Subpart 2 – Other Provisions

SEC. 9521. MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.

(a) IN GENERAL- A local educational agency may receive funds under a covered program for any fiscal year only if the State educational agency finds that either the combined fiscal effort per student or the aggregate expenditures of the agency and the State with respect to the provision of free public education by the agency for the preceding fiscal year was not less than 90 percent of the combined fiscal effort or aggregate expenditures for the second preceding fiscal year.

(b) REDUCTION IN CASE OF FAILURE TO MEET-

(1) IN GENERAL- The State educational agency shall reduce the amount of the allocation of funds under a covered program in any fiscal year in the exact proportion by which a local educational agency fails to meet the requirement of subsection (a) of this section by falling below 90 percent of both the combined fiscal effort per student and aggregate expenditures (using the measure most favorable to the local agency).

(2) SPECIAL RULE- No such lesser amount shall be used for computing the effort required under subsection (a) of this section for subsequent years.

(c) WAIVER- The Secretary may waive the requirements of this section if the Secretary determines that a waiver would be equitable due to —

(1) exceptional or uncontrollable circumstances, such as a natural disaster; or

(2) a precipitous decline in the financial resources of the local educational agency.

SEC. 9522. PROHIBITION REGARDING STATE AID.

A State shall not take into consideration payments under this Act (other than under title VIII) in determining the eligibility of any local educational agency in that State for State aid, or the amount of State aid, with respect to free public education of children.

SEC. 9523. PRIVACY OF ASSESSMENT RESULTS.

Any results from an individual assessment referred to in this Act of a student that become part of the education records of the student shall have the protections provided in section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act.

SEC. 9524. SCHOOL PRAYER.

(a) GUIDANCE- The Secretary shall provide and revise guidance, not later than September 1, 2002, and of every second year thereafter, to State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and the public on constitutionally protected prayer in public elementary schools and secondary schools, including making the guidance available on the Internet. The guidance shall be reviewed, prior to distribution, by the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice for verification that the guidance represents the current state of the law concerning constitutionally protected prayer in public elementary schools and secondary schools.

(b) CERTIFICATION- As a condition of receiving funds under this Act, a local educational agency shall certify in writing to the State educational agency involved that no policy of the local educational agency prevents, or otherwise denies participation in, constitutionally protected prayer in public elementary schools and secondary schools, as detailed in the guidance required under subsection (a). The certification shall be provided by October 1 of each year. The State educational agency shall report to the Secretary by November 1 of each year a list of those local educational agencies that have not filed the certification or against which complaints have been made to the State educational agency that the local educational agencies are not in compliance with this section.

(c) ENFORCEMENT- The Secretary is authorized and directed to effectuate subsection (b) by issuing, and securing compliance with, rules or orders with respect to a local educational agency that fails to certify, or is found to have certified in bad faith, that no policy of the local educational agency prevents, or otherwise denies participation in, constitutionally protected prayer in public elementary schools and secondary schools.

SEC. 9525. EQUAL ACCESS TO PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES.

(a) SHORT TITLE- This section may be cited as the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act’.

(b) IN GENERAL-

(1) EQUAL ACCESS- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no public elementary school, public secondary school, local educational agency, or State educational agency that has a designated open forum or a limited public forum and that receives funds made available through the Department shall deny equal access or a fair opportunity to meet to, or discriminate against, any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, or any other youth group listed in title 36 of the United States Code (as a patriotic society), that wishes to conduct a meeting within that designated open forum or limited public forum, including denying such access or opportunity or discriminating for reasons based on the membership or leadership criteria or oath of allegiance to God and country of the Boy Scouts of America or of the youth group listed in title 36 of the United States Code (as a patriotic society).

(2) VOLUNTARY SPONSORSHIP- Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any school, agency, or a school served by an agency to sponsor any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, or any other youth group listed in title 36 of the United States Code (as a patriotic society).

(c) TERMINATION OF ASSISTANCE AND OTHER ACTION-

(1) DEPARTMENTAL ACTION- The Secretary is authorized and directed to effectuate subsection (b) by issuing and securing compliance with rules or orders with respect to a public elementary school, public secondary school, local educational agency, or State educational agency that receives funds made available through the Department and that denies equal access, or a fair opportunity to meet, or discriminates, as described in subsection (b).

(2) PROCEDURE- The Secretary shall issue and secure compliance with the rules or orders, under paragraph (1), through the Office for Civil Rights and in a manner consistent with the procedure used by a Federal department or agency under section 602 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If the public school or agency does not comply with the rules or orders, then notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds made available through the Department shall be provided to a school that fails to comply with such rules or orders or to any agency or school served by an agency that fails to comply with such rules or orders.

(3) JUDICIAL REVIEW- Any action taken by the Secretary under paragraph (1) shall be subject to the judicial review described in section 603 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Any person aggrieved by the action may obtain that judicial review in the manner, and to the extent, provided in section 603 of such Act.

(d) DEFINITION AND RULE-

(1) DEFINITION- In this section, the term youth group’ means any group or organization intended to serve young people under the age of 21.

(2) RULE- For the purpose of this section, an elementary school or secondary school has a limited public forum whenever the school involved grants an offering to, or opportunity for, one or more outside youth or community groups to meet on school premises or in school facilities before or after the hours during which attendance at the school is compulsory.

SEC. 9526. GENERAL PROHIBITIONS.

(a) PROHIBITION- None of the funds authorized under this Act shall be used —

(1) to develop or distribute materials, or operate programs or courses of instruction directed at youth, that are designed to promote or encourage sexual activity, whether homosexual or heterosexual;

(2) to distribute or to aid in the distribution by any organization of legally obscene materials to minors on school grounds;

(3) to provide sex education or HIV-prevention education in schools unless that instruction is age appropriate and includes the health benefits of abstinence; or

(4) to operate a program of contraceptive distribution in schools.

(b) LOCAL CONTROL- Nothing in this section shall be construed to —

(1) authorize an officer or employee of the Federal Government to mandate, direct, review, or control a State, local educational agency, or school’s instructional content, curriculum, and related activities;

(2) limit the application of the General Education Provisions Act;

(3) require the distribution of scientifically or medically false or inaccurate materials or to prohibit the distribution of scientifically or medically true or accurate materials; or

(4) create any legally enforceable right.

SEC. 9527. PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS.

(a) GENERAL PROHIBITION- Nothing in this Act 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 curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State or local resources, or mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this Act.

(b) PROHIBITION ON ENDORSEMENT OF CURRICULUM- Notwithstanding any other prohibition of Federal law, no funds provided to the Department under this Act may be used by the Department to endorse, approve, or sanction any curriculum designed to be used in an elementary school or secondary school.

(c) PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING FEDERAL APPROVAL OR CERTIFICATION OF STANDARDS-

(1) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal law, no State shall be required to have academic content or student academic achievement standards approved or certified by the Federal Government, in order to receive assistance under this Act.

(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION- Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to affect requirements under title I or part A of title VI.

(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION ON BUILDING STANDARDS- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mandate national school building standards for a State, local educational agency, or school.

SEC. 9528. ARMED FORCES RECRUITER ACCESS TO STUDENTS AND STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION.

(a) POLICY-

(1) ACCESS TO STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION- Notwithstanding section 444(a)(5)(B) of the General Education Provisions Act and except as provided in paragraph (2), each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and telephone listings.

(2) CONSENT- A secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student’s name, address, and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request.

(3) SAME ACCESS TO STUDENTS- Each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide military recruiters the same access to secondary school students as is provided generally to post secondary educational institutions or to prospective employers of those students.

(b) NOTIFICATION- The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall, not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, notify principals, school administrators, and other educators about the requirements of this section.

(c) EXCEPTION- The requirements of this section do not apply to a private secondary school that maintains a religious objection to service in the Armed Forces if the objection is verifiable through the corporate or other organizational documents or materials of that school.

(d) SPECIAL RULE- A local educational agency prohibited by Connecticut State law (either explicitly by statute or through statutory interpretation by the State Supreme Court or State Attorney General) from providing military recruiters with information or access as required by this section shall have until May 31, 2002, to comply with that requirement.

SEC. 9529. PROHIBITION ON FEDERALLY SPONSORED TESTING.

(a) GENERAL PROHIBITION- Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal law and except as provided in subsection (b), no funds provided under this Act to the Secretary or to the recipient of any award may be used to develop, pilot test, field test, implement, administer, or distribute any federally sponsored national test in reading, mathematics, or any other subject, unless specifically and explicitly authorized by law.

(b) EXCEPTIONS- Subsection (a) shall not apply to international comparative assessments developed under the authority of section 404(a)(6) of the National Education Statistics Act of 1994 and administered to only a representative sample of pupils in the United States and in foreign nations.

SEC. 9530. LIMITATIONS ON NATIONAL TESTING OR CERTIFICATION FOR TEACHERS.

(a) MANDATORY NATIONAL TESTING OR CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS- Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or any other provision of law, no funds available to the Department or otherwise available under this Act may be used for any purpose relating to a mandatory nationwide test or certification of teachers or education paraprofessionals, including any planning, development, implementation, or administration of such test or certification.

(b) PROHIBITION ON WITHHOLDING FUNDS- The Secretary is prohibited from withholding funds from any State educational agency or local educational agency if the State educational agency or local educational agency fails to adopt a specific method of teacher or paraprofessional certification.

SEC. 9531. PROHIBITION ON NATIONWIDE DATABASE.

Nothing in this Act (other than section 1308(b)) shall be construed to authorize the development of a nationwide database of personally identifiable information on individuals involved in studies or other collections of data under this Act.

SEC. 9532. UNSAFE SCHOOL CHOICE OPTION.

(a) UNSAFE SCHOOL CHOICE POLICY- Each State receiving funds under this Act shall establish and implement a statewide policy requiring that a student attending a persistently dangerous public elementary school or secondary school, as determined by the State in consultation with a representative sample of local educational agencies, or who becomes a victim of a violent criminal offense, as determined by State law, while in or on the grounds of a public elementary school or secondary school that the student attends, be allowed to attend a safe public elementary school or secondary school within the local educational agency, including a public charter school.

(b) CERTIFICATION- As a condition of receiving funds under this Act, a State shall certify in writing to the Secretary that the State is in compliance with this section.

SEC. 9533. PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATION.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require, authorize, or permit, the Secretary, or a State educational agency, local educational agency, or school to grant to a student, or deny or impose upon a student, any financial or educational benefit or burden, in violation of the fifth or 14th amendments to the Constitution or other law relating to discrimination in the provision of federally funded programs or activities.

SEC. 9534. CIVIL RIGHTS.

(a) IN GENERAL- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (except as otherwise permitted under title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972), national origin, or disability in any program funded under this Act.

(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the disruption of services to a child or the displacement of a child enrolled in or participating in a program administered by an eligible entity, as defined in section 1116 of title I and part B of title V, at the commencement of the entity’s participation in a grant under section 1116 of title I or part B of title V.

SEC. 9535. RULEMAKING.

The Secretary shall issue regulations under this Act only to the extent that such regulations are necessary to ensure that there is compliance with the specific requirements and assurances required by this Act.

SEC. 9536. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act is held invalid, the remainder of this Act shall be unaffected thereby.

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