Facilitating Outstanding Classrooms Using Size reduction Act (FOCUS Act)
Latest action · Oct 1, 2007 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedOct 1, 2007
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Facilitating Outstanding Classrooms Using Size reduction Act (FOCUS Act) - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of Education to award formula grants to states for allocation to their local educational agencies (LEAs) to: (1) reduce class size, particularly in the early elementary grades, by using highly qualified teachers; and (2) create a continuum of small classes from kindergarten through third grade for all their students.
Permits LEAs to use such funds to recruit highly qualified teachers, test new teachers, and provide professional development that enables teachers to teach effectively in their content areas.
Requires 80% of an LEA's allocation to be based on its proportion of the state's low-income students, with the remainder based on its proportion of the state's enrolled students.
Requires LEAs that receive allocations to provide written notice to the parent of each child who is taught for two or more consecutive weeks by a substitute teacher or a teacher who is not highly qualified.
Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide for an independent evaluation of this Act's effectiveness in reducing class size and improving teaching in small classrooms; and (2) develop and maintain, through the National Center for Education Statistics, a database that accurately calculates class size for every school, school district, and state.
Amends the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 to require the National Center for Education Research, in the Institute of Education Sciences, to develop and maintain a web-based National Clearinghouse on Class Size to inform the public regarding class size reduction research, resources, and best practices.
Cosponsors 3
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Oct 1, 2007.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-IL | Barack Obama | Original | Oct 1, 2007 |
| I-VT | Bernard Sanders | Original | Oct 1, 2007 |
| D-DE | Joseph R. Biden Jr. | Original | Oct 1, 2007 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee | Referred Oct 1, 2007 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Oct 1, 2007Introduced in Senate
- Oct 1, 2007Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
In the Congressional Record 1
Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.
| Where | In the Record | Members | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senate | Debate and remarks S12381 | Joseph R. Biden Jr. D-DE | Oct 1, 2007 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to amend title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to reduce class size through the use of highly qualified teachers, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Facilitating Outstanding Classrooms Using Size reduction Act (FOCUS Act)
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Education.
- Class size
- Continuing education
- Data banks
- Disabled
- Economics and Public Finance
- Education
- Education of the disadvantaged
- Educational accountability
- Educational research
- Educational statistics
- Educational tests
- Electronic government information
- Elementary and secondary education
- Elementary education
- Federal aid to education
- Government Operations and Politics
- Government publicity
- Higher education
- Labor and Employment
- Licenses
- Private schools
- Rating of teachers
- Recruiting of employees
- School districts
- Science, Technology, Communications
- Secondary education
- Social Welfare
- Special education
- Student enrollment
- Teacher education
- Teacher salaries
- Teacher supply and demand
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Oct 1, 2007Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
