Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Equity and Excellence in American Education Act of 2015”.
Equity and Excellence in American Education Act of 2015
A BILL
To create an equitable and excellent education system in the United States so that every child, regardless of race, ethnicity, social class, or State of residence, can receive a high-quality, academically rigorous education in a local public school.
Sec. 2 Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to create a public education system in the United States that has the capacity to deliver an excellent education to every child, irrespective of race, ethnicity, English language proficiency, special needs, social class, or State of residence. Building that capacity on an equitable basis requires our Nation to make new, substantial financial investments in the education of our children, designed—
to overcome the widely varying fiscal and economic capacities to fund education that exist from State to State and community to community, which historically have resulted in far too many public schools having insufficient resources to cover the costs of providing their students with a high-quality, academically rigorous education;
to support capacity building at the school level focused on implementing educational practices that have been demonstrated to enhance student achievement;
to move away from outdated concepts of school finance that are focused primarily on State and local considerations, such as “property valuation per pupil” and “per pupil foundation levels” tied to State fiscal capacity, and to move to an education finance system focused on the actual cost of delivering a high-quality public education to each child based on that child’s needs;
to ensure all social, health and other necessary “wrap-around” services are available in public schools that serve a significant population of children who come from poverty; and
to target new Federal investments to those schools that serve—
a high percentage of children from poverty or otherwise economically disadvantaged families and communities; or
a high percentage of children who are part of a racial or ethnic minority group or are English language learners and who have historically demonstrated an achievement gap in academic performance compared to the performance of non-minority children.
Sec. 3 Sense of the Congress
It is the sense of the Congress that—
lack of financial capacity has been one of the consistent obstacles to providing the meaningful education opportunity each child in the United States needs to attain high levels of achievement in rigorous academic programs and build the skills necessary to attend college, compete in a global economy, and become a responsible, productive, and engaged citizen;
this Act will address that financial shortcoming and help create an education funding system that is sufficient in amount, equitable in application based on student need, and predictable and sustainable over time.
Sec. 4 Definitions
In this Act:
Employment cost index— The term Employment Cost Index means the Employment Cost Index for total compensation (not seasonally adjusted) for civilian workers, by occupational group and industry, educational services, elementary and secondary schools, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (or any successor index thereto).
Enhanced investment— The term enhanced investment means a year-to-year increase in the average per-pupil expenditure made by a State, after the effective date of this Act, in the education of children attending targeted schools who live in that State, that satisfies both of the following requirements:
The initial amount of such increase in elementary and secondary education funding is at least $250 per pupil more than the amount of total expenditures per pupil from all sources in such targeted schools for the immediately preceding school year (taking into account the percent increase, if any, in the Employment Cost Index in the most recently completed calendar year).
The entire amount of such enhanced investment comes from State funds, and does not include local or Federal sources.
Evidence-based cost analysis model— The term evidence-based cost analysis model means a research-based evaluation of the actual cost of educating all children in a State to achieve high academic standards and otherwise create a meaningful educational opportunity, that—
considers only educational practices, personnel levels and qualifications, strategies, programs and other educational resources that have been demonstrated through evidence-based research to enhance student achievement;
adjusts for specific student demographics including poverty, English language proficiency, minority status, ethnic status, and special needs; and
adjusts for the specific expense of providing each of the resources described in subparagraph (A) based on the regional costs in a State.
Meaningful educational opportunity— The term meaningful educational opportunity means the provision of a combination of educational resources, including programs, practices, technology, physical facilities, wrap-around services, instructional materials, enrichment programs and qualified teaching, administrative and support personnel, necessary to ensure each child attending a targeted school receives a rigorous public education of sufficient quality to allow that child to achieve high academic standards and to graduate high school with the skills needed to be college and career ready.
Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of Education.
Targeted school— A “targeted school” is a public elementary school or secondary school that satisfies one of the following requirements:
Twenty percent or more of the students at such school are eligible for free or reduced priced lunch under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.
Twenty percent or more of the students at such school qualify as limited English proficient.
Twenty-five percent or more of the students at such school are racial or ethnic minorities, Indian, or migratory.
Wrap-around services— The term wrap-around services means any social, counseling, health, nutritional, and other support services needed by students attending targeted schools.
ESEA terms— Any term that is defined in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) shall have the meaning given the term in such section.