Public School Emergency Relief Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4316 To provide for temporary emergency impact aid for local educational agencies. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 Mr. KING of New York (for himself and Miss RICE of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To provide for temporary emergency impact aid for local educational agencies. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public School Emer- 4 gency Relief Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 The Congress finds the following: 7 (1) The United States continues to experience 8 an unprecedented influx in arrivals of unaccom- 9 panied children. 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4316 IH (2) In fiscal year 2018, the Department of 1 Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Re- 2 settlement released 49,100 unaccompanied alien chil- 3 dren to sponsors nationwide. 4 (3) Federal law, as upheld by the Supreme 5 Court decision in Plyer v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 6 (1982), permits all children residing in the United 7 States access to a public elementary and secondary 8 education regardless of their immigration status. 9 (4) An unprecedented influx of unaccompanied 10 alien children has resulted in a strain on the Na- 11 tion’s public school system. 12 (5) In response to these conditions, this Act 13 creates an emergency grant for the 2019–2020 14 school year tailored to the needs of local educational 15 agencies affected by enrollment increases attrib- 16 utable to unaccompanied alien children. 17 SEC. 3. TEMPORARY EMERGENCY IMPACT AID FOR IMMI- 18 GRANT STUDENTS. 19 (a) TEMPORARY EMERGENCY IMPACT AID AUTHOR- 20 IZED.— 21 (1) AID TO STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.— 22 From amounts appropriated to carry out this Act, 23 the Secretary of Education shall provide emergency 24 impact aid to State educational agencies to enable 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4316 IH the State educational agencies to make emergency 1 impact aid payments to eligible local educational 2 agencies and eligible BIA-funded schools to enable 3 such eligible local educational agencies and schools 4 to provide for the instruction of students served by 5 such agencies and schools. 6 (2) AID TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 7 AND BIA-FUNDED SCHOOLS.—A State educational 8 agency shall make emergency impact aid payments 9 to eligible local educational agencies and eligible 10 BIA-funded schools in accordance with subsection 11 (c). 12 (3) NOTICE OF FUNDS AVAILABILITY.—Not 13 later than 14 calendar days after funds are made 14 available to carry out this Act, the Secretary of Edu- 15 cation shall publish in the Federal Register a notice 16 of the availability of funds under this section. 17 (b) APPLICATION.— 18 (1) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—Not later 19 than 7 calendar days after the date by which appli- 20 cations under paragraph (2) shall be submitted, a 21 State educational agency that desires to receive 22 emergency impact aid under this section shall sub- 23 mit an application to the Secretary of Education, in 24 such manner and accompanied by such information 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4316 IH as the Secretary of Education may require, including 1 information on the total immigrant student child 2 count of the State provided in applications sub- 3 mitted under paragraph (2) by eligible local edu- 4 cational agencies and eligible BIA-funded schools in 5 the State. 6 (2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND BIA- 7 FUNDED SCHOOLS.—Not later than 14 days after 8 the date of the publication of the notice described in 9 subsection (a)(3), an eligible local educational agen- 10 cy or eligible BIA-funded school that desires an 11 emergency impact aid payment under this section 12 shall submit an application to the State educational 13 agency, in such manner, and accompanied by such 14 information as the State educational agency may re- 15 quire, including documentation submitted for the 16 most recent quarter completed that indicates the fol- 17 lowing: 18 (A) In the case of an eligible local edu- 19 cational agency, the number of immigrant stu- 20 dents enrolled in the elementary schools and 21 secondary schools (including charter schools) 22 served by such agency for such quarter. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4316 IH (B) In the case of an eligible BIA-funded 1 school, the number of immigrant students en- 2 rolled in such school for such quarter. 3 (3) DETERMINATION OF NUMBER OF IMMI- 4 GRANT STUDENTS.—In determining the number of 5 immigrant students for a quarter under paragraph 6 (2), an eligible local educational agency or eligible 7 BIA-funded school shall include the number of im- 8 migrant students served— 9 (A) in the case of a determination for the 10 first quarterly installment, during the most re- 11 cent quarter completed before the date of enact- 12 ment of this Act; and 13 (B) in the case of a determination for each 14 subsequent quarterly installment, during the 15 quarter immediately preceding the quarter for 16 which the installment is provided. 17 (c) AMOUNT OF EMERGENCY IMPACT AID.— 18 (1) AID TO STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amount of emer- 20 gency impact aid received by a State edu- 21 cational agency for the 2019–2020 school year 22 shall equal the product of— 23 (i) the increase (if any) in the total 24 number of immigrant students— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4316 IH (I) as determined by the eligible 1 local educational agencies and eligible 2 BIA-funded schools in the State 3 under subsection (b)(2); over 4 (II) the number of such students 5 enrolled in such State during the cor- 6 responding quarter of the 2018–2019 7 school year; and 8 (ii) $12,000. 9 (B) INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.—If the amount 10 available to provide emergency impact aid under 11 this section is insufficient to pay the full 12 amount that each State educational agency is 13 eligible to receive under this section, the Sec- 14 retary of Education shall ratably reduce the 15 amount of such emergency impact aid to each 16 such State educational agency. 17 (C) RETENTION OF STATE SHARE.—In the 18 case of a State educational agency that has 19 made a payment to a local educational agency 20 prior to the date of enactment of this Act for 21 the purpose of covering additional costs in- 22 curred as a result of enrolling an immigrant 23 student in a school served by the local edu- 24 cational agency for the 2017–2018 and 2018– 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 4316 IH 2019 school years, the State educational agency 1 may retain a portion of the payment described 2 in paragraph (2)(A)(ii) that bears the same re- 3 lation to the total amount of the payment under 4 such paragraph as the sum of such prior pay- 5 ments bears to the total cost of attendance for 6 all students in that local educational agency for 7 whom the State educational agency made such 8 prior payments. 9 (2) AID TO ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL 10 AGENCIES AND ELIGIBLE BIA-FUNDED SCHOOLS.— 11 (A) QUARTERLY INSTALLMENTS.— 12 (i) IN GENERAL.—A State educational 13 agency shall provide emergency impact aid 14 payments under this section to eligible 15 local educational agencies and eligible BIA- 16 funded schools on a quarterly basis for the 17 2019–2020 school year by such dates as 18 determined by the Secretary of Education. 19 Such quarterly installment payments shall 20 be based on the number of immigrant stu- 21 dents reported under subsection (b)(2). 22 (ii) PAYMENT AMOUNT.—Subject to 23 paragraph (1)(B), each quarterly install- 24 ment payment under clause (i) shall equal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 4316 IH 25 percent of the amount determined 1 under paragraph (1)(A). 2 (iii) TIMELINE.—The Secretary of 3 Education shall establish a timeline for 4 quarterly reporting on the number of im- 5 migrant students in order to make the ap- 6 propriate disbursements in a timely man- 7 ner. 8 (iv) INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.—If, for 9 any quarter, the amount available to a 10 State educational agency under this section 11 to make payments to eligible local edu- 12 cational agencies and eligible BIA-funded 13 schools under this subsection is insufficient 14 to pay the full amount that an eligible local 15 educational agency or eligible BIA-funded 16 school is eligible to receive under this sec- 17 tion, the State educational agency shall 18 ratably reduce the amount of such pay- 19 ments to each such agency and school. 20 (3) IMMIGRANT STUDENTS.—Subject to the 21 subsection (d), an eligible local educational agency 22 or eligible BIA-funded school receiving emergency 23 impact aid payments under this section shall use the 24 payments to provide services and assistance to ele- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 4316 IH mentary schools and secondary schools (including 1 charter schools) served by such agency, or to such 2 BIA-funded school, that enrolled an immigrant stu- 3 dent. 4 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 5 (1) AUTHORIZED USES.—The authorized uses 6 of funds are the following: 7 (A) Paying the compensation of personnel, 8 including teacher aides, in schools enrolling im- 9 migrant students. 10 (B) Identifying and acquiring curricular 11 material, including the costs of providing addi- 12 tional classroom supplies, and mobile edu- 13 cational units and leasing sites or spaces. 14 (C) Basic instructional services for such 15 students, including tutoring, mentoring, or aca- 16 demic counseling. 17 (D) Reasonable transportation costs. 18 (E) Health and counseling services. 19 (F) Education and support services. 20 (G) Other uses as allowed under title III 21 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 22 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.). 23 (2) PROVISION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND 24 RELATED SERVICES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 4316 IH (A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an immi- 1 grant student who is a child with a disability, 2 any payment made on behalf of such student to 3 an eligible local educational agency shall be 4 used to pay for special education and related 5 services consistent with the Individuals with 6 Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et 7 seq.). 8 (B) DEFINITIONS.—In subparagraph (A), 9 the terms ‘‘child with a disability’’, ‘‘special 10 education’’, and ‘‘related services’’ have the 11 meaning given such terms in section 602 of the 12 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 13 U.S.C. 1401). 14 (e) RETURN OF AID.— 15 (1) ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY OR 16 ELIGIBLE BIA-FUNDED SCHOOL.—An eligible local 17 educational agency or eligible BIA-funded school 18 that receives an emergency impact aid payment 19 under this section shall return to the State edu- 20 cational agency any payment provided to the eligible 21 local educational agency or school under this section 22 that the eligible local educational agency or school 23 has not obligated by the end of the 2019–2020 24 school year in accordance with this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 4316 IH (2) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—A State 1 educational agency that receives emergency impact 2 aid under this section, shall return to the Secretary 3 of Education— 4 (A) any aid provided to the agency under 5 this section that the agency has not obligated 6 by the end of the 2019–2020 school year in ac- 7 cordance with this section; and 8 (B) any payment funds returned to the 9 State educational agency under paragraph (1). 10 (f) LIMITATION ON USE OF AID AND PAYMENTS.— 11 Aid and payments provided under this section shall only 12 be used for expenses incurred during the 2019–2020 13 school year. 14 (g) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—A State edu- 15 cational agency that receives emergency impact aid under 16 this section may use not more than 1 percent of such aid 17 for administrative expenses. An eligible local educational 18 agency or eligible BIA-funded school that receives emer- 19 gency impact aid payments under this section may use not 20 more than 2 percent of such payments for administrative 21 expenses. 22 (h) SPECIAL FUNDING RULE.—In calculating fund- 23 ing under section 8003 of the Elementary and Secondary 24 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7703) for an eligible 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4316.IH H4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 4316 IH local educational agency that receives an emergency im- 1 pact aid payment under this section, the Secretary of Edu- 2 cation shall not count immigrant students served by such 3 agency for whom an emergency impact aid payment is re- 4 ceived under this section, nor shall such students be count- 5 ed for the purpose of calculating the total number of chil- 6 dren in average daily attendance at the schools served by 7 such agency as provided in section 8003(b)(3)(B)(i) of 8 such Act (20 U.S.C. 7703(b)(3)(B)(i)). 9 (i) NONDISCRIMINATION.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act may be 11 construed to alter or modify the provisions of the In- 12 dividuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 13 1400 et seq.), title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 14 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title IX of the Edu- 15 cation Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et 16 seq.), and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 17 701 et seq.). 18 (2) PROHIBITION.—A school that enrolls an im- 19 migrant student under this section shall not dis- 20 criminate against students on the basis of race, 21 color, national origin, religion, disability, or [Text truncated for display. 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