US CODE: Title 42,9835. Allotment of funds

TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 105 > SUBCHAPTER II > § 9835

§ 9835. Allotment of funds

(a) Distribution of appropriations; priorities, etc.

(1) Of the sums appropriated pursuant to section 9834 of this title for any fiscal year beginning after September 30, 1981, the Secretary shall allot such sums in accordance with paragraphs (2) through (4), and subject to paragraphs (5) and (6).

(2) The Secretary shall reserve 13 percent of the amount appropriated for each fiscal year for use in accordance with the following order of priorities—

(A) Indian Head Start programs, services for children with disabilities, and migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, except that there shall be made available for each fiscal year for use by Indian Head Start programs and by migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, on a nationwide basis, not less than the amount that was obligated for use by Indian Head Start programs and by migrant and seasonal Head Start programs for fiscal year 1998;

(B) payments, subject to paragraph (7)—

(i) to Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands of the United States;

(ii) for fiscal years ending before October 1, 2001, to the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau; and

(iii) if legislation approving renegotiated Compacts of Free Association for the jurisdictions described in clause (ii) has not been enacted before September 30, 2001, for fiscal year 2002 to those jurisdictions;

according to their respective needs, except that such amount shall not exceed one-half of 1 percent of the sums appropriated for any fiscal year;

(C) training and technical assistance activities which are sufficient to meet the needs associated with program expansion and to foster program and management improvement activities as described in section 9843 of this title, in an amount for each fiscal year which is not less than 2 percent of the amount appropriated for such fiscal year, of which not less than $3,000,000 of the amount appropriated for such fiscal year shall be made available to carry out activities described in section 9843 (c)(4) of this title;

(D) discretionary payments made by the Secretary (including payments for all costs (other than compensation of Federal employees) of reviews of Head Start agencies and programs under section 9836a (c) of this title, and of activities carried out under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 9836a (d) of this title related to correcting deficiencies and conducting proceedings to terminate the designation of Head Start agencies; ^[1] and

(E) payments for research, demonstration, and evaluation activities under section 9844 of this title.

No funds reserved under this paragraph or paragraph (3) may be combined with funds appropriated under any other Act if the purpose of combining funds is to make a single discretionary grant or a single discretionary payment, unless such funds appropriated under this subchapter are separately identified in such grant or payment and are used for the purposes of this subchapter. No Freely Associated State may receive financial assistance under this subchapter after fiscal year 2002.

(3)

(A)

(i) In order to provide assistance for activities specified in subparagraph (C) directed at the goals specified in subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall reserve, from the amount (if any) by which the funds appropriated under section 9834 (a) of this title for a fiscal year exceed the adjusted prior year appropriation, a share equal to the sum of—

(I) 60 percent of such excess amount for fiscal year 1999, 50 percent of such excess amount for fiscal year 2000, 47.5 percent of such excess amount for fiscal year 2001, 35 percent of such excess amount for fiscal year 2002, and 25 percent of such excess amount for fiscal year 2003; and

(II) any additional amount the Secretary may find necessary to address a demonstrated need for such activities.

(ii) As used in clause (i), the term “adjusted prior year appropriation” means, with respect to a fiscal year, the amount appropriated pursuant to section 9834 (a) of this title for the preceding fiscal year, adjusted to reflect the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) during such preceding fiscal year.

(B) Funds reserved under this paragraph (referred to in this paragraph as “quality improvement funds”) shall be used to accomplish any or all of the following goals:

(i) Ensuring that Head Start programs meet or exceed performance standards pursuant to section 9836a (a)(1)(A) of this title.

(ii) Ensuring that such programs have adequate numbers of qualified staff, and that such staff are furnished adequate training, including developing skills in working with children with non-English language background and children with disabilities, when appropriate.

(iii) Ensuring that salary levels and benefits are adequate to attract and retain qualified staff for such programs.

(iv) Using salary increases to improve staff qualifications, and to assist with the implementation of career development programs, for the staff of Head Start programs, and to encourage the staff to continually improve their skills and expertise by informing the staff of the availability of Federal and State incentive and loan forgiveness programs for professional development.

(v) Improving community-wide strategic planning and needs assessments for such programs and collaboration efforts for such programs.

(vi) Ensuring that the physical environments of Head Start programs are conducive to providing effective program services to children and families, and are accessible to children with disabilities and their parents.

(vii) Ensuring that such programs have qualified staff that can promote language skills and literacy growth of children and that can provide children with a variety of skills that have been identified, through scientifically based reading research, as predictive of later reading achievement.

(viii) Making such other improvements in the quality of such programs as the Secretary may designate.

(i)

(I) Not less than one-half of the amount reserved under this paragraph, to improve the compensation (including benefits) of classroom teachers and other staff of Head Start agencies and thereby enhance recruitment and retention of qualified staff, including recruitment and retention pursuant to achieving the requirements set forth in section 9843a (a) of this title. The expenditure of funds under this clause shall be subject to section 9848 of this title. Preferences in awarding salary increases, in excess of cost-of-living allowances, with such funds shall be granted to classroom teachers and staff who obtain additional training or education related to their responsibilities as employees of a Head Start program.

(II) If a Head Start agency certifies to the Secretary for such fiscal year that part of the funds set aside under subclause (I) to improve wages cannot be expended by such agency to improve wages because of the operation of section 9848 of this title, then such agency may expend such part for any of the uses specified in this subparagraph (other than wages).

(III) From the remainder of the amount reserved under this paragraph (after the Secretary carries out subclause (I)), the Secretary shall carry out any or all of the activities described in clauses (ii) through (vii), placing the highest priority on the activities described in clause (ii).

(ii) To train classroom teachers and other staff to meet the education performance standards described in section 9836a (a)(1)(B) of this title, through activities—

(I) to promote children’s language and literacy growth, through techniques identified through scientifically based reading research;

(II) to promote the acquisition of the English language for non-English background children and families;

(III) to foster children’s school readiness skills through activities described in section 9843a (a)(1) of this title; and

(IV) to provide training necessary to improve the qualifications of the staff of the Head Start agencies and to support staff training, child counseling, and other services necessary to address the problems of children participating in Head Start programs, including children from dysfunctional families, children who experience chronic violence in their communities, and children who experience substance abuse in their families.

(iii) To employ additional Head Start staff, including staff necessary to reduce the child-staff ratio and staff necessary to coordinate a Head Start program with other services available to children participating in such program and to their families.

(iv) To pay costs incurred by Head Start agencies to purchase insurance (other than employee benefits) and thereby maintain or expand Head Start services.

(v) To supplement amounts provided under paragraph (2)(C) to provide training necessary to improve the qualifications of the staff of the Head Start agencies, and to support staff training, child counseling, and other services necessary to address the problems of children participating in Head Start programs, including children from dysfunctional families, children who experience chronic violence in their communities, and children who experience substance abuse in their families.

(vi) Such other activities as the Secretary may designate.

(D)

(i) Funds reserved under subparagraph (A) shall be allotted by the Secretary as follows:

(I) 80 percent of such funds shall be allotted among the States in the same proportion as the Secretary allots funds among the States under paragraph (4) for the respective fiscal year.

(II) 20 percent of such funds shall be allotted among the States, geographical areas specified in subsection (a)(2)(B) of this section and Indian Head Start programs and migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, and used to make grants to Head Start agencies, at the discretion of the Secretary.

(ii) Funds allotted under clause (i) shall be used by the Secretary to make grants to Head Start agencies that receive grants from funds allotted under paragraph (4) for such fiscal year, in such amounts as the Secretary considers to be appropriate, for expenditure for activities specified in subparagraph (C).

(iii) Funds received under this subparagraph shall be used to supplement, not to supplant, funds received under paragraph (2) or (4).

(4) Subject to section 9834 (b) of this title, the Secretary shall allot the remaining amounts appropriated in each fiscal year among the States, in accordance with latest satisfactory data so that—

(A) each State receives an amount which is equal to the amount the State received for fiscal year 1998; and

(B) any amount available after all allotments are made under subparagraph (A) for such fiscal year shall be distributed proportionately on the basis of the number of children less than 5 years of age from families whose income is below the poverty line.

For purposes of this paragraph, for each fiscal year the Secretary shall use the most recent data available on the number of children less than 5 years of age from families whose income is below the poverty line, as published by the Department of Commerce, unless the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce determine that use of the most recent data available would be inappropriate or unreliable. If the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce determine that some or all of the data referred to in this paragraph are inappropriate or unreliable, the Secretaries shall issue a report setting forth their reasons in detail.

(5)

(A) From amounts reserved and allotted pursuant to paragraph (4), the Secretary shall reserve such sums as may be necessary to award the collaboration grants described in subparagraphs (B) and (D).

(B) From the reserved sums, the Secretary may award a collaboration grant to each State to facilitate collaboration regarding activities carried out in the State under this subchapter, and other activities carried out in, and by, the State that are designed to benefit low-income children and families and to encourage Head Start agencies to collaborate with entities involved in State and local planning processes (including the State lead agency administering the financial assistance received under subchapter II–B of this chapter and the entities providing resource and referral services in the State) in order to better meet the needs of low-income children and families.

(i) appoint an individual to serve as a State liaison between—

(I) the appropriate regional office of the Administration for Children and Families and agencies and individuals carrying out Head Start programs in the State; and

(II) agencies (including local educational agencies) and entities carrying out programs serving low-income children and families;

(ii) involve the State Head Start Association in the selection of the individual, and involve the association in determinations relating to the ongoing direction of the collaboration;

(iii) ensure that the individual holds a position with sufficient authority and access to ensure that the collaboration described in subparagraph (B) is effective and involves a range of State agencies;

(iv) ensure that the collaboration described in subparagraph (B) involves coordination of Head Start services with health care, welfare, child care, education, and community service activities, family literacy services, activities relating to children with disabilities (including coordination of services with those State officials who are responsible for administering part C and section 619 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1431–1444, 1419)), and services for homeless children;

(v) include representatives of the State Head Start Association and local Head Start agencies in unified planning regarding early care and education services at both the State and local levels, including collaborative efforts to plan for the provision of full-working-day, full calendar year early care and education services for children; and

(vi) encourage local Head Start agencies to appoint a State level representative to represent Head Start agencies within the State in conducting collaborative efforts described in subparagraphs (B) and (D), and in clause (v).

(D) Following the award of collaboration grants described in subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall provide, from the reserved sums, supplemental funding for collaboration grants—

(i) to States that (in consultation with their State Head Start Associations) develop statewide, regional, or local unified plans for early childhood education and child care that include the participation of Head Start agencies; and

(ii) to States that engage in other innovative collaborative initiatives, including plans for collaborative training and professional development initiatives for child care, early childhood education and Head Start service managers, providers, and staff.

(E)

(i) The Secretary shall—

(I) review on an ongoing basis evidence of barriers to effective collaboration between Head Start programs and other Federal, State, and local child care and early childhood education programs and resources;

(II) develop initiatives, including providing additional training and technical assistance and making regulatory changes, in necessary cases, to eliminate barriers to the collaboration; and

(III) develop a mechanism to resolve administrative and programmatic conflicts between programs described in subclause (I) that would be a barrier to service providers, parents, or children related to the provision of unified services and the consolidation of funding for child care services.

(ii) In the case of a collaborative activity funded under this subchapter and another provision of law providing for Federal child care or early childhood education, the use of equipment and nonconsumable supplies purchased with funds made available under this subchapter or such provision shall not be restricted to children enrolled or otherwise participating in the program carried out under that subchapter or provision, during a period in which the activity is predominantly funded under this subchapter or such provision.

(F) As used in this paragraph, the term “low-income”, used with respect to children or families, shall not be considered to refer only to children or families that meet the low-income criteria prescribed pursuant to section 9840 (a)(1)(A) of this title.

(6)

(A) From amounts reserved and allotted pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (4), the Secretary shall use, for grants for programs described in section 9840a (a) of this title, a portion of the combined total of such amounts equal to 7.5 percent for fiscal year 1999, 8 percent for fiscal year 2000, 9 percent for fiscal year 2001, 10 percent for fiscal year 2002, and 10 percent for fiscal year 2003, of the amount appropriated pursuant to section 9834 (a) of this title, except as provided in subparagraph (B).

(B)

(i) If the Secretary does not submit an interim report on the preliminary findings of the Early Head Start impact study currently being conducted by the Secretary (as of October 27, 1998) to the appropriate committees by June 1, 2001, the amount of the reserved portion for fiscal year 2002 that exceeds the reserved portion for fiscal year 2001, if any, shall be used for quality improvement activities described in subsection (a)(3) of this section and shall not be used to serve an increased number of eligible children under section 9840a of this title.

(ii) If the Secretary does not submit a final report on the Early Head Start impact study to the appropriate committees by June 1, 2002, or if the Secretary finds in the report that there are substantial deficiencies in the programs carried out under section 9840a of this title, the amount of the reserved portion for fiscal year 2003 that exceeds the reserved portion for fiscal year 2002, if any, shall be used for quality improvement activities described in subsection (a)(3) of this section and shall not be used to serve an increased number of eligible children under section 9840a of this title.

(iii) In this subparagraph:

(I) The term “appropriate committees” means the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Labor and Human Resources and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.

(II) The term “reserved portion”, used with respect to a fiscal year, means the amount required to be used in accordance with subparagraph (A) for that fiscal year.

(C)

(i) For any fiscal year for which the Secretary determines that the amount appropriated under section 9834 (a) of this title is not sufficient to permit the Secretary to reserve the portion described in subparagraph (A) without reducing the number of children served by Head Start programs or adversely affecting the quality of Head Start services, relative to the number of children served and the quality of the services during the preceding fiscal year, the Secretary may reduce the percentage of funds required to be reserved for the portion described in subparagraph (A) for the fiscal year for which the determination is made, but not below the percentage required to be so reserved for the preceding fiscal year.

(ii) For any fiscal year for which the amount appropriated under section 9834 (a) of this title is reduced to a level that requires a lower amount to be made available under this subchapter to Head Start agencies and entities described in section 9840a of this title, relative to the amount made available to the agencies and entities for the preceding fiscal year, adjusted as described in paragraph (3)(A)(ii), the Secretary shall proportionately reduce—

(I) the amounts made available to the entities for programs carried out under section 9840a of this title; and

(II) the amounts made available to Head Start agencies for Head Start programs.

(7) For purposes of this subsection, the term “State” does not include Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Palau.

(b) Federal share

Financial assistance extended under this subchapter for a Head Start program shall not exceed 80 percent of the approved costs of the assisted program or activities, except that the Secretary may approve assistance in excess of such percentage if the Secretary determines that such action is required in furtherance of the purposes of this subchapter. For the purpose of making such determination, the Secretary shall take into consideration with respect to the Head Start program involved—

(1) the lack of resources available in the community that may prevent the Head Start agency from providing all or a portion of the non-Federal contribution that may be required under this subsection;

(2) the impact of the cost the Head Start agency may incur in initial years it carries out such program;

(3) the impact of an unanticipated increase in the cost the Head Start agency may incur to carry out such program;

(4) whether the Head Start agency is located in a community adversely affected by a major disaster; and

(5) the impact on the community that would result if the Head Start agency ceased to carry out such program.

Non-Federal contributions may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equipment, or services. The Secretary shall not require non-Federal contributions in excess of 20 percent of the approved costs of programs or activities assisted under this subchapter.

No programs shall be approved for assistance under this subchapter unless the Secretary is satisfied that the services to be provided under such program will be in addition to, and not in substitution for, comparable services previously provided without Federal assistance. The requirement imposed by the preceding sentence shall be subject to such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe.

(d) Enrollment of children with disabilities and provision of services

The Secretary shall establish policies and procedures designed to assure that for fiscal year 1999 and thereafter no less than 10 percent of the total number of enrollment opportunities in Head Start programs in each State shall be available for children with disabilities and that services shall be provided to meet their special needs. Such policies and procedures shall require Head Start agencies to coordinate programmatic efforts with efforts to implement part C and section 619 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1431–1444, 1419).

(e) Distribution of benefits between residents of rural and urban areas

The Secretary shall adopt appropriate administrative measures to assure that the benefits of this subchapter will be distributed equitably between residents of rural and urban areas.

(f) Guidelines for local service delivery models

The Secretary shall establish procedures to enable Head Start agencies to develop locally designed or specialized service delivery models to address local community needs.

(g) Maintenance of current services; expansion of Head Start programs

(1) If in any fiscal year, the amounts appropriated to carry out the program under this subchapter exceed the amount appropriated in the prior fiscal year, the Secretary shall, prior to using such additional funds to serve an increased number of children, allocate such funds in a manner that makes available the funds necessary to maintain the level of services provided during the prior year, taking into consideration the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index For All Urban Consumers, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(2) For the purpose of expanding Head Start programs, in allocating funds to an applicant within a State, from amounts allotted to a State pursuant to subsection (a)(4) of this section, the Secretary shall take into consideration—

(A) the quality of the applicant’s programs (including Head Start and other child care or child development programs) in existence on the date of the allocation, including, in the case of Head Start programs in existence on the date of the allocation, the extent to which such programs meet or exceed performance standards and other requirements under this subchapter, and the performance history of the applicant in providing services under other Federal programs (other than the program carried out under this subchapter);

(B) the applicant’s capacity to expand services (including, in the case of Head Start programs in existence on the date of the allocation, whether the applicant accomplished any prior expansions in an effective and timely manner);

(C) the extent to which the applicant has undertaken community-wide strategic planning and needs assessments involving other community organizations and public agencies serving children and families (including organizations serving families in whose homes English is not the language customarily spoken), and organizations and public entities serving children with disabilities;

(D) the extent to which the family and community needs assessment of the applicant reflects a need to provide full-working-day or full calendar year services and the extent to which, and manner in which, the applicant demonstrates the ability to collaborate and participate with other local community providers of child care or preschool services to provide full-working-day full calendar year services;

(E) the numbers of eligible children in each community who are not participating in a Head Start program or any other early childhood program;

(F) the concentration of low-income families in each community;

(G) the extent to which the applicant proposes to foster partnerships with other service providers in a manner that will enhance the resource capacity of the applicant; and

(H) the extent to which the applicant, in providing services, plans to coordinate with the local educational agency serving the community involved and with schools in which children participating in a Head Start program operated by such agency will enroll following such program, regarding such services and the education services provided by such local educational agency.

(3) In determining the amount of funds reserved pursuant to subparagraph (A) or (B) of subsection (a)(2) of this section to be used for expanding Head Start programs under this subchapter, the Secretary shall take into consideration, to the extent appropriate, the factors specified in paragraph (2).

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (a)(2) of this section, after taking into account paragraph (1), the Secretary may allocate a portion of the remaining additional funds under subsection (a)(2)(A) of this section for the purpose of increasing funds available for activities described in such subsection.

(h) Full-working-day services

Financial assistance provided under this subchapter may be used by each Head Start program to provide full-working-day Head Start services to any eligible child throughout the full calendar year.

(i) Vehicle safety regulations

The Secretary shall issue regulations establishing requirements for the safety features, and the safe operation, of vehicles used by Head Start agencies to transport children participating in Head Start programs.

(j) Compensation of staff

Any agency that receives financial assistance under this subchapter to improve the compensation of staff who provide services under this subchapter ^[2] shall use the financial assistance to improve the compensation of such staff, regardless of whether the agency has the ability to improve the compensation of staff employed by the agency who do not provide Head Start services.

(k) Flexibility in hours of service requirement

(1) The Secretary shall allow center-based Head Start programs the flexibility to satisfy the total number of hours of service required by the regulations in effect on May 18, 1994, to be provided to children in Head Start programs so long as such agencies do not—

(A) provide less than 3 hours of service per day;

(B) reduce the number of days of service per week; or

(2) The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to restrict the authority of the Secretary to fund alternative program variations authorized under section 1306.35 of title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations in effect on May 18, 1994.

(l) Frequent relocation of migrant families

(1) With funds made available under subsection (a)(2) of this section to migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, the Secretary shall give priority to migrant and seasonal Head Start programs that serve eligible children of migrant and seasonal farmworker families whose work requires them to relocate most frequently.

(2) For purposes of subsection (a)(2)(A) of this section, in determining the need and demand for migrant and seasonal Head Start programs (and services provided through such programs), the Secretary shall consult with appropriate entities, including providers of services for migrant and seasonal Head Start programs. The Secretary shall, after taking into consideration the need and demand for migrant and seasonal Head Start programs (and such services), ensure that there is an adequate level of such services for eligible children of migrant farmworkers before approving an increase in the allocation of funds provided under such subsection for unserved eligible children of seasonal farmworkers. In serving the eligible children of seasonal farmworkers, the Secretary shall ensure that services provided by migrant and seasonal Head Start programs do not duplicate or overlap with other Head Start services available to eligible children of such farmworkers.

(3) In carrying out this subchapter, the Secretary shall continue the administrative arrangement responsible for meeting the needs of children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and Indian children and shall ensure that appropriate funding is provided to meet such needs.

[1] So in original. Probably should be “agencies);”. See 1998 Amendment note below.

[2] See References in Text note below.

Notes
1 Update(s)
Parallel authorities (CFR)
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