Educational equity planning grants

(a) Program established (1) In General The Secretary of Education shall facilitate an inclusive, regional equity planning process and award grants to eligible consortia to eliminate intra-region education inequities by providing Federal funds to assist the eligible consortia in planning and carrying out regional education equity plans, in accordance with this section. (2) Planning grant The Secretary of Education shall award a planning grant under this section, for a period of not longer than 1 year, to each eligible consortium with an approved application to enable the eligible consortium to develop a regional education equity plan. (3) Implementation grant The Secretary of Education shall award an implementation grant under this section to each eligible consortium with an approved regional education equity plan to enable the consortium to carry out activities to implement such plan. (b) Eligible consortium In this section, the term eligible consortium means 2 or more local educational agencies that are located within the same metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area and that have formed a regional consortium. (c) Provision of data The Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Secretary of Transportation shall provide each eligible consortium that receives a planning grant under this section with data relevant to that particular eligible consortium about demographic trends, the spatial distribution of poverty, environmental hazards, and access to education, transportation, and economic opportunities across the consortium’s region, to assist the eligible consortium in developing the regional education equity plan. (d) Community outreach Each eligible consortium that receives a planning grant shall engage in extensive community outreach to solicit comments from diverse stakeholders on issues related to education equity in the region of the consortium, as part of the process of developing the regional education equity plan. (e) Regional education equity plan (1) In General Upon receipt of the data described in subsection (c) and completion of the outreach described in subsection (d), each eligible consortium that receives a planning grant under this section shall use such data and the results of such outreach to develop a 5-year regional education equity plan. The regional education equity plan shall— (A) identify racial, class, gender, and disability-related inequities in education access within the region at the time of the plan's development; (B) identify the historic causes of those inequities; and (C) describe activities to redress those inequities. (2) Equity assessment tool The Secretary of Education shall provide each eligible consortium receiving a planning grant under this section with an equity assessment tool, which shall be a structured list of questions to guide the consortium in the development of the regional education equity plan. The structured list of questions shall be developed in consultation with representatives of impacted communities and education equity groups in a manner that aligns and is consistent with the principles entitled Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing and dated December 1996. (f) Application; Equity plan (1) Application Each eligible consortium desiring a planning grant under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary of Education, at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary of Education may reasonably require. (2) Equity plan Each eligible consortium desiring an implementation grant under this section shall submit a regional education equity plan to the Secretary of Education, at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary of Education may reasonably require, which shall include, at a minimum, the information described in subsection (e). If the Secretary of Education does not approve the plan, the Secretary of Education shall work with the eligible consortium and provide technical assistance to assist the eligible consortium in revising the regional education equity plan until the Secretary of Education determines that such plan will be approved. (g) Use of funds for implementation An eligible consortium receiving an implementation grant under this section shall— (1) distribute such grant funds to elementary schools and secondary schools that are served by local educational agencies in the eligible consortium in accordance with the regional education equity plan; and (2) may use grant funds for resource sharing and the centralization of administration, planning, and procurement among the local educational agencies in the consortium, with the aim of ensuring an equitable distribution of funding and staffing and equitable access to high-quality educational opportunities for students, including students who are children with disabilities and low-income students. (h) Accountability An eligible consortium that receives an implementation grant under this section shall post on a publicly available website data about annual benchmarks that are achieved during the 5-year grant period. (i) Authorization of appropriations; mandatory appropriations Out of funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are authorized to be appropriated, and there are appropriated for the 10-fiscal-year period following the date of enactment of this Act— (1) $100,000,000 to the Secretary of Education to carry out this section; and (2) sums as are necessary the Secretary of Education for the administrative expenses and provision of technical assistance in carrying out this section.