---
kind: "section"
citation: "20 U.S.C. § 3997"
title: "20"
title_heading: "Education"
number: "3997"
heading: "Approval of applications"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/20/3997"
units:
  - "Chapter 52 — Education for Economic Security"
  - "Subchapter III — Partnerships in Education for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering"
  - "Part B — Elementary and Secondary Education Partnerships"
---

# §3997. Approval of applications

- (a) **Criteria—** The [State](/usc/20/3902.md?p=10) shall establish criteria for approval of applications under this section. Such criteria shall include—
  - (1) consideration of the local district’s need for, and inability to locally provide for, the activities, [equipment](/usc/20/3982.md?p=2), library and instructional materials requested;
  - (2) the number and nature of elementary and secondary students who will benefit from the planned program; and
  - (3) the expressed level of financial and in-kind commitment from other parties to the program.
- (b) **Approval procedures—** The [State](/usc/20/3902.md?p=10) shall adopt approval procedures designed to ensure that grants are equitably distributed among—
  - (1) rural, urban, and suburban areas; and
  - (2) small, medium, and large [local educational agencies](/usc/20/3902.md?p=7).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–377, title III, § 327, as added Pub. L. 100–418, title VI, § 6031(a)(2), Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1482.)