PUBLIC LAW 105-277—OCT. 21, 1998 112 STAT. 2681-376 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 or under section 2202(b) of the Act for fiscal year 1998, except that such allocations shall be ratably increased or decreased as may be necessary. (b)(1) Each State that receives funds under this section shall distribute 100 percent of such funds to local educational agencies, of which— (A) 80 percent of such amount shall be allocated to such local educational agencies in proportion to the number of children, aged 5 to 17, who reside in the school district served by such local educational agency from families with incomes below the poverty line (as defined by the Office of Msinagement and Budget and revised annually in accordance with section 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) applicable to a family of the size involved for the most recent fiscal year for which satisfactory data is available compared to the number of such individuals who reside in the school districts served by all the local educational agencies in the State for that fiscal year; and (B) 20 percent of such amount shall be allocated to such local educational agencies in accordance with the relative enrollments of children, aged 5 to 17, in public and private nonprofit elementary and secondary schools within the boundaries of such agencies; (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the award to a local educational agency under this section is less than the starting salary for a new teacher in that agency, the State shall not make the award unless the local educational agency agrees to form a consortium with not less than 1 other local educational agency for the purpose of reducing class size. (c)(1) Each local educational agency that receives funds under this section shall use such funds to carry out effective approaches to reducing class size with highly qualified teachers to improve educational achievement for both regular and special-needs children, with particular consideration given to reducing class size in the early elementary grades for which some research has shown class size reduction is most effective. (2)(A) Each such local educational agency may pursue the goal of reducing class size through— (i) recruiting, hiring, and training certified regular and special education teachers and teachers of special-needs children, including teachers certified through State and local alternative routes; (ii) testing new teachers for academic content knowledge, and to meet State certification requirements that are consistent with title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965; and (iii) providing professional development to teachers, including special education teachers and teachers of special-needs children, consistent with title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965. (B) A local educational agency may use not more than a total of 15 percent of the award received under this section for activities described in clauses (ii) and (iii) of subparagraph (A). (C) A local educational agency that has already reduced class size in the early grades to 18 or less children may use funds received under this section—
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