Subpart 3 – Local Innovative Education Programs

SEC. 5131. LOCAL USES OF FUNDS.

(a) INNOVATIVE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS- Funds made available to local educational agencies under section 5112 shall be used for innovative assistance programs, which may include any of the following:

(1) Programs to recruit, train, and hire highly qualified teachers to reduce class size, especially in the early grades, and professional development activities carried out in accordance with title II, that give teachers, principals, and administrators the knowledge and skills to provide students with the opportunity to meet challenging State or local academic content standards and student academic achievement standards.

(2) Technology activities related to the implementation of school-based reform efforts, including professional development to assist teachers and other school personnel (including school library media personnel) regarding how to use technology effectively in the classrooms and the school library media centers involved.

(3) Programs for the development or acquisition and use of instructional and educational materials, including library services and materials (including media materials), academic assessments, reference materials, computer software and hardware for instructional use, and other curricular materials that are tied to high academic standards, that will be used to improve student academic achievement, and that are part of an overall education reform program.

(4) Promising education reform projects, including magnet schools.

(5) Programs to improve the academic achievement of educationally disadvantaged elementary school and secondary school students, including activities to prevent students from dropping out of school.

(6) Programs to improve the literacy skills of adults, especially the parents of children served by the local educational agency, including adult education and family literacy programs.

(7) Programs to provide for the educational needs of gifted and talented children.

(8) The planning, design, and initial implementation of charter schools as described in part B.

(9) School improvement programs or activities under sections 1116 and 1117.

(10) Community service programs that use qualified school personnel to train and mobilize young people to measurably strengthen their communities through nonviolence, responsibility, compassion, respect, and moral courage.

(11) Activities to promote consumer, economic, and personal finance education, such as disseminating information on and encouraging use of the best practices for teaching the basic principles of economics and promoting the concept of achieving financial literacy through the teaching of personal financial management skills (including the basic principles involved with earning, spending, saving, and investing).

(12) Activities to promote, implement, or expand public school choice.

(13) Programs to hire and support school nurses.

(14) Expansion and improvement of school-based mental health services, including early identification of drug use and violence, assessment, and direct individual or group counseling services provided to students, parents, and school personnel by qualified school-based mental health services personnel.

(15) Alternative educational programs for those students who have been expelled or suspended from their regular educational setting, including programs to assist students to reenter the regular educational setting upon return from treatment or alternative educational programs.

(16) Programs to establish or enhance prekindergarten programs for children.

(17) Academic intervention programs that are operated jointly with community-based organizations and that support academic enrichment, and counseling programs conducted during the school day (including during extended school day or extended school year programs), for students most at risk of not meeting challenging State academic achievement standards or not completing secondary school.

(18) Programs for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training in schools.

(19) Programs to establish smaller learning communities.

(20) Activities that encourage and expand improvements throughout the area served by the local educational agency that are designed to advance student academic achievement.

(21) Initiatives to generate, maintain, and strengthen parental and community involvement.

(22) Programs and activities that expand learning opportunities through best-practice models designed to improve classroom learning and teaching.

(23) Programs to provide same-gender schools and classrooms (consistent with applicable law).

(24) Service learning activities.

(25) School safety programs, including programs to implement the policy described in section 9507 and which may include payment of reasonable transportation costs and tuition costs for such students.

(26) Programs that employ research-based cognitive and perceptual development approaches and rely on a diagnostic-prescriptive model to improve students’ learning of academic content at the preschool, elementary, and secondary levels.

(27) Supplemental educational services, as defined in section 1116(e).

(b) REQUIREMENTS- The innovative assistance programs described in subsection (a) shall be —

(1) tied to promoting challenging academic achievement standards;

(2) used to improve student academic achievement; and

(3) part of an overall education reform strategy.

(c) GUIDELINES- Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the Secretary shall issue guidelines for local educational agencies seeking funding for programs described in subsection (a)(23).

SEC. 5132. ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY.

In order to conduct the programs authorized by this part, each State educational agency or local educational agency may use funds made available under this part to make grants to, and to enter into contracts with, local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, libraries, museums, and other public and private nonprofit agencies, organizations, and institutions.

SEC. 5133. LOCAL APPLICATIONS.

(a) SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION- A local educational agency may receive an allocation of funds under this part for any year for which the agency submits an application under this section that the State educational agency certifies under subsection (b).

(b) CERTIFICATION AND CONTENTS OF APPLICATION- The State educational agency shall certify each application submitted under subsection (a) that includes each of the following:

(1) A description of locally identified needs relative to the purposes of this part and to the innovative assistance programs described in section 5131.

(2) A statement that sets forth the planned allocation of funds, based on the needs identified in subparagraph (A), among innovative assistance programs described in section 5131, a description of the programs that the local educational agency intends to support, and a description of the reasons for the selection of such programs.

(3) Information setting forth the allocation of such funds required to implement section 5142.

(4) A description of how assistance under this part will contribute to improving student academic achievement or improving the quality of education for students.

(5) An assurance that the local educational agency will comply with this part, including the provisions of section 5142 concerning the participation of children enrolled in private nonprofit schools.

(6) An assurance that the local educational agency will keep such records, and provide such information to the State educational agency, as may be reasonably required for fiscal audit and program evaluation (consistent with the responsibilities of the State educational agency under this part).

(7) Provision, in the allocation of funds for the assistance authorized by this part and in the planning, design, and implementation of such innovative assistance programs, for systematic consultation with parents of children attending elementary schools and secondary schools in the area served by the local educational agency, with teachers and administrative personnel in such schools, and with such other groups involved in the implementation of this part (such as librarians, school counselors, and other pupil services personnel) as may be considered appropriate by the local educational agency.

(8) An assurance that —

(A) programs carried out under this part will be evaluated annually;

(B) the evaluation will be used to make decisions about appropriate changes in programs for the subsequent year;

(C) the evaluation will describe how assistance under this part affected student academic achievement and will include, at a minimum, information and data on the use of funds, the types of services furnished, and the students served under this part; and

(D) the evaluation will be submitted to the State educational agency at the time and in the manner requested by the State educational agency.

(9) If the local educational agency seeks funds under section 5131(a)(23), a description of how the agency will comply with the guidelines issued by the Secretary regarding same-gender schools and classrooms under section 5131(c).

(c) PERIOD OF APPLICATION- An application submitted by a local educational agency under subsection (a) may seek allocations under this part for a period not to exceed 3 fiscal years. The agency may amend the application annually, as may be necessary to reflect changes, without the filing of a new application.

(d) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY DISCRETION-

(1) IN GENERAL- Subject to the limitations and requirements of this part, a local educational agency shall have complete discretion in determining how funds made available to carry out this subpart will be divided among programs described in section 5131.

(2) LIMITATION- In exercising the discretion described in paragraph (1), a local educational agency shall ensure that expenditures under this subpart carry out the purposes of this part and are used to meet the educational needs within the schools served by the local educational agency.

-###-

Previous	Table of Contents	Next