Local School Board Governance and Flexibility Act - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the responsibility for education resides with the states and the local educational agencies (LEAs) to which they have delegated authority; and (2) the Secretary of Education should only issue those regulations, rules, guidance materials, grant conditions, or other requirements that are specifically needed to implement federal legislation and are within LEAs' educational, operational, and financial capacity.
Prohibits the Secretary, unless specifically authorized by federal law, from issuing regulations, rules, guidance materials, grant conditions, or other requirements pertaining to states or LEAs that:
Directs the Secretary during each fiscal year to provide LEAs and the major national education organizations at least 60 days to provide written comments regarding the local impact of implementing federal regulations, rules, guidance materials, grant conditions, or other requirements for any applicable program or activity of the Secretary.
Directs the Secretary to review existing LEA reporting requirements to identify and eliminate those that are duplicative.
Prohibits the Secretary from promulgating federal regulations, rules, guidance materials, grant conditions, or other requirements pertaining to states or LEAs without first:
Provides that if an LEA or major national education organization provides the Secretary with a written statement demonstrating that a regulation, rule, guidance material, grant condition, or other requirement does not meet the substantive or procedural requirements of this Act, the Secretary must review the merits of the statement, issue a written response within 60 days, and post that response on the Department of Education's website.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1386 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1386
To support the local decision-making functions of local educational
agencies by limiting the authority of the Secretary of Education to
issue regulations, rules, grant conditions, and guidance materials, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 21, 2013
Mr. Schock (for himself, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Rodney Davis of
Illinois, and Mr. Kind) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To support the local decision-making functions of local educational
agencies by limiting the authority of the Secretary of Education to
issue regulations, rules, grant conditions, and guidance materials, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Local School Board Governance and
Flexibility Act''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that--
(1) the responsibility for education resides with the
States, which have delegated to local school boards the power
and authority to adopt policies, establish priorities, and
provide accountability to direct the operation of neighborhood
schools;
(2) local school boards are held accountable by local
voters to represent the interests of students, parents, local
businesses, civic organizations, taxpayers, and the community
at large in determining, subject to State laws and policies,
the direction, values, climate, and financial support of the
schools in their community;
(3) the vital national interest in local self-governance of
local educational agencies has been weakened through Department
of Education requirements that are either unnecessary to
achieve the specific direction of legislation enacted by the
Congress, or that impose unnecessary limits on the flexibility
needed by local educational agencies in order to meet local,
State, and Federal goals in education; and
(4) to support the local decisionmaking function of local
educational agencies, the Secretary of Education should engage
only in issuing regulations, rules, grant conditions, guidance
materials, and other requirements under the jurisdiction of the
Department that are--
(A) specifically required to implement Federal
legislation, and
(B) demonstrated to be educationally,
operationally, and financially within the capacity of
local educational agencies to implement.
SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY.
Unless specifically authorized by Federal law, the Secretary may
not issue a Federal regulation, rule, grant condition, guidance
material, or other requirement pertaining to a State educational agency
or a local educational agency that--
(1) conflicts with the power and authority of the local
educational agency delegated by the State regarding the
operation of the schools (including the school system's mission
and goals, organization, local budget and budget priorities,
education program, curriculum, or extra-curricular activities),
student health services and safety, transportation and school
boundaries, procurement policies, staffing and personnel
policies, capital construction, authority to levy taxes, issue
bonds, acquire land, and other functions essential to the daily
operation of the schools within the jurisdiction of the local
educational agency;
(2) results in additional costs to the local education
agency for reporting, grant administration, and general
operations unless fully funded from Federal funds;
(3) conflicts with the power and authority of the local
educational agency to determine how to engage or act upon
community participation and advice;
(4) imposes requirements on a local educational agency that
would limit or adversely affect its authority to function as a
legislative, executive or quasi-judicial agency;
(5) conflicts with the authority of a State to determine
the appropriate governance structure of its local educational
agencies, or the authority of a local educational agency to
determine the appropriate governance and management of its
schools;
(6) establishes reporting requirements for local
educational agencies that duplicate existing Federal
requirements or that are issued without first conducting a
fiscal impact statement related to the costs to local
educational agencies, including requests for data and
recommendations from local educational agencies and national
education organizations consistent with the provisions of
section 4(a); or
(7) places conditions or requirements on a grant to a State
or local educational agency that are not directly related to or
support the intent of the specific purpose of the grant or the
legislation authorizing such grant.
SEC. 4. OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMENT REGARDING LOCAL IMPACT.
(a) In General.--During each fiscal year (beginning with the fiscal
year following the fiscal year in which this Act is enacted), the
Secretary of Education shall provide local educational agencies and the
major national education organizations, including those representing
local school boards, local school superintendents, principals, and
teachers, a minimum of 60 days in order to provide written comments
regarding the local impact of implementing Federal regulations, rules,
grant conditions, guidance materials, or other requirements for any
applicable program or activity of the Secretary.
(b) Report.--The Secretary of Education shall prepare and publish a
report based on the comments received pursuant to subsection (a), which
shall be forwarded to the chairs and ranking members of the Education
and Workforce Committee of the House of Representatives and the Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the Senate not later than
July 1 of each year and shall be simultaneously posted on the
Department of Education's website.
SEC. 5. EFFICIENCY IN IMPLEMENTING FEDERAL PROGRAMS.
(a) Eliminating Reporting Duplications.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education
shall conduct a review of existing reporting requirements applicable to
local educational agencies resulting from programs and activities under
the jurisdiction of the Department of Education to determine
duplications and make modifications as necessary to eliminate such
reporting duplications.
(b) Prohibition.--The Secretary may not promulgate any regulation,
rule, guidance material, grant condition, or other requirement
pertaining to a State educational agency or a local educational agency,
without first taking the following actions:
(1) Requesting data and recommendations from local
educational agencies and the major national education
organizations representing local school boards, local school
superintendents, principals, and teachers regarding the
educational, financial, and operational costs involved for
implementation, and publishing the data and recommendations
provided upon issuance of such regulation, rule, guidance
material, grant condition, or other requirement and posting
that information on the Department of Education's website.
(2) Verifying, based on the data set forth in paragraph
(1), that local educational agencies will have the financial
resources and the technical assistance they may need to
successfully implement the regulation, rule, guidance material,
grant condition, or other requirement including any Federal
requirement that would extend beyond the time that Federal
assistance is available for that purpose.
(3) Providing local educational agencies and the national
education organizations identified in paragraph (1) with not
less than 60 days notice following the Secretary's publication
of a notice of intent to issue any regulation, rule, guidance
material, grant condition, or other requirement to respond,
unless a shorter time period is needed to meet an emergency
such as a declared natural disaster.
(4) Ensuring that maximum flexibility is provided to local
educational agencies in implementing any regulation, rule,
guidance material, grant condition, or other requirement.
(c) Review and Response.--If a local educational agency or an
organization identified in subsection (b) provides the Secretary of
Education with a written statement demonstrating that a regulation,
rule, guidance material, grant condition, or other requirement does not
meet the substantive or procedural requirements of this Act, the
Secretary, or the Secretary's designee, shall review the merits of that
statement, provide a written response within 60 days, and post that
response on the Department of Education's website, including what
action, if any, the Secretary will take to correct any deficiency that
the Secretary determines exists.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line