Kildee Introduces Alternative Education bill to provide Safe Schools and Safe Communities

Congressman Dale E. Kildee introduced "the Alternative Education for Safe Schools and Safe Communities Act of 2000" – H.R. 3873. This legislation will assist States and school districts in their efforts to fund alternative education programs and services for students who have been suspended or expelled from school and reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions. H.R. 3873 will provide our schools with an important tool in their efforts to ensure safer schools and safer communities while providing vital educational opportunity.

"As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), we should strive to make our schools and communities safer. My legislation will ensure that those children who run into trouble in school are being educated rather than bringing that trouble to their community," said Kildee. "The future of all our children is too critical to allow those who have been suspended or expelled from school to become the future burdens on the social welfare system, or to have the disruptive and unsafe acts they did in schools take place in the greater community."

The Alternative Education for Safe Schools and Safe Communities Act of 2000 would authorize $200 million to assist school districts in reducing the number of suspensions and expulsions and establishing or improving programs of alternative education for children who have been suspended or expelled from school. This legislation will improve school safety and educational opportunity for children by assisting schools to address behavioral and other problems of children before these problems are encountered by the larger community through juvenile delinquency. Additional specifics of the program include:

• States would receive allocations based on the amount of Title I, Part A dollars they receive.
  
  
• States would then distribute 95 percent of this funding to local school districts.
  
  
• School districts would use funding to both reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions and establish or develop alternative education programs.
  
  
• Students participating in alternative education programs would be taught to challenging State academic standards.
  
  
• Students would be provided with necessary mental health, counseling services and other necessary supports.
  
  
• States and school districts would be required to coordinate efforts with other service providers including public mental health providers and juvenile justice agencies.
  
  
• School districts would have to plan for the return of students participating in alternative education programs to the regular educational setting, if it is appropriate, to meet the needs of the child and his or her perspective classmates.
  
  
• School districts would have to meet continually increasing performance goals to maintain funding. These performance goals include: reductions in the number of suspensions and expulsions, reduction in the number of incidents of violent and disruptive behavior, and others.
  
  
• The Department of Education would be required to identify or design model alternative education programs for use by school districts and then disseminate these examples of "best practices."

Congressman Kildee is third ranking Democratic Member on the U.S. House of Representatives Education and the Workforce Committee. He is the top Democratic Member on the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth and Families which oversees Federal programs for K-12 education, including ESEA. ESEA is the premier Federal Education statute providing approximately $14 billion in assistance to states to support high quality education and academic achievement. Congressman Kildee has primarily focused on accountability for educational results, increased teacher quality, class-size reduction school construction and school safety during this Congress.

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