies had their student count weighted only by
percentage weighting.
``(7) This data shows that the use of number weighting in
these formulas has shifted funding from smaller to larger local
educational agencies notwithstanding the level of poverty in
either. This is contrary to the intent of Congress, which is to
direct more funding per formula student to local educational
agencies with high concentrations of poverty, as measured by
the number of formula students as a percentage of the aged 5-17
population of the local educational agency.
``(8) The National Center for Education Statistics
confirmed these findings in a statistical analysis report dated
May 2019.
``(9) Congress has a responsibility to correct this
unintended inequity by reducing the power of the number
weighting system relative to the percentage weighting system so
that local educational agencies with high percentages of
poverty but low numbers of students are not disadvantaged under
the formulas used for grants under this part.''.
SEC. 3. TARGETED GRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.
Section 1125(c)(2)(A) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6335(c)(2)(A)) is amended to read as follows:
``(A) In general.--For each fiscal year for which
the Secretary uses local educational agency data, the
weighted child count used to determine a local
educational agency's grant under this section--
``(i) for each fiscal year through fiscal
year 2023, is the larger of the two amounts
determined under subparagraphs (B) and (C); and
``(ii) for fiscal year 2024 and each
succeeding fiscal year, is the amount
determined under subparagraph (B).''.
SEC. 4. EDUCATION FINANCE INCENTIVE GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) States With an Equity Factor Less Than 0.10.--Section
1125A(d)(1)(B)(i) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
(20 U.S.C. 6337(d)(1)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows:
``(i) In general.--For each fiscal year for
which the Secretary uses local educational
agency data, the weighted child count used to
determine a local educational agency's grant
under this section--
``(I) for each fiscal year through
fiscal year 2023, is the larger of the
two amounts determined under clauses
(ii) and (iii); and
``(II) for fiscal year 2024 and
each succeeding fiscal year, is the
amount determined under clause
(iii).''.
(b) States With an Equity Factor Greater Than or Equal to 0.10 and
Less Than 0.20.--Section 1125A(d)(2)(B)(i) of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6337(d)(2)(B)(i)) is amended
to read as follows:
``(i) In general.--For each fiscal year for
which the Secretary uses local educational
agency data, the weighted child count used to
determine a local educational agency's grant
under this section--
``(I) for each fiscal year through
fiscal year 2023, is the larger of the
two amounts determined under clauses
(ii) and (iii); and
``(II) for fiscal year 2024 and
each succeeding fiscal year, is the
amount determined under clause
(iii).''.
(c) States With an Equity Factor Greater Than or Equal to 0.20.--
Section 1125A(d)(3)(B)(i) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6337(d)(3)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows:
``(i) In general.--For each fiscal year for
which the Secretary uses local educational
agency data, the weighted child count used to
determine a local educational agency's grant
under this section--
``(I) for each fiscal year through
fiscal year 2023, is the larger of the
two amounts determined under clauses
(ii) and (iii); and
``(II) for fiscal year 2024 and
each succeeding fiscal year, is the
amount determined under clause
(iii).''.
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